By Jenniffer B. Austria | Nov. 23,
2013 at 12:02am [ manilastandardtoday.com ]
The Securities and Exchange Commission
on Friday disclosed a plan to increase the registration and filing fees it
charges to private companies by as much as 100 percent.
“In general the increase in the
registration fees and annual fees is being proposed in view of the increasing
cost of registration, supervision and monitoring of SEC-registered companies,”
the corporate regulator said in a notice to the public posted on its Web site.
SEC secretary Gerard Lukban said in a
text message the agency proposed to raised the new registration and filing fees
by 50 to 100 percent.
Under the proposal, domestic
corporations filing for articles of partnership will pay one-fifth of 1 percent
of the partnership’s capital, but not less than P2,000 from current rate of
one-fifth of 1 percent of partnership’s capital, but not less than P1,000.
Applications for non-stock foreign
corporations will climb to P3,000 from P2,000 while credit rating agencies will
be charged P15,000 in annual fee, up from the current P10,000.
Appraisal companies seeking
registration would pay P10,000, from the present P5,000 while name
verification/reservation fees will go up to P100 from P40.
SEC said it would be the first rate
increase since 2004.
It said among the factors it
considered in raising registration fees and other charges were the cost of
hiring and retaining qualified personnel who have specialized skills to
supervise and monitor corporations, the cost of improving and maintaining
current systems, increase in complexity of work assignments, oversight of new
products and new markets, investment in capacity building measures and overhead
expense.
The proposed increase in registration
fees, however, is still subject to comments and suggestions from affected
sectors.
The SEC said it would hold a public
hearing on the proposed fees and charges on Dec. 13 at the SEC Multipurpose
Hall in Ortigas.
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