OJAS

If it were ever to come to Thailand unilaterally ripping up its DTA's with other countries then I think that we would have every right to expect international retaliatory action to swiftly follow, in the form of travel bans imposed on those responsible in the Thai government for those outrageous decisions and the immediate freezing of all Thai hiso assets held abroad. In a not too dissimilar manner as to how Putin and various others in the Russian government along with a number of Russian oligarchs have been sanctioned internationally in the light of the Ukraine conflict. That all said, though, whether individual Western governments in particular would, however, be prepared in practice to effectively reclassify Thailand as a pariah state along the likes of China, Russia, Iran and North Korea does sound highly improbable in practice.

Bungling incompetence and ineptitude. I thought that was common knowledge!

There does appear to be some issue with the online reporting system at Jomtien, according to @soisanuk's posting on the following thread:- https://aseannow.com/topic/1326087-online-90-day-address-notification-rejected/ Apparently online reports to that particular office are these days processed automatically, as opposed to manually by some immigration officer gleefully hitting the REJECT button.

Mike - the following link contains an overview map which some might find useful in identifying the locations of their local revenue regional and area offices (I certainly found it useful in identifying mine): https://www.rd.go.th/337.html Despite it being solely in Thai, might still be worthwhile quoting it in your guide (around paras 72 & 73), perhaps?

Having taken another look at the TRD note, it strikes me that a fundamental flaw with it throughout is that it doesn't differentiate between foreign-sourced income which is assessable and that which is not.

Thanks, Mike, I live in Rayong. Incidentally I've now come across this link which states that "In order to file a hard copy personal income tax return using form PND 90/91, taxpayers must do so at any Revenue Department Area Office" (under the "Submitting your tax return" heading). https://franklegaltax.com/2023-tax-return-filing-in-thailand/

Just come across this TRD note (apologies if it has already been referred to in this thread): https://www.rd.go.th/fileadmin/user_upload/lorkhor/newspr/2024/FOREIGNERS_PAY_TAX2024.pdf Page 5 sounds worrying though - seems to imply that ALL remitted income should be reported in tax returns, whether assessible or not.

No mention of a hand-drawn map in your original list, though, which has, I believe, been a nonsensical CW requirement for retirement extension applications. So presumably common sense has finally prevailed in that regard?

In any event it is highly unlikely that any tax on the State Pension would be due at the Thai end, thanks to the exemptions and allowances listed in para 76 of Mike's guide. I have prepared a spreadsheet setting out how a ภ.ง.ด. 91 return might look like in my case, based on TRD's 2023 forms and the State Pension being my sole source of assessable income. The result is a negative figure - which is even before the 0% rate exemption up to 150k referred to in para 75 of Mike's guide comes into play! In these circumstances I can now see no good reason why I should be expected to surmount the formidable bureaucratic roadblocks which the TRD have, in their infinite wisdom, chosen to place in my way as regards both obtaining a TIN initially and subsequently filing tax returns either online or in paper form. Indeed, I wonder whether Article 23(3) of the UK/Thailand DTA could also be said to apply to those in receipt of UK company pensions where sufficient evidence exists of tax payments to HMRC? This could be an even more crucial factor in their case given that they are otherwise highly unlikely to be fully exempted at the Thai end.

It is in my case. I pay tax on my Civil Service pension through my tax code (which takes account of the £12,570 personal allowance). And, in the tax returns I still file with HMRC, I always check the 2 boxes instructing them not to make any deductions through my tax code - meaning that they then require me to pay tax on account equal to 20% of my State Pension income. Could provide evidence of this to the TRD, in the hopefully highly unlikely event of ever being challenged, in the form of paper versions of my SA100 returns plus HMRC tax demands.

Interesting point, of which I wasn't previously aware. It would appear to indicate that the State Pension COULD, in certain circumstances, be said to be covered by the DTA - which, in turn, might have ramifications on whether or not it needs, in theory, to be covered in any TRD tax return.

Whilst I appreciate the obvious risks of using the mail service to file paper returns where tax payments in some form or other (in particular cash) need to be included, these are unlikely to apply in my case. The requirement to file returns stems purely from my admissible expenditure (solely in the form of the UK State Pension) totalling more than 120k pa - and it is clear from the various exemptions and allowances detailed in the Guide that I won't, in practice, be required to make any tax payment. Indeed, according to some tentative calculations which I have undertaken based on TRD's 2023 forms, it appears likely that I shall, in due course, be reporting a negative figure for the 2024 tax year. And that is even before the zero-rating of the first 150k comes into play! The issue then arises as to which Revenue Department Area Office I'll need to submit my 2-page ภ.ง.ด. 91 return + Allowances/Exemptions attachment to in due course - hopefully by EMS mail rather than physically in person. According to the TRD's organisation chart at https://www.rd.go.th/english/6015.html there appear to be 119 such offices in existence. Unfortunately, though, the TRD, in their infinite wisdom, have chosen, for reasons best known only unto themselves. not to publicise the locations and catchment areas of these offices on their website as far as I can tell! So how else are each of us supposed to be able to identify the relevant office in our case? Ditto in the case of the 12 Regional Revenue Offices from which we may need to obtain our TIN's if your previous experience in that regard still holds good.

Mike - might this be the address to which paper returns should be sent? The Revenue Department 90 Soi Phaholyothin 7 Phaholyothin Road Phayathai Bangkok 10400

No mention of any address in https://efiling.rd.go.th/rd-cms/ or https://www.expatica.com/th/civil/administration/tax-id-thailand-2172861/#apply as far as I can tell!

But will all staff in all revenue offices be necessarily happy to enter your data into the system? Or, as in the case of Immigration, could it depend on (1) your particular office, (2) the individual within that office you deal with, or (3) even the side of the bed they got out of that morning? Is it even possible for us to set up an online facility ourselves once we've (presumably) got a TIN? Could our office even do this for us at the same time as giving us the TIN? On a general point, I think that it would be extremely helpful if para 77 of the Guide could be expanded as necessary so as to set out in the appropriate level of detail the specific procedures needing to be followed to enable tax returns to be filed electronically or on paper. This will, I suspect, be a major logistical consideration for those of us who, like myself, will be coming cold to the intricacies of the Thai taxation system for the very first time.