cerox

Hi Soutpeel,

you're right 35% is not a low tax-rate You also mentioned "earnings in Thailand" which is also my understanding. So technically I don't have earnings in Thailand, neither from income, nor from investments in Thailand.

All the money I'd bring into Thailand would be savings and not earned in the same year. Please share your opinion about that if you see any problems. Thanks for your help

Hi al007,

that's interesting. I did not know there is such a big difference between England and the US. Although, sometimes it is subject to interpretation of the tax adviser or it seems like that if you are taxable or not

The rules of taxable income within the country seem to be the same in many European countries, at least I can tell it seems to be the same in Germany and Italy.

PS: Just a remark to your comment “too good to be true”. You have not mentioned which country your come from, but in my European home country they changed the tax rules due to an EU-directive just when I moved to Thailand, so I’m not taxable of interest in my home country; nor capital gains from stock market; and even not gains of money in my retirement savings, including withholding tax on national stock dividends; some foreign stock dividends, like US, are withheld taxed with Thai-rate of 15 percent only. Great luck, as I then didn’t need the additional offshore banking, I had already planned; which was the (fully) legal way for tax-freedom before the change, the so-called “Singapore model”.

Even small savings can that way make living in Thailand possible.

Hi คุณเพอร์

may I ask which country you are from?

In Germany the tax law specifies that I'm not taxable if I don't have a residence in Germany, no rental or retirement income and of course no capital gains like stocks from German companies etc.

It states I'm not taxable if the capital gains do not come up within the country. All the brokers used for trading are abroad in other countries - the reason for that is not tax evasion, it's just that I never found a broker I liked in Europe suitable for my purpose.

A problem could be transferring money to Germany while I'm not a resident and have no taxable income. I'm not sure about that and have to do more research on that too.

Thanks paz.

I'll do research in advance for banks in those tourist locations. I have a Thai national who can introduce me, that's no problem. I have to ask which bank he uses, maybe it's wise if he's already a customer of the same bank to make things easier.

Thanks gk10002000 for mentioning the American tax laws. Things are similar in Germany, that's why I'm planning to speak to a local tax advisor as well to avoid surprises later on, because of my citizenship.

I do not expect banks in any country to give me an account having only a tourist visa. So it's no bother for me to try different banks until somebody has either a good day or permission to give me an account Since I don't expect it, there are no hard feelings if things don't turn out my way.

Thanks for your help. This fund book sounds interesting, but I think there are better currencies than THB in terms of future appreciation. Nevertheless good to know, and an interesting option.

I'll try different banks. I think clothes can make a big difference as well, what I mean is, I would not expect them to be happy about opening my bank account if I arrived there in beach clothing.

I come from Germany, what about you?

I don't want to insult anybody, but many of you might know the youtube videos about this guy "American in Bangkok" - for me he is the perfect example. If he behaves like in his videos in Thailand, it's no surprise he has problems every single day.

Anyway, there were lots of helpful replies here, so thanks for that

I'm thankful for the help, but I don't understand why everbody is bashing each other. I thought the topic Thailand would be something people here have in common in order to have discussions without flaming at each other. Whatever, I don't really care, just saying it's strange to me

I'm not American, but I know that I have to speak to a tax advisor in my country, even after leaving the country and having no relations left. It's good that you point it out, because many people forget that

So I'll definitely speak to a tax adviser in my country. My topic here was more related to the taxes in Thailand.

Thanks for your help khunPer.

Yes only for living expenses, thanks for your reply.

KhunPer

Thanks very much, that's very useful. It's good to know private trading is not considered as work, because I would not consider it as work either. Living of savings is possible and thereby one does not have to pay taxes as I thought. Getting a tax number is fine, but with a tourist visa that sounds a bit funny.

I don't bother about claming back interest. I'll only make monthly payments on a Thai bank account, in order to spend the money. So the accumulating interest will be very small and does not justify the effort of claiming it back.

The strange thing is that I also have no tax obligation in my own country. I already spoke to the tax authorities in my country, and they told me I have no tax obligation after having no residence here and there is no income arising in my country. So effectively there would be no taxes at all, but it sounds too good to be true

glamont002

Thanks for your help. I don't bring money into the country which is earned in the same year. It's easy not to do that - proving is difficult and sometimes not even possible like you say. So we end up not paying taxes in Thailand.

My question to you is, let's assume I brought my money in straight away and I wanted to pay taxes. How can I do it with a tourist visa - does not make sense to me. If you know something about that, I'd be glad if you have some time to explain that.

Thanks for all your replies.

mngmn:

That's one of the best answers and I totally agree with you. If I got a proper visa for Thailand (meaning re-entry the country as often as I want, have rights to stay etc etc.) I'd be happy to pay taxes. But there is no visa for my purpose. Founding a company might be possible, but I won't do that because it's totally oversized in terms of management effort for an individual to just puts on some trades.

paz:

Thanks for the info about the bank account in Thailand. That's what I read as well, and I would not expect a country like Thailand to do research on my money transfers, if I'm there for a tourist visa. Maybe they would do it after years, but for now, I have never permantently lived in Thailand, and who knows how long I'll be there. I'm trying to solve one problem at a time - so I expect it will be fine for at least the first year when I transfer money.

