The Thai Revenue Department backtracks on its plans to implement a 15% crypto capital gains tax in the face of pushback from traders.
A report in the Financial Times states that Thailand has decided to temporarily suspend the new crypto tax. The announcement of the new rules, made on Monday, January 31, says that income earned from cryptocurrency trading or mining could be reported as capital gains on income taxes.
Thailand’s revenue department published the manual containing the new proposal. The rules would allow traders to offset the losses that have accumulated within a year with the gains earned in the same time frame.
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The initial proposal was met with strong opposition. While the new proposal will not be as harsh, it appears that some type of cryptocurrency tax will still be implemented in the foreseeable future. The update should meet the demands of crypto industry representatives who warned about the damage that excessive taxing could cause to the relatively new digital trade sector.
Unlike the initial plan, this proposition was met with a more positive response. Pete Peeradej Tanruangporn, chief executive of the crypto exchange Upbit, stated:
The revenue department did a lot of homework and reached out to crypto operators as well to get feedback. It is much more friendly to both investors and the industry.
BitDegree reported in January that Thailand had plans to implement regulatory measures on crypto as a safeguard against risky investments. The initial goal was to implement safety measures to ensure transparency in Thailand’s digital asset industry.
Thailand is one of the biggest digital currency markets in Southeast Asia. The country started working towards stricter crypto regulation and taxing following policies in China, Indonesia, and Singapore.
Cryptocurrency trading, focused particularly on Bitcoin, exploded in Thailand during the COVID-19 pandemic. The nation’s traditional industries were strongly affected by global lockdowns, with tourism, which generated roughly a fifth of Thailand’s GDP prior to 2020, taking a massive hit.
