mran66

That's obviously good for you if you can use that to make taxes paid to UK to credit against the income you would send to Thailand and assessed to be taxable income here. Likely your taxes paid to UK are more than what the tax here is anyway. Fortunately or unfortunately - depending on the point of view - that is not the case for some of us who do not need to file tax return anywhere (until possibly to Thailand in 2026) and would need to use transaction statements to explain where the income is coming from.

I would guess this would be for people on work visa?

Okay... This clarifies one issue. Profits realised by end of 2023 are not taxable, even if realised in 2023 and sent to thailand in 2024 - which is a good thing. However if you own anything that has appreciated since purchase (eg bitcoin, stock, fund etc) and you don't sell it by 31dec23 rather after, the whole appreciation is taxable if you send it to thailand.

I recall another poster telling he had found similar studios on walking street, with similar moves. Several of them actually, though no windows, had to go inside the curtain doors to observe the moves. He gone there after hearing lobsters available in seafood restaurants, but also found out them overpriced - just like the meat moving around the poles. But beer was presumably cheap so at the end he was not too disappointed.

Where did you read such definition? In your understanding, a bitcoin I held since 5 years ago, and convert to thb at hefty profit in thb terms in 2024 (but with a thb value less than in Dec 31 2023) is not taxable for the thb profit as it is just 2023 money that I convert to some other currency? Currency trade profits are not taxable income?

Not targeted for westerners for sure. Who with sane mind would trust thai govt promised insurance with very low coverage so that they would decide not to take their own insurance? Oh maybe some Indians and Chinese

Lately smugglers have been into pork smuggling. Alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, fuels and even luxury cars in the past. Human legs maybe the new growth area for smugglers.

Looks like two rubbers for extra safety! If you send enough this year to cover for expenses for next year, no need to limit stay next year as it is not about global tax liability, only to what is sent here. Nothing sent, no issue

To me depends on bank. If I send to Bangkok bank, it is usually next day at 2pm when funds land my account. If I send to krungsri, it is 1-3 minutes from click the send. I guess this is due to bkk bank being their local partner for the actual forex trade (visible as overseas source in bank book) whereas krungsri is just a local transfer.

that's where the answers to my scenarios become relevant for some people, though probably majority of new condo buying farangs are not tax residents (yet), so the issue not relevant for them but for some people (like me) who have investments for couple of decades without tax on earnings, you could interprete the announcement also so that all earnings on top of the original seed investment 20-some years ago could be considered taxable income. thus the guidelines for definitions and rules is kind of important for some people, though maybe not majority

well, depends on how and where your funds in your bank account have come. If they are non-taxable during current tax policies, they will not be taxed based on this change. but yes if the funds are taxable income sent to thailand during the year they were earned, they are taxable income in the tax year they are sent here. If you have not reported that income as taxable in the past even if you should have, you have violated tax law. but that is kind of outside of the scope of this thread which is about the announced change for 2024

...fortunately or unfortunately, most of the expats stayed here, it was the tourists that were missing - even if all expats would be gone, you would not notice it if tourist numbers back up as the tourists are not impacted at all by any income tax laws...

annual interest is taxable income on the year earned, just like any other local income during that tax year. if no other local income than that, it is below tax threshold. you could even claim back the withheld tax if no other income - if you dont mind the hassle AND getting taxman attention!

I'm not expecting advice here, just throwing the main issues out. As far as I have understood, everybody including the best specialist advisors are currently waiting for guidance as there is no reference based on which they could give their advice. It would need to come proactively from RD or alternatively thru a legal process if RD challenges your claim or the other way around. In near term until official guidance issued) this will have impact to remittances by certain people, though offset to some extent by increased remittances this year. But how far you can anticipate your investment needs - people considering buying houses or investing elsewhere, certainly want to know how much they would need to pay tax of the remitted funds that could well be zero taxed at the source, accumulated over longer period of time Personally I am kind of lucky as I have my house already, and no plans to invest here directly, thus just need funds for living costs. And as long as tax is only based on funds sent, wont be much no matter how they assess the taxable income

