Revenue Department wants more efficiency in collection of taxes
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PRASONG POONTANEAT, director-general of the Revenue Department, has instructed revenue offices around the country to increase efficiency in collecting taxes, such as by closely inspecting the invoices of famous restaurants and shops, especially those in d
This came after tax receipts from large companies, particularly in the oil and steel industries, were missed.
Recently, several businesses, and most construction material stores were found with inaccurate tax invoices.
“The International Monetary Fund has assessed that we have 10-14 per cent more tax revenue to be collected, or a ‘VAT gap’ of about Bt10 billion.
“Although this is not a huge amount, we have to enhance our efficiency, particularly in shops. Building-supply shops are in focus, as these have a chance to avoid tax invoices,” Prasong said.
About 228 revenue officers and advisers were invited to a meeting to set the tax collection management policy for the remaining five months of fiscal 2015 (May-September).
“Corporate income tax is the main tax we will collect for the rest of this fiscal year. The target is very high and Bt50 billion has been added to the target,” he said.
Corporate income tax is expected to be lower than expected in May and June given the political unrest and change in the economy since the same months of last year.
For the first seven months of this fiscal year, tax collections were Bt47 billion below target, but Bt10 billion above the same period of last year.
Tax revenue is expected to be no more than Bt16 billion below the Bt1.96-billion target for the whole of 2015.
The drop in oil prices dragged down tax on imported oil by about Bt60 billion while value-added tax is likely to be lower by about Bt40 billion.
Tens of billions of baht will likely be missed particularly from large oil companies. For example, PTT Plc is forecast to record a profit of about Bt50 billion, compared to Bt90 billion last year, leading to Bt10 billion lower corporate income tax.
The Revenue Department’s tax rolls have about 11 million individuals, 420,000 juristic persons and 600,000 businesses that are registered for VAT.
About 4,700 more operators have asked to register as juristic persons.
