Blockchain aims to make tax evasion more difficult in Thailand.
The Thai tax authority plans to use blockchain technology to streamline tax payments in the next year.
The tax authority wants to use blockchain to improve their way of collecting taxes, rather than increasing taxes. The Thai economy is now gradually recovering
According to a report by the Bangkok Post, General Manager Lavaron Sangsnit stressed that new policies should not affect the country’s economic recovery and that tax hikes could bring the still fragile economy to a standstill.
The government’s goal is to raise $ 17.5 billion in fiscal 2020, 3.3 percent less than in 2019, when $ 18 billion was raised.
In 2021, the tax and customs authorities will also integrate blockchain technology. Sangsnit said blockchain will help these departments calculate tax debts, import duties and prices.
The three departments want to combine blockchain-based surveys in a single database. This is intended to make tax evasion more difficult
Since last year , the tax authority has been implementing blockchain technology to evaluate tax refunds for oil exporters. Oil exporters are required to pay excise taxes. Overpaid taxes can then be reclaimed when they have delivered the oil. The use of DLT technology is intended to make this process faster and more transparent for oil exporters.
Oil export revenues are a crucial part of the Thai government’s budget and amount to about $ 6.6 billion per year. That is around two thirds of all annual income.
Sangsnit said this new system should be fully operational for oil exporters by the first quarter of 2021.