Geir Rasch

I’m not ignorant about anything in Thailand. There are things I don’t like and things I think is stupid, but it is not my country and accept that I have no say in any matter. Like you I retire in Thailand. I have only lived here for 12 years, but all the years I have lived here I have been aware of thai tax law and paid my tax to Thailand. Yes, like you I find 90 day reporting, double standards and dual prising annoying, but I do not spend energy on those issues. This is a third world country, so there are a lot of issues that is strange for us, but normal for them, so be it! I thing both you and Thailand would be better of if you went back home to us. To much for you to cope with here.

Everybody that make enough money pay tax to the country they live in. We, as expats, also pay tax to our country of origin. This is the way it must be. How much money you spend on other things is irrelevant to tax.

You asked in a post about being offended or insulted by being told to pay tax to Thailand. I wonder, how can one be offended or insulted when told to pay tax to the country you live in? I understand there is no profit for you paying tax to Thailand, only extra paperwork, but you live here by your own free will. Do you feel yourself so important to Thailand that it is insulting to ask you to pay tax?

There are two different system. .1. Your tax to your home country will be reduced with the tax paid to Thailand. The effect of this is zero. I believe this is the system used by usa. 2. Your taxable income in your home country is reduced with the amount taxed in Thailand. That gives two low income taxed in two different countries. Because of a progressiv tax system the total tax will be lower than if all income was taxed in your home country. I’m glad my home country follow this rule.

I can use myself. I pay tax to Thailand for the pension I transfer to Thailand. Thai revenue dept give me documentation of the sum being taxed in Thailand. I send this documentation to my home country and they recalculate my tax by deduct my taxable incone with the amount being taxed in Thailand. So for one part of my pension I pay tax to my home country, and the other part I pay tax to Thailand. Because tax in my home country is higher than in Thailand, my total tax are less than it would be if I did not pay tax to Thailand. Some country have a different rule. They only deduct the local tax with what has been paid in Thailand so the effect is 0.

Why all this worry about thai tax. If your home country have a tax treaty with Thailand you should not worry. Tax treaties is to avoid double tax. Following the rules your total tax will not increase, for many it will reduce.

Must be a lot more. Where there are opportunities there are thieves. I know expat report income without documentation and get along with that. Not possible without bend people at revenue dept.

I have 100k deduction on pension, 60k personal deduction, 190k age-deduction plus deduction for wife and health insurance. I do not pay in to any pension plan in Thailand or overseas. I have no morgage in Thailand which would give deduction on payd interest up to 100k.

Well, this was new in 2022 that banks was obliged to collect tax on all interest. You say your bank have stopped doing it. Have Revenue dept changed that order? I dont know.

What you state is exactly what I wrote: The bank withhold tax on interest and you must claim it back, or use as part of your total tax.

It is not pedantic, it is wrong. For about 10 years I have got that deduction on my pension being taxed in Thailand.

All banks must collect 15% tax on all interest, but interest below 20k is tax free. Then you must go to revenue dept and reclaim collected tax. If you pay tax to Thailand you can make that tax part of your total tax.

Pension! 100k deduction on pension.

You forget the deduction of category 1: 50% of income, max 100k.

Depend on your deduction. If you are 65 year or older you get a deduction of 190k. This in addition to minimum deduction of 100k and personal deduction of 60k. There are more deduction if you provid wife and children and if you have life/health insurance. So it is minimum 350k deduction, may be more. Then after deduction there is no tax on the first 150k bath. Normal I would say that your yearly income in Thailand must exeed 500k before there is any tax to pay. Then the tax is progressiv, starting at 5% for the first 150k.

There is different system for US and Norway. What you describe is the normal rule for tax on salary split between two nations. But for pension there is a different system. The tax agreement betwenn Thai and Norway say that pension brought in to Thailand during the tax year can only be taxed be thai revenue dept. Then Norway must subtract pension taxed in Thailand from my total pension and calculate tax from the redused pension.

I have done that for several years now. No problem!

I think that most tax treaties say that only Thai government can tax pension brought to Thailand during a tax year for expat staying 180 days or more during a tax year. So when you pay tax to Thailand your home country must reduce tax by deducting your taxable income with what has been taxed in Thailand.

The hole case is reprehensible to a democratic state, but then, Thailand might not be?

I’m on a non-O visa, lived for 12 years. During this time I have travelled in Thailand and abroad many times. Never filed TM30 and never been asked for one. There was a time in early covid they demand TM30, but when asking imm. They said they did not want that extra work. What imm? I rather not say in case they did wrong and I do not want any changes.

Many years since I stopped filing TM30, can’t remember I ever did. I book rooms in my name, never had any issues with immigration about this.

Yes, if you dont show the pink card they will generate a different number for you. First time I paid tax I got a different number, but later I got it changed to the number on the pink card. So you can have same as pink card, or you can have a different number. Remember that your bank accounts must be connectee to your tax ID because the bank take 15% of interest i tax. With that number you can use that tax as part of your total tax.

If you have a pink ID-card, then that number will be your tax ID. If your country have a tax treaty with Thailand to avoid double tax, my guess is you then can pay tax to Thailand and get refund from your home country. My home country have a tax treaty with Thailand. That treaty say you should pay tax to Thailand for pension transfered to Thailand if you stay in Thailand for 180 days or more during a tax year. Personally I save a lot by pay tax to Thailand do to higher tax rates in my home country.

Every time this PM talk it gets more and more clear that this government tasks is not for the best of the masses, only for the few.

Being English or being fluent in English is not the same as being a teacher. I think to many English speaking people act as teachers in Thailand without being a teacher. Teaching is after all a profession.