Do You Have A Company Carrying on Business in Thailand? You may Claim Tax Return in Thailand

But for that the first and foremost thing that you need to do is ensure flawless accounting as then you can avoid legal hassles during auditing, avail tax benefits by submitting accurate reports and focus more on your business.

Next should be arrangement of these many documents;

• Company’s certificate of incorporation
• Company’s registration documents (affidavit, MOA, and shareholders list, etc.)
• Proof of nationality, including passport

If your company is registered in the VAT system:

• Por. Por. 01 (Vat Registration
• Por. Por. 09 (Vat Amendment)
• Por. Por. 20 (VAT certificate)

Monthly Accounting filing during the year

• Por.Por. 30, 36 (the recent 3 months)
• PND 1, 3, 53 (the recent 3 months)
• Social Funds filing (the recent 3 months)
• Half Yearly Report (also known as PND.51); if any

Financial records

• Sales Tax Report
• Purchase Tax Report
• Payment vouchers & Receipts
  • For receiving
  • For paying
  • Withholding Tax slip(s) received from

Prior to this, you must know that;

1. The Ministry of Finance that administers the majority of the tax collections.
2. Any Thai or foreign company who has been carrying on an active business in Thailand, they must submit tax returns or payments twice a year.

When you are filing corporate income tax or tax return, it is important to know what should be included and excluded. While you will get hundreds of statement about the inclusion, there will be hardly any that speaks of the exclusion. I have composed a list of deductible expenses hereunder;

1. Ordinary and essential expenses; however, the deductible amount is allowed at a special rate:
   • Research and Development expense: 200% deduction
   • Job training expense: 200% deduction
   • Equipment for the disabled: 200% deduction
2. Donations of up to 2% of net profits;
3. Interest, but not the ones on capital reserves or funds;
4. Bad debts;
5. Provident fund contributions;
6. Net losses that are carried forward from the past 5 accounting periods;
7. Taxes, but not Corporate Income Tax and Value Added Tax paid to the Thai government;
8. Wear and tear;
9. Entertainment expenses of up to 0.3% (gross receipt), but not more than 10 million baht;
10. Tax deductions on donations that are made to the public education institutions, and also for public parks maintenance and others;
11. The following depreciation rates shall in no case exceed the percentage. But if a company adopts a particular accounting method, the depreciation rates may vary from one year to another.
    Types of Assets Depreciation Rates
    Building 5% (durable building), 100% (temporary building)
    Cost of acquisition of depleted natural resources 5%
    Cost of acquisition of lease rights 10% (no written lease agreement), 100% (written lease agreement having no renewal clause)
    Other depreciation except for land and goods 20%
    Computer & accessories
    • SMEs
    • Other business
    • 40% (initial allowance) on the acquisition date
    • Over 3 years depreciation
12. Further, the below-mentioned items shall not be considered as the expenses when calculating the net profits for CIT submission;
    • Fund, but not provident fund
    • Reserves (exceptions applied)
    • Entertainment and/or service fees
    • Fine or/and surcharge, income tax of a juristic partnership
    • Remuneration for assets
    • Expenses that aren’t made for making profits or even for the business
    • Interest paid to equity
    • Damages claimable for insurance
    • Value of depleted natural resources
    • A part of the shareholder’s or partner’s salary
    • Cost of purchase of asset and expense related to the sale of asset

Now that you know what must be deducted you can go ahead with the calculation. However, as for the exclusion of the dividends, please note that it will be applicable only if the shares are acquired in at least three months before getting the dividends.