THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

High-tech beer tax to boost govt revenue by Bt6bn

High-tech beer tax to boost govt revenue by Bt6bn

New technology to collect tax on beer will boost government revenue by Bt6 billion per year, says the Excise Department. The technology will be trialled next year to tax alcohol, before being rolled out to cigarettes, oil and other products.

Patchara Anuntasilpa, head of the Excise Department, revealed today (July 9) that the new system will replace manpower and outdated technology, helping to close flaws in existing tax collection.
The new “Direct Coding” technology will collect tax on canned beer and domestic bottled beer produced at all plants in the next year. It will then be extended to taxation of other products.
“We are using it first on beer products because beer is currently subject to tax on the 15th day of the month after it emerges the production plant. More importantly, no stamps or tax payment marks are displayed on the products, only a label on the side that says ‘tax already paid’, by which we cannot clearly verify whether tax has been paid or not. Our study shows that the new taxation method will help to boost tax revenue on beer by Bt6 billion per year," said Patchara.
Beer is currently taxed under a flow meter system installed in the brewery production line. This costs the department Bt100 million, has a limited lifetime and maintenance costs of Bt15-20 million per year. However, the flow meter system is not capable of measuring the amount of beer produced daily or the median losses for accurate tax calculation.

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