Japanese Ambassador Toshinao Urabe said that more Japanese manufacturing companies are looking at the Philippines as an investment destination as he cited the move of the government to address Japanese firms’ concerns particularly on the refund of their certificate of tax credits.
In an interview with reporters after his speech before the Makati Business Club, cited the increasing number of Japanese firms that are locating in the country, including Canon, Murata, Bandai and Fuji Film Optical.
The latest investor is bicycle manufacturer Shimano, which is set to break ground next month for its assembly facility in First Philippine Industrial Park in Batangas.
The company will assemble mountain bikes for export to the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries whose demand for bikes has been on the rise.
“A lot of whole lists of companies are coming here. There are already a lot of Japanese software companies installed here. There are also computer designers with offices here,” he added.
On the TCC issue, which the Japanese firms want the refund in cash, Urabe cited the move of the Department of Finance by coming with the Notice of Payment Schedule to these tax refund claims.
“It’s going to be paid back in cash and they are going to give us the schedule of payment. So things are moving we are in constant communication with the Philippine government,” he said.
The tax refund was raised by the Japanese side during the Philippines-Japan Economic Partnership Sub-committee meeting on Improvement of Business Environment for the ongoing general review of the country’s first bilateral free trade agreement.
Already, the Bureau of Internal Revenue has issued notice of payment amounting to P2.07 billion to settle VAT refunds to 390 Japanese firms’ applications as part of the government’s compliance to the Philippines-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (PJEPA).
The sub-committee on the improvement of business environment tackled three outstanding issues – tax related concerns, electricity and improvement of country logistics.
The subcommittee reported on the BIR’s action on the applications by Japanese firms for the monetization of their certificate of tax credits (TCC) that Japanese firms have earned for zero-rated transactions.
“The BIR already issued notice of payment schedule for the 390 applications amounting to P2.057 billion,” the report said.
The BIR has received a total of 519 applications for VAT TCC Monetization amounting to P2.39 billion. With 309 applications being acted upon, there are only a total of 119 applications left.
Of the remaining applications, the report said that a total of 49 applications amounting to P60.3 million were denied due to later filing or existence of delinquent amounts. The remaining 80 applications amounting to P252 million were subject for review of the BIR.On the claims of San Roque Power Corp. for refunds amounting P114.191 million and Aichi Forging Co. of Asia for P3.792 million, the BIR has advised both claimants to follow up the requested certifications of “no pending claim” and delinquency verification with the concerned BIR offices.
Source: More Japan manufacturing firms coming
Despite an ongoing territorial dispute, the Philippines and China have signed an agreement to jointly create a transparent, liberal and facilitative investment regime and to deepen bilateral economic development between the two countries.
