Mike Teavee

I have a "Current Account" Mortgage (Essentially any money in the account is offset against the mortgage owed when it comes to calculating the interest each month, e.g. I have a little bit more money in there than I owe so they pay me approx. £2 a year in Interest).

So could I send any of this money to Thailand & legitimately say it's Savings (The money originally came from my taxed salary in the UK) & then replenish the money from dividend/capital gains income which have been taxed appropriately in the UK (I do a Tax Return every year)?

2 minutes ago, foreverlomsak said:

If you had a bank balance of say $15,000 on 29th December and you transferred $16,000 during the Thai Tax Year, I would assume the extra $1,000 would be all they could tax.

As far as understanding local tax regs, all they need to understand is the DTA's for 61 countries, the others they can make up as they go (as per norm for Thai Gov Depts).

It depends on whether any part of the $15,000 was interest.

1 hour ago, huberthammer said:

sounds like a great idea aside from the Thai government interpreting the rules as they see fit. I read similar comments when it came to showing  bank balances for immigration and unfortunately they did not see it as the optimistic chap saw it. At the end they are in a much stronger position than us on these issues.

 

I am pretty sure if you stay here 180+ days for 2 years and then stay away for 1 year and get back they will go after you and aside from the huge bureaucratic hassle there is a good chance they will hit you for the tax anyway unless you show that you were declared a tax citizen elsewhere and did declare a tax return. Don't forget, they have the upper hand. If they think something is fishey they will block your accounts and might even collect the passport until all is sorted. 

 

I sort of agree with you, but the basic premise of Tax Law in Thailand is if you spend < 180 days in-country in any one Tax/Calendar year then you are not Tax Resident & you are not liable/eligible to even have to file a Tax Return unless you earn an income in Thailand.

So if I leave here at the end of 2023 & pop back for a short (< 179 days) holiday in 2024, Thailand has no claims under it's own Tax regulations.

Might cause me problems in the UK (I'm not Tax Resident there either) but trust my accountant there to do my UK Tax return (The only place I get any form of income from) more than I would anywhere else.  

5 hours ago, isaanistical said:

He was great in Blazing Saddles, too.

Lol, that was the character Hedley Lamarr, played by Harvey Korman  ???? 

Apparently Hedy Lamar sued Mel Brooks for it & it was settled out of court in her favour. 

12 hours ago, anterian said:

I have a UK address and a Thai address, my bank knows both. I am retired on a pension, pay a small tax on my pension. 

I anticipated all this kerfuffle a couple of years ago so simply added my son to my account making it a joint account. As long as you have a UK resident you can trust this seems the simple solution. 

Not sure which bank you're with but Barclays T&Cs say all account holders must be resident in the UK... 

https://www.barclays.co.uk/important-information/living-outside-the-uk/#:~:text=An incorrect address could affect,to be in the UK.

58 minutes ago, NextG said:

Do I need to reiterate?

You do not appear capable of looking after yourself. I have real people who live there

Just curious, do your friends that stay there say anything about using the short cut from the back of the property towards the beach at night only I’ve read a couple of reports of people having problems with Soi Dogs at night. 
 

No problem for me as I always have an extendible umbrella in my bag when I’m going out which is enough to make them think twice but I was thinking it might be a problem for some people. 

2 minutes ago, stat said:

There seems to be some confussion in this thread about how much of a remitance is taxable. It is my understanding that ONLY gains are taxed. So if I have a separate account with 40K USD in it end of 2023 NO income tax should arise if I transfer to Thailand.

It depends on where the 40K came from, if it came from income, dividends, capital gains etc from previous years then DTAs aside they seem to be saying you could be liable for tax on it. 
 

I used the example where I got £100K “Pension” handed back to me when I changed jobs in Singapore, transferred this money to the UK & invested it in shares to give me some income now I’m retired (without a pension for another 2.3 years)… No tax has been paid on the principle (Employer made all the contributions) so technically if I sold the shares & remitted the money to Thailand it looks like I could be liable for tax on all of it. 

1 hour ago, newnative said:

Condo maintenance fees are usually referred to as baht per square meter.  If the annual fee you mentioned is 45,000 baht, the monthly fee would be 3,750 baht.  If the unit size is your mentioned 70 sqm, then the condo fee would be 53.57 baht per square meter--3,750 divided by 70.   Condo fees for newer projects tend to be in the 50 baht a sqm range so your condo fee at Riviera Wongamat was about average for a newer project.  

Thanks, I quoted the annual fee per SQM but typically it is quoted on a monthly basis so 53.57 pm is a better metric. 

Given the quality of the common areas & facilities (4 swimming pools, 2 gyms, children's play room etc...) I think that's very reasonable but I wasn't impressed with the build quality of the actual condo unit itself so don't think I would ever buy there.... Would be happy to go back there as a renter though.

Edit: For a really great view of Riviera Wongamat Block B, check out this video (FFWD to 1:25 if the music isn't to your taste)... 

Unfortunately I no longer have the raw footage that was shot from a few angles but he opens way to late & was lucky not to have seriously injured himself. 

40 minutes ago, PJ71 said:

Why not?

 

This never ends well, not paying fees, might take a few years to become an issue but it's coming for sure...

