Misty

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.

Ah, but can you also facilitate the "VIP service fees"? These have been more or less required (and therefore use of an agent also required) in recent years.

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.

No. The rule about bringing income into the country in the same year its earned only applies to passive income. It does not apply to income generated by working, or active income. Any income generated by work is taxable, whether or not its brought into the country, or in what year.

That's great, best wishes to you. Not sure if you can draw a direct comparison, but my NY consulate LTR e-visa was turned around in one day last October. I'm not sure what happens to your existing visa, as I didn't have an existing visa at that point, had let my former NonB e-visa expire. I do own and work for my own Amity treaty company. The type of work I do requires Thai licensing, so I definitely need a Thai company. However, there is a huge and increasing amount of bureaucracy involved, not to mention specialized US tax filing (my form 5471 filing runs 50+ pages). If I didn't need it for my line of work, I'd look into working for an entity established outside of Thailand - perhaps in the US (although self-employment tax may kick in then).

Yes, all that, and as I understand it even more: for example, if you have an LTR visa you can be a so-called "digital nomad". You can work without a work permit. The digital work permit only comes into play if you want to work for a Thai company. That is my understanding, at least.

That's correct, the digital work permit is for a specific job. If the job is only a two year contract, the work permit will be issued for just two years. If it's for an ongoing position, it will be issued for up to 5 years.

Yes, the digital work permit requires you to work for a Thai company. And if you get a job at a Thai company, then you will need to get the digital work permit. But as BOI staff explained to me, an LTR visa holder can work for any company - their own overseas company for example, and a digital work permit is not needed.

Not 'all Democrat" at all. A case of horseshoe theory? Amazingly, Dennis Kucinich is his campaign manager. Cleveland famously went bankrupt when Kucinich was its mayor.

How Thailand doesn't tax offshore investment income, for one.

I did too. More than met every requirement and spent a considerable amount of time and effort making sure my application was complete. Language was not an issue, had 3 hour conversation in Thai with the Immigration desk. They could find no issue with the application. But still, they wouldn't accept it. Some clues: they tried to shake down my accountant in a back room (I'd brought her in case they had any detailed questions on our accounts) - had mistaken her for an "agent". In the end, they wouldn't accept my application because I did not use an agent and had not paid the required "VIP service fees." Thank heavens for the BOI and the LTR visa. Even comes with a 5 year digital work permit.

From your 'competent lawyers firm' link: "Using these criteria, aren’t most Digital Nomads in Thailand effectively working here illegally? Yes, in a strict sense."

Yes, I've also been told by law firms that the BOI has "magical powers" : )

Hi Gaccha, I would have been very interested in this online extension option previously. However, I switched to the LTR visa/digital work permit option when it became available last year. You may be one of the first forum members to try this option. If you get a chance, post details of how it goes here. There are certainly other forum members this who will be interested. Some may not know the option exists. I've found other forum members' comments invaluable in the past. I've tried to list direct experience with things like NonB e-visas and the LTR visa to try to help others who may not be retired, tourists, etc.

Good point for those it applies too. Sadly I do file a Thai tax return, but am not due a Thai tax refund.

It's boom or bust then. Could a plan for sustainable tourism be in order? Oh wait, TIT.

I wish my US marginal tax rate were that low too. The only silver lining is that the 15% Thai withholding tax can be used as a foreign tax credit against US tax owed.

Just reading this thread and wondering what Samui residents would advise people considering a vacation there? Postpone or don't go?