Page 186 - Social Enterprise A New Business Paradigm for Thailand

capital not exceeding 5 million baht at the end of the accounting period and with annual revenue
from the sale of goods and services not exceeding 30 million baht, tax benefits are available under
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the SME promotion measures, as outlined in Table 6.6.

Table 6.6 Tax Obligations of Community Enterprises
Type of Community Enterprise Tax Obligations

Exempt from personal income tax if income does
Community enterprises organized as ordinary not exceed 1.8 million baht
partnerships or non-legal entity groups If income exceeds 1.8 million baht, the full amount
is subject to tax from the first baht

Community enterprises organized as companies Net Profit (Baht) Tax Rate (%)
or legal partnerships with registered capital not 1 – 300,000 Exempt from tax
exceeding 5 million baht and annual revenue not 300,001 – 3,000,000 15
exceeding 30 million baht 3,000,001 and above 20

2.2) Procurement Benefits for Community Enterprises

The Ministerial Regulation on Designated Goods and Procurement Methods to Promote or
Support Government-Desired Goods, B.E. 2563 (2020), as amended by the Ministerial Regulation

(No. 2), B.E. 2563 (2020), identifies “products from village or subdistrict occupational groups”,
defined as groups of at least five individuals from the same local community with established
group management and certified or registered operations by a government agency, as goods the
government seeks to promote or support. Government agencies are permitted to procure these
goods through specific (non-competitive) procurement methods.

As of March 31, 2024, Thailand had 82,888 community enterprises with 1,445,773 members,
along with 617 community enterprise networks comprising 15,634 members. When categorized
by type of activity and product, the most common types were beef cattle (14,484 enterprises),

food processing/products (13,931), rice (9,086), woven textiles/clothing (6,329), herbs and spices
(5,798), freshwater fish (3,722), herbal products (3,585), wickerwork (3,413), and organic
fertilizers (3,379) 137 . Most community enterprises have not yet registered as legal entities. A
nationwide assessment conducted in 2020 of 63,417 community enterprises found that 18,996
(37.25%) were rated as having good capacity, 34,091 (50.64%) as moderate, and 10,330
(12.12%) 138 as needing improvement.

136 Royal Decree issued under the Revenue Code on Tax Rate Reduction and Exemption (No. 603), B.E. 2559 (2016),
given on April 18, 2016, amending Royal Decree (No. 530), B.E. 2554 (2011), as further amended by Royal Decree
(No. 583), B.E. 2558 (2015).
137 Community Enterprise Promotion Division, Summary of the Number of Community Enterprises and Community
Enterprise Networks. Source: http://www.sceb.doae.go.th>Documents>STC
138 Community Enterprise Registration and Information Systems Group, Community Enterprise Promotion Division,
2020, cited in Wachira Paicharoenmongkol and Jiraporn Chiangchana, Study on Environmental Factors Supporting
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