Amendment to Married Couples’ Tax Filing from 2012

As a consequence of the Constitutional Court’s judgment handed down in July this year, the Thai Government has issued an emergency decree to repeal the unconstitutional provisions of the Revenue Code that requires husbands to combine their wives’ income in their personal income tax return.

Keywords: Mazars, Thailand, Tax, Revenue Code, Royal Gazette

08 January 2013

The decree* has also amended the tax filing of married taxpayers as follows;

Husbands and wives can choose either to file a joint tax return or to file two separate returns.

Filing separately: If the couple have an income that is unable to be identified that it belongs to the husband or the wife, husband and wife must include one half of such income in their own separate return. However, if the unidentified income is an assessable income under Section 40 (8) of the Revenue Code (i.e. income derived from business, commerce, agriculture, industry, transport, etc.), the couple can decide how much of such income will be declared in each of their separate returns.

Filing jointly: Husbands or wives can treat their own income as part of the income of their spouses, or can file a separate return and pay tax separately on their own employment income.

Please note that this amendment will be effective for the tax year 2012 onwards.

(*The Emergency Decree Amending the Revenue Code (No. 18), published in the Royal Gazette on 24 December 2012)

Please read the Emergency Decree for more information.