Revenue Department to tax Youtubers, online vendors and influencers

[webfact]

 

Youtubers, social media influencers and online vendors are to be taxed on advertising revenue, sales of merchandise or donations earned through their channels, according to Lawaron Saengsanit, director-general of Revenue Department.

 

He said that the Revenue Department is to include these individuals in the tax system after it has succeeded in bringing over 200,000 people engaged in online businesses into the system, noting that individuals who have an income of a certain level also have a duty to pay taxes.

 

He said that the department will, however, use technology to make it convenient and less complicated for those who have earnings from online businesses to pay taxes.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/revenue-department-to-tax-youtubers-online-vendors-and-influencers/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2023-02-10

 

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[bkk6060]

Great, hope it works.  These narcissistic people making money off the country, Thai people and exploiting Thai females should be taxed at the highest levels.  And, shut down their channels w/o work permits.   Many of them are fake also making themselves feel important by buying subs, views, etc to make it look like they have popular channels. 

[kotsak]

[n00dle]

Sure they will,

Right after they figure out how to tax the 75% of the population that has never declared earnings.

[n00dle]

1 hour ago, bkk6060 said:

Great, hope it works.  These narcissistic people making money off the country, Thai people and exploiting Thai females should be taxed at the highest levels.  And, shut down their channels w/o work permits.   Many of them are fake also making themselves feel important by buying subs, views, etc to make it look like they have popular channels. 

How myopic is your world that you think this initiative is focused on foreigners exploiting Thailand and Thai women?

Thailand has PLENTY of its own youtubers making money off of niches that have nothing to do with tourism or the sex trade. 
 

With a population nearing 72 million, is it so difficult for you to conceive that this in not about a few farang that are a mere drop in the bucket?

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, n00dle said:

Sure they will,

Right after they figure out how to tax the 75% of the population that has never declared earnings.

I asked a Win taxi rider friend of mine how much tax he pays...

he said 7%, every time he buys something... nuff said.

[ikke1959]

Everybody in THailand should fill in a tax form.. easy to control what their earnings and possessions are.. Sombody who claims to earn only 10k a month can't afford a millions THB worh house and luxury car(s), unless they have some other income... It could takle corruption and bribe   more easily

[BritScot]

6 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

Great, hope it works.  These narcissistic people making money off the country, Thai people and exploiting Thai females should be taxed at the highest levels.  And, shut down their channels w/o work permits.   Many of them are fake also making themselves feel important by buying subs, views, etc to make it look like they have popular channels. 

Exploring Thai female's!!! Where did you get that from?

[Elkski]

His favorite porn sites. 

15 minutes ago, BritScot said:

Exploring Thai female's!!! Where did you get that from?

 

[nigelforbes]

Only 11% of the population is inside the tax net and only 5% pay taxes that way. 

[Orinoco]

18 minutes ago, nigelforbes said:

Only 11% of the population is inside the tax net and only 5% pay taxes that way. 

Sounds about right 

[JimTripper]

Cro-magnum man. Cro-mags.

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

Whoever comes up with a way to enforce this should be cut in to the money it takes. Influencers should be outlawed but again, HOW?

[fgmr]

I hope the definitions of Utubers and Influencers are concise and not open to interpretation by the various authorities. As is the case with other regulations in  Thailand.

[tingtong]

13 hours ago, n00dle said:

Sure they will,

Right after they figure out how to tax the 75% of the population that has never declared earnings.

Figuring out isn't a problem, per se, called the 7% VAT.

The issue how to change it to 8-10% VAT without the 75% no income tax payers push back. So far every time the hike was raised it failed to get support from the majority public, for obvious reasons.

Even the "elected" general with military law didn't dare to force change it, that tells you all. 

 

 

[Ralf001]

13 hours ago, n00dle said:

Sure they will,

Right after they figure out how to tax the 75% of the population that has never declared earnings.

75% of the population would not be earning a monthly salary of Bt.12500 so are exempt.

[jacko45k]

21 hours ago, kotsak said:

Exactly... how does one determine somebody is a vlogger as opposed to simply a tourist recording their trip. The street entertainers were surrounded on Walking St. 

