Tax Scam

[soundman]

I have just been informed by the revenue department that I have to pay tax on signage at the front of my shop. It is apparently considered to be advertising & therefore tax on a predetermined rate calculation has to be paid.

The rate is worked out on the size of the sign & is more expensive when there is English wording on it.

Is this for real or what? Has anybody else come accross this?

Cheers,

Soundman.

[Naam]

I have just been informed by the revenue department that I have to pay tax on signage at the front of my shop. It is apparently considered to be advertising & therefore tax on a predetermined rate calculation has to be paid.

The rate is worked out on the size of the sign & is more expensive when there is English wording on it.

Is this for real or what? Has anybody else come accross this?

Cheers,

Soundman.

it's an old tax law from the seventies but at that time only neon signs were taxed. then an english version was triple the price of the thai version.

Edited June 2, 2007 by Dr. Naam

[PhilHarries]

Don't quote me on this as it's hearsay but I was told good while back that, yes, if you have a sign in English it attracts a significant tax hike BUT if your sign has just a few words in Thai it is classified as a Thai sign and taxed accordingly.

But yes signs, like just about everythng, attract tax.

[soundman]

it's an old tax law from the seventies but at that time only neon signs were taxed. then an english version was triple the price of the thai version.

Crikey - Walking Street alone could help pay off the national health care scheme!!!

I'm just wondering why it's suddenly just popped up again now? First time in five years of doing business that its been mentioned.

Soundman.

[soundman]

It is called signpost tax and collected by the district office and not the revenue department. The amount is small depending on the size of the signpost. If only in Thai, it is cheaper. If it is both Thai and foreign language, it is more expensive. If it is only in foreign language then it is the top rate. The amount is normally insignificant unless you are people like Coca Cola or Sony where advertisement board is everywhere. Nothing to get excited about.

Thanx for that Irene. The amount requested is not significant as you say. It was just surprising thats all. Never heard of it before.

I do wonder though, what the rational is behind making signs in English taxed at a higher rate than those in Thai. What about signs that only contain graphics?

Cheers,

Soundman.

[richard10365]

When I was living in a bungalo in Sa Kaeo, I volunteered to make a sign in English for the bungalo. The owner said no because the tax on the sign is higher than on a sign in Thai. So it does appear to be true.

[cm-happy]

SCAM!!!

Most overused word on Thai Visa!!

[Cyberstar]

Second to 'crackdown'

[soundman]

Soon there will be a tax on what colour you paint your establishment.

Soundman.

[cmsally]

The sign tax comes from the Tesabahn office (in the city) maybe towns and rural areas have too but would probably be Or Bor Tor.

Sign tax is more expensive in English but you can have Thai name above the English name (has to be above) and still get the Thai rate (that is what I was told by my district office ) But maybe they now have 3 tier pricing with only Thai being cheaper.

Average English sign is aroun 400Bt/yr in Chiang Mai and Thai /eng about 160Bt

[Irene]

It is called signpost tax and collected by the district office and not the revenue department. The amount is small depending on the size of the signpost. If only in Thai, it is cheaper. If it is both Thai and foreign language, it is more expensive. If it is only in foreign language then it is the top rate. The amount is normally insignificant unless you are people like Coca Cola or Sony where advertisement board is everywhere. Nothing to get excited about.

Thanx for that Irene. The amount requested is not significant as you say. It was just surprising thats all. Never heard of it before.

I do wonder though, what the rational is behind making signs in English taxed at a higher rate than those in Thai. What about signs that only contain graphics?

Cheers,

Soundman.

The rationale of taxing higher on signpost in foreign language was nationalistic prone. The law is archaic and introduced in the days when Thais were very nationalistic fifty years ago. Signs containing graphics are not exposed to this tax. Only those with names and brands are exposed to this tax.

The common way of reducing the tax impact is to show the foreign names or brands as large as you like while Thais could be stated as small as possible to avoid the top rate and fall under the middle rate. Walk around places, you will notice little Thai words under the foreign language. This is one example of tax planning in Thailand. It means a lot to those popular brands.

[Ricardo]

The sign tax comes from the Tesabahn office (in the city) maybe towns and rural areas have too but would probably be Or Bor Tor.

Sign tax is more expensive in English but you can have Thai name above the English name (has to be above) and still get the Thai rate (that is what I was told by my district office ) But maybe they now have 3 tier pricing with only Thai being cheaper.

Average English sign is aroun 400Bt/yr in Chiang Mai and Thai /eng about 160Bt

I can confirm that we were told that the price would be higher, for English words above Thai, than Thai above English, for the sign directing visitors to our house.

Here in Chiang Mai, there was recently some sort of crack-down on paying sign-tax.

[soundman]

Just for arguments sake (of no specific interest to myself personally - but may be to other forum members) - Is the more expensive rate applied to English only or is it applied to all foreign languages such as Chinese, Korean, Japanese etc which are graphics based or local SE Asian languages?

Cheers,

Soundman.

[The Skipper]

Is there any doubt?

Overcharging the Farang is a National Policy.

What ever happened to being fair?

[Chang_paarp]

If you look at the McD signs, they all have some small Thai script on them in the top left corner. That is one corp that would not change the universal standard without a reason.

As to other languages, I think they also attract the same variable rate, again look at the signs and you will see a small bit of Thai script on the top of the sign. The obvious ones would be the Chinese restaurants or the gold shops.

[soundman]

The rationale of taxing higher on signpost in foreign language was nationalistic prone. The law is archaic and introduced in the days when Thais were very nationalistic fifty years ago.

From stories realted to me by my wife - 60 odd years ago the nationalistic stance was very strong indeed. The people in charge in this period actually tried to "get rid of" all people of Chinese descent.

My wife's grandfather emigrated to Thailand at the beginning of last century. During this period of nationalism he actually changed his surname from Lee to Chaiyasith - a more Thai sounding name. Apparently it was touch & go for a while with my grandfather in law having to keep a very low profile for a number of years.

Cheers,

Soundman.

[Irene]

Just for arguments sake (of no specific interest to myself personally - but may be to other forum members) - Is the more expensive rate applied to English only or is it applied to all foreign languages such as Chinese, Korean, Japanese etc which are graphics based or local SE Asian languages?

Cheers,

Soundman.

Soundman,

The more expensive applies to any non-Thai language. The law was introduced in the days when Chinese were predominant and not assimilated into Thai society.

Now the society is so assimilated that you can find most cabinet ministers have Chinese blood.

[thaihome]

Is there any doubt?

Overcharging the Farang is a National Policy.

What ever happened to being fair?

Note that nationlity does not govern who pays the tax. Thais pay the same as farangs. The language is one of the factors in the rate. Doesn't matter if it is English or Chinese.

TH

[Youbloodybeauty]

Try some Thai style English font

[soundman]

I'm wondering if English stye numbers 1,2,3,4 etc instead of ๑๒๓๔ are considered to be a foreign language & therefore incurr an extra tax bonus??

Soundman.

[soundman]

Try some Thai style English font

I downloaded that & my cpu crashed.....

Interesting font though...

Soundman.