Tax Relief Attempts to Cope with Pandemic

While there is some optimism towards the COVID-19 pandemic situation in Thailand as the official numbers of new cases are on the decline, some interesting tax relief measures have been announced by the government since late August 2021 as attempts to relieve and increase the liquidity of taxpayers that have been affected by the pandemic.

Firstly, the Royal Decree issued under the Revenue Code regarding the Decrease of Value Added Tax Rate (No. 724) B.E. 2564 (2021) was announced in the Royal Thai Government Gazette on 27^th August 2021 to maintain the Value Added Tax (“VAT”) rate at 7% which is the general VAT rate applied in Thailand for more than  twenty years (the previous VAT rate was 10%).  By virtue of the mentioned Royal Decree, the VAT rate of 7% shall be continuously applied to any sales of goods, provisions of services and import of goods for a further two-year period commencing from 1^st October 2021 to 30^th September 2023.  Although the VAT rate has been kept at 7% for many years, the effect of the reduction is anticipated to decrease living expense burdens, increase reliance in business operations of the private sectors, and stabilize economy of the country which has been severely affected by the pandemic.

Secondly, three announcements of the Ministry of Finance were issued on 23^rd August 2021 to extend deadlines of tax return online submissions in the year 2021     which can be summarized as per the below table.

The above deadline extensions are expected to increase the liquidity of taxpayers in the economy system of the country in the amount of around 181,221 Million Thai Baht - the estimate was reported in the Ministry of Finance’s News No. 165/2564 dated 24^th August 2021.

Lastly, the Revenue Department’s Order No. Tor. Por. 337/2564 was issued on 31^st August 2021 to waive or reduce penalties applicable to VAT and SBT for the tax months of August 2021 to November 2021.  Penalty shall be waived if a taxpayer fully pays VAT or SBT, including its surcharge, within 3 months from the deadline of such tax return submission.  However, in case a taxpayer pays at least 25% of the total VAT or SBT to be paid within such 3-month period, and fully pays the remaining tax within 3 months from the VAT or SBT return submission date, penalty to be charged to such taxpayer shall be reduced to 2%.

For more details and information, please feel free to contact Gun Vasharakorn and Patid Kasemkhun at gunv@southasia-law.com and patidk@southasia-law.com and we will revert to you as soon as practicable.