Thai Finance Ministry Says Tax Departments To Join Forces

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

13 November 2001

The Thai Finance Ministry revealed on Friday that it is preparing to link the online databases of the Excise, Revenue, and Customs departments in an effort to clamp down on rising tax evasion.

Speaking at a meeting of senior Excise department officials last week, Deputy Finance Minister Suchart Jaovisidha praised the initiative, explaining that it would offer one-stop access to information on any taxpayer dealing with one or all of the departments.

'In 1995 when I was director-general of the Revenue department, I asked for co-operation from the then director-general of the Customs department to link the databases of our two departments but did not receive it,' Mr Suchart explained to the Bangkok Post. 'If, at that time, I had received the co-operation, we would be able to collect a lot of the additional taxes.'

The move follows a World Bank recommendation that the Finance Ministry consolidate the Revenue and Excise departments, made earlier this year. No mention was made of the country's Customs department, and although the World Bank gave no supporting rationale for its exclusion, tax experts in Thailand feel that it was due to fears of increased corruption.

In stark contrast with the situation in many other countries, government revenue collections in Thailand are ahead of target for this fiscal year, a fact which has been attributed to more tax collected on gasoline, increased hoarding of cigarettes and tobacco products by vendors fearing future tax increases, and more efficient suppression of smuggling.

However, despite this the Finance Ministry is eager to increase the tax base, and is reportedly considering extending the collection of excise taxes, as at present only around 10 categories of products are subject to the tax. Goods which are harmful to the environment are understood to be a priority.

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