The Finance Ministry is mulling an option to allow other state-owned banks to facilitate the offline registration process for the Rao Chana (We Win) scheme, aiming to reduce the congestion at Krungthai Bank (KTB) branches.
Long queues formed in front of KTB branches in rural provinces, such as Bueng Kan, Chon Buri and Nan, as people who do not have smartphones attempted to register for financial relief under the We Win scheme, according to local media reports.
KTB on Monday registered 112,981 people nationwide for the offline registration of the We Win scheme and has extended the registration process to March 5.
Finance Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith said he will discuss whether other state-owned banks could be designated offline registration points for the We Win scheme with the Fiscal Policy Office.
The Finance Ministry does not have any information on people who do not own smartphones and wants to register eligible recipients for the financial remedy.
The Finance Ministry is allowing offline registration for the We Win scheme from Feb 15-25 at KTB branches and more than 700 mobile service points nationwide.
Approved in January, the We Win scheme aims to provide 210 billion baht in financial handouts for 31 million people.
The key criteria for those receiving the 7,000-baht financial remedy for two months, with 1,000 baht disbursed per week, consists of being an informal worker without Social Security and a taxable income of no more than 300,000 baht per year, or a monthly income not exceeding 25,000 baht, under 2019 tax filing. Bank deposits must not exceed 500,000 baht.
Those who registered but failed to meet the eligibility criteria can seek reassessment online by using their 2020 taxable income as a reference point.
Applicants must submit their 2020 personal income tax filing via the Revenue Department's e-tax filing system within seven days of submitting an online eligibility reassessment.
Online registration for the We Win scheme started on Jan 29 and ended on Feb 12. There were more than 10.73 million registrants as of Feb 11, with 6.8 million eligible.
The 13.8 million state welfare cardholders do not have to register as the government will transfer the financial relief to accounts linked with the welfare cards.