Provident fund proposal appealing to SMEs

The current proposal for a non-mandatory central provident fund is enough to appeal to local small-and medium-sized enterprises to join, said a government official. The proposal said the employers’ contributions for their workers to the fund will be regarded as their operating cost for the complementary tax and the government will consider the amount three times more in tax calculation as an incentive. Ip Peng Kun, president of the Social Security Fund, told media yesterday that such an incentive is enough as labour costs already account for 20-30 percent of the operating expenses of businesses now. The 60-day public consultation of the fund will end next month.