Tax revenue likely to miss target this year
The Revenue Department expects tax collections for this fiscal year to fall short of the Bt1.79-trillion target by more than Bt160 billion based on operational results of major corporations that did not meet expectations, especially in the oil, automobile
Tax revenue for the first five months of the 2015 fiscal year was below target by Bt35 billion, or 5.7 per cent.
Prasong Poontaneat, director-general of the Revenue Department, said this year’s shortfall would be partly due to the sharp decline in crude-oil prices, which hurt the revenue of major oil companies. Meanwhile automobile and related industries were affected by the sluggish world economy.
"We have sought permission from the Finance Ministry to revise down the tax-collection target by Bt160 billion from the initial target of Bt1.96 trillion. However, the [actual amount] is likely to be considerably less than that. The Revenue Department will try to boost collection efficiency, plug tax loopholes, and collect from informal businesses that have not been paying taxes," he said.
"Corporate tax [payments] in the second half of fiscal year 2015 should reflect this year’s economic situation. The tax-revenue [situation] could improve slightly, but there are still external factors that must be considered, such as the cuts in tariff rates on 2,000 items by the Customs Department, the petroleum tax, and the reduction of personal income tax," he said.
The department will try to improve tax-collection efficiency and reduce evasion. There will be no more tax amnesties for business operators. The extension of the 7-per-cent value-added-tax rate should not be a problem, but a VAT increase would certainly help boost needed revenue, Prasong said.
So far, the department has received 90 per cent of personal-income-tax filings, which amounts to Bt4 billion to Bt5 billion more than last year. Most of the filings were via the Internet, which allows eight days beyond the end-of-March deadline, he said.
The Revenue Department is currently working on allowing up to 20 deductible items for personal income tax.
Prasong supports the idea of everyone filing income-tax returns even if they do not earn the minimum taxable income. This would allow the government to have a database that better reflects the actual situation so it could provide assistance to low-income groups.
He said he also supported the segregation of national and local tax-collection bases to allow local-administration agencies to improve their revenue-collection efficiency.
