On 24 March 2020, the Cabinet of Thailand approved a new tax measures following the announcement of the stimulus package on 10 March 2020 in response to COVID-19 outbreak. The summary of a series of tax measures are following:

Corporate Tax

  • The corporate income tax filing deadline will be extended to either 30 August 2020 or 29 September 2020 depending on the original filing deadline of either 1 April 2020 or 1 July 2020.
  • The taxes related to the debt restructuring with non-financial institution creditors will be exempted.
  • Eligible small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can claim a 150% deduction for interest expenses incurred on loans obtained under a funding initiative to provide THB 150 billion in soft loans to SMEs with an interest rate of 2% for the first 2 years.
  • SMEs employers can deduct 300% of eligible salary costs paid to employees in the period from April 2020 to July 2020 for corporate income tax purposes.
  • Withholding tax (WHT) applied on payment for services, hire of work, certain commissions, and professional fees will be decreased from 3% to 1.5% for payments made from 1 April 2020 to 30 September 2020. The WHT will subsequently be reduced to 2% from 1 October 2020 to 31 December 2021 if the payment is made electronically.
  • The filing deadline of other taxes for affected companies will be extended by 3 months.
  • Tax relief provisions are available for donations given to support COVID-19 measures via the Revenue Department’s e-Donation system during 5 March 2020 to 5 March 2021and can claim cash or asset donations as a deductible expense for corporate income tax purposes up to 2% of the net taxable profit. Donation of assets is exempt from VAT for VAT operators.

Individual Tax

  • The individual income tax returns (Form PND.90/91) filing deadline will be further extended from 30 June 2020 to 31 August 2020 (previously extended from 31 March 2020 to 30 June 2020).
  • The health insurance premiums deduction will be increased to THB 25,000 from THB 15,000.
  • Individuals investing in a “super saving fund” who invest at least 65% of its net assets value in shares listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, during the period from 1 April 2020 to 30 June 2020 can deduct the actual investment amount, capped at THB 200,000, as an allowance for individual income tax purposes, provided that the investment in the fund will be held for at least 10 years.
  • Individuals can claim cash donations as a deductible allowance for individual income tax purposes up to 10% of the total income after deducting all other expenses.

Other Taxes

  • The filing deadline of excise tax by service companies will be extended by 1 month.
  • The filing deadline of excise tax for oil products companies will be extended to the 15th of the following month for 3 months.
  • The import duty for products related to the prevention and treatment of the COVID-19 pandemic will be exempted.
  • VAT payers participating in the “good exporter” program will receive VAT refunds faster than usual and VAT refunds will be granted within 15 days if VAT returns are filed via an e-filing system and within 45 days for paper filings.