Phuket Business: Tax filing deadline nears

PHUKET: With the peak of the Thai hot season fast approaching, the Personal Income Tax (PIT) filing deadline is also nigh.

Usually, the deadline is March 31, but since the last day of March this year falls on a Sunday, income earners in the Kingdom have been given until Monday, April 1 to file their paper returns, or until Tuesday, April 9 if they file electronically.

Speaking at a recent seminar for Thai and foreign tax payers, Dr Satit Rungkasiri, director-general of the Revenue Department (RD), announced that tax forms and respective instructions are available in English via the RD’s website (see details at the end of this story).

Dr Satit stated: “The Revenue Department has introduced the English version of the PIT return forms PorNgorDor (PND) 90 and 91, as well as a guide explaining how to fill in these forms.

“This will help to facilitate the tax filing process for both Thai and foreign taxpayers who work in Thailand.”

Meanwhile, the RD has amended the rules of personal income tax filing for married couples, allowing spouses to file all types of income separately.

Although a wife could previously file her salary income separately, she was required to file other types of income, such as passive income from assets, jointly with her husband.

Applicable to income received in the 2012 tax year and onwards, this is the first time that the RD has allowed each spouse to choose to declare all of their personal income separately; file separately but only for employment (and jointly for other income sources); or file everything jointly.

How a couple should file will depend on their specific circumstances.

When filing separately, and the couple cannot identify whose income it is, the husband and wife must include one half of such income in their own return.

However, if the unidentified income falls under Section 40(8) of the Thai tax code – including income derived from business, commerce, or transport – the couple can agree upon the proportion of such income allocation, provided that the combined income remains the same.

If the proportion is not agreeable, each of them must include one half of such income in their own return.

There are a few deductions spouses can claim. These include a child allowance of 15,000 baht per child, per spouse. The maximum amount per child is 34,000 baht per child, which includes a child education allowance of 2,000 baht per child, per spouse (17,000 baht per spouse, per child in school). The other type of deduction is the home mortgage interest allowance of 100,000 baht per spouse (a combined maximum amount of 200,000 baht).

Ms Jitmanee Suwannapool, RD Spokesperson and principle advisor on Tax Base Management, and said that the RD encourages e-filing because it is fast, convenient and available 24 hours everyday.”

She added that owed tax payments can be made with credit cards through some participating banks such as Siam Commercial Bank, Kasikorn Bank, Bangkok Bank and Krungthai Bank, which effectively extends actual payment from between 45 to 51 days.

The spokesperson concluded: “Our experience has shown that the most common mistake in filing personal income tax returns is income understatement.

“The RD can easily crosscheck the withholding of income by the payer. Therefore, taxpayers should keep their withholding tax certificates.”

Mistakes in reporting can result in additional liability, she said.

For more information in English language about tax filing, including forms and instructions, go to the RD website and click the English button in the top horizontal menu bar, then click “Personal Income Tax: Fileable Tax Return For Tax Year 2012” link in the ‘What’s New’ section on the left hand side.