The Revenue Department is using technology to increase efficiency and effectively bring people into the tax system.

"My return to the position of Director-General of the Revenue Department still adheres to the same principles, which are..." SMILE RD I want the Revenue Department to be like a friend who provides taxpayer advice on tax matters, focusing on guidelines and practices aimed at becoming... SMILE RD This also includes driving [the process]. Digital Organization To provide convenience to taxpayers and improve the efficiency of tax collection."

Dr. Kulaya Tantitemit Return to office. Director-General of the Revenue Department Once again, in his second term, after transitioning to the position of Director-General of the Customs Department to oversee the collection of the country's main taxes, the Cabinet has approved the appointment, effective from October 1, 2025 onwards.

Dr. Kulaya Tantitemit, Director-General of the Revenue Department Give a special interview bank finance He stated that upon returning to the position of Director-General of the Revenue Department, he will continue to use the SMILE RD strategy, which focuses on adjusting the mindset of officials to have a service-oriented spirit and make taxpayers feel that tax officials are friends who provide advice and assistance with tax matters, rather than merely being those who perform auditing or tax collection functions.

“My return to the position of Director-General of the Revenue Department is still guided by the original principle of SMILE RD, which means I want the Revenue Department to be like a friend who provides tax advice to taxpayers. I will focus on approaches and practices to achieve SMILE RD, and I will also drive the Digital Organization initiative to provide greater convenience to taxpayers and improve the efficiency of tax collection.”

Establish 4 main pillars.
walk on SMILE RD

Dr. Kulaya stated that in 2026, the Revenue Department has established THE SMILE RD strategy, which defines four pillars with the following operational guidelines:

Pillar 1. Proactive data management.Building a Data-Driven Revenue Ecosystem) Focuses on transforming data into the most valuable asset in tax management, with the goal of...

(1) Adding to the tax database, domestic data, for example, allowing digital platforms registered in Thailand with income exceeding 1,000 million baht to prepare a special account to submit tax forms 3 and 53 through the electronic system.

This includes linking the tax collection databases of the Ministry of Finance's three major agencies: the Revenue Department, the Excise Department, and the Customs Department, as well as exchanging tax information to comply with international agreements on taxation.

(2) Data Usage Data is used in many areas, such as the D-MyTax service, the risk assessment system for selecting at-risk individuals, the automatic personal income tax refund, and RD10X, etc.

Pillar 2. Upgrading tax administration to be automated and used... AI In the tax collection and service system (Automation and AI-Ready Transformation) Adding pre-filled personal income tax return services and automated tax calculation to facilitate and improve the accuracy of tax filing and payment, as well as the personal income tax refund system.

Pillar 3 Modern tax policies: Revise laws to align with the new economy, ensure transparency, reduce tax gaps, and align with international standards.Policy and Legal Modernization) This includes top-up taxes to support global anti-base erosion rules in line with the guidelines of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

 This includes submitting business information to a special account on electronic platforms, collecting value-added tax on imported low-value goods, tax policies to promote investment in Thai sustainable mutual funds (Thai ESG), and measures to promote Thailand as a digital asset hub.

“Although Thailand is not yet a member of the OECD, we have exchanged tax information with member countries. Discussions with the OECD have shown that countries using this data have seen increased tax revenue. However, Thailand still faces limitations in using this data. Therefore, we need to improve our systems to ensure we can utilize the data effectively.”

Pillar Four people are at the heart of the change: officials and taxpayers are at the center of the transformation, using technology and policies to truly work for everyone.People at the Heart of Transformation) The SMILE RD policy promotes positive relationships within the Revenue Department, leading to better service to the public. It also fosters ethics and good governance in public service to enhance honesty, transparency, accountability, and scrutiny, thereby building trust among the public and taxpayers.

With a large number of staff retiring from the Revenue Department in the near future, timely knowledge transfer is crucial. Therefore, the idea of ​​using AI to transfer knowledge has emerged, such as collecting tax audit and appeal cases from experienced staff to train new staff members, enabling them to learn the expert's work more quickly.

Furthermore, the department prioritizes the quality of life of its staff, especially those in the provinces. This includes conducting inspections of residences and living conditions in order to allocate budget support to improve staff well-being, which in turn boosts morale and encourages honest work.

Improve storage efficiency.
It really works to bring people into the tax system.

