Instead, the Revenue Department will send a notification letter (Kor 21) to inform you of your tax refund amount and you or your HR department must contact any Krung Thai Bank (KTB) before the deadline stated in the letter to cash it out.

Most importantly, your documentation must be complete. If you visit the bank without all the documentation requested, KTB would not process the tax refund. For example, some expatriates who have left their initial employer, who had applied for their Tax ID card, failed to keep their Tax ID card. So you’d have to ask your current HR department to get a duplicate copy from the Revenue Department.

If you’re still in Thailand, you can either go in person to the bank or authorise another person to go on your behalf. Going in person is the simplest option as only three documents are needed – your passport, your tax refund notification letter (Kor 21), and your Thai Tax ID card.

If you authorise another person, a power of attorney dated before you permanently leave Thailand must be provided along with a certified true copy of your passport, including the page with your latest immigration stamp. As a measure of security, the company’s authorised director(s) must also sign as a witness that you have signed the power of attorney yourself, and certify that both you and the authorised person are the company’s employees. Also, the director(s) and the authorised person must give their original citizen ID card to present to KTB. If the power of attorney is dated for after you leave, your power of attorney must be notarised, which is a long and tedious process.

If you go in person, the bank will ask you whether you want your tax refund to be deposited via your KTB account or an e-money card. KTB will not deposit your tax refund into your non-KTB bank account. If you don’t have a KTB account, this can be opened on the same day you get your tax refund with only a work permit and passport, so that is not a hassle. However, if you’ve already left Thailand, only the e-money card option is available.

Which option is better? It depends. If you live and work here and you’re responsible for the tax liability yourself, either the KTB account or e-money card are viable options. However, once you have a KTB bank account, the tax refund can only be returned via your bank account in case you authorise another person to contact the bank to return your tax refund. If you choose a KTB account, KTB charges a maintenance fee of Bt50 per month if the balance in the account is less than Bt2,000 and the account has been dormant for one year; each year KTB will charge Bt200 to maintain your ATM card. If insufficient funds are in your account for the bank to deduct such fees, the bank will automatically close your account.

On the other hand, if you’re on assignment and the company pays your tax liability, the e-money card may be a better choice because you can give the card to the company’s representative (eg HR) to take cash out to be returned to the company. The card is valid for five years, and there is not cost for it.

Cash can be withdrawn from the card only at KTB’s ATM machines. The withdrawal limit is Bt20,000 per time and the daily withdrawal threshold is Bt150,000. The ATM machines can disburse money in the smallest denomination of Bt100. If the tax refund is, say, Bt100,957, another Bt43 can be topped up through your e-money card so that the entire tax refund amount could be withdrawn from the ATM machine.

This article is contributed by JIRAPORN CHONGKAMANONT, partner and NATCHANOND CHAROENMECHAIKUL, senior manager, at PwC International Assignment Services.

Soe Naing, deputy director-general of the Posts and Telecommunications Department, told the recent Myanmar Indoor Coverage Digitalisation Summit 2019 that the country would focus on improving the indoor experience of users, given that more than 70 per cent of the traffic occurs indoors, especially in urban areas.

“As Myanmar has a hot climate and a long rainy season, people usually spend their time mostly in indoor areas,” he said.

“The quality of the indoor network greatly affects the user experience. In the future 5G era, we will need more and more indoor sites, especially in highly intensive areas such as shopping malls and residential buildings.”

The official stressed the need for a reliable and stable solution to meet the requirements of users without causing trauma and destruction to buildings.

“On the one hand, we need real estate developers to reserve some space and a pipeline for communication devices in the buildings,” he said.

“On the other hand, each operator and supplier needs to provide the best solution and high-quality installation services in order not to damage buildings and the environment.”

As networks need to pay more attention to evolvability, the input of communication equipment integrators is much needed to ensure healthy and stable development of the network, he said.

According to the official, as Myanmar rapidly enters the information era, the transmission of information is inseparable from the network.

“The information transmitted by the network is becoming more and more abundant, and the amount of data transmitted is also on the rise,” he said. As the carrier of information, optical fibre plays a critical role in the transmission of information, he added.

“Nowadays, many smart terminals have entered the family unit. The rate of using smartphones now exceeds 85 per cent [of the population],” he said.

“These smart devices have greatly enriched the daily life of Myanmar people, ensuring convenience. Communicating with others anytime and anywhere greatly improves the efficiency and shortens the distance between each other.”

Win Tint, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Construction, echoed Soe Naing’s view.

“We communicate with families and friends through mobile phones, tablets and smart watches. So, the quality of indoor coverage is really important,” he said.

He urged real estate developers to reserve space for the devices and cables during the design phase in order to facilitate the subsequent installation and access of telecom devices.

