Accounting, VAT and payroll for restaurants, cafes and bars in Pattaya

VAT: when a restaurant registers, and the monthly ภ.พ.30 (PP30)

Small businesses are exempt from VAT, and the current registration threshold is annual turnover of THB 1.8 million — prescribed by Royal Decree and subject to change. The standard rate is 10% under the Revenue Code, currently reduced to 7% by Royal Decree; both are prescribed by Royal Decree and may change, so the Revenue Department's latest announcements govern.

• Already trading and over the threshold: apply within 30 days of the date the threshold was exceeded, on form ภ.พ.01 (PP01), at the Area Revenue Branch Office for the district where the place of business is located.
• Below the threshold you may register voluntarily under Section 81/3 — that is, a VAT-exempt or small business registering while still below the mandatory threshold of THB 1.8 million in annual turnover, prescribed by Royal Decree and subject to change — again on form ภ.พ.01 (PP01); and after voluntary registration you may not unilaterally cease paying VAT unless you apply for cancellation as provided by law and obtain the Director-General's approval.
• Once registered, the ภ.พ.30 (PP30) return is due every month whether or not you sold anything, with filing and payment by the 15th of the following month unless the Director-General prescribes otherwise. In principle the return is filed separately for each place of business; consolidated filing needs the Director-General's approval, which matters if you run more than one shop.

Tax invoices and receipts across the counter

A VAT-registered business must issue a tax invoice and its copy immediately when the VAT liability arises on every sale of goods or provision of services, and deliver it to the buyer. For goods, liability arises on delivery, or earlier and in proportion on transfer of ownership, receipt of payment or issuance of a tax invoice; for services, when payment is received, or earlier and in proportion if a tax invoice is issued or the service is used first. The two timing rules differ, and businesses that sell both are especially prone to mixing them up. The guides do not say whether a restaurant or bar sale counts as goods or as services, so we set the tax point with you.

• For retail and minor-service businesses serving large numbers of walk-in customers the law provides two facilitation channels, and this is the first: 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) — and even then one must be issued if the buyer requests it (Section 86/8). Whether your venue is in that category is a determination to check, not an assumption.
• The second channel is the simplified tax invoice: a business determined by the Director-General to be retail in nature may issue a simplified tax invoice (ใบกำกับภาษีอย่างย่อ), which carries no buyer details, though a representative may not issue one — again a determination to check rather than assume. Using a cash register to issue simplified invoices requires the Director-General's prior approval, and prices displayed in retail business must be VAT-inclusive (Section 86/6). Neither channel touches an ordinary transaction outside those determinations, which still requires a full tax invoice (ใบกำกับภาษีแบบเต็มรูป) stating all the items in Section 86/4.
• A VAT-registered business must also issue a receipt immediately on each receipt of money above the amount the Director-General prescribes, whether or not one is asked for; that threshold is set by the Director-General and may not be set above THB 1,000 per instance. A tax invoice that shows the money was received may serve as that receipt.
• Business customers will usually insist on a full tax invoice (ใบกำกับภาษีแบบเต็มรูป), because their own input tax deduction depends on it. Tax invoices are prepared in Thai and in Thai currency; a business that genuinely needs a foreign language or currency may use one only with the Director-General's approval, and for certain oil products, tobacco and invoices approved to be issued in foreign currency the Director-General may prescribe different items (Section 86/5) — for e-tax invoices and the other formats and details he prescribes, the official regulations prevail.

Input VAT on what the kitchen buys, and the VAT reports

Each tax month, the month's output tax less the month's input tax is the VAT paid when you file the ภ.พ.30 (PP30). Input VAT is creditable only against a lawful tax invoice with complete particulars, and only if the item is not one of the six non-deductible categories in Section 82/5. Three come up most in a kitchen's buying: a purchase not directly related to the business; entertainment-type spending, such as entertaining your own clients or suppliers and giving gifts, where the input tax can never be credited even with a fully compliant tax invoice; and a tax invoice issued by a person with no right to issue one. Director-General notifications exclude further specific items, so the official regulations govern the exact list.

