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redwood1
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29 minutes ago, Mike Lister said:I have incorporated all the changes that have been suggested into Version 5 of the Tax Guide (below) and asked the Moderators to pin it in a locked thread, within the Finance section. If anyone wishes to suggest further changes, you can either post them here and hope that I spot them, or, you can PM me with the suggestion which I will ensure is discussed by a wider audience. If there is agreement that further changes should be made, and/or as new developments occur, I will attempt to update the document to keep it current.
A SIMPLE GUIDE TO PERSONAL INCOME TAX IN THAILAND
8 January, 2024
Version 5
1. This guide has been compiled in an attempt to provide readers with the simplest possible over view of Personal Income Tax (PIT) in Thailand. The scope of this document is limited to PIT.
2. You may have heard that new tax laws came into effect on 1 January this year, in fact, that is not true! The old tax rules still exist and remain valid, albeit just one minor change to them was made in November last year. Previously, anyone who earned money overseas and remitted it to Thailand in a different tax year, received that money free of Thai tax. That loop hole in the Revenue Department (RD) tax code has been extensively exploited by wealthy Thai’s and is now closed, hence, any money earned overseas and remitted to Thailand in any year, is now liable to Thai tax. The purpose of the new rule is to reduce tax avoidance. Unfortunately, it now means that overseas funds transfers by foreigners living in Thailand, also have an increased risk of being taxed.
3. This guide is an overview of the core parts of the PIT system. It is not designed to be exhaustive and it doesn’t cover all aspects of PIT, nor is it intended to override anything produced by the Thai Revenue or specialist tax companies such as Sherrings or Mazzars. This guide also does not address all types of income or the rules relevant to people from every country. What this guide will provide is a starting point for readers to manage their own tax affairs and it will also provide most of the answers for those with simple tax affairs, especially the average pensioner.
4. There are also certain types of visa that fall outside of the RD tax code. The LTR visa for example received its tax exempt status by royal decree hence visa holders will not to be assessed for Thai tax and they are specifically excluded from this explanation.
5. Terminology: this document uses the word “assessable” often. Assessable in the context of this document means income that is liable to tax and must be included on a Thai tax return. Not all income is assessable, some is excluded from tax assessment by its very nature or because of the terms of a specific tax agreement.
6. Dual Tax Agreement/Double Tax Agreement (DTA): is an agreement between two countries that sets out which of the two countries has the right to tax specific types of income and all the associated rules. It’s purpose, in part, is to ensure that the same funds are not taxed twice and provides a means by which tax that is paid twice, can be recovered, how and from where. Note: If the taxpayer income is sourced in one country but the tax payer is resident in a second country, use of a DTA can result in increased tax being paid, if the second country has a higher rate of tax on the type of income in question, than the other.
7. If you stay in Thailand for more than a cumulative 180 days, between 1 January and 31 December each year, you will be considered to be Tax Resident in Thailand during that year, regardless of the type of visa you have. It doesn’t matter that you may be Tax Resident in your home country or elsewhere or that you pay tax in those countries, Thailand will still regard you as Tax Resident. Tax Residency and Immigration status (and the visa you hold) are different things. Tax residency is based solely on the number of days you spend in Thailand and where you are at midnight on each day.
8. Because you are Tax Resident, YOU must review your income each year to determine if it is regarded as assessable to tax in Thailand, nobody else will do this for you. If your income does not exceed 120,000 baht per year, you do not need to file a tax return (60,000 baht if your only income is bank interest paid to you by a bank in Thailand). If your income is over 120,000 baht per year, you must file a Thai tax return between 1 January and 31 March.
9. Your income in Thailand is defined as any money paid to you inside Thailand, as well as, any money you receive from overseas, both types are potentially assessable income for Tax Residents. There are many types of income that can be classed as assessable, the Thai RD lists some of them and is linked below, however, the list is not exhaustive:
10. There are also classes or types of income that the RD does not regard as assessable and these are also linked below:
https://www.rd.go.th/english/37749.html
11. Income that is derived from within Thailand is fairly clear, if you work and have a job and you are a Tax Resident, your income is assessable for tax. Interest that is paid to you on Thai bank accounts is regarded as income, as is income from investments such as stocks and bonds within Thailand. You should note that if you are generating income by working while staying in Thailand, it is (and has always been) irrelevant where that money is paid and whether you bring the money into the country or keep it offshore. That money arises in Thailand hence it is taxable here.
12. It is not possible to give the same blanket rule to everyone to determine whether income is assessable or not because of the variable factors involved. Overseas income has to pass several tests to determine if it is assessable to Thai tax or not. It is still early days and all the rules are not yet clear. It has been said that tax residents who import funds from countries that have a DTA with Thailand, will not be effected. Exactly how that will work leaves many questions unanswered hence this document attempts to look at only the most popular types of income based on what is known at present. This document does not speculate as to what may happen in the future, other than in the segment at the end concerning likely future Immigration rules.
