BANGKOK- Thailand expects to implement a global minimum corporate tax of 15 percent on multinational companies from January 2025, its finance minister said.
The government will urgently issue a law on the tax collection, Pichai Chunhavajira said on a local television program.
Pichai’s comments came after a Reuters report that the cabinet on Wednesday approved draft legislation to collect the global minimum corporate tax.
Under new rules being shepherded by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a minimum 15 percent tax will be charged on multinationals with an annual global turnover of more than 750 million euros ($784.58 million), regardless of their location.
Thailand’s corporate tax is currently set at 20 percent, but companies receiving incentives from the Thailand Board of Investment can get an exemption of up to 13 years.
Vietnam’s parliament approved the minimum global tax rate last year.
Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, Malaysia and Singapore have also said they will implement the minimum tax rate in 2025.
Thailand’s cabinet last week approved debt support measures, including interest suspensions and reduced principal payments, to help tackle household debt, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said.
The measures will support retail borrowers and smaller businesses and solve debt problems in a more tangible and sustainable way, she told a press conference.
The government has been trying to ease Thailand’s household debt burden, which it sees as a constraint on consumption and economic growth. Thailand had an 89.6 percent household debt-to-GDP ratio at the end of June, amounting to 16.3 trillion baht ($482 billion), among the highest levels in Asia.
