The electronic tax (e-tax) and single financial account scheme are expected to boost value-added tax (VAT) by at least 100 billion baht a year, the Revenue Department has said.
VAT from domestic purchases and services will increase by at least 30% once the e-tax and single financial account scheme are enforced, said department director-general Prasong Poontaneat.
The department in fiscal 2015 gathered 708 billion baht in revenue from VAT, of which 350 billion came from domestic consumption.
And while tax incentives to encourage small and medium-sized enterprises to maintain a single financial account will cost the government more than 20 billion baht in lost revenue, the department will gain from indirect taxes such as VAT after those SMEs enter the formal tax system, Mr Prasong said.
Under the single financial account scheme, registration with the department is required for SME operators who plan to take part in the programme. The registration period ends today.
Those with annual sales of up to 500 million baht that register with the department will be exempt from backdated tax scrutiny.
Registered SME operators with registered capital not exceeding 5 million baht and revenue of 30 million or less for the 2015 accounting year will have no tax burden for the 2016 accounting year, only 10% corporate tax for net profits exceeding 300,000 baht for the 2017 accounting year and tax exemption for net profits of no more than 150,000.
They will resume paying normal tax rates from 2018. SMEs are currently exempt from corporate taxes for net profits of no more than 300,000 baht, but pay 15% tax for net profits of 300,0001 to 3 million baht and 20% for net profits of more than 3 million.
Mr Prasong said the Revenue Department may not raise the current 7% rate of VAT if it brings in more revenue from the e-tax and the single financial account scheme.
As of yesterday, 430,000 SMEs -- the vast majority of those eligible to join the single financial account scheme -- had registered with the Revenue Department.
Regarding the progress of e-tax adoption, Mr Prasong said e-tax invoices and e-receipts are slated to be rolled out on Oct 1, 2016, with e-withholding tax to be introduced later on Jan 1, 2017.
E-tax is one part of the five-phase national e-payment system, in which the Any ID model -- which will enable people to transfer money and make financial transactions using their ID card, mobile number or email address -- and electronic data capture expansion are expected to start in the first half of this year, with all five modules to be implemented by the end of the year.
Under the e-tax module, the tax-collection agency will plug all e-payment transactions into its taxation data system to boost efficiency.
In addition, the Revenue Department will seek the cabinet's approval by June to enact laws authorising the department to request financial information from third parties to pave the way for connecting e-payment transactions to its database, he said.
In another development, the Revenue Department has extended the VAT filing period to June for those operators whose accounting period does not end on Dec 31, saving them the burden of being fined twice their VAT obligation plus annual interest of 18%.