- Bangkok’s revenue department will use blockchain to keep track of tax
- The new platform will help prevent tax evasion and speed up the tax refund process
- This is part of director-general Ekniti Nitithanprapas’ plan to introduce new technologies
The relationship between digital currencies and tax is an ever-evolving one. On one hand, in the U.S., proper laws to declare tax on cryptocurrency earnings haven’t quite been put in place and IRS is trying to prevent cryptocurrency tax evasion.
In Bangkok, however, blockchain technology will now be used to prevent incidents of tax evasion. This comes following an announcement by the Revenue Department.
According to a statement by director-general Ekniti Nitithanprapas, the technology will ensure that taxes have been paid in the correct amount and order. This will also help in the tax refund process.
Machine learning will also be implemented which will show the common ways by which tax evasion occurs. This will help officials to understand the crime and how to prevent and prosecute it.
This comes as no surprise as director-general Ekniti Nitithanprapas has previously stated that the adoption and implementation of new technologies such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, and digital tax collection were high on his list of priorities as director.
Growing Usage of Blockchain Technology
Slowly but surely, governments are seeing the need to embrace blockchain technology in its administrative tasks.
Some of the most prominent examples include the U.K’s HM land registry using blockchain to register public land and Australia using blockchain to register drivers’ licenses.
This is a highly effective tactic as these governmental agencies are required to compute very large amounts of data, usually for millions of people. The traditional paper-based method has become outdated and many governments are making the switch to digitalizing all their processes.
By using blockchain, there is an increased amount of efficiency and an almost zero margin of error which is very important in matters like taxes.
There is also a significant reduction in the amount of manpower required to keep these records, ensuring that the records are kept faster and at a reduced cost.
We can expect to see more and more governmental process being outsourced to blockchain in the future, to the benefit of both the government and the people.
Bangkok and Blockchain
Bangkok has made significant efforts in recent times to embrace the DLT such as hosting the Beyond Blocks Summit later this month that is expected to bring together 40 blockchain industry leaders and over 1,500 participants.
