What Documents Your Thai Accountant Needs Each Month
<p>If you have ever received a frustrated message from your accountant asking for missing receipts or a bank statement you forgot to send, you are not alone. One of the most common friction points between business owners and their accountants in Thailand is simply not knowing what to provide, and when. This guide walks you through the practical, month-to-month documents your Thai accountant needs to do their job properly, file your taxes on time, and keep your company out of trouble with the Revenue Department.</p> <h2>Start With Your Bank Statements</h2> <p>Your monthly bank statements are the backbone of any bookkeeping process. Your accountant uses them to reconcile transactions, verify income received, and confirm payments made. For most small businesses in Thailand, this means providing a complete statement for every company bank account, covering the full calendar month. Do not send partial statements or screenshots from your banking app. Download the official PDF from your bank's online portal or request a printed copy and scan it clearly. If you hold accounts at more than one Thai bank, all of them need to be included every month without exception.</p> <h2>Sales Documents and Income Records</h2> <p>Your accountant needs to see everything that came into the business during the month. This includes copies of all tax invoices you issued to customers, any receipts for cash sales, and records of payments received through online platforms or transfers. If your business uses a point-of-sale system, a monthly sales summary report from that system is usually sufficient, but check with your accountant first to confirm the format they need. For service businesses billing clients directly, make sure you are issuing proper Thai tax invoices that include your company's Tax ID number, the customer's details, and the correct VAT amount if you are VAT-registered. Sending a folder of WhatsApp payment screenshots is not a substitute for proper documentation.</p> <h2>Purchase Invoices and Expense Receipts</h2> <p>Every expense your business incurs needs a supporting document. This means the actual tax invoice or receipt from the supplier, not just a bank transfer confirmation. In Thailand, for an expense to be tax-deductible, the supporting document generally needs to be a proper tax invoice showing the supplier's name, address, and Tax ID number. This matters a great deal at year-end when your accountant is preparing your corporate income tax return. Collect these documents throughout the month rather than scrambling at the end. A simple system of photographing receipts as you receive them and storing them in a shared folder with your accountant will save significant time and prevent deductions from being disallowed.</p> <h2>Payroll Information</h2> <p>If you employ staff, your accountant needs your payroll data each month to calculate withholding tax on salaries, file the PND 1 form, and contribute correctly to the Social Security Fund. What this looks like in practice depends on your setup, but typically you will need to provide a payroll summary showing each employee's name, their salary or wage for the month, any bonuses or allowances paid, and any deductions. If you make changes to salaries, hire a new employee, or let someone go during the month, your accountant needs to know immediately. Delays in reporting these changes can result in incorrect filings and penalties. If you also engage freelancers or contractors, payments to them that are subject to withholding tax need to be reported separately under the PND 3 form.</p> <h2>VAT Records If You Are Registered</h2> <p>Businesses registered for VAT in Thailand must file a monthly VAT return, the PP 30, by the fifteenth of the following month. To prepare this accurately, your accountant needs a complete record of your output tax, meaning the VAT you charged on your sales, and your input tax, meaning the VAT you paid on your purchases. Your accountant will typically compile this from the sales invoices and purchase invoices you have already provided, but it is your responsibility to make sure all documents are in their hands well before the filing deadline. If you receive a tax invoice from a supplier after the month has closed, tell your accountant straight away rather than holding it over to the next month without explanation.</p> <h2>Anything That Changed or Is Out of the Ordinary</h2> <p>Beyond the standard monthly package, your accountant needs to know about anything unusual that happened in the business during that month. This includes large one-off payments, asset purchases, loans received or repaid, transfers between company accounts, payments to overseas suppliers that may be subject to withholding tax, or income from a new revenue stream that was not there before. These situations often have specific tax implications and cannot be handled correctly if your accountant only finds out about them three months later during a review. Make it a habit to flag anything that feels different or significant when you send your monthly documents.</p> <h2>How to Send Everything and When to Send It</h2> <p>Establishing a clear routine with your accountant makes both of your lives easier. Most accountants in Thailand will ask you to submit your monthly documents within the first five to seven working days of the following month. This gives them enough time to process the bookkeeping, prepare the necessary tax forms, and file before the relevant deadlines. Agree on a preferred method for sharing documents, whether that is a shared Google Drive folder, an accounting platform, email, or a combination. Whichever system you use, organize files clearly by month and document type. Sending a single compressed folder of forty randomly named image files is not helpful. Label things properly, keep originals where possible, and respond promptly when your accountant asks a clarifying question. The more organized and consistent you are on your side, the faster and more accurate the work on their side will be, and the less likely your business is to face a penalty for a late or incorrect filing.</p>