BANGKOK: The Revenue Department (RD) of Thailand is considering ways to improve and increase revenue collection from businesses operating in electronic commerce (e-commerce).
In the past few years, the RD has launched several attempts to include e-commerce business operators into the Thai tax system. It is planning to strip tax-exemption of goods worth under 1,500 THB (44 USD) for businesses operating in e-commerce without presence in Thailand.
According to the Ministry of Commerce, revenue collection from businesses has declined recently. The Thai Government has considered imposing new income tax for e-commerce operators without business registration in Thailand. The maximum tax will be 15 percent instead of the current 50 percent for all businesses.
The RD will ask banks and money-transfer mediators to collect taxes from businesses operating in e-commerce. It will also require online banking users to state purpose of the transactions.
The new regulations will allow the revenue collection from both domestic and foreign businesses for all transactions made in Thailand. Foreign businesses that do not register their activities in Thailand but earn money from online advertising have to pay income tax of 15 percent for the RD.
Meanwhile, e-commerce businesses with revenue worth over 1.8 million THB (52,770 USD) are required to register for the value added tax (VAT).
