The Ministry of Finance of Thailand has decided to eliminate the VAT tax on crypto trading, with immediate effect.
Thailand and VAT-free crypto: 7% tax on trading profits eliminated
According to what is reported, it seems that in Thailand, the intention is to become a benchmark country for crypto-assets.
The Ministry of Finance, in fact, has decided to eliminate the VAT tax on earnings from cryptocurrency trading, making cryptos VAT-free.
This is an extension of the tax exemption that will be used to revitalize the country’s economy, following last year’s slow growth.
In practice, the Ministry of Finance will eliminate the obligation to pay a 7% value added tax on earnings derived from cryptocurrency trading and digital tokens.
Paopoom Rojanasakul, the Secretary of the Minister of Finance, stated that this move will serve to encourage digital assets as an alternative fundraising option.
Thailand and VAT-free crypto: the elimination of the tax will be indefinite
The tax exemption on cryptocurrency trading had already been established previously and was set to expire at the end of 2023.
Therefore, this news is about an extension that seems to be applied indefinitely.
Specifically, all authorized crypto-exchanges, brokers, and dealers are the subjects of ‘crypto VAT-free’. All those who carry out cryptocurrency transactions through these operators will not have to pay the tax permanently.
Not only that, starting from this January 2024, the securities regulatory authorities had already introduced more favorable rules on cryptocurrencies.
On the contrary, what Thailand still deals with a more cautious approach are crypto payments. The fear, in this case, is that crypto payments could harm the country’s financial health.
The donation of 10,000 BAHT in CBDC format
Just to stay on the crypto theme, last August, the political party Pheu Thai Party had proposed a donation of 10,000 BAHT for every citizen over the age of 16, in CBDC format.
The purpose of this move was to revive digital wallets as a strategy for the country’s economic recovery.
In fact, this distribution of CBDC would have taken place through an app that contains the digital wallet.
Here too, Rojanasakul had stated that if someone did not have access to the app, the alternative would be to use their national identity card to obtain a personal code.
At that time, 10,000 BAHT had a value of 280 USD, and the idea was that they had to be spent within a radius of 4 km from the recipients’ homes, within 6 months of their receipt.