[thaibeachlovers]

23 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

Great, hope it works.  These narcissistic people making money off the country, Thai people and exploiting Thai females should be taxed at the highest levels.  And, shut down their channels w/o work permits.   Many of them are fake also making themselves feel important by buying subs, views, etc to make it look like they have popular channels. 

I support what you said EXCEPT for the IMO fatuous comment about exploiting Thai females.

[thaibeachlovers]

9 hours ago, George FmplesdaCosteedback said:

Whoever comes up with a way to enforce this should be cut in to the money it takes. Influencers should be outlawed but again, HOW?

Simplest way to eliminate "influencers" IMO is to hack their computers and shut them down.

[oMega69]

On 2/10/2023 at 11:13 AM, nigelforbes said:

Only 11% of the population is inside the tax net and only 5% pay taxes that way. 

i heard it was 8% of all Thai citizen pays TAX in TH.

[nigelforbes]

20 minutes ago, oMega69 said:

i heard it was 8% of all Thai citizen pays TAX in TH.

These numbers do get reported differently from time to time but the latest one I can see currently is a newspaper article in the Bangkok Post which I'm not allowed to quote or link to. If you do a google search typing in, "how many people file tax returns thailand", you'll see the link and the article dated 2020. To summarise:

 

There are about 9.5 million tax payers, that means people who have filed a tax return at least once, not that they file a return or pay taxes on a regular basis. Out of that total, only 3.3 million earned over the tax threshold of 25,000 baht per month, which is enough to require them to file a tax return. So about, 5% of the population.

 

[Ralf001]

22 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Exactly... how does one determine somebody is a vlogger as opposed to simply a tourist recording their trip. The street entertainers were surrounded on Walking St. 

the vlogger will be talking to him/herself or to the camera in an enthusiastic manner.

[asiaexpat]

23 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Exactly... how does one determine somebody is a vlogger as opposed to simply a tourist recording their trip. The street entertainers were surrounded on Walking St. 

Easy, if monetized they are earning income. 

[jacko45k]

3 minutes ago, asiaexpat said:

Easy, if monetized they are earning income. 

And that is apparent exactly how when these guys wander about?  I thought the use of a selfie stick or special equipment might be more indicative. 

[Peterw42]

How do you tax a youtuber being paid into a bank account outside Thailand.

The ongoing arguments about youtube is work, taxing youtube etc, is a moot point if the money isn't entering a thai bank account.

If they start taxing thai based channels, then people will just move the channel, and where the income goes to.

[jacko45k]

1 minute ago, Peterw42 said:

How do you tax a youtuber being paid into a bank account outside Thailand.

If he resides in Thailand, then his domestic bank account (presuming he has one) could be monitored for transfers. How does the USA handle those sort of things, they have a very competent tax collection dept?

[userabcd]

On 2/10/2023 at 11:59 AM, n00dle said:

Sure they will,

Right after they figure out how to tax the 75% of the population that has never declared earnings.

I guess you know in detail the earnings of Thais???

 

Below 150000 baht the income is exempt, those are the rules which incorporate most Thais, they are not all rich as some would assume.

 

Tax rates of the Personal Income Tax

 

Taxable Income (baht)	Tax Rate (%)
0-150,000	Exempt

 

Edited February 12, 2023 by userabcd

[Ralf001]

13 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

If he resides in Thailand, then his domestic bank account (presuming he has one) could be monitored for transfers. How does the USA handle those sort of things, they have a very competent tax collection dept?

If it remitted to Thailand in the same year it is generated, it is taxable.

 

If that year has lapsed then it is not.

 

Not sure how competent the tax peeps are here though.

 

[Ralf001]

1 minute ago, userabcd said:

Can you quote the applicable RD tax law article where that is stated other than on big accounting firm accounting websites.

it is on the revenue dept website.

[Bangkok Barry]

On 2/10/2023 at 4:35 PM, ikke1959 said:

Sombody who claims to earn only 10k a month can't afford a millions THB worh house and luxury car(s),

And who do you know that fits that description?