Making the most of productivity and innovation credit

The PIC or  productivity & innovation credit  has been designed by the government of Singapore to help new and upcoming businesses expand their operations and grow. These deductions let new companies save on their taxes as well as on quite a few other expenditures. There are a lot of businesses which can qualify for these credits. To give you a better idea of this, here are a few of the expenditures which can be included in this credit:

1. As far as training is concerned, companies can receive credit up to 250 % against their taxes based on the expenditures which they have incurred in training their employees. This credit can be claimed up to $ 300,000. Once this figure has been claimed the remaining amount will only be able to be claimed at the rate of 100 %. Some of the training programs which qualify under this include any ITE courses conducted in house by approved training centers, any WSQ training courses which are conducted in house as well, job training while on the job from any training centre, any in house training which has been approved by the Minister, external training and outsourced training.

2. When it comes to automation equipment you can cover the lease or the purchase of any such equipment. This tax allowance is just the same as the training programs mentioned above. The installation costs of this equipment can also qualify as long as they are included in the cost of the equipment.

3. IPR acquisitions can also be claimed as expenditure under this scheme. This means that you will be able to claim expenses against the acquisition of intellectual property rights purchased for your business. These expenses can't be related to media content or digital entertainment though. Again you can claim 250 % against this expenditure in the form of tax deductions. You can even claim this benefit against any expenses incurred against the registration of these intellectual rights.

4. Research & development allows you to claim 250 % as well although you will be able to deduct more than $ 300,000 in this category. While the other things mentioned here allow you a 100 % normal tax deduction, here you will be able to claim a 150 % tax deduction. Click Here for more info.

5. And lastly, you will also be able to   claim expenses on any design expenditures or approved trademark expenditures. The only catch here is that these expenses must be incurred in Singapore itself. And if this is your main business then you will not be able to claim these expenses.