Thailand’s main taxation on cigarettes is excise tax. Since 1992, the excise tax on cigarettes was increased on ten occasions, from 55% in 1992 to 85% in 2009. This created large amount of government income, from 15,438 million Baht in 1992 up to 41,823 million Baht ( 1,228 million USD) in 2007.The current excise tax rate on cigarettes is an ad valorem rate at 85%of ex-factory price which accounted for 71% of the retail price. An attractive feature of the tax regime is its single rate applied to both locally produced and imported cigarettes.
Custom duty/import duty (on imported cigarettes only); - Customs duty, which is 5% for imported cigarettes from countries under AFTA agreement and 60% for imported cigarettes from countries under WTO agreement, based on CIF price.
Tax earmarked for the Heath Promotion Fund - Surcharge Tax/Health Tax, which is a special tax that has been collected since 8 November 2001 earmarking for Thai Health Promotion Foundation activities. The tax stands at 2% of tobacco and alcohol taxes, which together amounted to approximately 2 billion baht (US$ 60 million) in 2007.
Local tax - Local Tax, which is collected by the Excise Department on behalf of local administrative organizations. This tax is based on number of cigarettes sold at vender/sale points, at the rate of 0.093 Baht/cigarette sold in the area.
Value added tax (VAT) - Value Added Tax (VAT), which is collected at the rate of 7% of added value.
Tax earmarked for Thai Public Broadcast Broadcasting Service - Tax collected for Thai Public Broadcast Broadcasting Service which was founded according to Thai Public Broadcast Broadcasting Act, 2008. This tax accounts for 1.5% of tobacco and alcohol tax, both from the Excise Department and the Customs Department.