Tax reduction will help SMEs to invest in digitalisation, automation -- Samenta

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 24 (Bernama) -- The proposed tax reduction for the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) announced during the Budget 2023 retabling will enable them to finance much-needed investments in digitalisation and automation, according to one of the country’s leading SME associations.

The Small and Medium Enterprises Association of Malaysia (Samenta) said this is because the lowering of the tax rate from 17 per cent to 15 per cent on the first RM150,000 of revenue effectively reduces the tax contribution per SME by up to RM3,000.

“The bottleneck for most SMEs is our ageing equipment and machineries, and the lack of digitalisation and automation.

“We are therefore grateful that the Prime Minister has taken note of these challenges, and allocated RM 40 billion in various financing facilities and guarantee schemes for SMEs,” it said in a statement today. 

On the RM2 billion funds allocated to support sustainable start-ups and to help SMEs adopt low carbon practices, Samenta said this is ground-breaking and sends a strong signal that the government is not only committed to helping SMEs but is also allocating money for that purpose.

-- BERNAMA