BoI focuses on farm upgrade incentives

The new BoI privileges include tax incentives for investing in agricultural machinery.

The Board of Investment (BoI) yesterday approved the granting of special promotional privileges for investment in projects related to modern agricultural production and services. The move is aimed at upgrading the country's farm sector.

Secretary-general Hiranya Sujinai said the special privileges seek to encourage the agricultural industry to adopt information technology in their production. The privileges will be offered to businesses that apply tech, particularly for information technology or engineering design, to help modernise production in the traditional farm sector.

Farmers who upgrade their production methods and crop quality to achieve sought-after international quality standards, such as Good Agricultural Practice and ISO 22000 Food Safety Management Systems Certification, will qualify for the incentives.

Tax incentives are also being offered for investment in machinery and automated equipment.

Under the new privilege structure, businesses that apply technology to help modernise production in the traditional farm sector will be entitled to a corporate income tax exemption for five years.

Those who upgrade their production and their products to achieve international quality standards will be allowed to enjoy a corporate income tax exemption for three years. The tax incentive, however, will be limited to 50% of the investment cost for the standard upgrade.

Applicants for the above two categories are required to submit their applications by 2020.

For entrepreneurs who invest in modern machinery and automation systems, they will be entitled to a corporate income tax exemption for three years, but the tax incentive will be limited to 50% of the investment cost.

In order to support investors who use domestically made machinery, those who use locally made gear for more than 30% of machine-generated value will enjoy a corporate income tax exemption for three years without any conditions.

Mrs Hiranya said the BoI yesterday also approved an extension for three years to 2020 for investors who improve their machinery in order to save energy or promote the use of renewable energy. The existing measure will expire in 2017.

Measures to attract existing projects to upgrade their science, technology and human resource development capabilities were also approved at the meeting.

The investment categories in Group A1 and A2, which are eligible to receive the corporate income tax exemption for eight years, can ask for more privileges if they continue to invest in science, technology and human resource development.