Thai Excise Department is using blockchain to more efficiently collect taxes on goods

Thailand's Excise Department is planning to use blockchain technology to put into place a new system that will make it more efficient to collect taxes instead of raising them, according to a report by the Bangkok Post on Monday. 

The Excise Department, which is a part of the Thai Ministry of Finance, is responsible for collecting taxes incurred on the sales of products and goods manufactured and sold. 

According to the report, the fiscal target for 2021 is approximately 530 billion baht. The department will use blockchain technology to help identify the price, import duty, and tax liability of each imported product, according to department director-general Lavaron Sangsnit.

The idea is that the technology will make it harder for tax evasion to occur because the Excise Department, as well as the Revenue Department and the Customs Department, will share a single database to conduct tax audits, he added. 

The Excise Department started planning its implementation last year in order to create a blockchain-based system for assessing the tax returns of oil exports, which account for two-thirds of the total revenue collected by the department.