President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has approved the value-added tax refund program for tourists for implementation by 2024, which aims to attract more foreign visitors.
Tourism Services is included as a apriority sectors in the Philippine Export Development Plan (PEDP 2023-2028), and with the vat refund program approved and supported by the administration as proposed by the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC) will expectedly attract more tourists to visit the country.
The program allows foreign visitors to get a VAT refund on products they are to bring out from the Philippines. Also, this will increase the country’s competitiveness as it gets at par with neighboring countries that offer the same incentive to tourists.
In addition, this will benefit our entrepreneurs and exporters in promoting their products in the global market. Implementing this program will boost the tourism and export industries altogether, which is a win-win for the Philippine economy.
The House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means, led by Chairman Joey Sarte Salceda, created a technical working group to study the proposed program to sort out the language and implementation. Chairman Salcedo is also filing a counterpart measure in the House to expand the discussion on the proposal. PLM