An expanded tax rebate program targeting international business in B.C. is drawing significant interest from the province’s clean tech industry.
Bruce Flexman, president of the International Financial Centre of BC (IFC), said at a Hong Kong-Canada Business Association luncheon Wednesday, the sector has been keen to know how it can benefit from the province’s international financial activity program which gives eligible companies a full rebate of the provincial portion of its corporate income taxes.
Clean technology was recently added as an eligible sector to receive the tax rebate. However, the industry must still wait to see who will be eligible because a finalized definition of what a clean technology company is has yet to be completed.
Created in 1986, the IFC aims to draw international businesses to B.C. by providing a provincial corporate income tax rebate. Over the years, the program has been expanded several times.
The number of eligible activities has grown to include film distribution; income from life science patents; green-tech patents; head office management services for non-resident businesses; digital media publishing and distribution; clean technology; investment fund management; and companies providing services related to certifying and trading carbon credits to non-residents.
In the March budget, the government expanded the program further to allow Schedule III banks, or branches of foreign banks operating in Canada, to participate in the program, which will now be called the International Business Activity (IBA) program.
Information about the program can be found on the IFC website www.ifcbc.com.