Thailand
Thailand: Extra tax breaks to push SME growth
THE Board of Investment’s (BOI) board has agreed on measures to boost the capabilities of small and medium enterprises (SME), while its secretary-general has expressed confidence that this year’s applications for investment promotion privileges would hit its target of Bt600 billion.
Duangjai Asawachintachit, BOI secretary-general, said after the board meeting chaired by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, that the directors had decided they needed to extend the scheme to December 30, 2019. The previous deadline was the end of this year.
Based on the approved measures, over 100 business categories would be able to apply for BOI investment promotional privileges. Earlier, 40 business categories were allowed.
Basic and additional tax promotional privileges will be also given to SMEs. Under the basic privilege, specific business types would be allowed to claim double the amount paid on some business expenses when filing their corporate income tax.
Under the additional tax privileges, half of investment and expenses related to competitive development such as technology research and development, innovation, and product and packaging design would be deductible.
SMEs which see an eight-year corporate income tax exemption would receive an additional 50 per cent corporate income tax deduction for five more years if they are located in 20 provinces where per capita income is low. Those in other groups would receive corporate income tax waivers for three more years.
Duangjai said that the applications for BOI’s investment promotional privileges are expected to reach Bt600 billion for the whole of this year as targeted. For the first nine months of this year, applications for BOI privileges totalled Bt376.57 billion, up 8 per cent year-on-year. Of that total, Bt104.16 billion was for |229 projects related to the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC).
In the same meeting, six targeted business groups were chosen for |the Eastern Economic Corridor of Innovation (EECi) and two groups for the Digital Park Thailand (EECd), Duangjai said.
EECi’s targets are agriculture and biotechnology, high-performance battery and next-generation automotive, aviation and space, biofuel and biochemistry, automation, robot and smart electronics, and medical equipment. EECd is aiming for research and development groups, and digital industry and digital groups.
Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/Economy/30334243