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A. Corporate
Income Tax All companies registered under Thai law are subject to taxation as stipulated in the Revenue Code and are subject to income tax on income earned from sources within and outside of Thailand. Foreign companies not registered or not residing in Thailand are subject to tax only on income derived from sources within Thailand. Normal business expenses and depreciation allowances, at rates ranging from 5 % to 100 %, depending on the item, or at rates under any other acceptable depreciation method, are allowed as deductions from gross income. Inventory must be valued at cost or at market price, whichever is lower. Net losses can be carried forward for up to five consecutive years. Interest payments on some foreign loans may be exempt from a firms income tax. Inter-corporate dividends are exempt from tax on 50 % of dividends received. For holding companies and companies listed on the SET, dividends are completely exempt, provided the shares are held three months prior to and after the receipt of dividends.
No deduction is permitted for any expenditure that is determined on the basis of net profit (e.g. bonuses paid as a percentage of net profit) at the end of an accounting period. Depreciation of assets of limited companies and partnerships is based on cost. The rates of annual depreciation permitted by the law generally vary from five to 20 years. Entertainment and representation expenses are deductible up to maximum limits as a percentage of gross sales, or of paid-up capital at the closing date of the accounting period, whichever is greater. Taxes are due on a semi-annual basis within 150 days of the close of a six-month accounting period, and employers are required to withhold personal income tax from their employees. Except for newly-incorporated companies, an accounting period is defined as a duration of 12 months. Returns must be accompanied by audited financial statements. A corporate taxpayer must file a half-year return and pay 50 % of the estimated annual income tax by the end of the eighth month of the accounting period. Failure to pay the estimated tax or underpayment by more than 25 % may subject the tax payer to a fine amounting to 20 % of the amount in deficit. Failure to
file a tax return, late filing or filing a return
containing false or inadequate information may subject
the taxpayer to various penalties. Failure to file a
return, and subsequent non-compliance with an order to
pay the tax assessed, may result in a penalty equal to
twice the amount of tax due. Penalties are due within 30
days of assessment. Personal income tax is applied on a graduated scale as follows:
Individuals residing for 180 days or more in Thailand for any calendar year are also subject to income tax on income from foreign sources if that income is brought into Thailand during the same taxable year that they are a resident. Exchange control laws stipulate that all foreign exchange earned by a resident, whether or not derived from employment or business in Thailand, and brought into Thailand, must be sold to or deposited with commercial banks within 15 days, unless permission for an extension is granted. Personal income taxes and tax returns must be filed prior to the end of March of the year following the year in which the income was earned. A standard deduction of 40 %, but not in excess of Thai Baht 60,000.-, is permitted against income from employment or services rendered or income from copyrights. Standard deductions ranging from 10 % to 85 % are allowed for other categories of income. In general, however, taxpayers may elect to itemize expenses in lieu of taking standard deductions on income from sources specified by law.
The following annual personal allowances are permitted (All amounts in Thai Baht):
Only three children per tax payer family qualify for the child allowance, but this limitation applies only to children born on or after January 1,1979. Therefore, in counting the number of children, a child born prior to 1979 can also be counted. For example, a taxpayer with four children born before 1979 continues to qualify for an aggregate allowance of Thai Baht 60,000.-. A fifth child, born in 1979, would not qualify. Additional taxes can be assessed, within a period of two years from the date of filing a return, and up to five years for tax evasion or tax refund. If an individual fails to file a return, the assessment officer may issue summons within a period of 10 years from the filing due date. C. Value Added
Taxes (or Specific Business Taxes) Under the new tax regime, value added at every stage of the production process is subject to a seven percent tax rate. Those who are affected by this tax are: Producers, providers of services, wholesalers, retailers, exporters and importers. VAT must be paid on a monthly basis, calculated as: Output tax - Input tax = Tax paid where output tax is the VAT which the operator collects from the purchaser when a sale is made, and input tax is the VAT which an operator pays to the seller of a goods or service which is then used in the operators business. If the result of this calculation is a positive figure, the operator must submit the remaining tax to the Revenue Department not later than 15 days after the end of each month. However, for a negative balance, the operator is entitled to a refund in the form of cash or a tax credit, which must be paid in the following month.
The SBT is computed on the monthly gross receipts at the following rates:
4.) Remittance Tax However, outward remittances for the purchase of goods, certain business expenses, principal on loans to different entities and returns on capital investment, are not subject to an outward remittance tax. The tax does not apply to dividends or interest payments remitted out of Thailand by a company or partnership; these are taxed at the time of payment. Section 70 of the Revenue Code addresses income paid to foreign juristic persons. When a company or partnership incorporated under a foreign law and not carrying on business in Thailand receives assessable income paid either from or in Thailand, the payer is usually required to deduct income tax at a rate of 15 % of the gross remittance. In 1992, standard deductions, which used to vary with each type of income, were abolished, making the flat 15 % rate effective on all assessable income except for dividend income, on which the rate of the withholding tax was reduced from 20 % to 10 %. There is no withholding tax on capital gains or on the share of profit paid to foreign investors in mutual funds, if in the SET. Physical remittance of funds may not be necessary in order to incur either the dividend or interest tax liabilities, which may be incurred by making book entries.
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10110, Thailand
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