11/07/2008 (Bernama), Kuala Lumpur - Oil palm smallholders having plantations 40 hectares and below are exempted from paying windfall profit levy from July 15, Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop said Friday.

"The Cabinet today deliberated and approved the appeal by oil palm smallholders to be exempted from windfall profit levy," he said in a statement.

The Cabinet also decided that effective from the same date, the windfall profit levy would be collected directly at the plantation level based on the output of fresh fruit bunches.

However, the effective windfall profit levy rates remained unchanged, he said.

The government enforced a windfall profit levy on crude palm oil and crude palm kernel oil to replace the cess collected under the Cooking Oil Stabilisation Scheme (COSS).

The levy, which took effect on July 1, was to have been borne by all plantations, including smallholders, but now smallholders are exempted.