The key trends and enhancements of transfer pricing audits in Thailand are
Audit approach: The common practice in the past was that the TRD would issue an invitation letter to the taxpayer who was a target for a transfer pricing audit to meet at the tax office and to submit the information and documentation related to the transfer pricing as prescribed in DI Paw 113/2545.
Starting in late 2011 , the TRD began issuing a transfer pricing questionnaire or form to targeted taxpayer to gather information about:
The types of related-party transactions,
The transaction values,
The related suppliers' and customers' names,
Products purchase/sold
Currencies used.
The submission of completed questionnaire may or may not be followed by the issuance of the invitation letter.
However in most cases, the invitation letter would be issued after tax payers sent in the completed questionnaires.
Focused transactions: one of the interesting trends is the increase in investigation of inter-company service fee is one of the common ways used by multinational companies to transfer profits out of Thailand. This is also one of the focus areas of the general tax audit team. The key challenge would be whether those services are beneficial to taxpayers' businesses in Thailand. If the taxpayer cannot prove the benefits received, the entire service fees will treated as non-deductible expenses, resulting in additional tax payable or reduction of losses carried forward. In this regards, it is critical that the taxpayer is able to substantiate that the services are in fact beneficial to the business in Thailand. Taxpayers are also required to prove that any service fee is determined in accordance with the arm's length principle.
Documentation is the top action that Thai taxpayers should prepare in advance because it is the first document the TRD will request from a taxpayer for its review and investigation during a transfer pricing audit and base on our transfer pricing audit and APA experience with it, the TRD review sand considers only Thai comparable searches. If a taxpayer uses a regional comparable search for documentation, it is likely that tax officers will try to use their own Thai comparable set to challenge the taxpayer. As a result, a local comparable search is a must in transfer pricing analysis in Thailand.