E-Invoicing Process Runs in Thailand

The Thai government is working to develop a powerful e-invoicing system using certified service providers. This is a viable alternative for businesses.

Because e-tax invoicing involves complex technical and legal steps for businesses. The government has taken steps to eliminate this complexity and regulate the invoicing system. Accordingly, the Electronic Transactions Development Agenc has initiated a certification process for e-service providers to assess whether the applicant’s solution is secure and compliant.

Thailand Revenue Authority (TRA) and e-Invoice Process

In this context, TRA has issued a regulation on which transactions can be issued electronic invoices and receipts. First of all, the approval of the General Manager of the Revenue Administration has become necessary for each person who registers for VAT.

However, the applicant must meet the criteria set out below. These criteria are;

  • To be a limited or public company with a registered capital of 10 million Baht (about 333 thousand US dollars) or more, or to be a government agency,
  • Having a business history for a certain period of time,
  • To have internal control and audit systems.

For the preparation and storage of e-tax invoices and receipts, the applicant must comply with the regulations stipulated by regulation No. 2555 issued by the TRA. These regulations concern the security of data, protection of audit trails, control of user access levels, and passwords.

E-tax invoices and receipts must contain two digital signatures. This signature must include a certificate issued by TRA and the certificate number.

The data contained in e-tax invoices, credit, debt bills should be extracted every month. The customer information, price of goods/services, and VAT amount must be sent to TRA.

Thailand’s e-invoice process is an important step forward. TRA’s way of making the financial process in Thailand more efficient for companies. It is not clear how the above conditions will be monitored and evaluated by TRA. This will be better understood over time, as TRA encourages companies to adopt this plan.