Thai Govt to Grant Tax Waivers to Issuers of 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 for Investments in Digital Assets

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 seek to protect digital asset users. For instance, Bitcoin.com News reported in late Jan. 2023 that entities offering crypto custody services were now required to have in place mechanisms that guarantee the “efficient custody of digital assets and keys.”

Before this, the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission had issued regulations which obliged crypto companies to “inform potential customers of the investment risks in their advertisements.”

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Terence Zimwara

Terence Zimwara is a Zimbabwe award-winning journalist, author and writer. He has written extensively about the economic troubles of some African countries as well as how digital currencies can provide Africans with an escape route.