Information that will be helpful for your tax and business duties in Thailand.
Thai tax filing runs on a fixed cycle: a set of withholding and VAT returns every month, and a handful of larger returns once or twice a year. Below is the calendar we work to for our clients, the sections of the Thai Revenue Code that sit behind it, and what filing late costs.
Supreme Life Accounting will outline certain administrative points and provide some, as it were, “meat on the bones”:
Your obligation to file an annual return and pay tax
All legal entities (including partnerships) are expected to submit their yearly PND50 tax returns and any associated payments within 150 days of the end of an accounting period in accordance with Section 68 of the Thai Revenue Code (TRC).
The TRC’s Section 68 is reprinted below:
“All juristic companies or partnerships shall file returns in the form prescribed by the Director-General for the purpose of computing tax payable in respect of the accounting period and shall pay the tax at the same time” is the rule that states that returns must be filed and the tax paid within 150 days of the end of an accounting period.
Please be aware that a firm must still file a tax return (PND50) with the TRD even if it has no corporate income tax (CIT) liability or tax to pay.
Supporting documents you must file with it
Juristic firms (and partnerships) are expected to file returns within 150 days of the final day of an accounting period, along with a computation revealing the necessary information and the pertinent supporting audited certified papers, in accordance with Section 69 of the TRC.
Below is a reproduction of Section 69 of the TRC with parenthesis and bold added:
“All companies and juristic partnerships shall file with the assessment officer returns in the form prescribed by the Director-General for the purpose of computing tax under… [the applicable sections of the Tax Law]…showing receipts, expenses, net profits and other information, together with a balance sheet, profit and loss accounts, a statement of receipts and expenditures, or a statement of income and expenditures.”
Section 65 of the TRC is also given below:
“Net profits, determined by taking into account all revenue from or resulting from the business carried on in an accounting period and deducting therefrom all expenses in line with conditions stipulated in Sections 65 bis and 65 ter, shall be income liable to tax under this Division. [Exclusions apply] An accounting period must last for twelve months.
⚠ Late tax returns and payments are subject to penalties and surcharges.
According to the TRC, a penalty of THB 2,000 will be assessed for the late submission of the return and THB 2,000 for the late submission of the accompanying audited financial statements when a company submits a PND50 after the due date.
Additionally, a penalty equivalent to twice the amount of tax due will be assessed under Section 26 of the TRC. Additionally, Section 27 of the Tax Law stipulates that a surcharge of 1.5% per month (or a portion thereof) depending on the tax payable will apply when tax is paid after the due date.
Record keeping
A corporation must legally maintain registers, books of accounts, and supporting papers for a minimum of ten years under the TRC in order to be able to deliver any item to the TRD within this time limit.
Monthly filing deadlines
These returns cover the previous calendar month, so the return filed in February reports January. Paper filing falls on the 7th or the 15th. When the Revenue Department’s e-filing allowance is in force, electronic filers are given eight extra days; that allowance is granted by notification and renewed from time to time, so it is worth confirming it still covers the period you are filing.
| Return | What it covers | Paper | Online |
|---|---|---|---|
| PND 1 | Withholding tax on salaries, wages and other compensation paid to employees | 7th | 15th |
| PND 2 | Withholding tax on dividends, interest and similar payments | 7th | 15th |
| PND 3 | Withholding tax on payments to individuals in Thailand — consulting, rent, contractors, transport, insurance, management fees | 7th | 15th |
| PND 53 | Withholding tax on the same kinds of payments made to companies in Thailand | 7th | 15th |
| PND 54 | Withholding tax on payments to a foreign company not carrying on business in Thailand — royalties, licence and professional fees, interest, dividends, rent, service fees | 7th | 15th |
| PP 36 | Self-assessed VAT on services bought from suppliers outside Thailand | 7th | 15th |
| PP 30 | VAT return, if the company is registered for VAT | 15th | 23rd |
| Social security | Employer and employee contributions, if the company has staff | 15th | 15th |
A company with no withholding to report in a given month still files a nil return. Social security contributions are collected by the Social Security Office rather than the Revenue Department, and the Office has at times allowed online filers a few extra days of its own — the 15th is the date to work to unless an extension has been announced.
Half-year and annual deadlines
| Filing | What it covers | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| PND 51 | Half-year corporate income tax, calculated on the estimated profit for the full year | Within 2 months of the end of the first six months of the accounting period |
| PND 50 | Annual corporate income tax return, with the audited financial statements | Within 150 days of the end of the accounting period |
| Annual general meeting | Shareholders approve the financial statements | Within 4 months of the end of the accounting period |
| Financial statements to the DBD | Audited accounts filed with the Department of Business Development | Within 1 month of the annual general meeting |
| Shareholder list (Bor Or Jor 5) | Updated register of shareholders filed with the DBD | Within 14 days of the annual general meeting |
| PND 90 / PND 91 | Personal income tax return for an individual | 31 March, with online filers normally given until early April |
For the common 31 December year-end that works out as the annual general meeting by 30 April, PND 50 by 30 May on paper or roughly a week later online, and the audited accounts with the DBD within a month of the meeting. PND 51 for that same year-end is due at the end of August.
A deadline that falls on a weekend or a public holiday moves to the next working day.
Confused? Don’t panic!
Call us today and we can help get everything sorted so you can get back to doing what you do best.
