Department to enforce e-payment law threshold

Financial institutions are required to report transactions of customer accounts that hit the e-payment law’s threshold by the end of March 2020, says the Revenue Department.

The first information reported will be financial transactions occurring from after the legislation was publicised in the Royal Gazette on March 21, 2019 until the end of this year, said spokeswoman Sommai Siriudomset, adding that the following reports will be transactions made for the full year.

According to the law, each financial institution will be required to report transactions of customer accounts that receive either more than 3,000 money transfers a year or at least 400 money transfers with a total value of at least 2 million baht a year to the Revenue Department.

The law will be the department’s tool for preventing local online vendors, particularly those not in the tax system, from avoiding income tax payment.

In the event that financial institutions fail to comply with the e-business law, the Revenue Department’s chief has the authority to fine them up to 100,000 baht plus a maximum 10,000 baht a day until they report such information.

For revenue officials who reveal taxpayer information, they are subject to a prison sentence of up to one year and/or a maximum fine of 20,000 baht.

A source at the Revenue Department said the tax-collecting agency is taking aim at online vendors and merchants with a high amount of money transfers.

The department will use such money transfer transactions to consider the tax bills of those who understate income tax.

The department aims to add 170,000 individuals and juristic entities who do not pay income tax to the formal tax system for this fiscal year after it managed to add over 100,000 with tax payments of 1 billion baht to the system for fiscal 2019.