13. If we take the simplest type of income and say that you transfer personal savings from overseas to Thailand and those savings were earned before 1 January 2024, those funds are not assessable. But savings earned after that date are, hence the date when the income is earned is extremely important. A word of caution, you may be asked to provide proof that savings were earned before 1 January 2024.
14. Another common type of income is pensions, which can be complicated, depending on the type of pension and the country that it comes from. The country of origin is important because there are over 60 different types of Dual Tax Agreements, sometimes called Double Taxation Agreements (DTA’s), between Thailand and those 60+ countries and each one is different. As a general rule, most private or company pensions from most countries appear to be assessable here but YOU will need to confirm that yours is or is not. If that is true, private and company pension income IS assessable income in Thailand.
15. US Social Security payments, a form of pension paid to some older people, can only be taxed by the US under DTA rules and Thailand is forbidden from taxing them, this means those payments are NOT assessable income. UK State pension on the other hand is not covered by a DTA so it is assessable income in Thailand whilst UK Government or Civil Service pensions are not!
16. The proceeds from the sale of a capital item such as overseas property, where funds are remitted to Thailand, is one popular source of funds, the sale of some investment products such as stocks, shares and bonds is another. Those proceeds typically comprise two parts, capital and profit. If the capital was acquired before 1 January 2024, it is free of Thai tax. One way to separate capital and profit may bee to have an official valuation or statement that is dated 1 January 2024 since anything earned before that date, is not assessable. Also, if the profit has been the subject of a Capital Gains return in the home country, that also may be free of Thai tax but this cannot be guaranteed at this time, until things are made more clear and are once again subject to the terms of any DTA. YOU will need to review the DTA between Thailand and your home country to fully understand what particular clauses affect you.
17. It appears as though most property rental income that is remitted to Thailand is considered to be assessable income and is taxable here, unless of course it has been taxed in the home country and/or the DTA prohibits its taxation (which seems unlikely).
18. YOU are responsible for determining if your assessable income in Thailand exceeds the threshold and means you must file a tax return. That assessable income might comprise, pension payments, investment income, rental income or any of the other types of income listed in the link above. If you have assessable income of over 120,000 baht per year, you must file a tax return (60,000 baht if your sole source of assessable income is bank interest paid in Thailand).
19. Before you can file a tax return in Thailand, you need to acquire a Tax Identification Number or TIN from the RD offices in your area. You will need your passport, a valid and current visa or extension and in many areas, a Certificate of Residency from the Immigration Department.
20. Completing a tax return is a simple affair for most people, if you have difficulty, the Revenue Department staff are extremely helpful. Tax returns must be filed between 1 January and 30 March each year, if you file later than that, penalties will apply.
21. Thai tax is layered in bands and is payable based on the amount of assessable income that falls within each band and are shown and linked below:
Taxable Income per year(Baht) Tax rate
0 – 150,000 Exempt
150,000 – 300,000 5%
300,000 – 500,000 10%
500,000 – 750,000 15%
750,000 – 1,000,000 20%
1,000,000 – 2,000,000 25%
2,000,000 – 4,000,000 30%
Over 4,000,000 35%
https://www.mazars.co.th/Home/Insights/Doing-Business-in-Thailand/Payroll/Personal-Income-Tax
22. The Thai tax system contains a series of Allowances, Deductions and Exemptions that will help you reduce your tax bill and they are very generous. It is easily possible for the average expat foreign retiree to reduce their taxable income by 500,000 baht or more each year. For example, a retiree aged 65 years of age, married and living here full time, supporting a Thai wife who has no income and doesn’t file tax return, is allowed the following:
a. Personal Allowance for self - 60,000
b. Personal Allowance for wife - 60,000
c. Over age 65 years exemption - 190,000
d. 50% of pension income received, up to 100k - 100,000
e. In addition, the first 150,000 of assessable income is zero rated and free of tax
23. Additional deductions and allowances exist for health or life insurance premiums paid in Thailand. A complete list of deductions, allowances and exemptions can be found here
https://www.rd.go.th/english/6045.html or from Sherrings below.
https://sherrings.com/personal-tax-deductions-allowances-thailand.html
24. The Thai Revenue tax filing system is online but is only available in Thai language at present. The tax forms are however available in English and they can be downloaded from the link below. CAUTION, the forms are updated every year and the 2023/24 forms for full year PIT are NOT yet available:
https://www.rd.go.th/english/63902.html
25. A simple sample completed tax form for a person aged over 65 years is shown below as a guide.
26. https://aseannow.com/topic/1312534-taxation-of-ex-pats-pensions-etc/?do=findComment&comment=18532562
27. Tax filing in Thailand is based on the honour system, it relies on you declaring all the right information every year and there are severe penalties for evading Thai tax. It would be foolish and a gross under estimation of RD capabilities to think that doing nothing and keeping a low profile means you should ignore Thai taxation. Very few sane people in the US and UK ignore the tax authorities who tend to have a long reach. It cannot be ruled out that at some point, a link may be established between tax filings and visa extensions. A law already exists that requires foreigners to apply for Tax Clearance Certificates before being allowed to depart the country but it is not being enforced currently. These things are possible because similar things have been adopted in several countries in the past, including the US.
