By Staff Reporter
A Thai government agency is piloting a blockchain technology as a means to potentially track value-added tax (VAT) , which is a form of consumption tax often levied on goods and services, in the country, according to Bangkok Post.
Besides blockchain, Thailand’s Revenue Department is planning to leverage other technologies such as machine learning, artificial intelligence and Big Data to prevent tax evasion and fraud.
Ekniti Nititihangrapas, director general of the Revenue Department, was quoted as saying blockchain would help verify VAT invoices and in turn help eliminate any that were not genuine.
Thailand is starting to embrace blockchain technology in other areas too. In June, the country’s central bank, the Bank of Thailand, said it was carrying out a trial of its own cryptocurrency (built on R3’s Corda platform) aimed to make interbank transactions both faster and cheaper.
In July, the Thai Bond Market Association said it was developing a private blockchain system to streamline the process of corporate bond settlement in the country.
Thailand is one of the earliest jurisdictions in Asia to create a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies which went into effect on July 16. Thai Securities Exchange Commission has given permission to seven cryptocurrency firms to legally operate in the country.
