Thailand seeks to promote digital training

 The Digital Economy Promotion Agency of Thailand (DEPA) is set to promote tax incentive measures to encourage individuals to upskill themselves in the field of digital knowledge.

Individuals who take DEPA-certified digital courses or train with its certified partner networks will be able to deduct 100% of their registration fees for digital courses from their personal income tax up to a total of 100,000 THB (2,920 USD).

DEPA is working with the Revenue Department to introduce this new tax incentive for individuals in 2025, effective for a period of five years.

Its President Nuttapon Nimmanphatcharin said the agency hopes all 10 million taxpayers will enjoy this benefit.

The agency has already promoted similar tax incentives to encourage companies to upskill employees in terms of digital knowledge as part of its policy of bolstering the country's competitiveness by developing a digital workforce for the future.

Businesses that send employees for training on DEPA-certified digital courses or to train with members of its certified partner network can deduct 250% of the training expenses from their corporate income tax.

They can also deduct 150% of the first 12 months' salary of their staff who are new graduates in digital fields from their corporate income tax.

Nuttapon said DEPA is accelerating its efforts to promote Thailand's digital workforce through its digital skills roadmap, aiming to enhance digital knowledge and skills for all Thai citizens.

The DEPA 2025 digital skills roadmap focuses on preparing individuals for new careers in nine emerging industries, including gaming, animation, and digital farming, and promoting advanced digital skills in the professions in which Thailand currently faces a labour shortage such as data and artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain engineering, 5G, quantum computing, and cloud innovation.

The agency aims to provide basic digital literacy to 1 million people via an online channel. It also wants to provide training on skills pertaining to the nine future careers to 80,000 graduates in the workforce, and six digital skills to 20,000 people./.

VNA