Officials use IT to catch tax dodgers

Officials use IT to catch tax dodgers

The Revenue Department has adopted an IT system to track taxpayers with irregularities in their tax payments as part of its effort to increase collection efficiency and crack down on tax avoidance.

Officials will perform follow-up checks on returns tagged by the system as suspicious, said director-general Prasong Poontaneat.

The department sets the criteria for what are deemed irregularities, and the computer system will alert officials once it finds a return in which the criteria are met, he said. 

The new system has been used in some areas of Bangkok since October and it will be fully implemented across the country next month.

The department created a balance audit system to allow the Regional Revenue Office and Bureau of Tax Supervision and Audit Standards to be able to launch inspections of tax payments, in addition to the Area Revenue Office's balance examination process.

In the past the Area Revenue Office had full authority in deciding whether a tax payment was correct.

Mr Prasong said the Revenue Department would also review its rules and regulations to help department officials avoid potential confusion in clarifying practices.

These attempts to improve tax collection efficiency are expected to pay off and increase the revenue collected by the department, he said, but acknowledged that economic circumstance played a role in tax revenue collection.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said last week that Thai economic growth would be likely to come in at 2-3% next year and 1% this year.

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