Thaindrew

based on bringing in 780,000 a year, which is what a person on a retirement visa has to bring in officially, so reasonable that RD set that as a minimum, then tax is 71,000 a year, less than 10% but its still a nice chunk of money.

I can see them potential saying that you haven't declared enough money to live so how are you living as a way of taxing you above what you have declared as bringing in. That's fraught with danger given the way other government office like immigration deal with things. I suppose as a minimum you'd have to bring in and declare at least 65000 baht x 12 a year as living expenses to match what they insist people on retirement visas bring in (ignoring agents in the whole process for now). But what would the tax be on 780,000 Baht, not small for sure !

correct, it all relates to "tax residents" which is in absolute terms anyone that lives here 180 days in a tax year

guess many will reduce their time to less than 180 days and Thailand will lose half the money that those individuals used to spend here, and also lose the money currently spent on long term visas such as with Thailand Elite, why pay 0.9m baht up to 5m baht when staying here on the visa for over 180 days is going to cost you in tax

yep thats an article from a news site, its not an official translation of the re interpretation of the law by the RD

HK is not considered part of China for tax purposes, you can see for example that Thailand has DTA agreements with both separately. If I stayed in China more than 180 days I would have had to declare my HK income for tax assessment in China. I got out before my obligation commenced initially spending less than 180 days there and now I just do a few business trips back there each year which is easy enough as I still have a valid resident permit

correct re the Thai Elite Visa, I am considering withdrawing my 15 years "extension" and just staying in Thailand 179 days a year as a result of this new interpretation. It was costing me 500k to extend and I am considering cancelling so you can think what those paying much more may think

but only if you bring those monies to Thailand right, whatever that means, sure they can track bank transfers, but atm withdrawals, credit card payments etc could they get into that much detail?

you could send 20m to yourself tax free before, but not going forward, don't see how that will be different for a Thai spouse, they also have a tax free threshold of 150k and these very changes are to prevent money coming from outside Thailand to Thais also tax free - if it is a loophole that could be proven its potential a lucrative agency type business

it could kill the property market if applied as you state, of course if you transfer a large sum there is already anti money laundering checks but generally thats to show you did earn the money, not exactly that you paid tax on it. When you consider the current buyers of Thai property those may well have not paid tax in their home countries, and if they were taxed at such high rates when funds arrive in Thailand, the property market would collapse in terms of sales volumes or the prices drop 30%.

and its interesting to note all this is based on a re-interpretation of the current law, not something that has to go through parliament, and who has the most funds outside the country that has never had tax paid ...... ?

the big issue is whether if you are here for more than 180 days will they force you to do a tax return, I'd say its likely now, if you declare no funds bought to Thailand they are likely to ask questions about how you can live. If they tie in immigration and you have a "married" or "retirement" visas they are also likely to check that the funds you declare on a tax return match what you have to declare for those visas. You could though bring in with cash, atm / credit card etc funds over and above what you have to declare for your visa and that would probably go unnoticed.

a tax resident is everyone that lives here more than 180 days a year (that is clear), currently we are not "forced" to do a tax return but it sounds like we may well be as a way to assess any tax liability

I'd say at the new costs of the Thai Elite Visa, if you would also be taxed, then those visas will be much less attractive than before - people will chose to stay here less than 6 months a year and chose a different visa option

potentially a lot of work though, especially if bringing in 20MBaht to buy a property also don't forget many people don't have to pay tax, for example the Uk threshold means many pensions are not taxed, but the threshold here is lower so you cannot prove you paid tax as in fact you didn't have to

loads of issues as usual after a Thai Govt proclamation. Pensions could well be an issue though as tax free thresholds in Thailand are lower than most other countries, so people may not be liable for tax in say the UK as its below the threshold but it couldn't be below the Thai threshold which is 150k a year so below what you have to declare as income to get a Thai "retirement visa". its going to come down to interpretation, will they consider "assessed for tax in the UK but not liable" as enough of a justification to not pay in Thailand - it sounds like not but pensioners will rightly be up in arms

I doubt the banks would take the "tax" on receipt of transferred funds, the statement seems to state that the funds are "to be assessed" for tax, which id take as meaning we will be forced to do a tax return stating the funds bought into Thailand and then we'd have to prove tax has been paid at the same or higher rate than the relevant Thai rate - if so no tax

try proving the savings didn't come from previous income, you could before given the "income from previous tax year" transfer rule, but that rule has gone, so now you'd need to prove the transferred funds had been taxed wherever those funds came from

I have asked Thailand elite / privilege to clarify and will advise if they respond

the problem though is the tax threshold is a lot higher in the Uk than in Thailand, so you may fall below the level needed to pay tax in the UK but you cannot be below the tax threshold in Thailand based on what you have to show as income to get a retirement visa. So I will come down to interpretation - you can show you have been assessed for tax in the UK but as you cannot show you have paid any it may well be that you would have to pay in Thailand

thats seems to be the rule they are re-interpreting so yes any income bought into Thailand is taxable, but hey thats what VAT is, so we'd be taxed twice on expenditure in effect.

I suppose the point will be that if you are here over 180 days you will have to register with the tax office .... that can easily be overseen by the "trusted" immigration dept and checked upon visa renewals - this would be very bad for Thailand ultimately.

even the locals cannot really vote them out !

china also taxing global income now if you are there more than 180 days, that why I moved to Thailand.

The Thailand Elite Visa is listed as exempt from Tax on the IRS website