Types of signage tax and method of calculating signage tax

Sign tax is something that sign tax payers should understand. If you are doing business and making signs for advertising and public relations, or putting up signs in front of your store, there are various types of sign tax that you should know about. What are the steps, calculation methods, and collection methods?

For new businessmen, some may not know that putting up signs for advertising and public relations, both in front of and inside the premises of the shop or office, will cause us to have to pay taxes in this part as well. And some may be fined retroactively even though they did not intend to avoid taxes. Sign tax is a type of tax that most people are not familiar with. Therefore, we have collected additional information to summarize in this article what sign tax is and whether we have to pay it or not.

"Sign" means a sign showing a name, brand or symbol used in conducting a trade or other business to earn income or to advertise a trade or other business to earn income, whether displayed or advertised on any object with letters, images or symbols written, carved, inscribed or made visible in other ways.

What kind of sign does it have to pay sign tax?

Sign tax is a tax collected from displaying a name tag, brand or logo on any object with letters, images, whether on a general sign, billboard on a building or expressway, cloth sign, vinyl sign, light sign used as a sign to generate income or advertising, all are subject to sign tax. For example, if we open a coffee shop "Octopus Coffee Club" and make a coffee shop sign as a light sign with a logo and have a vinyl sign stretched and installed showing promotions and prices, both signs must pay sign tax at a tax rate that depends on the specified format and size.


What kind of signs can be attached without paying the sign tax?

Actually, by law, a taxable sign is any sign that shows a brand name used for advertising or generating income on various objects. However, the law still has many exceptions , which entrepreneurs can use these methods to put up signs instead of normal signs without having to pay taxes in the following ways:

• Signs displayed at theaters and in the theater area to advertise the entertainment.
• Labels displayed on the product or on its packaging or packaging.
• Signs displayed at occasional event locations
• A sign displayed on a person or animal
• Signs displayed inside buildings used for business or other activities or inside private buildings in order to generate income, and each sign has an area not exceeding 3 square meters as specified in the Ministerial Regulations, but does not include signs in accordance with the Commercial Registration Act.
• Signs of the central government, regional government or local government in accordance with the law on government administration
• Signs of organizations established under the law on the establishment of government organizations or under the law on that matter and agencies that send revenue to the government (signs of the Bank of Thailand, Government Savings Bank, Government Housing Bank, Cooperative Bank, and Industrial Finance Corporation of Thailand)
• Signs of private schools under the Private Schools Act or Private Higher Education Institutions Act, which are displayed on the building or area of ​​the private school or private higher education institution.
• Signs of agricultural entrepreneurs who trade their agricultural products.
• Signs of temples or businesses that are specifically for religious or public charity purposes
• Association or foundation sign
• Signs as specified in the Ministerial Regulations (currently there is a second version). Ministerial Regulations No. 2 (1992) allows owners of signs not to pay sign tax for:
• (a) Signs installed or displayed on private vehicles, motorcycles, road rollers or tractors in accordance with the Motor Vehicle Act.
• (b) Signs installed or displayed on the casters in accordance with the Casters Act.
• (c) Signs installed or displayed on vehicles other than (a) and (b), with an area not exceeding five hundred square centimeters.

Procedures for requesting permission and installing signs

1. Check the safety of sign installation

After receiving the sign from the sign shop, before installing the sign, we should inform them of the size of the sign, including photos or sketches of the sign, along with a map of the area where we want to install the sign, in order to request permission to install it from the district office, municipality, or sub-district administrative organization where we live so that they can inspect whether the nature of our sign causes any inconvenience or danger to the lives and property of the people, such as areas that overlap the road, electric poles, roads, trees, and other places that are in public areas. Normally, if we use the services of most sign shops, the shop will be able to request a permit for us. 

2. Submit supporting documents for tax payment

After receiving permission to install a sign, prepare the following supporting documents for paying the sign tax in full to prepare to submit for tax payment:

• National identity card
• Copy of house registration
• VAT Registration
• Partnership certificate
• Sign installation permit or receipt from the sign shop

If you have already submitted a tax return, you should also present the tax receipt from the previous year.

When all the documents are ready as follows, the owner of the sign must submit the sign tax form (Por Por 1) along with all the evidence (if there is a change to the sign, the sign tax form must be submitted to re-assess the sign tax every time) and proceed with submitting the tax form. The staff will proceed in 2 cases:

The first case is when we are ready to pay the sign tax immediately, when the officer has assessed all the taxes for us.

