KBank is complying with global regulations under CRS and FATCA to ensure tax residency details are accurately reported:
For Americans: FATCA requires banks to report account details to US tax authorities.
For Non-Americans: CRS requires tax residency information to be shared with international tax authorities to prevent tax evasion.
Why Are They Being Sent Out?
In 2020, Thailand joined the CRS agreement, committing Thai banks to request tax residency information from their customers. This is standard procedure and not unique to you—KBank happens to be among the first to implement it.
Under CRS rules, banks must:
Confirm the tax residency of all account holders.
Identify connections to other countries for tax purposes.
Share financial account details with local tax authorities, who may exchange the information internationally if needed.
This ensures overseas income and assets are declared in the relevant country. While this may feel new in Thailand, it’s already standard practice in many other countries. Note that switching banks won’t avoid this, as all Thai banks are required to comply with CRS regulations.
This is from an email sent out by Carl Turner yesterday following reports of KBank sending out these emails.