Draft bill on tax data exchanges gets hearing
Primary focus is to crack down on evasion
The Revenue Department will push a draft bill on international data exchange stipulating that individuals and entities gather and submit tax-related information as required by authorities, part of efforts to give the tax-collecting agency better access to tax payment information, especially from those with foreign-based operations.
The bill, which is undergoing the public hearing process until Thursday, is aimed at underscoring Thailand’s intention to coordinate with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in cracking down on tax evasion and exchanging taxrelated information to improve tax-collecting efficiency and transparency.
The bill will give the director-general of the Revenue Department a mandate to order any people or entities in the country to amass and turn in information related to tax payments as requested by other countries that have agreements for tax-related data exchanges with the government, according to the department’s papers at the public hearing.
The Revenue Department’s head will also have authority to reveal and exchange the information.
Moreover, the bill prevents those who are privy to the required information from disclosing or exchanging the information with others, with the exception of those who are authorised by law.
Those who ignore the authority’s request for tax information will be liable to pay up to 100,000 baht and 10,000 baht per day until they comply with the requirement.
If individuals intentionally fabricate information, they will be jailed for three months to seven years or fined 2,000200,000 baht, or both. Those who reveal or exchange information with others face up to one year in prison or up to 100,000 baht in fines.
The cabinet recently approved a draft bill on imposing withholding tax on local online vendors and an amended Revenue Code related to VAT collection on e-business operators with a physical presence outside of Thailand but earning income here.
The draft bill on withholding tax is being considered by the Council of State and will later be forwarded to the National Legislative Assembly.
Under the bill, financial institutions and digital financial service providers will be required to report transactions of their customer accounts that have more than 3,000 money transfer transactions a year or more than 200 such transactions with a total value of at least 2 million baht a year.
The measure is intended to determine if online vendors are understating their withholding tax payments.
Under the amended code, foreign-based digital platform operators providing services (including online games, sticker downloads, online advertisements, digital content and online hotel bookings) for Thai consumers are liable for value-added tax.