Health insurance premiums can be deducted from taxable income

BANGKOK, Sept 20 (TNA) - The cabinet allows taxpayers to deduct up to 15,000 baht of their spending on health care insurance from their taxable income yearly. Kobsak Pootrakul, vice minister at the Prime Minister’s Office, said the cabinet approved the tax measure proposal of the Finance Ministry. The deduction of health care premiums is capped at 15,000 baht per year per person and when it is combined with life insurance premiums, the combined amount of deduction must not exceed 100,000 baht per year per person. The measure was intended to let people exercise their right to deduct up to 100,000 baht from their taxable income, Mr Kobsak said. The government set the limit at 100,000 baht because the measure targeted low-income earners and the Revenue Department reported that most people claimed no more than 100,000 baht worth of their insurance premiums from their taxable income, he said. The measure would also encourage people to seek their own health insurance from insurance firms and thus relieve the government’s public health care burdens, he said. (TNA)