Market Info
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Surviving Challenging Times: A Guide On Government’s Pemulih 2021 Scheme & Grants For SMEs Dato’ Seri Raymond Liew, Founder President and Jason Boey, Tax Director, from McMillan Woods, shared about the government’s PEMULIH 2021 scheme, grants for SMEs and business survival skills. atuk Seri Raymond shared key pointers on tax benefits, PEMULIH 2021, the availability of grants and other salient factors for the survival and health of businesses during these trying times. He highlighted that the government is trying to get businesses to go digital. “The implementation of the SMEs and Micro-SMEs e-Commerce Campaign has an allocation of RM300 million. Through this campaign micro-entrepreneurs will receive business coaching, and on-boarding on e-commerce platform, while buyers will enjoy savings online. The objective of this initiative is to support entrepreneurs and businesses in generating income through online sales or the e-commerce platform,” he shares. “There is a government tax deduction for COVID-19 screening for employees and business owners – a double-deduction for employers who fund the cost of COVID-19 screening employees for the whole of 2021,” he adds. Dato’ Seri Raymond also noted that there is a special rental reduction given to property owners under the PEMULIH initiative, and that tax accountants will be able to work this out for property owners. “The Special Prihatin Grant has been extended and is expected to benefit more than 1.2 million microSMEs. Micro-SMEs will receive a oneoff GKP 3.0 assistance of RM1,500, an increase from the previous RM1,000,” he explained.
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Malaysia Retailer Vol 9 No 2
PEMULIH 2021 Jason Boey explained the key highlights of PEMULIH 2021 which was announced on 28 June 2021, which consists; • RM150 billion package with the objective to help businesses and people who have been affected by the pandemic and EMCO. • Bantuan Prihatin Rakyat (BPR) announced in July 2021, with RM500 assistance for individuals who have lost their jobs and the needy. • A job-seekers allowance of RM300 is given to non-contributors of SOCSO allotted for new graduates and informal sectors. • Bantuan Khas COVID-19 (BKC) is available for several categories namely; o the hardcore poor with a household income of RM1,300 will be given a few payments of RM500 in August and November and RM300 in December 2021. o Singles will receive RM500, of which RM200 will be disbursed in August and RM300 in November.
o B40 segment with a household income of RM800 per month, will receive RM500 in August and RM300 in December; while singles will receive RM200 in August. o In the M40 segment, households will receive RM250, and singles will receive RM100. o A discount in electricity bills of between 5% to 40%, given based on certain criteria, and is expected to save approximately RM346 million in electricity bills over the next 3 months. o EPF has a new withdrawal scheme called iCitra, enabling a withdrawal of up to RM5,000, whereby RM1,000 per month will be disbursed up to 5 months, subject to members’ total EPF savings. This is expected to channel RM30 billion to people for their daily needs. o A 6-month automatic moratorium for all income categories are available, whereby approval will be given automatically by the bank once applications are made. o Targeted 3-month moratorium
