The finance minister has ordered the Revenue Department to find a way to tax two children of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra on the 7.9-billion-baht gains they made from the Shin Corp share sale deal 10 years ago.
In 2007, the Revenue Department estimated that Thaksin's children had to pay 11.5 billion baht worth of taxes and fines based on their 7.9-billion-baht gains from the share purchase from the nominee Ample Rich. However, it could not collect the taxes from them due to existing rules and the issue of share ownership.
Apisak Tantivorawong said on Thursday that the Office of the Auditor General had proposed the Revenue Department exercise Section 61 of the Revenue Code to re-evaluate the personal income tax filings by Panthongtae Shinawatra and his sibling Pinthongta on the transaction. He subsequently instructed the Revenue Department to look into the possibility.
Section 61 is a general provision that allows officials to tax an income based on "any important document" showing that a person is the owner of the property and that property generates an assessable income.
The move followed the generally worded resolution by the Finance Ministry's committee on tax rulings on Monday. It said a re-evaluation of a person's suspicious tax payments had to be done within five years after his filing unless it was for the taxpayer's benefits.
Furthermore, the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions established in 2010 that Thaksin was the owner of the shares, not his children, in a ruling to seize the former prime minister's assets.
Since Thaksin's assets and any gains he made from the deal were seized by the ruling, it is not possible to tax his children on the same incomes. In 2011, the Revenue Department called off its attempt to tax the pair.
Mr Apisak said he ordered the Revenue Department to do its best by law in handling the case. "My policy is compliance with laws. I feel no pressure and it is a normal duty."