When a guest asks for a tax invoice while booking a room in chat, Thai law requires eight specific details on it — and not every accommodation is even allowed to issue one. Finding this out after the stay is booked means reissuing documents or refunding a deposit; collecting the right information before you confirm is what actually prevents it.
What a legal tax invoice must show
Thailand’s Revenue Code sets exactly what a valid tax invoice (ใบกำกับภาษี) must contain. Section 86/4 lists eight required items: the words “ใบกำกับภาษี” shown prominently; the issuer’s name, address, and tax ID; the buyer’s name and address; a serial number (and book number, if one is used); an itemized description, quantity, and value of what was sold; the VAT amount, shown separately from the price; the date issued; and any further item the Revenue Department’s Director-General prescribes (Section 86/4). Leave any of these off — most commonly the buyer’s name and address — and the document a guest files with their own accountant won’t hold up as proper input tax.
Why some hosts can’t issue one
Only a VAT-registered operator can legally print that document. The Revenue Department requires any business with annual revenue over ฿1.8 million from regular sales or services to register for VAT within 30 days of crossing that line (Revenue Department). A guesthouse or homestay under that threshold can still give a receipt, but not a tax invoice — saying so up front, before a guest books a trip planning to claim it, avoids a refund request later. This is separate from your deposit policy entirely — see our guide on when Thai law actually lets you keep a no-show’s deposit for that question.
Set up in 1CS
Turn stay booking on from ธุรกิจ > จองห้องพัก (Business > Room booking) — or from the “เปิดใช้งานความสามารถ” (enable a capability) list on the AI เจ้าหน้าที่ page. Inside the chat, a guest who taps “ดูปฏิทินห้องว่าง” (view the availability calendar) can pick dates, enter the number of rooms and guests, give their name and phone number, and request a tax invoice right there, before anything is confirmed. 1CS never approves a stay booking by itself — it files the request with status Pending and Source “AI lead.” Your team opens that request from ธุรกิจ > จองห้องพัก > Bookings; the detail view lists the dates, guest count, deposit, and คำขอใบกำกับภาษี (ถ้ามี) — “tax invoice request, if any” — together, which is where to collect whatever Section 86/4 still needs before you confirm the stay. The Thai help center covers every screen: ให้ AI เช็กห้องว่างและรับจองห้องพักในแชต (in Thai).
A message to send when you can only give a receipt
When you’re not VAT-registered, say so in the same message that confirms the booking request — not after the guest has already built it into their expense report. This is the wording we suggest, not a required script:
Thank you for your booking request for [room type], [check-in]–[check-out]. Just to confirm, we’re not a VAT-registered business, so we can provide an official receipt but not a tax invoice (ใบกำกับภาษี). If that works for your trip, please confirm and we’ll send the deposit details next.
If you are VAT-registered, swap that for a line asking the guest for their full legal name and address — or, for a company booking, the business name and branch — before you send the deposit QR. Check the transfer itself the same way you’d check any deposit slip, since a tax invoice can’t be quietly edited after it’s issued, only cancelled and reissued (our payment-slip checklist covers what to confirm before you treat a transfer as paid).