• An invoice from a supplier who is not VAT-registered gives no credit at all, so confirm a supplier's VAT registration status before the first order.
• Where input tax exceeds output tax, the excess can be used to pay later VAT under the conditions prescribed by Royal Decree, or refunded on a request filed with that month's return; if you did not request it that month, a refund can still be requested within three years from the expiry of that month's filing deadline — which is what a fit-out month usually turns on.
• A VAT-registered business keeps an output tax report and an input tax report, prepared separately for each place of business, with entries made within 3 working days of receiving or disposing of the goods or services; a business selling goods must also keep a goods and raw materials report. Those reports, the tax invoices and the copies are kept for not less than 5 years from filing the return or preparing the report, plus a further 2 years after ceasing business, and the Director-General may require longer, but not more than 7 years.

Withholding tax on rent and the services you pay for

Paying rent, service fees, brokerage, interest or royalties means withholding tax at source, issuing the recipient two copies of a withholding tax certificate with identical contents immediately each time tax is withheld, and filing monthly together with the remittance. ภ.ง.ด.3 (PND3) is for an individual payee, such as your landlord; ภ.ง.ด.53 (PND53) for a company or juristic partnership. Withholding on your own staff's salary is handled separately, with the payroll — there the certificate is issued by 15 February of the following tax year, or within one month of someone leaving mid-year.

• The rates for these payments are mostly not written into the sections themselves — they are set by ministerial regulation or Royal Decree, so the official rate schedule governs, and we confirm the right one for each payment.
• A payer who fails to withhold and remit, or withholds too little, is jointly liable with the recipient for the tax not withheld or for the shortfall. That is why rent, delivery-platform and agency payments get checked before they leave the account.

Which withholding tax form applies: ภ.ง.ด.3 or ภ.ง.ด.53?

Staff: hours, pay and social security

General work is capped at 8 hours a day and 48 hours a week. The employer may not compel an employee to work overtime on a working day and must obtain the employee's consent beforehand on each occasion; only where the nature of the work requires continuous operation and stopping would cause damage, in an emergency, or where the ministerial regulation otherwise provides, may the employer require overtime to the extent necessary. Overtime on a working day is paid at not less than 1.5 times the normal hourly wage — which is how we calculate it on the payslip. The daily minimum wage for each province is set by Wage Committee proclamation rather than in the statute, and the employer may not pay below it; the figure in force for Chonburi is one we confirm for you.

• Certain employees who have managerial authority, or who are assigned by the employer to perform specified duties, are not entitled by law to that overtime pay, and whether an employee falls within that category must be assessed case by case — so a shift manager's payslip is not simply a cook's with a higher rate.
• Under Section 33 of the Social Security Act 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 that Act is deemed to continue as an insured person — so the employer registers both itself and each insured person on the แบบรายการขึ้นทะเบียนนายจ้าง and the แบบรายการขึ้นทะเบียนผู้ประกันตน within 30 days of that employee becoming an insured person (Section 34) and keeps deducting and remitting for them after 60, with registration and the monthly filing confirmed individually for each hire; coverage for someone who has left employment is the separate voluntary route under Section 39, which works differently. The duty turns on whether an employment relationship exists, regardless of probationary, temporary or part-time status. Employer and employee each currently contribute 5% of wages, with the minimum and maximum wages used for the calculation prescribed by ministerial regulation and the exact figures following the official rules; both shares are remitted with the contribution list by the 15th of the month following the month of deduction.
• Joiners, leavers and wage changes are reportable changes, notified by the 15th of the month following the month the change occurs. Where one insured person works for several employers at the same time, each employer must separately fulfil its contribution and filing obligations — the case where a bartender works two venues.
• Foreign staff: we run payroll, withholding tax and social security for foreign staff who already hold a work permit. Permit and visa applications are not this office's work.

Must I register staff with the SSO, and how much is it?

