Thai Revenue Department to revise personal tax

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TAX
Dept to revise personal tax
The Nation

The Revenue Department is considering revising its personal income tax structure to boost the nation's competitiveness.

BANGKOK: -- Prasong Poontaneat, director-general of the department, said the planned revision would bring the tax structure in line with other Asean countries.

The department will also soon make an announcement involving a deduction of personal income tax as part of the government's stimulus for the property market.

The deduction will be applied for the upcoming annual payment period for personal income tax from the beginning of January to the end |of March 2016. About 20 per cent of the price of a property will be deductible on taxable income for five years.

Based on the planned 20-per-cent tax deduction on the maximum housing price of Bt3 million, the highest deduction is Bt600,000, with Bt120,000 to be deducted annually for five years.

The Revenue Department yesterday joined forces with five |other agencies to help strengthen small and medium-sized enterprises by requiring them to file only one set of financial statements.

These five agencies are the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion, the Federation of Thai Industries, the Thai Chamber of Commerce, and Board of Trade of Thailand, the Thai Small and Medium Enterprises Council, and the Office of the Vocational Education Commission.

Prasong said an easy accounting programme had been developed to help SMEs book their data correctly. It will allow SMEs to see their expenses, profits or losses, so they will be able to plan their investments properly, he said.

About 2,000 compact discs of this programme will be distributed to SMEs.

The Revenue Department is also considering more tax deductions for business operators as a way of promoting computerised accounting in the future.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Dept-to-revise-personal-tax-30271656.html


-- The Nation 2015-10-27

[maoro2013]

2,000 discs, doesn't sound like it covers too much of the SME population to me.

[Eric Loh]

Long overdue personal tax reduction. We are among the highest in ASEAN and is a turnoff for attracting foreign investment. Give the government credit for reducing the corporate tax and closing the tax gap with Singapore and Malaysia. Personal tax reduction should followed simultaneously.

[Langsuan Man]

Now if they could just come up with a way to get the Thais to pay the income, tax, no matter what the rate

[blackcab]

How is this going to benefit the average Thai person? Anyone earning under about 20k a month doesn't pay income tax.

If you pay 120k in income tax a year then your salary is over 1 million baht a year. How many Thai people earn that much, and if they do, how many declare it?

As a percentage of the population, I think it's very small.

[Felt 35]

What about using some resources to make every income earner,Thais and foreigners living more than 180 days a year in the country to pay taxes. Only then the Income inequality will decrease.

[sendintheclowns]

What about using some resources to make every income earner,Thais and foreigners living more than 180 days a year in the country to pay taxes. Only then the Income inequality will decrease.

Very true. Right now, the Thai system is easy, if you calculate that you don't have any taxes to pay, as you do not have to file a tax return.

The only Thai taxpayers guaranteed to be following the law are salaried people/ employees.

So, your question is: how to force the non- reporters to do do. Every country has its underground economy. With Thailand, it is a matter of changing people's perception. The rich ( even your typical medical clinic) don't pay tax. Maybe the answer is a flat tax.

Bump the VAT to 15% . Make it more efficient for tourists to get a VAT refund.

Add a tax refund to every Thai family filing a tax return, due on birthday, same as driving Licence renewals, provide free reporting at local government centres, eg Tambon/Obador .

I'm just plagarizing other tax systems. So open to criticism, preferably creative.