Thailand proposes to tax foreign internet companies

BANGKOK, June 9 (Reuters) - Thailand on Tuesday approved a
draft bill requiring foreign digital service providers to pay a
value-added tax (VAT), becoming the latest country in Southeast
Asia to seek to boost tax revenues from international tech
companies.
Last month, Indonesia passed a law requiring big internet
companies to pay VAT on sales of digital products and services
from July, and in the Philippines a lawmaker introduced a
similar bill in parliament to tax digital services.
The Thai bill, which still has to be voted on by Thailand's
parliament, requires non-resident companies or platforms that
earn more than 1.8 million baht ($57,434.59) per year from
providing digital services in the country to pay a 7% VAT on
sales, deputy government spokeswoman Ratchada Thanadirek told
reporters.
Thailand is expected to add about 3 billion baht ($95.72
million) to its coffers annually from the move, which will
affect services such as music and video streaming, gaming, and
hotel booking, she added, without naming any companies.
"These businesses would've had to pay VAT if they had been
Thai, which is unfair," Ratchada said.
Thailand, Southeast Asia's second-largest economy, has
mulled taxing digital businesses for years, hoping to tap the
country's internet economy, one of the fastest growing in the
region.
Thanawat Malabuppha, president of the Thai e-Commerce
Association, told Reuters he welcomed the move, as it will help
level the playing field for rival Thai businesses.
"Anyone who makes money from Thai people should pay taxes to
the country," he said.
Analysts say the COVID-19 pandemic has accentuated a push by
governments around the world to tax internet companies, who
could see a boost in revenues as people stay at home during
global lockdowns.
Nearly 140 countries from the Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD) are negotiating the first
major rewriting of tax rules to take better account of the rise
of big tech companies such as Amazon AMZN.O , Facebook FB.O ,
Apple AAPL.O and Google GOOGL.O .
Southeast Asian regulators held talks last year on a
region-wide effort to tax tech giants more, while industry
groups have warned that over-regulation could blunt the region's
booming digital economy. = 31.3400 baht)