Southeast Asian nations are stepping up taxation efforts

TOKYO — A wave of efforts to increase corporate tax revenue is sweeping through Southeast Asia as governments race to plug yawning budget holes created by the economic hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For example, tax authorities are accelerating the pace of investigations and are enforcing stricter rules on companies than before — such as shortening the deadline for submitting tax documents.

The trend should alarm multinational companies operating in the region without a sufficient local staff to handle tax affairs. They could become easy targets of the new taxation drive.

Around early 2021, multiple Japanese companies operating in Malaysia and Thailand started receiving requests from local tax authorities for documents concerning their business dealings in the past several years.

Southeast Asian offices of global tax audit firm Deloitte are receiving nearly three…