Thailand proposes to tax foreign internet companies

[snoop1130]

Thailand proposes to tax foreign internet companies

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand on Tuesday approved a draft bill requiring foreign digital service providers to pay a value-added tax (VAT), becoming the latest country in Southeast Asia to seek to boost tax revenues from international tech companies.

 

Last month, Indonesia passed a law requiring big internet companies to pay VAT on sales of digital products and services from July, and in the Philippines a lawmaker introduced a similar bill in parliament to tax digital services.

 

The Thai bill, which still has to be voted on by Thailand’s parliament, requires non-resident companies or platforms that earn more than 1.8 million baht ($57,434.59) per year from providing digital services in the country to pay a 7% VAT on sales, deputy government spokeswoman Ratchada Thanadirek told reporters.

 

Thailand is expected to add about 3 billion baht ($95.72 million) to its coffers annually from the move, which will affect services such as music and video streaming, gaming, and hotel booking, she added, without naming any companies.

 

“These businesses would’ve had to pay VAT if they had been Thai, which is unfair,” Ratchada said.

 

Thailand, Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy, has mulled taxing digital businesses for years, hoping to tap the country’s internet economy, one of the fastest growing in the region.

 

Thanawat Malabuppha, president of the Thai e-Commerce Association, told Reuters he welcomed the move, as it will help level the playing field for rival Thai businesses.

 

“Anyone who makes money from Thai people should pay taxes to the country,” he said.

 

Analysts say the COVID-19 pandemic has accentuated a push by governments around the world to tax internet companies, who could see a boost in revenues as people stay at home during global lockdowns.

 

Nearly 140 countries from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) are negotiating the first major rewriting of tax rules to take better account of the rise of big tech companies such as Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Google.

 

Southeast Asian regulators held talks last year on a region-wide effort to tax tech giants more, while industry groups have warned that over-regulation could blunt the region’s booming digital economy.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-06-09

 

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[Cricky]

16 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

Anyone who makes money from Thai people should pay taxes to the country,” he said.

Yep, totally agree.

 

[worgeordie]

Alibaba and Aliexpress will not be happy,Government must realise

it needs more revenue,with no tourists,so many not working,and

giving handouts to everyone.

regards worgeordie

[mr mr]

the hub of taxes ? 

[Susco]

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

“Anyone who makes money from Thai people should pay taxes to the country,” he said.

Now guess who gone cough up that 7%

 

Hint : it will  not be the foreign company

[yankee99]

Yup at checkout 7% will be added to your total 

[Salerno]

10 hours ago, worgeordie said:

Alibaba and Aliexpress will not be happy

No skin off their nose - just added to the customers bill as it is since Australia enacted similar legislation a couple of years ago.

[Curt1591]

In the States, that's how mail order works. 

If one lives in a state that has a tax, the retailer, even if their state collects no sales tax, must collect the tax for the state where the receiver resides. 

Edited June 10, 2020 by Curt1591

[Pedrogaz]

It is needed asap. There also ought to be a 20% on ad revenue.

[Thomas J]

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

 

“Anyone who makes money from Thai people should pay taxes to the country,” he said.

Never underestimate the ability of governments around the world to determine a new tax.  In California they were proposing a tax on each text message on your phone. 

[Burma Bill]

But any "special" treatment for Huawei???

[Scott Tracy]

Global economy...tax the people until they sqeak.

 

companies don't pay, the people pay.

[ToThailand]

If they take out that 7% tax from the tech companys its only end up costing the customers in thailand an extra 7% due to price increases. So biggest loosers on this so called tax is the customers. 

[apophyss]

Anyone who makes money should pay taxes to the country,

i mean som tam vendor to.

 

If every thai pay VAT for everything,

the country will be better

(and gouvernement people can put alot in their large pockets)

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

You really have to wonder, just what exactly does tax revenue going into the Thai system actually support?

 

Safe and modern public infrastructure?

Social safety net for its citizens?

A quality public education system?

etc etc...

 

Instead, we get jobless Thais who are turned down for meager government assistance and have to beg for food and handouts, boondoggle public works projects that are either broken before they're completed or never completed, and the Army running its own network of profit-making golf courses, gas stations and boxing arenas, etc etc.

 

One might argue, the value proposition (what the country gets for what is paid) for taxes paid in Thailand would seem to be pretty darned low.

 

 

Edited June 11, 2020 by TallGuyJohninBKK