Dr. Kulya said that: In fiscal year 2569, the Revenue Department developed a tax collection plan focusing on leveraging technology and data as a key mechanism through the development of a data lake to enhance tax collection efficiency. This was coupled with the launch of an Open API service for preparing and submitting tax information, connecting data from taxpayers and service providers to the Revenue Department's system.

This includes developing Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems to enhance the operational efficiency of the Revenue Department. The Revenue Department also focuses on developing services to facilitate taxpayers, prioritizing a taxpayer-centric approach as a key principle in developing and upgrading services. This ensures that services meet the needs of each taxpayer group and fosters collaboration in developing digital services with external agencies, both public and private, leading to reduced procedures and greater convenience for taxpayers.

The Revenue Department focuses on promoting the full adoption of the electronic tax system by taxpayers, including supporting the use of accounting software that can directly link data with the Revenue Department's system. Furthermore, the Revenue Department aims to increase the efficiency of tax collection through taxpayer monitoring and supervision tools.

Dr. Kulya stated that, in terms of expanding the tax base or bringing those outside the system into the tax system, the Revenue Department has been linking transaction data from electronic payment systems, such as data from financial institutions, e-Payment, PromptPay, digital platforms, and e-Commerce. This data linkage has indeed resulted in more people entering the tax system.

“Previously, we saw figures showing 11 million personal income tax filers, with only 4 million actually paying taxes. However, data from the informal economy monitoring agency established in 2566 shows that the number of taxpayers is projected to increase by approximately 2567 per year during 2568-1. In 2568, this will generate an additional 4,500 billion baht in tax revenue, primarily from bringing those in the informal sector into the tax system, mostly freelancers and individuals engaged in online commerce.”

Meanwhile, the Revenue Department has also developed the e-Tax Invoice and e-Receipt systems to enhance the efficiency of tax filing supervision, strengthen transparency, and upgrade operations to align with the modern economic model. It has been observed that more businesses are using the e-Tax Invoice and e-Receipt systems.

 In fiscal year 2569, there were a total of 18,936 participating businesses, an increase of 1,396, and 202,585 outlets, an increase of 3,430. Meanwhile, considering only the "Travel Well, Get a Refund" measure for accommodation and restaurants, in fiscal year 2569, there were 2,001 participating businesses, an increase of 519, and 16,362 outlets, an increase of 4,423.

“We want to encourage more businesses to adopt the e-Tax Invoice and e-Receipt system. Currently, there are approximately 19,000 users, but we understand that the cost of issuing electronic tax invoices is still high, around 3 baht per document, which makes SMEs hesitant to fully adopt the system.”

Furthermore, it was found that in addition to personal income tax and the increase in the number of businesses using the e-Tax Invoice and e-Receipt systems, there was also an increase in businesses enrolling in the Value Added Tax (VAT) system, despite the challenging economic conditions.

Revenue collection figures for the first three months of fiscal year 2026.
4.8 billion baht, an increase of 2.4%.%

Dr. Kulya stated that for the first three months of fiscal year 2026 (October-December 2025), the Revenue Department collected 481,935 million baht in taxes, which is 11,339 million baht or 2.4% higher than the previous year and 3,005 million baht or 0.6% higher than the budget estimate.

The Revenue Department has projected revenue collection for fiscal year 2569 of 2,447,100 million baht, which is 111,617 million baht or 4.8% higher than the 2,335,483 million baht collected in fiscal year 2568. This forecast is based on the assumption of a 2569 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of 1.2-2.2% and an inflation rate of 0.2-1% (Source: National Economic and Social Development Council, as of November 17, 2568).

Dr. Kulya explained the concept of increasing the Value Added Tax (VAT), stating that technically, a 1% increase in VAT would generate approximately 70,000 billion baht in net revenue for the government. However, she cautioned that this policy should only be implemented when the economy grows by more than 3% to avoid excessive impacts on the cost of living and inflation.

"Expanding the tax base is necessary. There's been discussion about raising VAT for a while now, but a VAT increase should only be done when the economy is doing well. Personally, I don't agree with raising it at this time. However, raising VAT also depends on government policy."

Regarding Negative Income Tax (NIT), the Revenue Department still intends to proceed with it. However, they view Negative Income Tax as a tool for targeted welfare provision rather than a direct measure to increase tax revenue. Its advantage is that it helps bring people into the government's revenue database. If the system is to be implemented, it must be ready and laws must be amended to require all Thai citizens to file income tax returns.

Follow and read other columns in the March 2569 Bank Finance Journal, Issue 527, in digital format: https://goo.gl/U6OnIi

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