A case involving a massive tax bill for former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has its deadline for appeal extended on Tuesday.
The appeal extension follows the Central Tax Court's decision last month for the Revenue Department to revoke an order for Thaksin to pay about 17 billion baht in tax over the 2006 sale of a stake in Shin Corporation.
Both the plaintiff and the defendant were given 30 days after the court issued its ruling on July 18 to file an appeal. However, neither party had filed in time, and they sought an extension from the court.
On Tuesday, the court decided to extend the deadline for Thaksin until Sept 16 and for the prosecutors representing the Revenue Department until Sept 17.
A source at the court said both sides were expected to seek another extension, given the large amount of paperwork in the case.
On July 18, the court ruled that the department’s summoning of Thaksin’s children, Panthongtae and Pintongta, for a tax assessment under Section 19 of the Revenue Code was unlawful as both siblings were only proxies holding shares for their father, it said.
The department should have summoned Thaksin for the tax appraisal, but it failed to do so before the deadline, the court said.
Moreover, the transaction did not constitute a change of share ownership in Shin Corp. Thus, Thaksin remained the share owner and he was not liable to pay tax under Section 39 and Section 40(2) of the Revenue Code.
As a result, the tax assessment by revenue officials and the committee set up to review the former prime minister's appeal was unlawful.
The court ruled to revoke the department’s Por Ngor Dor 12 form demanding a 17.6-billion-baht back tax payment. However, the court said the officials had acted within their jurisdiction and were not held liable.
The tax notice was officially served in March 2017, and the ex-premier appealed the order the following month.
Thaksin, who was ousted as prime minister in a 2006 coup and now lives in exile, later filed a civil lawsuit with the Central Tax Court against the Revenue Department, Pongsak Methapitpat, Prapat Sanansilp and Pisit Srivarant who served on the committee reviewing his appeal.