Two new notifications pertaining to the Land and Building Tax Act B.E. 2562 (2019) were published in the Government Gazette on May 29, 2020, detailing the criteria for classifying property utilization as residential or agricultural in order to determine the tax rates for these property types.Residential Property

On May 26, 2020, Thai Airways International PCL submitted a petition for business rehabilitation, including a list of creditors, to the Central Bankruptcy Court. The court accepted the petition for consideration on the following day, and has scheduled a hearing for 9:00 a.m. on August 17, 2020, to determine whether Thai Airways should enter business rehabilitation. The court is now in the process of sending a copy of Thai Airways’ petition to the creditors whose names appear in the creditor list.

The Royal Decree on Land and Building Tax Reduction B.E. 2563 was published in Thailand’s Government Gazette on June 10, 2020, and took effect the next day. The decree, intended to provide additional relief to the Thai economy as it begins to recover from the COVID-19 crisis, applies a 90% reduction to land and building tax payments for 2020 which are due to be paid by August 31, 2020 (previously extended from April 30, 2020). Owners of land or buildings are therefore only required to pay 10% of the land and building tax owed for 2020.

The COVID-19 crisis has posed questions for the insurance industry on a vast scale. From individuals who have actually contracted the virus, to those rendered unemployed by the economic crisis, to businesses that have been forced to close as a result of shutdown measures, almost no one has escaped loss of one form or another, and as the situation steadily returns to normal, increasing numbers of people are questioning whether  those losses are covered under insurance policies.

Dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic has taken top priority for almost every country in the world. In Thailand, even though the strength of the country’s health security measures has been ranked sixth-best globally, COVID-19 hit hard, and the country has only just begun to detail with the effects of the outbreak.    

As the world economy struggles to cope with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies and other creditors are exploring options to manage non-collectible debts. However, the tax costs and consequences of different approaches to settling debts are often overlooked when they should be key considerations, and unwary creditors are at risk of unexpected surprises. This article will analyze some common debt settlement options and their tax consequences.Debt Offset

On April 16, 2020, the director general of the Thai Customs Department issued Notification No. 81/2563, which introduces new customs measures intended to facilitate the operations of importers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The new notification replaces and expands on a previous one (Notification No. 47/2563), issued in March 2020, which allowed importers of goods from China to submit photocopies of certificates of origin in certain circumstances, rather than originals, in order to qualify for a decrease in customs duties or duty exemption.

As the Thai government begins to gradually lift the restrictions that were implemented to minimize the health risks of the COVID-19 pandemic, the unprecedented economic impact of the disease continues to be felt across multiple sectors of the economy. Businesses have experienced a variety of challenges, including forced closures, supply chain disruptions, and severe declines in revenue as the number of customers has plunged. For the many businesses that lease space for their operations, one additional challenge is simply the ability to pay rent.