Because I was only renting, it's the owners responsibility to pay the common fees. 

7 hours ago, Middle Aged Grouch said:

Expect overrated "common fees" monthly like some housing spaces in Hua Hin who charge absurd common fees per month around 4000 THB that is far to much. Community fees are to cover expenses and not make money for the project managers. But that is another story on a whole.

I lived in a 2br 2bth 70sqm unit at Riviera Wongamat & would get the bill for the common fees (obviously I didn't pay it), IIRC it was a little over 45,000b pa so I would guess 650b per sqm. 

On 9/26/2023 at 5:01 AM, jippytum said:

word is the management at wongamat are not so good. They allow dogs and turn a blind eye to short term rentals. 

All of the Riviera Projects (& The Palm) officially allow small dogs & cats & the management/security are very strict on any rentals less than 30 days, plus the entrance doors at Riviera Wongamat require Facial recognition for which you need to register with the management office so no >30 days contract, no facial registration, no getting in the front door.

3 hours ago, Somjot said:

How they count the 180 days?

Quite simple, let's say you arrive in Thailand on the 5th of March 11:00 PM and leave on the 25th of March at 03:00 AM.

They will count 21 days and not 20.

Every day you stay in the Kingdom counts and they will tell it from the stamps in your passport.

It doesn't make a difference if you arrived in Thailand at 11:00 PM on the 5th of March, as long as the arrival stamp in your passport says 5th of March, you have been in Thailand since the 5th of March.

In the UK it’s where you are at midnight that counts, so if you landed at 23:55pm but didn’t get through border control until 00:05am you weren’t in the UK on that date 

45 minutes ago, Everyman said:

I like your idea, but since tourists can’t open Thai bank accounts anymore, they could assume that anyone with a Thai account is a tax resident. Then you would have to prove you are not in order to get your withholding back. 

No, the rules are very clear... < 180 days in any 1 calendar/tax year = Non-Tax resident. 

Besides it's relatively straight forward to open a bank account even on a Visa Exempt if you're willing to pay an agent 3,700b (4,700 if >64).

20 hours ago, CMBob said:

My guess is the answer is (and has been) "yes" to this question....

My answer is NO... Any changes will start from next year so anything you bring over before then won't be taxable. 

Delete 

On 9/2/2023 at 1:58 AM, radjag said:

Thai consulates seem to have changed the rules, only USA Nationals can apply for an O-A visa from a USA Consul

If you've lived in the US for so long then surly you have permanent residency there (as a Brit you have to have or you'd only be able to stay 6 months of the year) so the Embassy should allow you to apply for a Non-IMM OA, have you tried a different Embassy?

Failing that have you tried applying for a Non-IMM O in the US? This will save you the job of doing the conversion in-country so you'll just move straight to doing extensions. 

If you do want to do the conversion in-country & want to use an Agent then it costs approx. 25,000b in Pattaya for which you'll get the initial Non-Imm O & 1st 12 month extensions (i.e. you'll get 15 months permission to stay), personally I'd recommend going this route as it can be very tight timewise (need at least 15 days on your permission to stay, I believe Phuket needs 20 maybe even 25 days) especially if you haven't had the 800K in the bank for at least 2-3 months. 

People might be able to share personal experiences if you can state which Immigration Office you plan on doing the conversion at. 

3 hours ago, 747man said:

Well Your Ex-Pat Network is WRONG, I'm with the Halifax which is part of The Bank of Scotland....

& I have my mortgage with Virgin One (now part of NatWest) who wrote to me to ask me for my Thailand Tax information* so I’m assuming they’re ok with me keeping the account, but I do use a UK address for all correspondence. 
 

*The mortgage has a small credit on it so they pay me approx. £2 pa in Interest 

16 hours ago, twizzian said:

I believe that you’re right. Several months ago my Pension provider wrote to me telling me as I live abroad they are no longer allowing the services of my Financial Advisor of which I had already invested £3,000 for his continued service, They decline to explain their reasons.

That makes sense as your Financial Advisor is unlikely to be able to advise you properly if you’re non-UK Resident.

Simple example, a common recommendation would be to max out your ISA allowances, but non-UK residents (for Tax) are not allowed to open a new ISA or add funds to an existing ISA so he could be offering you advice that could cause you problems with HMRC. 

 

13 minutes ago, hotandsticky said:

 

I would like to see evidence of the "No's".

 

A WISE account has a UK sort code and account number so there should be no barrier to a pension provider remitting it there.

 

At one time JCB pension fund refused to remit funds to a Thai bank account; WISE was the solution to that.

I don't have any evidence just recall a thread discussing it 

& somebody saying their private pension wouldn't allow them to pay to a Wise account,  I did ask the same question as it is just a UK Sort Code / Account number so I can't see why the couldn't pay directly to it & pointed out the article quoted early in the thread was > 8 years old when Wise didn't have their own Sortcodes / Account numbers...  Still best to check with your pension provider just in case. 

Ironically my pension is from my 26 years working at Barclays so if they do close my account (Which still says "Staff Account" despite me leaving them 10 years ago) then it will be their problem where to pay it when it becomes due in Feb 2026.