The end of the waiver of the financial transaction tax will not affect stock trading, but should ensure fairness in the tax system, according to Finance Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith.
On Tuesday the cabinet approved a draft law to slap a financial transaction tax on individual stock investors' share sales, ending more than 30 years of waivers.
The financial transaction tax on share sales by individual investors trading on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) has been on the books for more than 30 years, but the government has consistently waived it to support market development.
The collection comes under the Revenue Department's regulations, which require the payment of a 0.1% specific business tax on securities trades and a related local tax of 10% of the specific business tax, bringing the total financial transaction tax to 0.11% per share sold.
Mr Arkhom said the cabinet approval did not have a psychological impact on the local bourse as this potential change had been reported since last year.
He said the Revenue Department will impose the tax starting next year.
In the first year, it will require the payment of a 0.05% specific business tax on securities trades and a related local tax of 10% of the specific business tax, bringing the total financial transaction tax to 0.055% per share sold.
From Jan 1, 2024, the department will require the payment of a 0.1% specific business tax on securities trades and a related local tax of 10% of the specific business tax, bringing the total financial transaction tax to 0.11% per share sold.
Department director-general Lavaron Sangsnit said the financial transaction tax would result in higher overall costs to stock investors of 0.22%, but this is lower than levies in some other regional stock markets.
For the first year of the tax enforcement, the rate is 0.055%, which will raise investors' financial transaction costs to a total of 0.195%, said Mr Lavaron.
The SET has a market capitalisation of around 20 trillion baht, up from around 900 billion baht in 1991.
The market has around 5 million stock trading accounts, of which 1 million are active.