Summary
- The Thai government has announced that companies issuing digital tokens for investments will receive a corporate and value-added tax waiver.
- This decision is expected to result in the government losing more than $1 billion in tax revenue over the next two years.
- The new rules also seek to protect digital asset users by requiring entities offering crypto custody services to have measures in place that guarantee efficient custody of digital assets and keys.
Tax Waivers for Digital Asset Investment Tokens
Thailand’s government has said companies that issue digital tokens will receive a waiver that exempts them from paying corporate and value-added tax. According to a report, the Thai government anticipates losing just over $1 billion in tax revenue as a result of the waiver.
Relaxation of Tax Rules
Thailand-based companies that issue digital tokens for investments are set to receive a corporate and value-added tax waiver, the Thai government has reportedly said. As a result of the waiver, the Thai government, which is projecting investment token offerings worth $3.71 billion (128 billion baht) over the next two years, said it expects to lose more than $1 billion in tax revenue. According to a government spokesperson, Rachada Dhnadirek, such investment token offerings add to Thai companies‘ traditional capital-raising methods such as debentures, hence the cabinet’s decision to waive the taxes. The government’s nod to the tax waiver came just over a year after it announced the relaxation of tax rules for investments in digital assets. At the time, the country’s finance minister, Arkhom Termpittayapaisith, said the rule change would help promote and develop Thailand’s cryptocurrency industry. As per a March 2022 Reuters report,the new rules enabled „traders to offset annual losses against gains for taxes due on cryptocurrency investments.“ The report added that the rules would also „exempt a value-added tax of 7% for cryptocurrency trading on authorized exchanges.“
Protecting Digital Asset Users
Besides preserving the stability of the country’s financial system,the new rules also ostensibly seekto protectdigital assetusers. For instance ,Bitcoin .com News reportedin late Jan2023thattentitiesofferingcryptocustodyserviceswere nowrequiredtohaveinplacemechanismsthatguaranteethe“efficientcustodyofdigitalassetsandkeys .“Beforethis ,theThaiSecuritiesandExchangeCommissionhadissuedregulationswhichobligedcryptocompaniesto“informpotentialcustomersoftheinvestmentrisksintheiradvertisements .“