Tax collection surpasses 2019 target of Bt2 trillion

MONDAY, November 04, 2019

The Revenue Department collected Bt2.00931 trillion in tax for fiscal year 2019 (October 1, 2018 – September 30, 2019), which is Bt9.31 billion over the year's target of Bt2 trillion, said director-general Ekniti Nitithanprapas today (November 4).

“This is the first time in 7 years that we have exceeded the tax collection target,” he said, explaining that the robust performance was mainly the result of expanding by 10 per cent the tax collection base from approximately 10 million in 2018 to 11.7 million in 2019. The use of information technology also played a part, he added.
Ekniti said the department is planning to expand the individual tax collection base to 14 million people in the next 3 years, while the juristic tax base will be widened from 460,000 to 600,000 payers.
“The additional 140,000 juristic tax payers comprise small and medium enterprises,” he said, adding that “Our target for next year will be set at Bt2.116 trillion”.
When asked about the progress of replacing the Long Term Equity Fund (LTF) with Sustainable Equity Fund (SEF), Ekniti said that the department is considering an adjustment to its tax structure in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and Bank of Thailand.
“The reason for replacing LTF is that it mainly benefits high-income earners with tax break, thus creating inequality in the society while the SEF will help reduce the income gap. We need further studies to ensure that it will have no adverse effect to the system,” he said.