The Thai Restaurant Association complains that the "Thai Chua Thai Plus" program has caused sales to drop. They highlight that some stores participating in the program have annual incomes exceeding 1.8 million baht but manipulate their reported income to evade taxes. Meanwhile, stores that fully comply with tax payments are being ignored.
The Thai Restaurant Association issued a letter to the government after some operators saw sales decline due to the "Thai Chua Thai Plus" program. The program's conditions state that participating stores must have annual income not exceeding 1.8 million baht, but many stores with sales exceeding that amount reportedly exploit tax loopholes by underreporting sales to pay lower taxes.
Thaninwan Kulmongkol, president of the Thai Restaurant Association, told Thairath Online’s special news team that restaurants excluded from the "Thai Chua Thai Plus" program suffered impacts. For example, branded congee and chicken rice shops were forced by the Revenue Department to register because their income exceeded 1.8 million baht per year. However, some cleverly separate funds entering their accounts to appear as lower income and thus pay a lump-sum annual tax.
On average, sales of 1.8 million baht per year equal about 150,000 baht monthly. Therefore, stores not exceeding this limit should have daily sales under 5,000 baht. In reality, street noodle vendors sell about 100 bowls daily at 50–60 baht each, surpassing the annual sales limit. Some of these stores avoid registering for tax payments and underreport sales to qualify for lump-sum annual tax. As a result, some of these stores can join the "Thai Chua Thai Plus" program.
Conversely, the government wants stores to enter the value-added tax system. The "Thai Chua Thai" program helps small stores with annual income not exceeding 1.8 million baht. The association has never opposed government aid to small stores facing rapid economic pressures. But after five days of "Thai Chua Thai Plus," during an economic downturn with sales down about 30%, sales have now dropped by double that among stores not in the program. These compliant stores have paid full taxes, yet some tax-evading stores paying lump-sum taxes are allowed into the program.
“When raising this issue, some pages gathered lists of restaurants participating in "Thai Chua Thai Plus." These stores have brands and products likely exceeding 1.8 million baht annually but still qualified to join the program. These restaurants can host tours of 40–50 people at once. It raises concern whether these stores evade taxes by paying lump-sum taxes or whether this is a loophole among local tax officials.”
Stores registered for value-added tax want to ask the government: we understand the desire to help small operators, but not those outside the program. Affected stores wonder how they can afford to pay taxes. The question arises: “Why do stores that pay full taxes and are compliant receive such treatment?” This discourages compliant stores from wanting to enter the system.
Some may misunderstand the call for fairness, but the demand is that stores claiming under 1.8 million baht in annual sales yet paying lump-sum taxes only contribute about 6,000 baht annually. This is vastly less than stores in the VAT system. So why not support these VAT-paying stores more?
The government might consider additional measures for corporate stores with income not exceeding 5 million baht per year. This would help more stores comprehensively and encourage more businesses to enter the tax payment system.