Misty

This is from the LTR BOI website, privileges of the LTR visa: https://ltr.boi.go.th/#pri

Yes, I do already have an LTR visa since last year. However with the expansion in the industry categories for the LTR-HSP visa earlier this year, I now qualify for one of those. The LTR-HSP visa comes with a lower 17% flat tax on salary and bonuses. This would mean significant tax savings for me (well above the cost of the new visa), so I'm switching to that visa type.

An update on the overall application process: I just submitted a new LTR visa application. Compared to my first application a year ago, there was a dramatic improvement in ease of use. No real hiccups, other than that I had to have a different email address from my original application. Different documents were required for this version of the visa, but overall the process went smoothly. The application status went from "draft" to "pending" as I completed the submission. The LTR unit says it should take 20 business days for them to review and hopefully approve the new application.

It doesn't seem like the BoI would care one way or the other.

Hi Coby, for a list of Thai tax professionals, take a look at this link from the AMCHAM directory:https://connect.amchamthailand.com/list/ql/accounting-tax-3 You might need to contact a couple of the firms to see which ones can help with your specific circumstances. I have had to file Thai tax PND90/91 every year for decades and this didn't change with the LTR visa. However, I plan to reapply for a different type of LTR visa that will cut my Thai tax rate to a flat 17%, so I understand then I'll switch to filing a different form, maybe PND95? for my salary income when I get that new LTR visa.

Seriously do some western marriage vows still include women promising to obey their husbands? I thought that was already changing about 150 years ago. As a child, I still remember reading a book by Laura Ingalls Wilder in which that phrase was removed from her marriage vows to husband Almanzo - that was the year 1885.

Yes, as I said, it is wrong use of the word dowry. If the foreign man is giving money to the bride and her family, it is called a bride price. If the bride and her family are paying the foreign man, it is called a dowry.

Thanks for posting the article. There's at least one paragraph in it that could be misleading or incorrect: "Moreover, if one is considered a tax resident of Thailand, as a result of being present in the country for a period of 180 days or more in a year, income from an employment abroad that is brought into Thailand within the same tax year would be subject to Thai income tax." How is "employment abroad" being defined? For example, if the person is earning the income while working in Thailand, it isn't "foreign source income." The income is taxable immediately, whether or not it is paid overseas, or even ever brought into Thailand. Or so says the tax professionals we work with. I'll double check with the tax professionals we work with. It appears at least one of the authors of this article worked there at one time as well, so perhaps they can clear this up.

Since the man is being asked to pay the bride's family, the article is actually discussing a "bride price," not a "dowry." Dowry = property or money brought by a bride to her husband on their marriage https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=dowry+meaning Bride Price = a sum of money or quantity of goods given to a bride's family by that of the groom. https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-51264574

Traditionally Thai banks such as BBL or KBANK have been very competitive on THB to USD exchanges (or vice versa) for cross-border wire transfers, as compared to their foreign bank counterparts. So from my observation it's always better to have a bank like BBL or KBANK do the THB-USD conversion. I can't speak for Dee Money or Skrill's exchange rates, however.

Yup, misleading article. It concludes: "All you need is a notebook or smartphone, and you can work hassle-free anywhere." Makes no mention of legal requirements such as type of visa and work permit.

I definitely agree, although I'd say the guidelines could be for all passengers, rather than just women. Maybe include some that may not apply to women at all, like don't get into drunken fight with driver, he may have a machete, etc etc.

Okay, but that one is easy. My 10 yr LTR comes with a 5 year digital work permit, no thai employees needed. Hands down better than any of the other options open to me. Can't work on elite card. Better than either PR status or NonB where at best only a 1 year work permit + 4 Thai employees required. No 90 day reporting. Deal with the pleasant BoI staff, not the CW folk.

I'd be interested in seeing the actual PR numbers, although I'm not sure if they are public. I've been told their might be around 20 US citizens a year who receive PR status. So no where near the 100 limit. Of course more do qualify and try to apply, but may not be interested in paying the VIP service fees through an agent that are required just to get an application in the queue. Compare that to around 8,000 Thais/year who get US green cards and it doesn't seem like a fair exchange.

I have assets route experience, and my Thai Ltd was included in my application (net value). It could have been excluded however, as I had other assets. My best guess is yes, if you own 100% of your Ltd and it has shareholders' equity or NAV greater than the amount needed, that could be acceptable. Best source is always directly from the BoI so suggest giving them a call..

In case anyone else is searching for this answer at some point in the future, here's what I learned: 1) The BoI lower personal income tax rate applies only to wages and salary, not to sale of assets. This is reported on a PND95 form. 2) Sale of a condo would be reported and taxed differently. Cheers.

Non US citizens too. I know of cases of non US citizen, non green card holders having to pay US federal and state tax when working temporarily at one of their employer's US locations.

Nope. Moving to Thailand to work does change where you owe income taxes legally. Moving to Nevada would too. Works the same way in reverse. Employees of Thai companies who go to work in a US location, say San Francisco, now owe taxes in California for the time they were working in California. Doesn't matter they are paid by a Thai entity into a Thai bank account. And do you think a "digital nomad" Thai citizen can fly to the US on some type of nonworking visa, start living and working in the US, and claim they don't owe tax? Sure, it's great the Thai digital nomad is stimulating the CA economy. But completely immaterial to the tax issue.

Does anyone know if Board of Investment personal income tax rates apply to more than just salary income? For example, if I sell my condo at a profit, would the standard personal income tax rate scale apply to the gain, or would the lower flat BoI rate apply?

It sounds a little bit like Pence is trying to let TFG off the hook, as in, "he was just listening to legal counsel." (Flawed though it may have been.) Happily, the former president also was also surrounded by many more lawyers, advisors, attorney general, DOJ, and the many many court cases, all of which repeatedly told Trump: 1) he lost the election, and 2) the VP could not overturn the result. Sadly, Trump ignored them and chose to listen to the "gaggle of crackpot lawyers" only.

So the person is working in San Francisco then? And only traveling to Thailand as a tourist to spend the money, and then going back to San Francisco to work? So that's not the case of a "digital nomad" who is living and working in Thailand, earning Thai-sourced income.

I'll try one more time as you seem interested in understanding, but I agree it may be diminishing returns to continue after this. Foreign-sourced income = person is working outside of Thailand. Thai-sourced income = person is working inside Thailand. (Simply getting paid outside Thailand doesn't change this.) A digital nomad working inside Thailand is earning Thai-sourced income, not foreign sourced income. Thai-sourced income rules apply.

Hi Dan O I think you may have mistakenly attributed the second quotation to me. Again, if you are physically working in Thailand, any income you earn is considered to be "Thai-sourced" and therefore taxable. It is not "foreign-sourced", not matter where the income is paid. So a digital nomad working in Thailand is earning Thai-sourced and taxable income, no matter if he's being paid in another country. That is what the Thai tax regulations say. Enforcement may be another matter.

Again, if you are physically in Thailand when you are earning income by writing, the tax code considers your income to be "Thai sourced" and your writing income is taxable. Waiting a year to bring the income into Thailand doesn't change that.

I think what you're missing is that when you are physically in Thailand working, the tax regulations consider the funds to be earned, and taxable, in Thailand. It doesn't matter where the money is paid into, or where the customer is. You may be thinking that if the funds are paid into an account somewhere else, the funds are then earned somewhere else.