JohnnyBD

The statement below by this tax firm appears to say that we need to wait until the following year after the monies are derived to remit them, for those remittances to be tax exempt. Does anyone know if this is correct? To make it perfectly clear, are monies derived and remitted in the same year, tax exempt or not exempt? FRANK LEGAL & TAX PowerPoint 演示文稿 (franklegaltax.com) For wealthy global citizens, wealthy pensioners and work-from Thailand professionals: ✔ Income tax exemption applies to income derived in a previous tax year from work or business carried out abroad, or from assets located abroad, where such income is brought into Thailand in a fiscal year subsequent to the year in which the income is derived

Very good summary of the current situation... Good job...

Thank you all for being very helpful. I've been stressing out over the past few months with this tax thing (I'm on marriage extension), then, after reading this thread, it gave me some hope that my life here could still be relatively stress-free and enjoyable. I received my new passport in the mail from the US Embassy, and had the visa stamps transferred today, so I will start the LTR process tomorrow. I am hoping for a smooth approval process. Thanks again for all the advice.

I understand both sides of the argument, but if someone truly borrowed money and remitted it to buy a car or condo becuase they truly needed to, then that is not tax evasion. It was earnetly done. Now, if someone had $100k in the bank and they borrowed $100k against it (a share loan from credit unions or margin loan against stocks) and remitted the loan monies, then immediately paid the loan off, then that could be viewed as tax evasion by some and rightly so (the sniff test), but technically, it was still a loan and I don't see how Thailand would know whether the person was doing it to evade taxes. In my opinion, loans should not be assessable income. I usually don't like to get in the middle of disagreements, but until TRD issues a ruling on this, it is not settled one way or the other, right?

Thanks. I will do that and use it as a cover letter.

Hi Jim, Should I also upload all of my 1099s for dividends & interest too, that show up on my tax return, or I just need to upload my SSA-1099 & Company Pension 1009-R which is over the $80k threshold? Sorry to bug you again...

Thanks a bunch for that piece of information... I will do that.

Thanks for your reply. I will submit my original joint tax return with both names and see if there is a note section where I can explain she is a Thai citizen and does not have any income.

Thanks for the reply.

Thanks. I will submit the original joint tax return just as it is, that we filed electronically along with my 1099s and verification letters from SSA and company pension. I will try to include notes if there is a note section to explain that she is a Thai citizen and doesn't have any income, and that all of the income shown on the tax return is mine. I just transferred the marriage extension stamps to my new passport today, so I'm excited to get started.

To all, I am ready to apply this week for a LTR-WP visa and I have been going back & forth on whether to submit a copy of my US tax return or not and see if they ask for it. The reason is, I filed a joint tax return and included my Thai wife on it, but she has no income. I wouldn't want BOI to get confused and think 1/2 of the income on my tax return is from her. My US Social Security & company pension together is more than $80,000, so it shouldn't be an issue. Do you think it matters to BOI? Will I have a problem with her name on my return? I could just delete her name off the tax return since it's an editable pdf file. Also, I read where someone said they didn't submit a tax return and they were approved. Thanks for your reply.

Just a question. If you are married, did your tax return include your wife's name? I am ready to apply this week for a LTR-WP visa and I have been going back & forth on whether to submit a copy of my US tax return or not and see if they ask for it. The reason is, I filed a joint tax return with my Thai wife on it, but she has no income. I wouldn't want BOI to get confused and think 1/2 of the income on my tax return is from her. My US Social Security & company pension together is more than $80,000, so it shouldn't be an issue. Do you think it matters to BOI? Will I have a problem with her name on my return? Thanks for your reply.

I was reading on another expat site regarding foreign income, and someone posted that as long as you are transferring monies for the purpose to support family, then it's not taxable income. Does anyone know if that is true? He did not specify who it was being transferred to. If it was being transferred to his spouse from overseas, would that make it not taxable? His quote is shown below: To all, Any links, threads, comments including mine are superseded by calling your bank or accountant. You will not be taxed when transferring monthly income with the following reason Support family.......... Doing this every month... never hear from anyone

I disagree, it's a loan and not income. But, you're entitled to your opinion and I'm entitled to my opinion. Until we get a legal opinion from the TRD, no one can say for sure it's the law. That's why it's still on the "issues list", right?

There's a big difference. When you transmit funds from your bank using SWIFT or even ATM withdrawals with your debit card, those come directly out of your bank account, it's your monies being sent over. When you make a CC purchase, the foreign CC company is sending their money to cover your purchases. You have a credit line that you can charge up to, then you pay them back afterwards. But, it's their money that's being sent over, not your's. That issue is on the "issues list" and is not yet resolved.

I don't doubt that the Thai RD person actually said that about CC purchases, but It needs to be written in their rules, guidelines or regulations, and not just coming from this one person's opinion at a video sit-down. This gets back to whether CC purchases for Big Macs need to be included on your tax returns or not. It needs to be kept on the issues list until something in writing comes from the TRD. It is not appropriate to take one person's word as the rule of law, especially if they cannot back it up with something in writing from their own TRD agency.

Are you going to stay less than 180 days every year? The problem I see is your 2025 income that you remit in 2026 will probably still be considered assessable income if you were a tax resident in 2025, even if you wait until 2026 to remit it.

It seems to say the PIT is levied on the assets received by the giftee (the giftee pays the tax) if over the limits, not on the gifter. If that is true, why is everyone debating about taxing the gifter. What am I not understanding?

This is very confusing to me, but I need to understand it because I send money directly to my Thai wife's Thai bank FCD account.

Please be specific and name the third scenario. Is it c) under section 67, or is it 68, 69, etc. I'm missing that distinction.

I guess you and those many others will find out when you go to renew your visa. If you're supposed to file and didn't, then you may have something to worry about. If you filed, and they ask you, then you have nothing to worry about, right?

Thanks for moderating all the speculation by some. You da man...

I am saying foreigners MAY have to pay the RD for the clearance certificate, in the same way we pay 300 baht for a Certificate of Residence. All immigration will do is require it, as it currently does other documents, before issuing an extension. This is just conjecture and speculation at this point, right?

After hearing me talk about the tax on foreign monies remitted for the past couple of months, my wife talked with some of her Thai friends who are married to foreigners. Every one of them said they never filed tax returns before and do not plan to now. If they read these threads, they would probably get a good laugh at how seriously we westerners take this issue. Some of their husbands are not here for 180 days so they are not tax residents, but they send big monies over to their wives. One of them, has several rental units and she said they do not file tax returns. Then I think, what's going to change for them? Who's going to (all of a sudden) knock on their doors to ask them about their finances? I find it kind of interesting, how we take these things more seriously due to our culture, but the Thais do not. And, probably no one will ever go knock on their doors, just like they haven't in the past. This will generate more tax revenues from the westerners who voluntarily file & pay, but for those who don't, maybe nothing will change. While we all can speculate as to some level of enforcement starting, the Thais my wife talked to don't seem to be worried at all. Maybe they know something we westerners do not. Just something to think about.

Please, can you add the following to the unknown issues list: 1. Whether CC purchases are considered assessable income or not 2. Whether foreign loan monies remitted are considered assessable income, such as for the purchase of a vehicles, condos, property, etc. It would be nice to have a clear picture on those items, if we could ever get one. Thanks a bunch...