Practical Law has published an updated online version of Agricultural Law in Thailand, a Q&A-style guide that provides detailed overviews of Thailand’s agriculture laws and regulations. The Thailand overview is one of approximately twenty such guides to jurisdictions worldwide, covering key practical issues related to the legal environment for agricultural operations. The Thailand section, which was written by lawyers at Tilleke & Gibbins, covers the following topics: Agricultural policy Acquisition of agricultural companies Acquisition of agricultural land Crop seed business Plant variety rights Genetically modified crops Animal and animal welfare issues Agricultural safety and product liability Practical Law, produced by Thomson Reuters, is a comprehensive global legal resource for business lawyers. The platform features a wide range of guides covering hundreds of jurisdictions and practice areas. The full Agricultural Law in Thailand chapter can be accessed on the Practical Law website.

Thailand has issued separate regulations temporarily exempting hotel operators and factory owners from paying their annual government fee. The special allowances are meant to mitigate the COVID-19-related financial impacts that have hit the hospitality and manufacturing sectors in Thailand. The exemption for hotel business operators came on July 8, 2022, when the Ministry of the Interior promulgated the Ministerial Regulation Re: Exemption from the Government Fee for Hotel Business Operators B.E. 2565 (2022). This regulation exempts hotel business operators from paying the annual government fee, which is at the rate of THB 40 per room, from July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2024. The exemption for factory business operators was laid out in the Ministry of Industry’s July 1, 2022, Ministerial Regulation Re: Exemption from Annual Government Fee for Factory Business Operators B.E. 2565 (2022). Under this regulation, operators of type 2 factories (which must notify the Ministry of Industry before operation) and type 3 factories (which must obtain a factory operation license before operation) as designated under the Factory Act B.E. 2535 and its amendments are relieved from paying the annual government fee from June 10, 2022, to June 9, 2023. This fee varies (ranging from THB 300 to THB 43,500 per year) depending on the horsepower of machinery used in the factory. For more information on these exemptions, please contact Tilleke & Gibbins at [email protected].

On June 21, 2022, Thailand’s cabinet updated and approved in principle a five-year personal income tax exemption for foreign filmmaking companies and actors working on motion pictures in Thailand. The tax measure, which is intended to promote the use of Thailand as a filming location, is similar to a 2012 law that authorized a temporary personal income tax exemption for nonresidents shooting movies for foreign filmmaking companies. Normally, nonresident artists are subject to tax on income from filmmaking in Thailand. These artists have to declare their income and submit personal tax returns to the local tax authorities for both midyear and annual tax submission deadlines. Depending on the amount of income (including remuneration, per diem, travel expense allowance, etc.), personal income tax rates can be up to 35%. With the exemption, however, nonresident actors will in effect be able to bypass these taxation requirements. This incentive will not grant a tax exemption to foreign directors, producers, film crews, or other filmmaking staff. However, based on current Thai Revenue Department guidelines, a filmmaking company will have no tax liability in Thailand if no income is earned during the filmmaking itself. The incentive scheme is expected to pass into law soon after the cabinet’s approval. While this incentive provides strong incentives for foreign companies to film in Thailand, a number of other considerations will remain—for instance, customs duty liability on equipment temporarily brought into Thailand, personal income tax implications, and film crew members’ compliance with legal and regulatory requirements. For more information on the exemption for foreign filmmaking companies and actors, or on any aspect of risk mitigation and legal compliance relating to filming operations in Thailand, please contact Auaychai Sukawong at [email protected] or +66 2056 5537.

Thailand’s Ministry of Interior has extended the deadline for payment of the 2022 land and building tax by three months, from April 30, 2022, to July 31, 2022, in order to relieve the burden for taxpayers. The announcement was published in the Government Gazette on June 24, 2022. If payment is to be made in installments, the announcement also extends the deadline for each installment as follows: For more details on these measures, or any aspect of Thailand’s land and building tax, please contact Chaiwat Keratisuthisathorn at [email protected], or Sorawit Partomtanasarn at [email protected].