Thailand Tax Authorities Waive A 7% VAT On Individual Cryptocurrency Investors

The recent criticism over the newly introduced legislation has been pushing things in many countries towards potential regulation of cryptocurrencies. One of them is Thailand, where the tax authorities recently waived a value-added tax (VAT) on individual cryptocurrency adopters.

The VAT was first drafted in mid-March this year when the governmental decree to the fast-tracked legislation was first adopted. However, the official proposed tax framework for cryptocurrencies was revealed yesterday by the Thai finance minister Apisak Tantivorawong, stating that investors will be required to pay 7% in VAt and 15% capital gains tax on any returns.

Despite the 7% VAT tax, the official reminded that every investor is liable to pay a 15% capital gains tax which is deemed ‘withholding tax’ on income earned in the transaction. The report also suggested that adopters will only see tax relief on transactions if they decide to transact on cryptocurrency trading platforms approved by authorities.

One excerpt from the report reads the following:

The Revenue Department will waive value-added tax for people trading in cryptocurrencies on exchange markets approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Aside from this, the new law also mandates that all the private companies launching ICOs are liable to pay corporate income tax on their finances which are raised from fundraising. This is what initiated an ICO shakedown in Thailand and what made a lot of businesses accuse against ICO-related fundraisings ahead of new SEC regulations related to fundraising via ICOs.