Thailand: Proposed income tax and VAT exemption on offering or trading of investment tokens

Tax exemptions for the offering (in the primary market) or trading (in the secondary market) of investment tokens

Offering or trading of investment tokens

Article Posted date 28 March 2023

The Thai Cabinet on 7 March 2023 approved a draft Royal Decree to exempt taxes on the trading of investment tokens (i.e., digital tokens that specify the right of a person to participate in an investment in a project or business). 

When promulgated, the Royal Decree will enable tax exemptions for the offering (in the primary market) or trading (in the secondary market) of investment tokens similar to the offering/trading of securities in the stock markets. The draft Royal Decree currently is under the review of the Office of the Council of State.

Key points approved by the Thai Cabinet include:

Covered persons
/entities
  • Companies or juristic partnerships that issue and offer investment tokens to the public in the primary market
  • Individuals, companies, or juristic partnerships that trade investment tokens in the secondary market


Tax measures
  • There would be corporate income tax and value added tax (VAT) exemptions on the gain and the VAT base derived from the transfer of investment tokens offered to the public, according to the digital asset businesses law (i.e., offered in the primary market), by companies or juristic partnerships.
  • If the offered tokens are a mix of investment tokens and tokens issued for other purposes, tax exemptions would apply only to the investment tokens, and the investment tokens must be separated from other tokens.  
  • There would be a VAT exemption on the trading of investment tokens in the secondary market. The VAT exemption is already available since 25 May 2022 for the trading of digital assets in an authorized secondary market, from 1 April 2022 to 31 December 2023.

Procedures and conditions
  • The procedures and conditions for the exemption would be announced by the Director-General of the Thai Revenue Department (TRD). 
  • Failure to comply with the procedures and conditions would result in a revocation of the tax exemptions, commencing from the utilization date.

Effective date
  • The law would have retroactive effect from 14 May 2018, which is the effective date of the Emergency Decree on Digital Asset Businesses B.E. 2561 (2018).

 

Read a March 2023 report prepared by the KPMG member firm in Thailand

 

 

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