The second case will occur when we are not ready to pay the tax when the entire license plate tax has been assessed. The officer will send a letter informing us of the assessment and the total debt that we have to pay later. We will have only 15 days from the date of the assessment to pay this license plate tax.

For debt payment, if our signboard is the first year that we have filed taxes and has been assessed by the officer that the signboard tax is more than 3,000 baht, we can pay in 3 installments, 3 months each, at the same rate.  

3. Payment of vehicle tax must be made annually by March.

Person responsible for paying sign tax

The person liable to pay the signboard tax is the owner of the signboard. However, in the event that it appears to the official that no one has filed the signboard tax return form (Por Por 1) for any signboard, when the official cannot find the owner of that signboard, it shall be deemed that the owner of that signboard is liable to pay the signboard tax.

If the owner of the sign cannot be found, the owner or possessor of the building, place or land where the sign is installed or displayed shall be deemed to be the person liable for the sign tax in that order and the official shall notify the tax assessment in writing to such person.

Procedures for requesting permission and installing signs

**Must submit a tax return and pay the vehicle tax.

From 2 January - 31 March 2024 **

Request for tax deferment

If the amount of the sign tax to be paid is three thousand baht or more, the person liable for the sign tax may request to pay in three equal installments by notifying the official in writing before the tax payment deadline and pay the first installment before the tax payment deadline, the second installment within one month from the last day of the first installment payment, and the third installment within one month from the last day of the second installment payment.

Extra cost

Paying extra money means not paying the signboard tax on time, which results in having to pay extra money. The person responsible for paying the signboard tax must pay extra money in addition to the amount that must be paid for the signboard tax in the following cases and rates:

(1) If the owner of the sign fails to submit a tax return within the prescribed time, a surcharge of ten percent of the amount of the tax due shall be paid, except in cases where the owner of the sign submitted a tax return before the official notified him of the omission, in which case a surcharge of five percent of the amount of the tax due shall be paid.

(2) Submitting an incorrect tax return form, resulting in a reduction of the amount of tax to be paid, shall result in a fine of ten percent of the additional assessed tax, except in cases where the owner of the sign has requested to correct the tax return form before the official has notified him of the assessment.

(3) If the sign tax is not paid within the prescribed time, an additional two percent per month shall be paid on the amount of the sign tax due. A fraction of a month shall be counted as one month. The additional money under ( 1) and ( 2) shall not be included in the calculation of the additional money.

Appeal

When the person liable for the sign tax has been notified of the assessment, if he/she sees that the assessment is incorrect, he/she has the right to appeal the assessment to the Governor of Bangkok by submitting an appeal through an officer at the Revenue Division of the local district office where the tax return was filed. The appeal must be filed within 30 days from the date of receiving the assessment notice. If the appellant does not file an appeal within 30 days or does not comply with the summons, does not give a statement, or does not submit relevant documents or evidence without reasonable cause, the Governor of Bangkok or a person assigned by the Governor of Bangkok has the authority to dismiss the appeal.

When the Governor of Bangkok has made a decision on the appeal and notified the appellant of the decision with reasons in writing, if the appellant does not agree with the decision of the Governor of Bangkok, the appellant has the right to appeal the decision of the Governor of Bangkok by filing a lawsuit in court within 30 days from the date of receiving the notification of the appeal decision, except in the case of dismissal of the appeal as mentioned above. However, such appeal shall not be a relief from payment of the signboard tax.

Unless approved by the Governor of Bangkok to wait for the appeal decision or court verdict first.
Tax Refund Request

In the event of an appeal or a final court judgment to reduce the assessed amount, the taxpayer must be notified as soon as possible to request a refund within one year from the date of notification. Anyone who pays signboard tax without having the duty to pay the tax or pays more than they should have is entitled to a refund by submitting a request for a refund within one year from the date of payment of the tax.

Laws and penalties

1. If the operator intentionally fails to submit the signboard tax return, there will be a fine of 5,000 to 50,000 baht.
2. If the operator intentionally reports false information or attempts to avoid taxes, he/she will be subject to imprisonment not exceeding 1 year or a fine from 5,000 to 50,000 baht, or both.
3. Anyone who fails to notify the transfer of a signboard or fails to display a signboard tax payment list in a public place at the business premises shall be subject to a fine of 1,000 to 10,000 baht. Service time is approximately 10 minutes per person, excluding the inspection process (if any).

Source: Revenue Department
- Act No. 48 B.E. 2562 [24 November 2017 15:55]
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