This has been coming for a while and is not a recently conceived idea. Abit of history of linked events I am aware off: The auto no tax on non resident income option deleted a couple of years ago, no problem rely on the bring it in next year option. Anyone with an address in Thailand on their Paypal account has to reregister with a Thai Id number, this was apparently a way that Thai overseas workers were sending money home in the same year and bypassing the Thai tax, Anyone spending more than 180 days in Thailand is considered a tax resident of Thailand in Jan this year. About May this year Thailand joins CRS which is a multinational scheme to share tax and income details across borders. Last week the final nail in the tax free coffin the removal of the bring it in next year option, so now all the pieces are in place to levy tax on overseas income.
The interesting part is I have seen it referred to as a tax on income and a tax on income remitted to Thailand, the second version came out as a clarification a few days after the first, so hopefully this the the more accurate version. But lots of questions all on overseas transactions, such as how are capital gains treated? Income previously earned, retrospective tax. Share dividends?
So I am following closely to optimise this year to minimise in future, but clarifications are sparse.
There is always the option when travelling to Thailand to bring in up to USD20,000 in cash without the need to declare it, 2 x overseas trips a year is doable when flight prices decrease. Can also bring in 500k Baht from bounded countries, Bank account in Malaysia?
Cheers