The cabinet met on Tuesday, Janaury 8, 2013. Some of the decisions are as follows:
The Cabinet approved in principle of the relief aid measures for SMEs owners affected by the minimum wage policy and for the SMEs’ competitive enhancement, following the suggestion from the Ministry of Labor, and assigned concerning offices to put into practice.
Relief aids for the SMEs owners affected by the minimum wage policy and for the SMEs’ competitiveness enhancement include these following 16 measures:
1) Measures to support liquidity, increasing of loan amount and reduction of production cost through loan
1.1 Employment Loan for business’s liquidity and increase of employment production
1.2 Productivity Improvement Loan
1.3 Portfolio Guarantee Scheme loan, 5th phase
1.4 Portfolio Guarantee Scheme loan for start-up and new entrepreneurs
2) Measures to reduce production cost through taxation and contribution fund
2.1 Social security’s mutual fund rate reduction
2.2 Corporate income tax reduction
2.3 Permission to use additional expenses resulting from the minimum wage policy in 2012 for tax deduction
2.4 Permission to use the cost of employee training according to the Skill Development Promotion Act B.E. 2555 for tax deduction
2.5 Corporate income tax exemption in case of acquiring more machinery to increase Production capacity
2.6 Machinery depreciation deduction
2.7 Income tax reduction at source
2.8 Reduction of fee for hotels or guesthouses
3) Measures to increase labor productivity
3.1 Skill development loan at 0.1 % interest rate for skill development training
3.2 Skill development mobile clinics
4) Measure to increase business owners’ income through increase of government sector’s expenses
4.1 Increasing in the cost of seminar arrangement for government sectors
5) Measure to stimulate and promote sales though consumption
5.1 The arrangement of inexpensive goods caravan for employees in various
business places
The Cabinet approved the following points, according to the suggestions made by Ministry of Finance:
1. Agreed on the three drafts of Royal Decree issued under the Revenue Code in order to extend the time frame of taxation from last day on 31st December 2012 to 31st December 2013 in case of machinery modification to increase production capacity, machinery depreciation expense reduction and relief aid for SMEs owners affected by the minimum wage policy approved by the Cabinet on 24th April 2012.
2. Agreed on the draft Ministerial Regulation (No…) B.E. … issued under the Revenue Code regarding income tax for personal and corporate income tax reduction at source
3. Agreed on the draft Royal Decree issued under the Revenue Code regarding reduction and exemption of revenue taxes (No…) B.E. … in order to modify the corporate income tax exemption for companies or registered partnerships, whose capitals is less than 5 million baht as of the last day of the accounting and whose incomes from goods and services sales is less than 30 million baht within the accounting period.
4. Approved in principle the increase of rates for rooms and meals for government sector’s seminars and trainings to be in accordance with the current situation and cost of living
5. Approved in principle rules, conditions, and budget for the Loan Portfolio Guarantee Scheme, 5th phase
6. Approved of extension of time frame, rules and conditions of the Productivity Improvement Loan and Portfolio Guarantee Scheme for PGS New/Start-up by SME Bank
Following the suggestion proposed by the Ministry of Defense, the Cabinet approved in principle for the Ministry of Defense to follow the plan of activities to promote relations and cooperation in the area of security with the neighboring and other countries which include support of armed forces, ammunition and military budget of 50,000,000 baht to the neighboring and other countries, especially the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Republic of the Union of Burma and the Lao People's Democratic Republic. The Minister of Defense is granted authority for approval of the operations. The Bureau of Budget is to consider the budget for Ministry of Defense as appropriate.
The Cabinet agreed on and approved the following points following the suggestion made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
1. Agreed on the draft Memorandum of Association to establish the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) permanent secretariat office in Dhaka City, Bangladesh.
2. Approved the signing of the mentioned memorandum by the Minister of Foreign Affairs or representative
3. Should the necessity arises to amend the aforementioned document in the inessential parts that will not result in the country’s loss of benefit, the Ministry of Foreign Affair may proceed without further request for the Cabinet’s consideration
As for the expense budget in the fiscal year B.E. 2556 and the following years, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs may proceed following the Bureau of Budget’s opinion.
--Cabinet Meeting (Yingluck Shinawatra) Janaury 8, 2013--