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Digicel flexes Downtown....
Digicel eyes tax break
Telecom should benefit from tax incentive in move to downtown Kingston
BY CAMILO THAME Business co-ordinator thamec@jamaicaobserver.com
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Digicel Group yesterday announced plans to build its headquarters and offices for its Jamaican operations in downtown Kingston next year, a move that will see the telecommunications company benefit from what could work out to be a sizeable tax break.
The company would not give details on the estimated cost of the investment but said in a press statement issued yesterday that it would move its offices - currently located in two separate buildings in New Kingston - into a "brand new facility on the waterfront in downtown Kingston".
The RKA building is one of two locations in New Kingstonn in which Digicel currently has head offices.
"Jamaica is the home of Digicel and we are proud of the deep connections we have built here," said Digicel Group CEO Colm Delves. "Since our inception here eight-and-a-half years ago, we've constantly set new standards in everything we do and the way in which we do it."
The move, according to Delves, will also spearhead the rejuvenation of downtown Kingston.
But Digicel will also benefit from tax incentives, for which Cabinet approved revisions only last month.
In early September Daryl Vaz, the minister with responsibility for information, said that the Urban Renewal Tax Relief Act was amended to create a stimulus for private sector companies to relocate their head offices downtown.
The amendments will give capital allowances to owners of buildings in the areas designated for development, which "can be claimed over two years instead of the life of the asset", and an increase in investment tax credit from 25 per cent to 33.3 per cent for central head offices.
Capital allowances represent a certain percentage of the capital asset's cost that is allowed in an accounting period, while the incentive tax credit represents the specified percentage of certain capital costs that investors or businesses can deduct from taxable income.
This means that Digicel could realise at least a third of the cost of the new building in its profit and loss within two years.
Digicel said it was "currently in the final stages of negotiating terms and carrying out feasibility studies on a plot of land right on the waterfront in downtown Kingston".
The plan is to begin construction of the building next April in zone X of the Kingston development master plan, which is an area located alongside the existing craft market and which is slated for retail/office commercial renovation.
The master plan, in its current incarnation, includes nine other zones with the areas slated for a festival marketplace and the international finance centre bordering the location apparently being eyed by Digicel.
The Urban Renewal Tax Relief Act was passed in 1995 to encourage and facilitate development within the areas suffering from blight and urban decay and dilapidation, by providing for certain incentives by way of tax relief.
Digicel currently boasts 8.6 million subscribers across 32 markets worldwide, but it is in Jamaica - where it started operations in 2001 - that the group generates a sizeable portion of its revenue.
For its year ending March 31, 2009, Digicel Group earned US$484 million of its US$1.73 billion in revenues in Jamaica.
Telecom should benefit from tax incentive in move to downtown Kingston
BY CAMILO THAME Business co-ordinator thamec@jamaicaobserver.com
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Digicel Group yesterday announced plans to build its headquarters and offices for its Jamaican operations in downtown Kingston next year, a move that will see the telecommunications company benefit from what could work out to be a sizeable tax break.
The company would not give details on the estimated cost of the investment but said in a press statement issued yesterday that it would move its offices - currently located in two separate buildings in New Kingston - into a "brand new facility on the waterfront in downtown Kingston".
The RKA building is one of two locations in New Kingstonn in which Digicel currently has head offices."Jamaica is the home of Digicel and we are proud of the deep connections we have built here," said Digicel Group CEO Colm Delves. "Since our inception here eight-and-a-half years ago, we've constantly set new standards in everything we do and the way in which we do it."
The move, according to Delves, will also spearhead the rejuvenation of downtown Kingston.
But Digicel will also benefit from tax incentives, for which Cabinet approved revisions only last month.
In early September Daryl Vaz, the minister with responsibility for information, said that the Urban Renewal Tax Relief Act was amended to create a stimulus for private sector companies to relocate their head offices downtown.
The amendments will give capital allowances to owners of buildings in the areas designated for development, which "can be claimed over two years instead of the life of the asset", and an increase in investment tax credit from 25 per cent to 33.3 per cent for central head offices.
Capital allowances represent a certain percentage of the capital asset's cost that is allowed in an accounting period, while the incentive tax credit represents the specified percentage of certain capital costs that investors or businesses can deduct from taxable income.
This means that Digicel could realise at least a third of the cost of the new building in its profit and loss within two years.
Digicel said it was "currently in the final stages of negotiating terms and carrying out feasibility studies on a plot of land right on the waterfront in downtown Kingston".
The plan is to begin construction of the building next April in zone X of the Kingston development master plan, which is an area located alongside the existing craft market and which is slated for retail/office commercial renovation.
The master plan, in its current incarnation, includes nine other zones with the areas slated for a festival marketplace and the international finance centre bordering the location apparently being eyed by Digicel.
The Urban Renewal Tax Relief Act was passed in 1995 to encourage and facilitate development within the areas suffering from blight and urban decay and dilapidation, by providing for certain incentives by way of tax relief.
Digicel currently boasts 8.6 million subscribers across 32 markets worldwide, but it is in Jamaica - where it started operations in 2001 - that the group generates a sizeable portion of its revenue.
For its year ending March 31, 2009, Digicel Group earned US$484 million of its US$1.73 billion in revenues in Jamaica.
Paul Marin -19 is one thing, 20 is a whole other matter. It gets even worse if they win the UCL. *groan*. 
05/18/2011.MU fans naah cough, but all a unuh a vomit?-Lazie 1/11/2015
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