The chief of the Revenue Department's Bang Rak district office where the allegedly fraudulent value-added tax (VAT) refund claims worth 3.6 billion baht took place complained his office has been treated unfairly during the investigation.
"I think we have received unfair treatment in this case as we treated the refund claims in question the same way as in other exporters' cases. There was no irregularity, but it seems the Revenue Department is the only agency being investigated," said Supakij Riyakarn, head of the unit, when he met with Prasit Suebchana yesterday, chairman of the fact-finding committee and the Finance Ministry's inspector-general.
The Finance Ministry recently asked the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) to probe some 50 juristic persons who allegedly sought fraudulent VAT refunds worth several billions of baht from August last year to April this year.
Gangs reportedly set up bogus export companies and filed falsified documents that indicated inflated product prices to the Customs Department to claim VAT refunds. These companies are believed to have worked together to commit the fraud.
The fraud was carried out using a loophole under Section 19 of the Customs Act, stipulating the VAT collected on imported materials used to produce exported goods can be claimed.
"Whether the VAT refund claims are done in a correct manner does not depend on the Revenue Department. If filers don't have an export document, the department will not refund their tax claims. Customs Department officials are the experts about [export and import] product prices. Why didn't they check this when those exporters showed them their documents. It's not the Revenue Department's duty to know if the prices are too expensive or too cheap," he said. "The investigation should extend to the Customs Department as well."
Mr Supakij said the VAT refund claims process begins when the Revenue Department checks export-related documents including tax invoices and letters of credit, and the refund will be made when all required documents are filed.
The Bang Rak office already investigated a case where one person was named to be associated with several companies but it found no irregularity, he said, adding it is normal in Thailand for one person to hold a stake in several companies.