Definition of income is fairly universal, so I would expect no major issues on that side. Also, in case of pension or salary income only, with no capital or savings existing, this is very straighforward. However, for many people it is not as simple. The interesting question becomes in (fairly common) situation that you have combination of different types of income, in combination some negative income categories (losses) as well as capital in various forms. Again, this is a non-issue if a country applies global tax responsibility like many countries do. However, as Thailand defines taxable income only if the funds are sent to Thailand. When remitting funds to Thailand, how is assessable income defined e.g in following situations: - I sell stock worth 1000k, with realized profit of 100k. I send 900k to Thailand, claiming I re-invest the profit outside and only send the capital, with no taxable income here. How does Thai RD assess my taxable income? Do they accept my claim, or on the contrary they assume that all i send is the profit of 100k + 800k of my realised investment, and the 100k is taxable here? - I make 10 stock sales in a year, each 100k sales. Profit in 9 of them is 10k, i.e total profit is 90k. However one of them is sales with loss of 5k. I send 100k to thailand, claiming that I just send the funds i got from that one sale (at loss), all others stay reinvested outside thailand, and I do not have taxable income in thailand. Thai RD agrees? - I have pension worth 50k a year, tax free in my home country as I not tax resident there. I also have 1000k as savings in my account, which earns 50k interest on tax year. I send 100k to Thailand, claiming i send my savings i.e savings left after that would be 900k + the pension and interest that I re-invested/saved outside Thailand. How does Thai RD assess my taxable income? - I have 50k profit from a 500k stock sale. I borrow 50k from a friend (or a company) who lives and is tax resident outside thailand, and agree to pay back in certain schedule. I send that 50k I borrowed to thailand. How does Thai RD assess my taxable income? - I sell 1000k stock with 100k profit, and create a company 100% owned by myself (outside thailand). I invest the 1000k as capital of that company. Then i take a loan of 100k from that company, and send that to Thailand. What is my assessable income by Thai RD? What many people incl myself is waiting is what the income assesment rules are in such type of situations where only part of total funds I have is sent here (which I think is a case for many expats, esp older ones)

My understanding is that the announcement would be a change of execution within existing tax law, not a new law, the law itself being vague enough having allowed the currently valid execution for tens of years even if the intent of the original law itself may have been what they now announced. Thus, they assumed it would not need to go thru a law change process. However as the execution has been like it is for so long, I'm pretty sure some wealthy locals who use overseas vehicles to own the monopoly/oligopoly businesses to reduce their tax burden, will take this to court claiming it to be against the law due to length of the existing execution, i e de facto law that can not be changed without parliamentary process. Only time will tell. The real concern is that in few years they might go for global tax coverage as in most developed countries. That would be a bummer, though as long as e.g Malaysia and Philippines remain local taxation only, those with major issues would just spend less time in Thailand instead of paying taxes here, Thailand becoming the looser The tax percentage for average 1-2m a year funds brought in to cover living costs, is small enough not being a major issue

Like it or not, there is only one way to explain that to them: use their own method. My grandfather who fought against them to defend his country during WW2, could not resist repeatedly telling us as kids what kind of Russki is a good Russki. And "I have made many Russkis good" he always proudly ended. And Damn he was right.

Limited if any. Interesting to follow whether this announcement will live to implementation though, or pulled back during the year.

After some booze and yaba, guess he forgot he not wandering in Ukraine any more. There a sword might not be enough though to keep him alive

Well certainly was like that couple of years ago. Came in first time with new passport, online 90 day failed. Went to immigration to do in-person, and asked about why not work. She told because new passport, next time online OK. Whether still like that, easy to test: just try online and if it fails, odds are that still the same.

At least I did first online, no issues. However if you have new passport that has no 90 reports history, first one had to do in-person couple of years ago

...better yet, start creating and spreading horror stories to Chinese social media with fake profiles to improve the safety concerns

Who likes Russian, Chinese or Indian tour groups if they happen to hang around where you live or move around? Even the owners of the hotels don't, that's why they live elsewhere if they can. And if they can't, they just try to tolerate them with combination of earplugs, eyepatches and noseplugs... It's about like bar girls liking fat smelly farangs...not their money!

Living nearby, I'm hoping middle eastern odour is more appetizing and flesh more yummy for hungry lions than poor farang scent. Safe enough as long as you smell less appetizing than Ahmed

Education system works exactly as it is designed to work, ministry sure is getting bonuses from the power holders for these results. Good eduction for the masses would be disastrous for the "country" as they say. Good for the people though.