Owners of residential properties worth 40 million baht and cars worth 3 million baht can feel relieved after the Revenue Department’s new chief decided to call off a plan to investigate whether they have understated their income to pay less tax.
Director-general Prasong Poontaneat said he assumed that wealthy people who owned such luxury homes and cars had paid tax in accordance with their income.
The department’s planned tax avoidance crackdown against the affluent had created panic, hitting sales of luxury and residential properties.
Mr Prasong yesterday urged the department’s officials across the country to raise efficiency of tax collection for the remainder of the fiscal year ending Sept 30.
The department’s tax revenue is expected to miss the target by about 90 billion baht, he said.
“I've set for them the policy that we must put all our efforts into collecting tax for the remaining three months, but such collection must be done transparently. I would like officials to compromise with taxpayers and educate and adjust attitudes if they still pay less tax than they should,” Mr Prasong said.
The Revenue Department will
focus on large companies that are tax dodgers, he said, adding that some were in financial hardship amid the economic slowdown.
Mr Prasong said he would ask for cooperation from the Customs Department to increase efficiency in collecting tax, particularly value-added tax (VAT) on imported goods.
The tax revenue shortfall could also be attributed to the lower-than-expected economic growth, he said.
The revenue projection is based on GDP of 4.6%, but growth is likely to come in about 2% this year.
During the first eight months of this fiscal year, the government collected 1.36 trillion baht, which was 93.3 billion baht or 6.2% below the target.
Tax revenue collected by the Revenue Department and the Customs and Excise Department fell by 143 billion baht or 9.2% short of target.
The Revenue Department alone collected 1.07 trillion baht, missing its target by 87 billion or 7.5%.
Meanwhile, the Public Debt Management Office said in a statement that public debt at the end of May amounted to 5.53 trillion baht but declined by 51.3 billion from April.
May’s public debt accounted for 45.9% of GDP.