The government's revenue collection surpassed the target by 64.5 billion baht during the first three months of fiscal 2016, thanks largely to extra revenue of 40.3 billion baht from the first batch of payments for the 1800-megahertz licences.
The higher-than-expected revenue collection also indicates that the slew of government stimulus measures are paying off, director-general of the Fiscal Policy Office Krisada Chinavicharana said.
The government gathered 581 billion baht during the three months to December, 12.5% higher than targeted.
The impact of the 15,000-baht tax break for holiday shopping on state coffers will be seen later this month.
Recently, the Finance Ministry estimated that the holiday shopping tax deduction would boost consumers' spending by 150 billion baht during the festive season. The Revenue Department has estimated it will lose 4-5 billion baht in revenue from the special tax break, but this should be partly offset by higher value-added tax (VAT) and corporate income tax resulting from increased consumer spending.
VAT on consumption surged 11% year-on-year in December, he said, adding that this bodes well for consumer confidence.
Given the higher-than-targeted revenue, Mr Krisada said he was confident revenue collection would exceed the full-year target.
The Revenue Department mustered 357 billion baht for the October-December quarter, up from the same period last fiscal year, but 8.3 billion baht or 2.3% off target. For the three months, VAT, which amounted to 179 billion baht, was 3.7 billion baht below the target and corporate income tax totalling 92 billion baht fell more than 10 billion short of target.
The Excise Department earned 127 billion baht in tax revenue, 24.4% higher than the same period last fiscal year and 2.5% above the target.
The Customs Department collected 30.9 billion baht in revenue, up 2.1% over the same period of last fiscal year and 1.8% higher than targeted.
The contribution of state enterprises stood at 31.3 billion baht, 15 billion baht or 32.8% lower than the same period of fiscal 2015, but 3.2 billion baht or 11.6% higher than target.