Revenue Dept may waive dividend tax

Chanitr Charnchainarong, executive vice president for SET’s Issuer and Listing Division, said yesterday that if dividend taxes were to be waived, it would encourage listed firms to pay out more returns as well as attract new investors. This way, more companies would go public as listed firms get to have more revenue and net profits derived from dividend income if it is not taxed. “Dividend tax waiver will encourage both local and foreign investors to invest more in the Thai stock market, allowing for high liquidity and promoting the country’s savings,” he said.
Chanitr added that as soon as the government cancels its deposit-protection measure, people would start seeking alternative investment options that have higher returns.
Currently, listed companies pay between Bt10 billion to Bt14 billion per year in dividend taxes. In 2010, listed companies handed out a total dividend of Bt350 billion, which translated to Bt10 billion in taxes.
Chanitr said that dividend payments for last year should be good, especially since firms in the telecom sector had announced that they would pay out special dividends as they had yet to invest in the high-speed 3G mobile network.
Sombat Narawuttichai, secretary-general of the Securities Analysts Association (SAA), said he believed that the total dividend paid by 126 listed companies in the second half of last year would be Bt110 billion more than the amount paid in the first half.
Meanwhile, Therdsak Thaveetee-ratham, head of research at Asia Plus Securities, said the broker expected as many as 411 listed companies to be capable of paying dividends, and that 190 firms had paid dividends in the first half of last year. Despite the flood crisis, he said, most listed firms should be able to pay dividends and that the dividend yield might be 3 to 3.5 per cent.