Abstract:
Beverage is one of the goods liable to excise duty and one whose traders receive privileges such as exemption, refund, reduction and deduction of excise tax, according to the stipulations of the Excise Act, B.E. 2527 (1984) and Excise Tax Tariff Act, B.E. 2527. However, in some cases, these stipulations cause issues, such as 1) the issue of the definition of beverage, according to Excise Tax Tariff Act, B.E. 2527, which specifies that beverage does not include that which manufacturers produce particularly for the sole purpose of retailing, resulting in the lack of control, regulation and check of beverages, and possible harm to consumers; 2) the issue of deduction privilege of excise tax for beverages according to Section 101, in which the legislation does not stipulate deduction in the case of the excise tax paid by traders of beverages upon purchasing raw materials exceeding the excise tax due, resulting in the traders of beverages bearing the burden of excise tax overpayment, etc. The study found that legislations on excise tax privileges such as exemption, refund, reduction and deduction of excise tax, in some cases, cause inequality among beverage traders, do not correspond to principles of a good tax system and do not give actual benefits to traders of beverages, resulting in traders evasion of excise tax, which in turn causes a big loss of income for the state. Therefore, there should be revision of statues, the Excise Departments legislation, ministerial regulations, directives, and operation guidelines regarding excise tax privileges, including exemption, refund, reduction and deduction of excise tax.