Workers of business process outsourcing (BPO) companies that are located in within ecozones and freeports will need to return to workplaces starting April 1, according to the Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB).
This comes after the FIRB denied the appeal of BPO companies to extend work-from-home (WFH) arrangements until after March 31.
The FIRB said in a statement that it is upholding its Resolution No. 19-21, which allows WFH arrangements for registered Information Technology-Business Process Management (IT-BPM) enterprises until March 31 only.
FIRB Chairman and Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III attributed the decision to the increasing vaccination rate of Filipinos nationwide, saying that remote work schemes were only "temporary" measures implemented for the pandemic.
"The WFH arrangement is only a time-bound temporary measure adopted during the surge of the COVID-19 pandemic," said Dominguez in a statement.
"Given the increasing vaccination rate of Filipinos nationwide, we can now undertake safe measures for physical reporting of employees, including those working in the IT-BPM firms operating within ecozones and freeports," he added.
According to Dominguez, the return of employees in workplaces will also help the recovery of local micro, small, and medium enterprises that rely on IT-BPM employees for their livelihood.
Under the FIRB Resolution No. 19-21, BPO companies need to have 90% of their workforce to report on-site.
Non-compliance of BPO companies will mean the removal of their tax-exempt incentives, the FIRB warned.
