DTI wants more industries to import capital equipment duty-free

A Department of Trade and Industry proposal to expand the availment of duty free importation of capital equipment to a wider range of industries will be presented to the Tariff Commission for public hearing.

 

“We’ve discussed this with the Finance department about six months ago and it seemed that they are okay with it. We still need to sit down with the Tariff Commission because there might be people who will be against it,” DTI Secretary Gregory Domingo said Wednesday.

 

The duty free importation of capital equipment is an incentive available only to businesses that operate in the economic zones and firms registered with the Board of Investments (BOI).

 

Citing the “more competitive” business environment in the coming years, Domingo Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo said, “we are proposing that capital equipment importation be made zero tariff especially because we will be competing with neighbors who may offer those. We just want to level the playing field.” 

 

Domingo revealed the DTI's next moves on the incetives proposal after the General Membership Meeting of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) in Makati.

 

Implementation of the incentive, Domingo said, can be done either through presidential executive order or through a bill via Congress,

 

Currently, duty free importation of equipment is only available for firms that are registered for incentives with the Board of Investments (BoI) or the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA).

 

The DTI chief said BOI-listed firms and ecozone operators would still have their edge as they will retain their income tax holiday and other perks.

 

Firms in economic zones are also exempt from paying real property and local taxes.  — ELR, GMA News