Transferring Money In/out Thailand

[sbaker8688]

Have lived here for several years. I am looking into transferring some business operations here, which MAY involve substantial cash flows into/out of my Thai bank account, or, substantial accumulations of cash into my Thai bank account over a period of time, which I may then need to transfer out depending on circumstances.

1) I seem to remember reading quite some time ago that one could transfer money into Thailand, but as far as "substantial" cash (forget the amount - may have been tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands of dollars), you couldn't transfer it out. Sort of like the Hotel California - "you can check out, but you can never leave?" Was this ever true? Is it true now?

2) I read just today someone complaining about an "over $20,000 rule." What the heck is this?

I certainly need answers to these questions before embarking upon any decision to transfer any substantial money over here.

THANKS.

[Irene]

Have lived here for several years. I am looking into transferring some business operations here, which MAY involve substantial cash flows into/out of my Thai bank account, or, substantial accumulations of cash into my Thai bank account over a period of time, which I may then need to transfer out depending on circumstances.

1) I seem to remember reading quite some time ago that one could transfer money into Thailand, but as far as "substantial" cash (forget the amount - may have been tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands of dollars), you couldn't transfer it out. Sort of like the Hotel California - "you can check out, but you can never leave?" Was this ever true? Is it true now?

2) I read just today someone complaining about an "over $20,000 rule." What the heck is this?

I certainly need answers to these questions before embarking upon any decision to transfer any substantial money over here.

THANKS.

sbaker8688,

Remittance of fund is simple if you follow the general rules of the Bank of Thailand who control the flow via all commercial banks who are supposed to be the BOT's agents in monitoring the flow. If you bring in money and declared under Exchange Control Form as capital investment, then in future when you want to remit this fund out, you will be able to remit out via your banker without tax imposed provided that you have a copy of evidence of the previous inward remittance. If you want to remit your income such as dividend or interest or rental, you could also remit out if the appropriate tax at 10% or 15% has been withheld and paid to the Revenue. Some banks may ask for your previous declared exchange control form to substantiate your right to the income.

Things you have read in some the posts or heard about the difficulties were mostly due to lack of systematic monitoring of the flow and availability of evidences to convince your banker who is accountable to the BOT for their misdeeds.

Cheers!

[udance4ever]

I have a different question on target with the topic subject - may be a bit off from the thread content itself and I'll just shoot:

What is the most economic way to transfer money out of Thailand to an U.S. bank esp if the transaction amount is relatively small (< 10,000 THB)? I'm looking to avoid large fees esp considering my mindset is I don't pay any fees to transfer small amounts to Thailand.

[blizzard]

bank of america electronic to bangkok bank works. reverse should also work, on boa website there is transfer function that works both ways.

coming into thailand boa charged me 3$ for a 1000$ transfer.

ps. who does transfers with no fees?

Edited July 4, 2007 by blizzard