Leave, public holidays and the weekly day off

A venue that trades every day of the week still has to schedule the day off, and what leave and holidays cost shows up on the payslip, which is where we calculate it. An employer must give each employee a weekly rest day of not less than 1 day per week, with no more than 6 days between two weekly rest days; the parties may agree in advance to fix the rest day on any day. An employer who fails to provide the rest days the law requires is treated as having required the employee to work on a rest day, and must pay holiday work pay and holiday overtime pay at the same rates.

• Wages are paid as normal for weekly rest days — except for employees paid by the day, by the hour or by the piece — and for traditional holidays and annual leave. The number of traditional holidays each year and how they are announced are governed by the Labour Protection Act and the official rules prevail, so we confirm the year's list with you rather than printing one here.
• For work on a rest day or holiday, an employee entitled to holiday wages, such as monthly-salaried staff, receives on top of the normal wages an additional amount of not less than 1 times the working-day hourly rate (per unit for piece-rate workers), while an employee not entitled to holiday wages must be paid not less than 2 times the working-day hourly rate. Overtime on a holiday, beyond normal working hours, is not less than 3 times the working-day hourly rate or piece rate.
• Annual leave is not less than 6 working days a year once an employee has worked continuously for a full year, scheduled in advance by the employer or as agreed; staff with under a year may be granted leave pro rata to the period worked, and untaken annual leave may be accumulated and carried over by prior agreement. Accumulated untaken annual leave must be paid out whether the employee resigns or is dismissed.
• Sick leave is taken according to the actual days of illness and the law sets no cap on the number of sick days; the employer pays it at the normal working-day rate for no more than 30 working days per year, and for sick leave of 3 or more consecutive working days may require a certificate from a first-class modern medicine practitioner or a government hospital. Days off from a work-related injury or occupational disease, and maternity leave, do not count as sick leave and so do not use up those 30 days. Necessary personal leave is not less than 3 working days a year, paid at the working-day rate with the paid portion not exceeding 3 working days a year.

The year, not only the month: ภ.ง.ด.51 (PND51), ภ.ง.ด.50 (PND50), the audit and the DBD

Filing ภ.พ.30 (PP30) every month does not discharge the year. A limited company must pay corporate income tax on its net profit, and two filings are required each accounting year: the half-year ภ.ง.ด.51 (PND51) and the annual ภ.ง.ด.50 (PND50). Corporate income tax is levied not on turnover but on net profit — the accounting period's income from the business less the expenses deductible under the conditions specified in Section 65 bis and Section 65 ter.

The accounting period is in principle fixed at 12 months; only a newly established company, or one that changes its closing date with the Director-General's approval, may have a shorter period, and that period is what both deadlines below run from. The standard rate and the tiered preferential rates for small and medium-sized enterprises are set by Royal Decree and are adjusted in line with policy, so we work with the rate in force for your period rather than quoting one here.

• ภ.ง.ด.51 (PND51): within two months after the end of the first six months counting from the first day of the accounting period, the return is filed and the tax paid, and an ordinary company is taxed on half of its estimated net profit for the full year.
• ภ.ง.ด.50 (PND50): within 150 days from the final day of the accounting period, the return needed to calculate the tax is filed and the tax paid. The tax already paid for the half-year period can usually be credited at the annual filing.
• Audit and DBD: regardless of size, a limited company's financial statements must all be audited — reviewed and an opinion expressed by a licensed auditor (CPA) — and the audited annual balance-sheet must then be submitted to a general meeting of shareholders for adoption within 4 months after its closing date (Civil and Commercial Code Section 1197), so a venue closing on 31 December usually meets by the end of April. Within 1 month after adoption the directors file a copy with the registrar (Section 1199; Accounting Act Section 11) — the Central Accounting Office or the provincial accounting office, that is the DBD registrar — which for that year-end lands by the end of May. Both periods run from the company's own closing and adoption dates rather than fixed calendar dates, and where genuine necessity makes timely compliance impossible, the Director-General may, as necessary, grant an extension or postponement of the filing deadline.
• Records: a company closes its accounts for the first time within twelve months of the date it commences accounting, and thereafter once every twelve-month period. The accounts and the documents required for the entries must be kept at the place of business for not less than 5 years from the date the accounts are closed — and for auditing purposes the competent authority may, with the Minister's approval, require preservation for more than five years but not exceeding seven.

