15% flat personal income tax rate for BOI employee - Question

[sky3]

Hi All,

 

I have a question that maybe some of you who are familiar with taxation for expats working in BOI companies could help me on...

 

From my understanding, for Board of Investment (BOI) companies, expat employees are eligible for a 15% flat income tax rate. My company says that in order to be eligible for this I must have 5 years of experience related to my current job position. Is this true? I have a total of 7 years of working experience, several years in financial services but then changed over to HR related functions of which I now have 4.5 years of experience. I am a HR Manager in my company and responsible for several direct reports (not sure if being in a Managerial position would make a difference) but still they said I am not eligible for the 15% flat rate because I haven't had 5 years of HR related experience yet... can anyone confirm if they've heard of such a rule before? 

 

Thanks in advance!

[GavinK]

Never heard of any time requirements - if your employer has been granted the BOI tax incentives then should apply to all 'qualified' expats (qualified tends to be based on skill and position) - these positions would have been specified in the original BOI application (and can be added to by the company, eg. if a new expat joins). The reduced rate only applies to employment income earned from that BOI company (and not, for example, on any investment income).

 

You can email the BOI directly (email address on their website) - they are usually very responsive.