English desk
VAT registration and monthly VAT compliance in Thailand
A Thai business must register for VAT once its revenue passes the statutory threshold, and late registration is assessed retroactively with surcharge and penalty. Registration is the easy part; staying compliant means issuing compliant tax invoices, keeping input VAT evidence that actually qualifies, and filing PP.30 by the 15th of the following month, every month, even when nothing was sold.
Phone +66-92-017-0000 · LINE and email accepted in English.
What this service covers
VAT registration filing
The PP.01 application with the premises evidence the Revenue Department expects — lease, photographs, utility records — prepared so the registration is approved on the first visit.
Tax invoice system setup
Invoice format with all required fields, running serial numbers, and the handling of credit notes and debit notes configured for your invoicing tool.
Monthly PP.30 preparation
Output VAT from sales invoices, input VAT from purchase tax invoices, reconciliation of the two ledgers, and filing before the deadline each month.
Input VAT recovery review
Quarterly review of blocked or questionable input VAT — entertainment, passenger vehicles, missing tax invoice fields — so claims survive a Revenue Department review.
How the engagement runs
1. Threshold and timing check
We confirm whether registration is mandatory yet, or whether early voluntary registration benefits the business because its clients are VAT-registered.
2. Registration
The application and premises evidence are filed, and the VAT certificate is collected for display at the business address.
3. Invoice discipline
Sales invoicing and purchase document collection are set up so every baht of input VAT is backed by a qualifying tax invoice.
4. Monthly cycle
Documents in by an agreed date, PP.30 filed by the 15th, and any net payable or refundable position reported to the owner in English.
Deadlines, rates and filing formats change. Confirm current requirements with the Revenue Department, the Social Security Office and the Department of Business Development, or ask us to confirm them for your case before you rely on a date.
Registering for VAT changes how the business runs
Crossing the annual revenue threshold makes registration compulsory within thirty days, and from that moment the company must issue compliant tax invoices, maintain input and output tax reports, and submit a monthly return whether or not there was any activity. Businesses below the threshold may register voluntarily, which can be advantageous — but the advantage depends entirely on who the customers are.
Selling mainly to other registered businesses usually favours registration, because the customer recovers the tax charged and the company recovers tax paid on equipment, rent and services. Selling mainly to consumers has the opposite effect: the price they see rises, or the margin absorbs the difference. We model both outcomes with real numbers before the application is submitted, rather than treating registration as an automatic milestone.
Most subsequent problems trace back to documents rather than calculations. Invoices missing a required particular, sequences with unexplained gaps, credit notes issued in the wrong circumstances, or input tax claimed on items that are excluded by law — these are what an examination finds. Setting the templates, the numbering discipline and the filing method at the start prevents nearly all of it.
The premises visit
An officer may inspect the registered address after the application, so signage, a location map and proof of occupancy should be ready before filing rather than after a request.
Exports and zero rating
Zero rating is a documentary regime: without complete shipping evidence for each consignment the assessment reverts to the standard rate with surcharge.
Refund positions invite review
Claiming a refund reliably attracts document examination, so the evidence file should be complete before the claim is made.
Living with monthly indirect tax obligations
Once registered, the rhythm of the business changes. Sales documents must carry the particulars the law prescribes, in a sequence that can be reconciled, with copies retained in an order that can be produced on request. Purchase documents have to be checked on receipt rather than at year end, because a defective invoice discovered eleven months later can no longer be corrected with the supplier. The monthly return then draws on both, and the return has to agree with the accounting records that will eventually be audited.
Certain claims deserve particular care. Tax paid on entertainment, on some vehicles and on expenses that are not connected to the business is not recoverable, and claiming it produces an adjustment with a surcharge attached. Equally, businesses that make both taxable and exempt supplies cannot recover everything and must apportion, using a method applied consistently. Both of these are decided by how transactions are coded when they are entered, which is why the chart of accounts and the coding rules are part of the setup rather than an afterthought.
Where a company consistently pays more tax on purchases than it collects on sales — exporters and businesses in an investment phase, typically — the credit position can either be carried forward or claimed. Claiming brings scrutiny, and scrutiny consumes time, so the decision depends on how much cash is tied up and how complete the supporting documentation is. We assess that honestly rather than claiming automatically.
Changing registered details
Moving premises, adding a branch or changing the business description each require notification within a set period, and an out-of-date registration can invalidate the invoices issued from a new address.
Digital invoicing
Electronic issuance and delivery are permitted under conditions on format and retention. Adopting them deliberately reduces storage and retrieval work; adopting them casually creates gaps that only appear under examination.
Handling it in-house versus engaging us
Filing the registration form is the easy part; living with the obligations is where businesses struggle. Monthly deadlines arrive regardless of workload, invoice formats must be right the first time, and a discrepancy needs an answer that references source documents. Having a team carry that routine from the first month removes a recurring risk without adding an internal hire.
Every engagement is quoted individually after we review your documents and agree the scope, so you know the fee and the timeline before any work starts. Send the details on LINE or by email and we will come back with a written proposal.
Common situations we are hired for
A business that crossed the threshold without registering
We quantify the retroactive exposure, register the business, and file the back periods to regularise the position before the Revenue Department finds it first.
Export or zero-rated sales
Zero-rating requires export evidence per shipment. We set up the document file so refunds of excess input VAT are claimable rather than theoretical.
A VAT refund claim
Refunds invite a review of the underlying invoices. We assemble the evidence and manage the review to completion.
Mixed exempt and standard-rated activity
Where part of the revenue is VAT-exempt, input VAT apportionment is structured so claims are defensible.
See the English-speaking accounting firm overview, all accounting services or the province pages below.
Questions owners ask first
- At what revenue must a Thai business register for VAT?
- Registration is mandatory once revenue from sales and services exceeds the statutory threshold in a year — historically 1.8 million baht. The threshold and rules can change, so confirm the current figure with the Revenue Department. Voluntary registration below the threshold is allowed and often sensible for B2B businesses.
- What happens if I register late?
- The Revenue Department assesses the VAT that should have been collected from the date registration was required, plus surcharge of 1.5 percent per month and penalties. The assessed VAT generally cannot be recovered from past customers, so it comes out of the business's own pocket.
- When is PP.30 due?
- By the 15th of the following month for paper filing, with a short extension for e-filing. A nil return must still be filed for every month the registration is active, even with no sales.
- What does monthly VAT compliance cost?
- It depends on invoice volume and whether input VAT evidence arrives complete. Send a sample month of sales and purchase documents and we reply with a written fee.
อ่านต่อรายจังหวัด
จดทะเบียนภาษีมูลค่าเพิ่ม (VAT) และขึ้นทะเบียนยื่นภาษีออนไลน์ — เลือกจังหวัดของคุณ
แต่ละจังหวัดมีสำนักงานพื้นที่ที่ต้องติดต่อ รอบส่งเอกสาร และลักษณะธุรกิจต่างกัน หน้าด้านล่างเขียนแยกตามพื้นที่จริงและเสนอราคาเป็นรายกรณี
ภาคกลาง
ภาคตะวันออก
ภาคตะวันตก
ภาคเหนือ
ภาคตะวันออกเฉียงเหนือ (อีสาน)
ภาคใต้
Send your documents, get a written quote
A short review of your situation is enough for a scoped fee. We reply in English, and the review costs nothing.
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