Which corporate income tax filings are due each year?

If you own the shop, and the stamp duty on its lease

For an owned shop or shophouse, land and building tax is a bill of your own each year. The taxpayer is the owner or occupier of the land or building on 1 January of each year; regardless of whether the property changes hands during the year, that year's tax is borne by the rights-holder as of 1 January. If the taxpayer is a juristic person, the representative of the juristic person is responsible for payment. Where the land and the building on it belong to different owners, each is a taxpayer for the part they own — the usual position for a shophouse standing on land held by someone else.

The lease on the shop carries a duty of its own, and getting it wrong bites twice: the instrument may not be used in evidence in a civil case until the stamps have been completed and cancelled, and the duty is still collected, with additional tax of two, five or up to six times the duty depending on how late it is and how it comes to light.

• There is nothing to self-compute: the local administrative organisation assesses the tax each year and delivers a notice of assessment, and the taxpayer pays according to the notice. Within February each year it sends the notice and assessment form, which must state at least the description of the land or building, the assessed capital value, the tax rate and the amount payable; the tax must then be paid in full within April each year in accordance with that notice, and those who qualify may apply to pay by instalments (the number of instalments and the minimum threshold follow the ministerial regulation). Checking the use classification and the figures on the notice before you pay is the part we do.
• The percentages in the Act are statutory ceilings, not the rate payable: residential use not exceeding 0.3% of the tax base, and other use — which the guide says includes commercial — not exceeding 1.2%. The rate and bracket you actually pay are governed by that year's royal decree and the local ordinances, are usually lower, and must be worked out case by case.
• Late payment: a penalty of up to 40% of the tax in arrears, reduced to 10% or 20% in the cases the guide sets out, and a surcharge of 1% per month of the arrears, capped at the tax payable.
• Stamp duty on the lease: a lease of land, buildings, other constructions or rafts is stamped at 1 baht for every 1,000 baht — a fraction of 1,000 counted as 1,000 — of the total rental for the entire term of the lease, borne by the lessor and affixed by the lessee. If the contract does not specify the term, it is deemed to be 3 years.
• Stamping is complete only when the duty is paid before or immediately upon execution of the instrument, at a rate not less than the duty due, and the stamp has been cancelled. For an instrument executed in Thailand, submitted to an official within 15 days from the day complete stamps should have been affixed, only the duty itself is paid with no additional tax; after that the additional tax is 2 times the duty up to 90 days late and 5 times beyond — while a case found through inspection or complaint where no stamp was affixed at all draws the full duty plus up to 6 times.

Land and building tax for property owners · Stamp duty on leases

How we work with restaurants and bars

You send us the month — sales summaries and till reports, supplier invoices, delivery-platform statements, rent and utility bills, bank statements, a staff list with joiners, leavers and wage changes — by email, photo or client portal. PandaAI Co., Ltd reads them into the books, and bank statements are imported and matched, not typed.

• It all sits in the SLF Management System: your records, the documents you upload, jobs with deadline reminders, our quotations, invoices and receipts, and the filing centre for VAT, withholding tax and the PND forms — with payroll and social security (SSO) in the same place.
• Management reports from us in English, Chinese or Thai, out of an office on Thepprasit Road you can walk into, Mon–Fri, 9:00–17:00 (GMT+7). The statutory tax invoices themselves are prepared in Thai and in Thai currency, as the law requires.
• Our work is accounting, tax, payroll, SSO, company registration and corporate changes — not legal opinions, work permits, visas or licences.

Frequently asked questions

General information drawn from the SLF Accounting guides, not advice on your own situation. Rates, thresholds and deadlines can change; check with us before acting.