NGO takes aim at ‘unfair’ tax charge
Group plans to petition premier for help
About 50 NGO members asked the Revenue Department to stop “unfair” taxes levied on them and vowed to seek help from the prime minister if their demand is not met.
The petition was submitted yesterday to the department’s director-general, Ekniti Nitithanprapas, via Tax Auditing Standards Division’s director Kriengsak Prasongsukarn.
Based in Chiang Mai, Wiwat Tamee is a veteran activist representing the Network of Indigenous Peoples.
His group, he said, has been sponsored by the Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth) to conduct activities to promote good health and better livelihoods among poor indigenous peoples.
The network, according to Mr Wiwat, was shocked to see a notification from the department demanding the organisation to pay 5.1 million baht in retroactive tax for a period of five years or have its assets seized.
He said the department’s officials asked him to sign the acknowledgement form for the tax collection so the tax would be halved, but he refused as he believes it is not right.
Mr Wiwat said he would be more happy to pay personal income tax as it is normal that his earnings would need to come under a tax appraisal.
He said the department treats the deal between ThaiHealth and his organisation as “hire of work”, under a commercial contract, in which a project worth more than 1.8 million baht is liable for valueadded tax.
The group asked the department to interpret the contract as an agency contract, where income taxes are normally applied.
“The public organisations and nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), sponsored by ThaiHealth, are not meant to make profits. Our work is in line with ThaiHealth’s concept of promoting people’s health,” he said.
Mr Wiwat said the department’s interpretation of the contract has caused damage to the NGOs and confusion among the public.
The dispute between NGOs and the department was not new and appeared to be settled. In July, Adm Narong Pipatanasai, who chairs ThaiHealth, had also made it clear in a letter sent to the department on Feb 10 last year that the foundation made agent agreements with these public organisations.
Kamron Chudecha, coordinator of the Health Promotion Movement, said other public organisations in nearly all areas have been pressured to pay unfair tax amounts.
“I want to question the Revenue Department’s work as they provide several measures that accommodate investors who make profits but solicit taxes from nonprofit civic organisations,” Mr Kamron said.
“If these bodies still receive unfair treatment, the state would lose groups of people who are working for society, reducing the government’s work burden and narrowing inequality,” he said.
He stressed if no progress is made to address the problem, a petition would be lodged with the premier to seek justice.
The department later invited the representatives for a brief meeting in which Mr Kamron later told the media the meeting led to a positive outcome.
The department will hold a press conference on the tax collection guidelines for this case later this month.