Accounting & Tax FAQ for Businesses in Pattaya & Chonburi

A small business below the threshold is exempt from VAT, and the current registration threshold is annual turnover of THB 1.8 million — a figure prescribed by Royal Decree that may change. If you are already trading you apply within 30 days of the date you exceed it; if you have not opened yet you may register beforehand, and below the threshold you may register voluntarily under Section 81/3 — but after voluntary registration you cannot simply stop paying VAT: you have to apply for cancellation as the law provides and obtain the Director-General's approval. The application form is ภ.พ.01 (PP01), filed at the Area Revenue Branch Office for the district where your place of business is. The standard rate is 10% and exports are 0%, currently reduced to 7% by Royal Decree, which is renewed periodically — so the Revenue Department's latest announcement governs.

Revenue Code Section 86 requires a registered operator to prepare a tax invoice and a copy for every sale of goods or provision of services, and to deliver it to the buyer immediately when the VAT liability arises. For retail or minor-service businesses serving large numbers of walk-in customers the law provides two facilitation channels: a business the Director-General determines to be retail in nature has the right to issue a simplified tax invoice (ใบกำกับภาษีอย่างย่อ) — a representative may not issue one, and prices displayed in retail business must be VAT-inclusive (Section 86/6); and for minor sales or minor service businesses as determined by the Director-General, no tax invoice need be issued for a single transaction not exceeding the amount the Director-General determines (statutory cap THB 1,000) — but one must still be issued if the buyer asks (Section 86/8). Ordinary B2B transactions outside those determinations still require a full tax invoice. Apart from the special cases under Sections 86/5 and 86/6, a full tax invoice carries the contents Section 86/4 requires — among them the issuer's and the buyer's details, and the VAT shown clearly separated from the value of the goods or services — and those items go in Thai, in Thai currency and in Thai or Arabic numerals unless the Director-General approves otherwise; for certain oil products, tobacco and invoices approved to be issued in foreign currency the Director-General may prescribe different items (Section 86/5), and for e-tax invoices and other formats and details the Director-General prescribes, the official regulations prevail. Entries in the output and input tax reports are made within 3 working days of receiving or disposing of the goods or services (Section 87), and where there is no tax invoice the input VAT cannot be deducted. If your business is retail in nature, selling over a counter, tell us before you set up the till and we will check your case against the tax invoice guide linked on this page.

ภ.ง.ด.3 (PND3) where the payee is an individual, ภ.ง.ด.53 (PND53) where the payee is a company or juristic partnership. Paying assessable income listed in Revenue Code Section 40 — service fees, rent, brokerage fees, interest and royalties — you withhold at the time of payment under Section 50 and issue the payee two copies of a withholding tax certificate with identical contents. Staff salaries do not go on either form: an employer paying employment income withholds personal income tax at the time of payment and files it monthly on ภ.ง.ด.1 (PND1), which is credited against the tax payable at the year-end reconciliation. The tax withheld is remitted under Section 52; in practice it is reported monthly, on the deadline the Revenue Department sets. A payer that does not withhold, or withholds too little, is jointly liable with the income earner for the amount not withheld or for the shortfall.

Two, both charged on net profit for the accounting period. ภ.ง.ด.51 (PND51) goes in within two months after the end of the first six months of the period and, for an ordinary company, is computed on half of the estimated net profit for the full year; ภ.ง.ด.50 (PND50) goes in within 150 days from the final day of the period. Under-estimating projected net profit by more than 25% of actual net profit without reasonable cause triggers a surcharge of 20% of the tax payable or of the shortfall. The guide prints no rate: the standard rate and the SME rates are set separately by Royal Decree, so the rate that applies is the one the Thai authorities prescribe.

A Thai employer registers both itself and its insured employees with the Social Security Office within 30 days of an employee becoming an insured person (Social Security Act Section 34). Under Section 33 every employee aged at least 15 and under 60 is a compulsory insured person, and an employee who is already insured and, upon reaching 60, is still employed by an employer subject to the Act is deemed to continue as an insured person — so we keep deducting and remitting for that employee after 60. The obligation turns on whether an employment relationship exists, regardless of probationary, temporary or part-time status, so send us dates of birth with the payroll and we will confirm registration and the monthly filing case by case (someone who has already left employment is on the separate voluntary route under Section 39, which works differently). The employee's contribution is deducted at each payroll and remitted with the employer's portion and the contribution list by the 15th of the month following the month of deduction (Section 47) — the same date for notifying joiners, leavers and wage changes (Section 44).

Every limited company established under Thai law must have its financial statements audited, and an opinion expressed, by a CPA, without exception (Accounting Act Section 11). Only a registered partnership may be exempt, where its capital, assets or revenue is below the threshold prescribed by Ministerial Regulation, and that amount follows the official regulations. The audited annual balance sheet must then be submitted to a general meeting of shareholders for adoption within 4 months after the company's closing date (Civil and Commercial Code Section 1197) — a company closing on 31 December usually meets by the end of April — and the directors file a copy with the Registrar, in practice the DBD, within 1 month after adoption (Civil and Commercial Code Section 1199; Accounting Act Section 11), which for that year-end means by the end of May. Both periods run from the company's own closing and adoption dates rather than fixed calendar dates. We put the file together and deal with the auditor for you.

Three tiers: civil penalty, surcharge and criminal liability. Under VAT, failing to file within the deadline carries a penalty of twice the tax payable for that tax month. On top of the penalty a surcharge of 1.5% per month of the tax payable runs from the expiry of the filing deadline until the date of actual payment, and the total cannot exceed the tax payable itself; where the Director-General approves a payment extension and the tax is paid in full within it, the rate drops to 0.75% per month (Revenue Code Section 89/1). Ask us and we will work out your exposure on your own figures before you file.

It can. Simple lateness usually stays at the fine level, while intentionally failing to file in order to evade tax carries up to one year of imprisonment or a fine of up to 200,000 baht, or both (Revenue Code Section 37 bis). Penalties may be reduced or waived under the Director-General's regulations and voluntary back-filing is the practical precondition, but the extent and the conditions are as officially prescribed, so we never promise an outcome.

Sales invoices and receipts, purchase invoices and receipts, bank statements for every account, staff and payroll changes, and anything that arrives from the Revenue Department or the SSO. Completeness beats tidiness: email it, photograph it or upload it to the client portal, and PandaAI reads it in. If something is missing we ask for it before the filing is prepared, not after.

Your company lives in the SLF Management System — the platform SLF Accounting and SLF Legal run on, developed and operated by PandaAI Co., Ltd: client records, jobs with deadline reminders, document storage, invoices, the filing centre and payroll. Sign in to the client portal at jt.slf-accounting.co for your invoices, receipts and the documents we hold for you.

Tell us what your business does and where it is registered, in English, Chinese or Thai, and we will tell you what has to be filed and when. Switching mid-year is routine: we work from the records your previous accountant returns, set you up in the SLF Management System with a filing calendar, and flag what is still outstanding.