Thailand’s Ruling Party Advises on Crypto tax Regulations

As Thailand has proposed a 15% tax gain on crypto and is working assiduously to impose it, Thai ruling party MP, Watanya Wongopasi, has urged the department in charge, to carefully study the market before implementing the tax proposal.

Imposing a Crypto Tax Regime Could Deter Investors

This came in a Facebook post by Wongopasi where she summarized the discussion of a virtual meeting of Thailand’s Committee on Monetary Affairs, Finance, Financial Institutions, and Financial market on crypto taxation.

The politician urged the Excise Department to carry out its due diligence before taxing the crypto industry.

Another participant at the virtual meeting, Paiboon Nalinthrangkurn, the chairman of the Federation of Thai Capital Market Organisation, noted that imposing a tax regime on crypto and stock trading would cause the market liquidity to shrink by as much as 40%.

He added that imposing such taxes could also discourage foreign investors from trading in those fields.

The founder of iTax, Yutthana Srisavat, was also present at the meeting. To him, the authorities should be thinking of imposing a corporate tax or a VAT instead of imposing taxes on the gains made through crypto tradings. 

Srisavat highlighted that the decentralized nature of the space would make it difficult to collate information about those carrying out crypto transactions.

Thai Regulators to Focus on Crypto

Thailand’s Excise Department noted that it wants to shift its long-time focus on stock to another direction, crypto. The department assured it would do its due diligence before imposing any new tax regime. 

The president of the Thai Fintech Association, Chonladet Khemarattana, called on the government to impose a free market so that they can compete with other countries.

This is not the first time that the Thai government has been advised against imposing a strict crypto tax regime. The country’s former SEC executive Tipsuda Thavaramara had warned against the move saying the proposal was flawed.

Notably, another Asian country working on imposing a tax regime in South Korea is proposing a 20% tax on crypto gains by 2023.