• CHERYL G. CRUZ
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Bacolod Extension Office director II, Atty. Annabelle Corral-Respall, Thursday urged noncompliant corporations and partnerships to avoid the rush in the filing of amnesty applications.
The SEC has granted a final one-month extension for amnesty applications of non-compliant and suspended or revoked corporations, before it implements a new scale of fines and penalties.
Corporations, which have incurred penalties for late and non-filing of their annual financial statements (AFS), general information sheets (GIS), and official contact details will have until Nov. 6 to file their amnesty applications, per SEC Memorandum Circular No. 17, series of 2023.
The SEC Bacolod Extension Office has helpdesk kiosks to assist non-techie clients to avail of the amnesty application, Corral-Respall said. “To file earlier, follow the instructions in the tutorial video found in our website and Facebook account.”
Corporations applying for amnesty may proceed to the SEC Amnesty Microsite at amnesty.sec.gov.ph for the step-by-step guidance on how to avail of the program. They should accept the web-based Expression of Interest form on their SEC Electronic Filing and Submission Tool, or eFAST, accounts.
Corporations that have successfully filed their amnesty applications by Nov. 6, must then submit the complete set of amnesty requirements, through eFAST, by Dec. 4, the SEC said.
For non-compliant corporations, their latest due GIS and AFS must be uploaded and submitted on eFAST before Dec. 4. Suspended and revoked corporations must submit their respective petitions to lift their suspension or revocation on eFAST, along with their latest GIS and AFS, also on within the period.
The SEC said that for suspended and revoked corporations, additional requirements, such as copies of the certificates of incorporation, latest mayor’s or business permits, and certificates of registration with the Bureau of Internal Revenue must be submitted to the SEC Company Registration and Monitoring Department, or to the nearest SEC Extension Office initially through email by Dec. 4.
Should an applicant fail to submit the complete set of requirements by Dec. 4, the amnesty fee paid, as well as the P3,060 petition fee initially collected from suspended/revoked corporations, shall be forfeited, in favor of the SEC.
“The final extension of the amnesty period is a compassionate allowance granted by the SEC to corporations, who repeatedly fail to comply with their reportorial requirements,” SEC chairperson Emilio Aquino said.
“More than 54,000 corporations have already availed of the amnesty since we launched this program in March,” Aquino said in a statement as he encourages other companies to take this opportunity to avoid higher fines and penalties once new guidelines are released in November.
The updated scale of fines and penalties for reportorial requirements will be implemented on Nov. 7, where basic penalties for the late and non-filing of reports are set to increase by as high as 1,900 percent, the SEC said.
The amnesty program is part of the SEC’s efforts to encourage its regulated entities to comply with the reportorial requirements under Republic Act 11232, or the Revised Corporation Code of the Philippines.
The program is also a means for the SEC to prudently identify active and inactive corporations, enhance and organize the Commission’s digital database, and cultivate a healthy and vibrant corporate sector. | CGC
