Thailand Income Taxes, Personal, Corporate, VAT

There are links at the bottom of this page about personal and corporate income taxes, and sales tax aka Value Added Tax (VAT), from the Revenue Department website, which I would prefer to refer people do because it has a good English version, is fairly easy to understand, and is detailed. It's also authoritative, of course.

Generally:

If you work for a company registered in Thailand, then you will pay personal income tax, of course. I have found these personal income taxes to be quite reasonable, not very high. The percentage depends upon your income.

For sales of goods and provisions of services, you pay 7% VAT, but this is usually already included in the displayed prices. This is different than in some other countries I've lived in and visited where you see a sticker price on goods, but when you go to check out at the cash register, they add on the sales tax in addition. In Thailand, it is more conventional to display the prices on goods with the VAT already added. When you get your receipt, you may see that the goods are actually priced less and 7% is added, or else you might see the total and then something below which shows the total minus the VAT and then the VAT added. This is not always the case, and stores can add 7%, but this is usually the situation at major stores.

Many small shops and vendors such as in kiosks are actually on the black market and may not give a receipt or else can quickly write a hand receipt for you without mentioning VAT. The government doesn't seem to be worried about these small subsistence vendors. They typically may pay taxes when they import goods or buy from large suppliers, but there is also a sizeable aggregate economy of domestic cottage industries who stay under the radar, such as making and selling foods, clothes, and accessories on a small scale, so don't be surprised.

Exports are exempt from VAT, generally.

Actually, by law, VAT is 10%, but it has repeatedly been temporarily reduced to 7%, and has been 7% for as far back as I can remember. There are time periods in which it is reduced, and then the government looks at whether to extend the reduction.

The Revenue Department is very computerized and meticulous, so don't make the mistake of thinking otherwise.

There are many, many details to taxes, and above I just wanted to get into the main generalities of interest to most people. For more esoteric details, it's better to just refer you to the Revenue Department website.

The Revenue Department at www.rd.go.th has developed fairly detailed web pages on income taxes, with good translations into English, as follows:

Personal income tax

Corporate income tax

Value Added Tax (VAT)

Specific Business Tax (SBT)

(Notably, their web pages change from time to time, and the links die.)

 > Working, Company Setup, Business > Taxes

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