Thai Revenue Dept in talks with Microsoft to make tax system completely digital
The Revenue Department is planning to create a digital tax data repository as well as develop a chatbot to provide standardised answers to tax-related queries.
The department is currently in talks with Microsoft in creating a chatbot based on its AI ChatGPT technology.
Lavaron Sangsnit, the department’s director general, said the digital repository will consolidate various tax documents from the department into one place, making it easy to access data via the chatbot. This initiative aims to provide consistent answers and cut down on tax-related disputes, benefiting taxpayers who require accurate information to ensure proper tax compliance.
ChatGPT, created by OpenAI and Microsoft, is a digital text analysis system that can process a vast amount of data from different sources like books, Wikipedia articles, computer programs, and conversation logs. The chatbot was launched in late November 2022 and is designed to answer questions and solve problems for users via human-like interactions, covering a wide range of topics from providing simple information to solving maths problems, providing basic codes and even composing songs and comedy skits.
The department has also simultaneously developed a digital tax roadmap to bring the country’s more than 10 million taxpayers into the digital tax system. It will also put in place service providers to make it more convenient for taxpayers to file their taxes and reduce errors. These service providers will deliver electronic tax invoices on taxpayers’ behalf and store digital tax invoices.
The system is expected to be implemented next year, and by 2025, large-scale businesses will be required to submit purchase and sales tax receipts and issue electronic tax invoices.
By 2027, all business operators in Thailand will be added to this digital system.
According to the Budget Office, the government is projected to earn a net revenue of 2.49 trillion baht this year. Of this, 61.3% will come from tax collection, 22.7% from the Excise Department and 3.9% from the Customs Department. The rest of the revenue will be collected by other agencies.
In the first eight months of the 2023 fiscal year (October 2022-May 2023), the Revenue Department collected 1.30 trillion baht, which exceeded its target by 11.5% or 134 billion baht.
