Why pay 7% VAT and what do you get in return

[jaideedave]

On 4/4/2021 at 8:55 AM, ThailandRyan said:

A friend of mine built out the shell of his condo and spent over 2 million baht doing it.  He also lives in the Philippines and the US. He tried to claim the VAT refund at the airport upon leaving after buying the aircons, stove, refrigerator and washer and dryer.  They wanted to see the units in his luggage.

Good one.Several years ago I purchased a new Rolex in BKK.I asked for and received a VAT rebate form. Next time I left the country I went to a couple airport offices and received over 17 k back in cash before I boarded the plane.It can be done but not a fridge unfortunately

not for fridges.

[DaLa]

On 4/4/2021 at 2:45 PM, new2here said:

I personally don’t mind the VAT per se ... and I think it is just one part of a larger, balanced, total taxation picture... 

 

By that I mean it would be unwise (and statistically regressive) IF the nations total taxation come exclusively or near exclusively from VAR/Sales or some other form of end-user consumption tax.. Rather the use of a VAT-like tax, PLUS all the other various forms of taxation- be that personal income, corporate income, investment earnings/gains, import taxes, land/property ownership, etc 

 

Sure, there will ALWAYS be arguments over the mix and rates of the various taxes... and how the government allocates these revenues into their national budget etc.  

 

I also agree that simply comparing thailand’s current VAT rate to other countries is somewhat misleading as you don’t take into account what OTHER taxes are collected and at what rate.

 

Agreed.

 

I am also reasonably happy with the taxation rates in Thailand. Compared to the UK where it has been estimated there are over 100 different taxes in the 646 pages of the finance act.

 

What concerns me is the waste that local and national governments incur in spending our money. For that alone I use whatever legal means available to avoid tax.

 

Whilst VAT in Thailand is applicable to goods manufactured here as well as imported; from a business perspective VAT pales into insignificance compared to my import duty expenses. So yes the 7% VAT is clearly documented on your receipt, however what I have to charge my Thai customers for the items they purchase from me does not breakdown all the other taxes incurred in the UK and at customs here in LoS.

[DividendGuy]

Do they have VAT taxes in the Philippines? If so, how much is it?

[josephbloggs]

6 minutes ago, DividendGuy said:

Do they have VAT taxes in the Philippines? If so, how much is it?

Are you kidding?  It's right there in the OP in a massive picture that shows you in graphical form the VAT levels in different Asian countries.  Is it really so hard for people to read (or even look at) articles before posting?

[DividendGuy]

My mistake. I don't know how I could have missed the graph. Thanks for pointing it out.

[Puccini]

On 4/4/2021 at 3:55 AM, ThailandRyan said:

A friend of mine built out the shell of his condo and spent over 2 million baht doing it.  He also lives in the Philippines and the US. He tried to claim the VAT refund at the airport upon leaving after buying the aircons, stove, refrigerator and washer and dryer.  They wanted to see the units in his luggage.

Your friend clearly does not know how the VAT system works.