A close look at recent legal and tax developments – it’s time to act

Despite making the effort to comply with the tax law, taxpayers sometimes face challenges raised by the tax authorities. In many cases, the root of the problem is the ambiguity or vagueness in the wording of the law which results in a different interpretation between the taxpayer and the tax authorities. The case will become even more complicated if a new interpretation has been issued by the Supreme Court that is different from the previous understanding. Therefore, taxpayers are encouraged to keep themselves updated with the recent interpretations in the tax law and regulations so that they can fully comply with the law.

In this session, we will provide updates of the law, interpretations by the Courts and the Revenue Department, including interesting case laws and tax rulings. The discussion will mainly focus on general issues relating to tax compliance as well as specific issues on business restructuring.

• Communication technology development undeniably comes with challenges and risks. Nevertheless, the technology has created tremendous changes in and improvements to our lives. While companies thrive by exploiting communication technologies, there are limitations and obligations that control their business activities. These include the new Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) and Cybersecurity law.
  
  Personal data breaches and criminal cases take place around the world and can be adopted for PDPA enforcement. Since the PDPA is relatively new, information about this law is still limited. As a result, a practical approach for dealing with its compliance is to analyse and compare different cases outside of Thailand that are subject to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Precedent cases have often amounted to GDPR violations. Based on these cases, the two main issues at the heart of personal data processing are trust and protection.
  
  We will update you on the current global situation and discuss some cases of data breach that have received global attention.
• Following the implementation of the new Customs Act in 2017, there have been some changes in how Thai Customs approaches customs audits as well as the self-disclosure carried out by companies. This session will cover these changes and will also highlight some of the key issues that companies need to be aware of as a result of imminent new rules on export controls.
• As a result of the trade wars currently taking place, many countries, including Thailand, see an opportunity to be more attractive to lure new investors while maintaining and boosting their current FDI momentum. The Thai government has launched many new and additional incentives to make the country an ideal investment destination in the eyes of investors, focusing on high value-added activities. We will therefore update you on the new regulations of the BOI and on labour matters. 

In this complex and rapidly changing world, business operators need to keep pace with all business-related updates. Even without any change in the tax law, changes in accounting standards have an impact on revenue and expense recognition. How information is collected to satisfy new accounting requirements and how the rise of automated technology can improve the efficiency and compliance of the tax function are the next steps that all companies need to consider.

In many cases, business operators underestimate the effects that accounting changes have on the difference in reporting between tax and accounting. In this session, we will provide examples of how changes in accounting requirements impact tax reporting, and the consequent tax implications, and explore some initial ideas for collection of the data required to ensure proper tax compliance.