Burgernev

Interesting question.

It's made me think. Another variation could be to sign a 30 year lease, say with the wife, and after 5 or 10 years, cancel the lease and do a new one for 30 years, assuming wife/landlord were agreeable. Could be a symultaneous transacation, and it might be a good idea for those expecting to live more than 30 years.

Exactly Mobi, whether it was an 'extension' or a completely new one I guess would not matter to us.

I think the question really is, can a farang extend/renew on the same piece of land within the original 30 year period ?

Burger

Assuming the land owner agrees, can you write a clause in the 30 year lease (or make seperate contractual agreement) that after 5 years has passed during the initial lease, that a new 30 year lease can be given and registered at the land office ?

Thnaks for any help,

Burger

Thanks a lot Lop and Krub, answered our queries.

Burger

Folks,

After receiving a retirement O-A visa, is there a requirement to stay in Thailand for any minimum number of days throughout that year ?

IE: Can someone obtain the visa, stay in Thailand for 5 months and return to their country for 6 months, then return again ?

Thanks in advance,

Thanks for the info Misty.

It seems very difficult to get difinative information on how the banks manage/regulate this process.

Someone may stay here for say 5 years, bring in 10m Baht legitimately, spend that 10m Baht legitimately, earn another 10m Baht through 'other means', yet as they originally bought in that amount, they are free to remit that amount again ? Where/what are the checking processes, if any ?

Cheers.

Can anyone help with the following, I have done extensive searches but could not find the answer exactly.

Say you stay in Thailand for 5 years, do not work, have monthly funds of say for example 4,000 USD sent from your home country, but you only ever use 3,000 USD per month.

At the end of the 5 years you want to return to your country and have 60,000 USD left over in your Thai bank account.

Can you transfer this 60,000 USD (albeit in several transfers under the 20,000 USD limit), back to your home country bank from your Thai bank ? I'm only after info regarding bank transfers, not using ATM cards back home, taking cash, travellers cheques etc.

You do not have tax receipts for it as you were not working in Thailand.

You do not have the 'Foreign Exchange Transaction Certificate' for it as all amounts were sent in under 20,000 USD.

Is it legally possible ? Is it just a case of showing your Thai bank that you did actually bring the money in by keeping records of the small'ish transfers from your home bank each month ?

Thanks in advance

HuaHinHeartBreak,

Sorry to hear about your plight. Is your building contract with the farang's development company or with a local Thai contractor ? That is how many development projects are set up here in Hua Hin.

Burger

I see your point Burger, but you should declare the correct purchase price. Section 104 of the Land Code: 'Persons recording rights or legal acts with regard to land showing its value for the purpose of paying fees shall show the true value thereof and the competent authority shall have the power to assess the value in accordance with the market price at that time and to examine witnesses and evidence in connection therewith'.

Transfer fee and stamp duty is the responsibility of the Land Office. The registered value can be used or the official will assess the value. Section 106 Land Code: 'If the competent authority thinks the declared value unreasonably low, he shall assess the value for the purposed by the collecting fees by relying on evidence or following the rules prescribed by the Minister etc…'.

The Land Office may accept the lower sell price but when it comes to withholding tax and specific business tax the Revenue Department will require taxes to be paid over the true value. One day the Revenue Department could (and I’m 99% sure they will) come knocking on your company door comparing your accounts with the Land Office documents... And again, the situation would have to be corrected and a substantial fine to be paid and you may be criminally liable for false statements in any official documents which you have signed on behalf of the company....

I do find it strange why our local land office insist on setting the value themselves, when they must be aware that value of the houses farangs are buying, is actually higher. For obvious reasons, the people taying the taxes and fees do not object to the land office's valuation!!

I thought about it at the time, and would have been happy to delcare the correct value, but was advised by all concerned to 'go with the flow', so to speak.

The SBT is only 3%, so if I had to pay the difference one day then so be it.

Cheers.

Thanks for your informative reply Nadia,

If you sell to another foreigner a share transfer agreement is usually drawn up. Then it is simply a matter of transferring the shares of the company to the purchaser, without the necessity of re-registering the land title at the Land Office.

Ah, so that's the trick, that sounds good.

Forget about company ownership – too many legal drawbacks. The law is not somehow grey or the government could change the law – no - it is clearly illegal under present law. There is no guarantee you will be able to own (or sell) land through your company five years from now.

There's seems to be a 50/50 split between people on this one. Personally I will operate the company in an active way, pay a lot of taxes, and am quite comfortable with this 'potential risk'.

Beware that you sign in the land office that you have given (and you must give) the true and correct purchase price for the land. You may be criminally liable for false statements in any official documents which you have signed on behalf of the company....

Thing is, the land office that covers Hua Hin, actually tells us what the land and house value should be, and as you say is a fraction of the real cost. So again, I am quite comfortable with this, worst case scenario I guess, is one day the house owner will have to pay a bit more tax. These taxes and fees at the land office are quite modest anyway.

Thanks a lot Nadia,

Burger

Thanks Rishi and Dragonman,

I suspected that might be the case.

Cheers,

Thanks for the replies chaps, very helpful.

Burger

Thanks for the reply Thaipwriter ..... err I think.

Property prices are rising rapidly in certain areas, namely Hua Hin at the moment.

Anyways, can anyone answer the question ?

Cheers,

Burger

Thanks for your replies chaps, but are these accounts open to 'non-Thais', ie: farangs ?

Burger

As I understand, you buy land and property via the company route, then when you come to sell it you have to pay corporation tax on the 'capital gain'. IE: for example, you buy a 5m Baht house and 5 years later you sell it for 9m, you wish to return to your country, therefore you have to declare and pay tax on the 4m profit.

The 4m profit you declare in that tax period would apply at the 30% rate of tax. If your comapny was only making a small profit for the previous years, entitled to somehow 'spread' that profit back accross the duration of the asset, therefore making the respective profit under 1m per year for the life of the asset, in which case only 15% rate of tax would apply ?

Thanks for any help.

Burger

Hi chaps,

Done an extensive search but could not find the answer to the following:

Can a farang living over here open one of the 'fixed term deposit' accounts that give savings rates up to 4.75% ??

If yes, what documents are required, ie: work permit, marriage cert etc.

Thanks for any info,

Burger

Thanks Autonomous,

Yes you are right, I mean 're-apply' rather than 'renew' the 'O' visa.

The query is not actually for me, I am married to a Thai and have a work permit, it is for the Farang's not married to Thais's, who come to Thailand to purchase property via the company route.

They are receiving differing information regarding whether or not, you need to change your 'O' visa to a 'B' visa in order to operate the company.

Thanks,

Burger

Hi there,

If anyone can help with the following it, it will be greatly appreciated.

Scenario: A European sets up as limited company in Thailand to purchase land and house (the 39% or 49% route), and does not actually want to apply for a work permit but merely operate the company, by filing annual tax returns based on renting the house back to himself etc.

Question 1: The European is not married to a Thai and is staying here on a 90 day non-immigrant 'O' visa, do they HAVE TO then change that visa to a 'B' business type visa, or can they still renew their 'O' visa ??

Question 2: The European is not married to a Thai and is staying on 12 month retirement O-A type visa, smae thing, do they HAVE TO then change that visa to a 'B' business type visa, or can they still renew their 'O' visa ??

Cheers chaps,

Burger