Thailand turns to blockchain to improve revenue collection

Thailand is turning to blockchain technology to improve revenue collection, a senior tax agency official has revealed.

The country has already begun integrating blockchain into the oil industry, with the launch scheduled for the first quarter of 2021.

Thailand's economy, like that of every other country in the world, has been affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

However, instead of increasing taxes, the Thai government has focused on streamlining revenue collection as part of rebuilding the economy.

Blockchain technology has emerged as the solution, the Bangkok Post newspaper reported.

According to the newspaper, the country's excise department will integrate blockchain technology to manage revenue collection for the 2021 fiscal year.

The department's director general, Lavaron Sangsnit, recently revealed that both the revenue and customs divisions will integrate blockchain technology.

Sangsnit believes blockchain will allow the department to identify "the price, import duties and taxes payable for each imported product."

He said: “Technology can help to comprehensively assess revenue collection for each department and integrate revenue collection from all three government departments into a single database.

With blockchain, tax evasion should be difficult because the three departments will carry out tax audits in coordination with each other.”

Mr. Sangsnit revealed that his ministry has already started building a blockchain platform to evaluate tax declarations for petroleum products.

The platform is expected to launch in the first quarter of 2021.

On why the department started integrating blockchain into the oil export industry before any other, Sangsnit revealed that it was because oil is the largest tax revenue generator in the country.

It accounts for two-thirds of the excise department's total revenue, or around 200 billion baht (5.5 billion euros) per year, he revealed.

"Blockchain should be able to help determine whether the oil is actually being exported out of Thailand or circulating for sale domestically," he told reporters.

Thailand has explored blockchain technology for a number of uses over the past two years.

The country is also looking to store court records on a blockchain platform.

The Thai Courts Authority has revealed that it is looking to migrate all of its court information to a blockchain platform by 2021.

The Bank of Thailand (BoT) has also been exploring a CBDC (also known as a digital fiat currency or digital base currency) which it has shared with a few large companies.

The BoT has also partnered with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority in its CBDC quest, seeking to use the digital baht in transactions between the two Asian nations.

See also:

Bank of Thailand tests digital baht ahead of public launch

Thailand cracks down on drug profits hidden in cryptocurrencies

Thailand investigates cryptocurrency pyramid scheme that resulted in $2.46 million in losses

Source: coingeek.com