In an initative to help Singapore businesses combat rising costs, develop new technology and boost their efficiency, the government launched the Productivity and Innovation Credit (PIC) scheme.

The PIC scheme provides tax benefits for businesses that invest in productivity and innovation activities and successful applicants enjoy tax credits and reimbursement of their approved expenditure.That means buying items like computers and other equipment to improve their company’s operations can result in full reimbursement of their business expenses.

For the current year ending December 2014, businesses (refering to self-employed persons, including insurance agents, financial advisors, real estate agents, tradesmen), sole-proprietorships, limited liability partnerships, private limited companies can receive up to 160% reimbursement of approved activities.

What this means is spending $5,000 on a laptop means the government will reimburse you up to $8,000 (ie: 160%) if your business and your expense meets their qualifying criteria.

In particular, Internet marketers and those who use technology in their business operations (just about everyone) can benefit from this scheme.

If you look at the government website to sign up for the informational briefings, you can expect a 2-month or longer wait.

That’s one of the reasons why I’m helping to organize a series of informational briefings conducted by Daniel Goh, who has assisted in the submission of more than 100 successful PIC applications over the past 2 years.

The 160% reimbursement scheme ends this year, after which it drops to a 60% reimbursement scheme, so if it’s something you are considering, you should do it now.

Fill in your details in this form and you’ll receive information about the free briefings to be conducted in the coming weeks: PIC Informational briefing.