Pattaya46

Thanks for your reply, if you buy/sell securities at the Thai stock exchange, of course you have to pay taxes as in many other countries where you do that. But that does not apply for me. I don't own any shares, ownerships of companies etc. I just buy and sell currencies. I give you an example. If you changed 10.000 THB into USD and you wait a few months, after that you change it back to THB, you'd have a profit if the USD appreciates in value. Maybe not in this case, cause 10k THB is a low amount and you'd need to pay currency exchange fees two times But I just wanted to give a simple example to everyone can understand the difference to stocks of a company, bonds etc.

Soutpeel,

I understand you, but you also said it's difficult to implement in practice. So what would you do? Please share your opinion.

10 million baht for investments visa is pretty much; I don't have so much money and if I had I would not put it in government bonds, no matter of the country. So that's not an option

Thanks for all your help.

What I mean is if I transfer money from overseas to a Thai bank account, will I get trouble after a certain time? Or what I assume, they don't care anyway?

I don't mind paying for an education visa, but there a two reasons I don't like it. Many teachers don't meet my expectations and I'm better off learning Thai myself like I've been doing for the last 1.5 years. And the second reason is inflexibility. I love a lifestyle where I can decide when I learn and which is not determined in advance so "I have to go to school now".

I read the Thai instituations are cracking down on foreigners who permantently use tourist visas, is that not the case? Otherwise a solution could be to spend several month in another country.

Thank you for your reply.

I already noticed what you're saying. Although it's my first thread and post here, I've been reading a lot here, so I know what you mean. I tried to ask the same question in another forum, but I only go stupid answers and people telling me I would have to pay taxes in Thailand although they don't even know the laws...

So I thought let's go to a forum with people who know about Thailand

You're right there is no legal framework. That's what I actually already found out And that's the reason why I can't pay taxes in my opinion

I know about the new limitations of language / ed visas, but it seemed I have no choice.

Thanks for the advise about the elite visa. I'll do research on that. 14.200 USD is expensive fore 5 years, is that an investment visa in Thailand (so I get the money back after that time?) or is the money completely lost and paid for the visa?

You say keep it to yourself - that's what I found out about online work as well. What about bank accounts in Thailand? Better not use them? Credit cards and prepaid cards are expensive in the long run.

Hello together,

I'm planning my move to Thailand and I have a question about taxation.

I trade financial markets (currencies). My broker / banks are not in Thailand, I don't trade stocks or any financial instruments in Thailand, nor in my home country. I will soon have no residence or other connections in my home country, so I'll not be required to pay taxes in my home country anymore.

So I have done some research about how to pay capital gain taxes in Thailand. This is what I found:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_gains_tax

There is no separate capital gains tax in Thailand. If capital gains arise outside of Thailand it is not taxable. All earned income in Thailand from capital gains is taxed the same as regular income. However, if individual earns capital gain from security in the Stock Exchange of Thailand, it is exempted from personal income tax.

There are many countries which have no capital gain tax. Dubai is another example and the UK/Ireland is another paradies for traders with 0% taxation if things are done the right way.

My questions are:

- is there really no tax for that in Thailand or is it considered as income and subject to income tax? Some countries do it this way

- maybe independent of question 1, I plan to use an education visa / language course

As far as I understand it I'm not permitted to work with that type of visa. Technically I do not work, neither in Thailand, nor in any other country. Some people call it "gambling" other call it trading, call it as you like What I mean is it is not a type of typical work, e.g. being an employee or blogging online and having a business in another country.

So the second question would be is there something wrong with my visa or what other choices (apart from tourist visa) would I have? I don't want to work for a Thai company, so I won't get the work visa / work permit. I'm still young and a retirement visa is out of range. That's the reason why I figured the education visa would be the best option for me.

As it seems to be at the moment, I'm not required to pay any taxes in Thailand, because capital gains are not taxable. I have no income in Thailand, I have no job, I'm not even allowed to work.

So what would you do if you were in my situation ? Or maybe here is somebody who knows about a similar case. Another example: If you have property in another country and you rent it out, it would be similar - capital gains, but you might pay taxes somewhere else depending on your home country and relations to that country.

I hope somebody can help me

Please note, that I'm not planning to evade taxes. I just don't see a way how to pay taxes for the reasons exlained above.

One more thing so we don't get wrong impressions: I'm not the typical farang going to Thailand without knowing anything. I know the country well, the culture and I speak intermediate Thai, can read and write Thai as well. Just wanna avoid people thinking there's another guy going to Thailand, who does mistakes.