The Thailand Revenue Department launches a new service to directly share tax information with the Immigration Bureau

On November 18, 2020, the Revenue Department launched a new service to directly share the tax information listed below with the Immigration Bureau. The objective is to reduce paperwork and shorten the processing time for visa holders and companies to obtain officially certified copies of tax documents.

Background: When filing long-term visa extension applications, officially certified copies of the below tax documents are mandatory to support the visa application. The Revenue Department wanted to help minimize the complexity of the process of obtaining official certified copies of tax documents by launching a new service that will allow the Immigration Bureau to be able to access tax data and the status of the visa holder and company in order to verify that the taxes listed below are correctly filed and valid at the Revenue Department.

The types of tax documents that the Immigration Bureau can now verify under the new “e-Revenue Filing system” with the conditions and process, in brief, are as follows:

Types of tax documents the Immigration can verify:

1. Annual Personal Income Tax Return (PND.90 & 91) – tax document for visa holder
2. Monthly Salary Withholding Tax (PND.1) – tax document for the company (employer)
3. Monthly Value Added Tax  (PP.30) – tax document for the company (employer)

Conditions:

1. The visa holder/company must file the taxes through the Revenue Department “e-Revenue Filing system.” Note: If filing by hard copy at the counter of the Revenue Dept, this process cannot be implemented.
2. The information must belong to the Tax Payer (visa holder/company)

How to proceed:

1. The Tax Payer applies for a Consent ID or Consent Card from the “Data Linkage between the Revenue Department and Immigration Bureau system.”
2. The Tax Payer brings their Consent ID or Consent Card to the Immigration Bureau when submitting the visa renewal application at the Immigration Bureau.
3. The Immigration Bureau uses the Consent ID or Consent Card to access the Revenue Department system and review the applicant’s tax information.

Note:

1. The Consent ID or Consent Card will be valid for 15 days upon receipt from the system.
2. Initially, the tax items that can be verified under this system will only have a 2-year window from the launch of the system. This means the tax items that the Tax Payer can request for verification cannot predate November 2018. This may change in the future.

Important Remark:

1. As of now, we understand that only the Immigration Bureau in Bangkok will use the new system launched by the Revenue Department. This means that only visa extension applications filed at the Immigration Bureau in Bangkok will be eligible. However, at this time, the Immigration officers’ ability to access the new system is very limited.  We highly recommend that clients continue to provide the official certified copies of the tax documents when filing visa extensions until the Immigration officers can fully access and use the new system.
2. The Immigration Office at the One Stop Service Center and other provinces have NOT yet started to use this method. We understand that they need to have the proper training to use the Revenue Department system and need to receive the necessary equipment.  We will monitor and advise if and when this method will be implemented countrywide.