Board of Investment adopts safety measures during pandemic

Thailand’s Board of Investment said it is taking extra steps to increase safety and ease of doing business for investors during the Covid-19 pandemic and to minimize any public health risk while dealing with government agencies.

“The Board of Investment (BoI), as always, is there to help in any way it can,” said Duangjai Asawachintachit, BoI Secretary-General, in the statement addressed to executives of both local and international companies with investments and holdings in Thailand.

The measures consist chiefly of moving physical processes online. Doing so conforms to existing government policies to increase e-government and ease of doing business. The actions accelerate the ongoing changeover. But more importantly, at the moment, from public health and personal safety perspectives, doing so also allows business people and their employees to observe social distancing measures. Social distancing is considered the key to stopping the spread of the coronavirus.

“During this critical period, the Office of the Board of Investment remains as committed as ever to serve the needs of investors, while complying with the rules established under the Emergency Decree and the recommended social distancing,” Duangjai said.

“Whether they are at the office or working from home, all BOI executives and staff stay fully engaged,” she added. The measure outlined in the statement were:

– A postponement of corporate income tax submission for the 2019 accounting year to 31 August 2020, as permitted by the Ministry of Finance. The BOI has extended the application deadline for corporate income tax exemption privileges to 31 July 2020, or not less than 30 days before the corporate income tax filing date.

– The launch of an online document submission service (e-submission) since March 30, 2020, apart from our existing e-services. E-documents can be submitted on the BoI website (https://doc.boi.go.th/). This new service, in line with the government policies to encourage people to work from home, ensures that companies can still receive services from us as usual.

– Both the Head Office of the BOI and the One Start One Stop Investment Center in Bangkok will stay open during normal office hours, although with reduced personnel.

– Also, the BOI is now offering online meeting services to answer queries from investors.

Photo courtesy of https://www.boi.go.th/