Thailand Rolls Back Plan to Levy 15 Percent Tax on Gains Made From Crypto Assets: Report

Following increased crypto scrutiny in India, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman earlier today during her Union Budget speech announced the introduction of a 30 percent tax on gains made from the sale of digital assets that include cryptocurrency. Thailand, on the other hand, reportedly appears to be backing down on plans to introduce a 15 percent tax on crypto profits after heavy opposition especially from the country's youth. The Southeast Asian country had planned to impose capital gains tax on the asset class, including trading and mining, earlier this year.

As per a report by Financial Times, Thailand will not go ahead with its initial plan of implementing a 15 percent cryptocurrency tax plan after the traders in the country voiced strong opposition. Supporters of the crypto market in the country claim that high taxation would result in suffocating the market. Thailand's Revenue Department previously had plans to strengthen its oversight of cryptocurrency trading following significant growth in the size and value of the market through the latter half of 2020 and the entirety of 2021.

The new rules, outlined by Thailand's Revenue Department, will also allow traders to offset their annual losses against gains made in the same year. “The revenue department did a lot of homework and reached out to crypto operators as well to get feedback,” said Pete Peeradej Tanruangporn, CEO of Upbit, a crypto exchange, and co-chair of the Thailand Digital Asset Operators Trade Association while speaking to Financial Times. “It is much more friendly to both investors and the industry.”

The Bank of Thailand, the country's Securities and Exchange Commission, and its finance ministry last week announced plans to issue regulatory guidelines to restrict digital currency payments.

Governments across the world are looking at aspects like taxation, investor interest, and anti-money laundering as their top priorities in their cryptocurrency regulation agenda. The asset class has grown considerably in terms of adoption in the past two years, thanks to the formidable growth of sectors such as decentralised finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Several countries have been looking into how to tax the crypto market, with India becoming the newest country to announce a tax net for the asset class. The Indian government appears to have chosen the route of trying to discourage the general public from viewing crypto as a safe option of diversifying one's financial portfolio while affording the highest tax slab of 30 percent which is similar for gains made from a lottery, game shows, puzzles, etc.

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