Other BriefingsASEAN Regulatory Brief: CIT Incentives, PIT Changes, Export Management Fees, VAT on E-commerce, and More
In this ASEAN Regulatory Brief, we look at some of the important regulatory changes taking place in Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Indonesia during the months of January and February.
Thailand:
- Tax Incentives used to entice MNCS, large market players to Thailand.
To promote the establishment of international headquarters (IHQ) and international trading centers in Thailand, the Government is providing several tax incentives to entice market players to the country.
An IHQ qualified company is defined as a Thai incorporated company that provides management, technical, and support services or treasury center services to its associated enterprises or branch offices either in overseas or Thailand.
Those companies qualifying for the IHQ incentives will be eligible to receive the following incentives:
- An exemption from corporate income tax on service income received from overseas enterprise or sales income from outside transactions
- A lower CIT rate of 10 percent on outside income
- An exemption from withholding tax on dividend and interest paid to an overseas entity
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Cambodia:
- Adjustment to Series of Public Services of the Annex Table Attached with the Joint Prakas № 985 Shv. Br.K, Dated 28 December 2012, on Provision of Public Services of the Ministry of Commerce, Joint Prakas № 1643 Shv.Br.K (MEF), 16 December 2014
Among the changes laid out in this Joint Prakas details, a key detail for businesses is that the Export Management Fee (EMF) for goods to be exported to foreign countries will be determined by price in accordance with the type and items of goods as stated in the annex table of this Joint Prakas. The EMF will be exempted for the following exported goods:
- Goods which have a total price of under EUR 6,000
- Goods exported to the EU
- Goods under the price of USD 800 and which are intended for export to other destinations (non-EU)
- Tax on Salary update in 2015
The General Department of Taxation (GDT) has issued Circular 048 dated January 6, 2015 (“Circular 048”) which raises the value of the tax-exempt threshold for the purposes of calculating an employee’s Tax on Salary (TOS). This new tax-exemption threshold became effective for declaring the Tax on Salary for January 2015 onward.
The new TOS rates are below:
- Reduction in personal income tax rates from January 1, 2015
The chargeable income subject to the maximum tax rate will be increased from exceeding RM100,000 to exceeding RM400,000. The current maximum tax rate of 26 percent will be reduced to 24 percent, 24.5 percent, and 25 percent. Non-resident individuals are now subject to an income tax at a fixed rate of 25 percent, this has been reduced by one percent from the original 26 percent.
- VAT on E-COMMERCE
Indonesia’s Minister for Finance has stated that the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has been instructed to prepare regulations which will impose a VAT take rate of 10 percent on online shopping.
- Indonesia cancels land tax on oil and gas exploration
Indonesia has announced that it will no longer impose a 0.5 percent “land and building tax” tax on companies while they are exploring for oil and gas. The government hopes that this might spur further exploration during the current low global oil prices. The change became effective on January 1, 2015.
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