Burmese people seen in front of the Myanmar embassy in Thailand

The Military Council has announced that income tax will be levied on the salaries of expatriate citizens abroad.


The Union's Tax Law of 2023 was prepared by military leader General Min Aung Hlaing himself, and this provision will come into effect on October 1.


Before the Military Council amended this law, expatriates' salaries were exempted from income tax, and other types of income were taxed up to 10 percent.


Types of income: salary, Vocational education and business activities are separated.


Now, 11 years later, since 2012, the military council is trying to collect taxes on the salaries of expats who have been exempted from income tax.


Analysts say that this income tax collection, which will be collected in foreign currency according to the respective countries, shows the military council's desperate need for foreign currency.


War council's dollar war

Expatriate citizens are also taxed in the relevant country they are in, so if they do this again, they will have to pay double taxes.

According to this new amendment, those who earn between 20,000,000 and 100,000,000 Kyats per year will receive 5%. Those with incomes between 100,000 and 300,000 kyats will be charged 10 percent.


For example, a person earning a salary of 100,000 kyats a year must pay 500,000 kyats in tax to the military council.


If you have an income of 200,000 kyats, you will have to pay 20,000,000 kyats of tax at 10 percent.


Between three hundred and five hundred thousand kyats, 15 percent will be collected, and between five hundred and seven hundred thousand kyats, 20 percent will be collected.


Above 700,000 Kyats, 25% will be charged.


Despite the basic allowance of up to 100,000 kyats and basic allowances for family members, most expatriates are disappointed with the new round tax imposed by the Military Council.


Most of them do not want to pay taxes due to their political convictions in the midst of a civil war.


Military spending reaches peak

``The money that is mainly flowing into this revolution comes from the Burmese exiles. Do these people want to pay taxes to the military?'' said a Burmese resident of Thailand.


Some expatriate Burmese workers said that they had to pay double taxes during the military regime before the country's transition to democracy.


"The Burmese military is using their old methods again," said a person who has been working in Singapore for more than a decade.


''At that time, the tax paid to the junta was still higher than the tax paid to the Singapore government,'' he said.


He recalled that he had to pay taxes through the embassy and found problems in the process of issuing passports to those who did not.

Under U Thein Sein's government, in 2012, this duality was eased and exempted.


In addition, there are double taxation agreements between the two countries, so it is not yet clear how the military council negotiated with those countries.


There are 8 countries that have signed double tax treaties with Myanmar, including Great Britain, South Korea India Thailand Vietnam Laos Singapore and Malaysia.


The Chairman of the Military Council has often expressed that he is being politically attacked through finance, and "Some countries are using the dollar as a weapon," General Min Aung Hlaing said at the International Security Conference in Russia, reflecting the dollar crisis of the Military Council.


Domestic banks, The military council tried to control the foreign money owned by entrepreneurs and individuals by all means.


Now they are trying to get the foreign currency of Burmese expatriates through double taxation.