Bit of Bitcoin: Thailand’s plan to tax cryptocurrencies

Taxation is no joke in Thailand, with imported goods carrying a 30 percent import duty and packages regularly stopped at the border to pay tariffs as well.

According to Nikkei Asian Review, the military-led government has seen another way to build up their coffers as well — by taxing cryptocurrencies.

The government announced plans to tax crypto-investors on March 27 after the weekly cabinet meeting. Finance Minister Apisak Tantivorawong said that the proposed plan is meant to keep the new financial system from being harnessed by those laundering money, trying to avoid taxes, or taking part in other criminal activities.

What the government has planned is that investors will need to pay seven percent of the value of the cryptocurrency to the government and another 15 percent in capital gains tax on annual tax returns.

Though Thai investors and companies raising funds were very excited about cryptocurrencies, the Bank of Thailand’s February ban on local banks investing or trading in the currencies put a pause on the craze.

Since then, there has been a move away from startups trying to raise capital in Thailand via cryptocurrency initial coin offerings (ICOs), with the companies most interested in that route choosing to register their companies in nearby, crypto investment-friendly Singapore instead. Some have also postpones their ICOs in Thailand until the cryptocurrency in landscape in the country becomes clearer.