No more crypto tax in Thailand

Thailand is stripping back its plan to impose a 15% tax regime on crypto gains made in the country after crypto traders in the country kicked against the move according to a report from the Financial Times.

Thailand cancels 15% crypto tax regime

The report said that tax officials in the country declared that people who earn their incomes via crypto trading could report gains made from such trades as capital gains on their income taxes.

“The new rules, outlined in a manual published by Thailand’s revenue department, will also allow traders to offset their annual losses against gains made in the same year, meeting demands from those in the nascent industry who had warned that excessive tax would kill off a sector in its infancy,” the report reads in part.

Speaking on this new development, Pete Peeradej Tanruangporn, the chief executive of Upbit, a crypto exchange and co-chair of Thailand’s Digital Asset Operators Trade Association, noted that the new rules are friendlier than the previous ones.

Thailand issues new guideline restricting crypto payments

Aside from the proposed 15% tax on crypto trading and mining the country intended to impose, financial agencies in the country disclosed plans to issue guidelines restricting the use of crypto assets for payment. They claimed that the use of volatile assets like crypto would not do much good for businesses. 

Although they are expecting comments from relevant stakeholders on the subject until February, many people are displeased with this as well. David Carlisle, the director of policy and public affairs with Elliptic, a digital asset research and analysis group, noted that this new guideline is extreme.

Crypto-related activities exploded in Thailand largely due to the coronavirus pandemic. The virus shut many industries and being a country whose economy relied on tourism, the travel restrictions imposed by other countries hit its source of revenue hard. This forced many citizens into crypto trading.

Crypto regulations in Asia is unclear

While Thailand is looking to hear from the public in shaping its crypto policies, other Asian countries like Singapore, China, and even South Korea have maintained a somewhat hostile stance towards the industry.

China has implemented a number of anti-crypto policies that have forced crypto traders and firms out of the country. Singapore, recently, also stopped crypto firms from advertising their products in public spaces. Apart from that, the country’s stringent regulations forced Binance to withdraw its registrations with the authorities.

South Korea, on its own part, is looking to impose a crypto tax regime by 2023.