DBD, Revenue Department join forces to crack down on illegal businesses

The Department of Business Development (DBD) is joining forces with the Revenue Department to facilitate legitimate businesses and prevent and suppress illegal business operations in all forms.

The two agencies are preparing to link the information they hold before analysing it and conducting inspections of high-risk businesses that fail to comply with the law. They also plan to bring partner agencies into the process to support legal enforcement.

Poonpong Naiyanapakorn, director-general of the DBD under the Commerce Ministry, said the department had held talks with Somsak Anuntawat, director-general of the Revenue Department under the Finance Ministry, to coordinate cooperation and improve working procedures to better facilitate the business sector.

One example is allowing juristic persons registered for value-added tax that wish to change their office address to submit registration requests at a single point through the DBD.

The two agencies will also cooperate in preventing and suppressing all forms of illegal business, with an emphasis on serious law enforcement. They will use the information held by both agencies for in-depth checks and strict enforcement under each agency’s legal authority.

Poonpong said the exchange of information between the two agencies would be the starting point for creating fairness for honest business operators and strengthening the national economy.

It would also build confidence among both Thai and foreign investors that Thailand has government agencies ready to promote, support and facilitate business, while creating a favourable business environment.

At the same time, those operating businesses illegally would be subject to strict prevention and suppression measures.

“The goal of this cooperation, apart from improving services, is for both agencies to accelerate information-sharing so that the prevention and suppression of illegal businesses delivers clear and concrete results,” he said.

“This will help stop foreign nationals from operating businesses in Thailand through Thai nominees, as well as prevent scammers from expanding their activities and causing wider damage to the country’s economy.”

The data to be linked includes tax-payment information, information on cases where registered office locations cannot be found, information on joint ventures and foreign juristic persons for checking financial statement submissions, information on VAT-registered juristic persons, and shareholder details.

After the data connection is completed, the DBD will analyse the information received and prepare to inspect high-risk businesses that do not comply with the law. It will also coordinate with partner agencies to enforce the relevant laws under each agency’s authority.

At present, the DBD and Revenue Department hold in-depth information on juristic persons nationwide. They have already linked business registration data, shareholder information, financial statement data and VAT registration information for juristic persons.

However, as many cases have involved Thai nationals holding shares on behalf of foreigners, while scammers posing as Thai and foreign business operators have used increasingly sophisticated methods to break the law, the two agencies need to work closely together to prevent and deter such illegal businesses.