The Finance Ministry expects to postpone the plan to slap a financial transaction tax on individual stock investors for a certain period because of unfavourable economic conditions, says permanent secretary Krisada Chinavicharana.
He said while the ministry stands ready to impose the tax, Thailand is struggling with the double whammy of the prolonged pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.
The financial transaction tax applicable for share sales by individual investors trading on the Stock Exchange of Thailand has been on the books for around 30 years, but has always been waived to support market development.
Earlier Finance Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith said the plan to end this tax waiver on share sales from the local bourse should help to expand the tax base and garner additional revenue for national development.
The financial transaction tax is 0.1%. In addition to the transaction tax, investors are subject to a related local tax, which means investors have to pay a total of 0.11% of the share sale.
Mr Krisada believes a total transaction tax rate of 0.11% would not have a significant impact on the market.
Earlier the Revenue Department estimated that 80-90% of stock investors would not be affected by this tax, as their total share sale transactions do not exceed 1 million baht a month.
The department is expected to provide a tax exemption for those with a sales transaction value of 1 million baht a month or less.
The tax is projected to apply to the amount of share sales value that exceeds 1 million baht. For example, if an investor's monthly share sales value exceeds 1 million baht by 1,000 baht, he or she would pay a transaction tax of 1 baht.
Revenue Department spokesperson Sommai Siriudomset said if the tax collection is postponed, it will not affect the department's revenue collection in fiscal 2022 as it has yet to incorporate revenue from this tax into its revenue forecast.
Mrs Sommai said the department made the calculation based on e-service tax revenue as that law took effect on Sept 1, 2021.
The department increased its forecast for e-service tax revenue this year to 8-10 billion baht from 5 billion previously.
