Court extends deadline to appeal in Thaksin case

Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. (File photo)
Previous prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. (File photo)

An instance involving a massive goverment tax bill for former best minister Thaksin Shinawatra has its deadline for appeal extended on Tuesday.

The appeal extension follows the particular Central Tax Court’s decision last month for the Revenue Department to revoke an order for Thaksin to pay about 17 billion baht within tax over the 2006 sale of a risk in Shin Company.

Both the plaintiff and the defendant were given 30 days after the court issued its judgment on July 18 to file an appeal. However , neither party had filed in time, and they sought an extension from the court.  

Upon Tuesday, the courtroom decided to extend the particular deadline for Thaksin until Sept 16 and for the prosecutors representing the Income Department until September 17.  

A source at the court said each sides were expected to seek another expansion, given the large quantity of paperwork in the case.  

On July 18, the court ruled how the department’s summoning of Thaksin’s children, Panthongtae and Pintongta, for the tax assessment below Section 19 from the Revenue Code has been unlawful as each siblings were just proxies holding shares for their father, it said.

The department must have summoned Thaksin for your tax appraisal, however it failed to do so prior to the deadline, the courtroom said.

Moreover, the transaction did not constitute a big change of share possession in Shin Corp. Thus, Thaksin remained the share proprietor and he was not prone to pay tax under Section 39 plus Section 40(2) of the Revenue Code.

As a result, the tax assessment by revenue officials as well as the committee set up to review the former prime minister’s appeal was illegal.

The court ruled to revoke the department’s Por Ngor Dor 12 form demanding a 17. 6-billion-baht back tax payment. However , the courtroom said the authorities had acted within their jurisdiction and were not held liable.

The tax notice was officially served in Mar 2017, and the ex-premier appealed the order the following month.

Thaksin, who had been ousted as excellent minister in a 2006 coup and now hails from exile, later filed a civil lawsuit with the Central Taxes Court against the Revenue Department, Pongsak Methapitpat, Prapat Sanansilp plus Pisit Srivarant who else served on the committee reviewing his appeal.