Thailand Will Track VAT Payments Using Blockchain

The versatile use of blockchain is in the daily cryptocurrency news again – this time in Thailand. In 2014, the Revenue Department of Thailand arrested many individuals and investigated more than 60 companies for defrauding the department out of $18.29 million worth of baht in value-added taxes (VAT). Since then, the department has been unable to track a majority of the tax defaulters, losing billions of dollars in the process.

However, as of recently, blockchain appeared to be the perfect solution for minimizing tax frauds. According to the director-general of the Revenue Department named Ekniti Nitithanprapas, blockchain is even trialed in his department to explore the use in tracking VAT payments.

Speaking to the Bangkok Post, Nitithanprapas said that they have set up a particular innovation lab in order to test the blockchain and its potential in minimizing such cases while drawing inspirations from its use-case in the verification of BTC transactions. As he stated:

“The blockchain is expected to help verify VAT invoices which would help root out fake invoices for VAT claims. For example, when a company buys products from a second company, the former will issue VAT invoices to the latter, and both firms can use blockchain to confirm the transactions.”

Aside from this, we can see blockchain in many similar scenarios. For example, one of the most popular auditing firms in the world – PwC – has also recognized the technology’s potential for detecting errors and frauds in tax filing, stating:

“Blockchain makes fraud and errors far easier to detect because the system provides clear and transparent information about transactions and items in the network. This could be particularly useful in tracking if and where VAT has been paid, and in doing so reduce VAT fraud.”

Therefore, Thailand’s blockchain pilot marks an important step towards achieving a full-fledged solution for minimizing tax evasion in the country, all by “learning and studying tax-cheating practices to efficiently examine tax payments and compel more people to enter the formal tax system,” as the chief concluded.