“This will help avoid repeated drilling and reconstruction, improve the stability and safety of buildings, and reduce the implementation time and related costs for all parties,” he said.

Win Tint said real estate developers and property management companies should cooperate with operators, ensuring support that would improve access to smart devices.

“With the aid of new technologies, we need intelligent equipment to connect hundreds of thousands of households with the rest of the world. Today, smart terminals have become a necessity in people’s daily life,” he said.

He urged the creation of a fair environment for all parties so as to reduce communication costs and improve efficiency.

Aung Myint, president of the Federation of Myanmar Engineering Societies, said the current indoor network in Myanmar is unable to match the demand of people, especially in shopping malls, high-rise buildings, hospitals and large-scale complexes.

Anytime, anywhere

“As Myanmar people wish to enjoy high-quality network services anytime and anywhere, the indoor network becomes extremely important,” he said.

With growing urbanisation, indoor networks now carry a large number of users and heavy traffic. Aung Myint foresees more and more complexity in Yangon’s future.

In order to deploy solutions in different scenarios, every stakeholder should work together to establish a single standard, he urged.

“Each operator needs to provide the best and evolving scenario solution on par with the planning and construction standards of its own network, select high-quality suppliers to complete the integration, and establish an end-to-end service guarantee mechanism,” he said.

He stressed the need for government support to real estate development. “At the beginning of the construction, the developers will incorporate it into the overall planning of the building, reserve equipment installation space, cable and pipelines, etc, in advance,” he said.

He urged all developers to ensure each operator’s access to their properties to facilitate their networks. The suppliers must guarantee a high quality to minimise operating costs and enhance the user experience, he said.

“We hope relevant government functions will provide guidance to regulate the implementation of Myanmar’s indoor network and fibre deployment,” he said.

Aung Myint also underscored the importance of turning Yangon into an environmentally friendly smart city, which requires all parties to work together and contribute.

“Indoor coverage will play a key role in smart cities. Optical fibre will serve as the most important carrier for transmission of information,” he said.

“This will bring a high-end digital experience to thousands of households and quickly respond to people’s needs. To this end, establishing the standard is extremely important.”

Soe Naing, deputy director general of the Posts and Telecommunications Department, said Myanmar considers the Chinese technology giant a “strategic partner”.

He lauded Huawei for its important contribution to the development of Myanmar’s communications industry with its reliable communications solutions and professional services.

“We welcome Huawei to continue to participate in Myanmar’s future communications network construction,” he said.

“As long as equipment suppliers follow the existing laws, rules and regulations of Myanmar, we will not prohibit any of them from fairly participating in the [market] competition.”

Soe Naing stressed that Myanmar is trying to formulate laws relating to cyber security and technical standards to ensure the nation’s network security.

Huawei has been accused by the US government of engaging in activities that are contrary to US national security or foreign policy interest, which the firm has repeatedly denied.

Win Tint, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Construction, said Myanmar aims to provide a fair environment for all parties to reduce communication costs and improve efficiency.

“The development of smart buildings and the economy in Myanmar requires a process in which it is inseparable from all-inclusive efforts. So, we will let everyone participate in our long journey,” he said.

“We hope that all parties can provide their own ideas based on the overall development and give full play to their respective energy. We will ensure everyone works together to build a better Myanmar.”

Aung Myint, president of the Federation of Myanmar Engineering Societies (Fed.MES), said Myanmar is keen on working together with all parties to improve the people’s daily lifestyle and bring digital to every citizen.

“We need technical support in real estate, telecom and other related sectors for digitalisation of indoor coverage and to encourage all relevant parties to work on a single standard,” he said.

“We hope to cooperate with all parties to promote the establishment of standards, and Huawei is one of them. We will also transfer these capabilities to registered engineers of our society. They will implement these standards later on.”

Liman Zhang, chief executive of Huawei Myanmar, said the firm’s cooperation with the government, telecommunications operators and stakeholders continues to grow further, despite the US ban.

“We always negotiate with them to ensure win-win solutions for both sides. We could solve many issues by this way,” he said.

Zhang said the firm would sign a memorandum of understanding with the Fed. MES in the near future to achieve a better, systematic cooperation in the construction industry, based on the requirements of Myanmar’s ICT infrastructure. The partnership will strengthen more collaboration for indoor coverage digitalisation in Myanmar, he said.

At the half-day event, he pledged to transparently cooperate with government agencies, consumers and business partners.

“Huawei has been continuously attacked by the Americans with unfair accusations and legal actions since last year. Notwithstanding, our customers especially from Myanmar not only still believe in Huawei but also support our telecommunication processes,” he said.