SINGAPORE: Finance Minister of Malaysia has approved an application of Aspen Glove Sdn. Bhd. (AGSB) submitted through the initiative of the Northern Corridor Implementation Authority (NCIA), for an income tax exemption for its business activity of designing, developing, and manufacturing of examination and surgical nitrile gloves via a grant of an incentive known as the Investment Tax Allowance (ITA).
Aspen Glove Sdn. Bhd. (AGSB) is subsidiary of Aspen (Group) Holdings Limited.
The grant of the ITA entitles AGSB, subject to compliance with imposed conditions, to an allowance of 100% of its capital expenditure (excluding land cost) for a period of 10 years.
AGSB shall be entitled to offset the allowance against 100% of its statutory income for each year of assessment. Any unutilised allowance can be carried forward to subsequent years until fully utilised.
The ITA is an alternative to the Pioneer Status and is a major tax incentive for companies investing in the manufacturing sector. The ITA is preferred over the Pioneer Status incentive for projects which involve heavy upfront capital investments, have high levels of technology, are integrated, generate extensive linkages, and have significant impact on the economy.
The ITA is granted to AGSB as a customized incentive for certain priority sectors with unique value proposition in the Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER).
AGSB’s facility in Kulim Hi-Tech Park is within the NCER and AGSB’s Activity, involving the high value manufacturing of medical devices, is considered as one of the selected priority sectors of the NCER.
AGSB expects to fulfil all conditions imposed for the approval of the ITA including inter alia, compliance with environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors such as 80% local hires; 15% science and technology graduate hires; internship programmes; vendor development programmes; corporate social responsibility; joint venture with public universities; and investment into research and development (R&D).
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