28. There are several sources of detailed tax information and these web sites are linked below:
https://www.rd.go.th/english/6045.html
https://sherrings.com/personal-income-tax-in-thailand.html
https://www.mazars.co.th/Home/Insights/Doing-Business-in-Thailand/Payroll/Personal-Income-Tax
*** END ***
You put a big effort into this post.....
But if these numbers are correct..
Taxable Income per year(Baht) Tax rate
0 – 150,000 Exempt
150,000 – 300,000 5%
300,000 – 500,000 10%
500,000 – 750,000 15%
750,000 – 1,000,000 20%
1,000,000 – 2,000,000 25%
2,000,000 – 4,000,000 30%
Over 4,000,000 35%
This is a stinking joke.....
Just renting a very modest 17,000 baht a month condo would already put you at 204,000 baht and thats before you spend so much as one dollar on any thing else in a entire year......God forbid if you needed to eat or use electricity or visit a hospital etc...
Even a Thai worker only making 500 baht a day.......500 X 365= 182,500 baht a year...
So is every Thai and Farang not homeless and living on the beach going to be paying this tax?
Yea right when pigs fly...
If they want this tax to really work they must give out at least a 2-3 million baht exemption every year to everybody.....So they will only be catching big fish...
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23 minutes ago, fondue zoo said:
Highly unlikely, unless they start sending out people to pinprick all the condoms.
This, it's happening in many "western" countries, they're all wringing their hands but have offered virtually zero solutions. They don't even like talking about it, hard to spin it nowadays.
It's a pickle to be sure, a lot of those old white dudes are already fantasising about a Handmaid's Tale style solution.
I hate condoms.....Condoms are evil....
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And No we are not closing down to pot shops.....They will be free to sell all the 0.2% weed they want......
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The Full Report Has Now Been Published
But its Confidential so we can not tell you whats in it......
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Great its about time they get on with destroying the small remaining niceness of Jomtien beach...
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So Sir or Mam how much money did you lose....Well I had 64,000 baht in a plastic bag that I dropped...
Ok next person...
I also had 64,000 baht in a plastic bag I dropped...
Ok next person
I also.....had...........lol
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10 hours ago, morrobay said:
That area has been changed to an Exit. So all the traffic has to go into the same old entrance jam and enter the garage in the back. Actually the garage as not ever been full. Of course another screw. What else is New.
Of course it has never been full.....It fulfilled its main goal which was the old parks destruction......Whether the parking works or not is irreverent..
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I do not have a problem with putting 4 and 5 year olds in the electric chair but anyone over the age of 55 should not the charged with a crime, because then I would be protected....
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3 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:
Once again city hall gets it wrong. Have they done anything right in the past 30 years?
Walkway used to be great and everyone was happy with it, but city hall obviously doesn't like people being happy and just has to ruin things.
BTW it was great in the mid 90's, not since.
I think your dates are off by a decade.... Up until 2013 the beach looked like this....
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No No No No....And another No.......This whole plan is DOA......It will last 1-2-3 days The End...
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5 hours ago, PJ71 said:
So someone grassed - lol.
That's the only way they get info here, country is full of grasses.
No it was a concerned citizen....lol..........Who always show up at just the right time..
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6 hours ago, Shuya said:
2,1 Million THB for 10 of these towers including installation, foundation, planning, controls and electric work seems weirdly low.... Maybe forgot a digit?
I agree 100%....
Take a good look at these lights sometime they are made out of VERY VERY heavy duty steel or some other steel like alloy...And the lights are also BIG TIME heavy duty....
I would guess that the total cost for EACH ONE of these could very well cost 2.1 million........So I think closer to 21 million for 10...Plus 50% for you know who.....So lets just call it 30 million...
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That roofing is what saved him.....But I dont even want to think about what the roofing did to him....
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The extra fat and lard on ALL construction around here is massive.....
Look who is doing MOST of the work....Cambodians and Burmese working very cheaply I am sure....
Huge paydays for a select few.....
Also
Half-azz shoddy workmanship= Job security...
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All of these posts are only repeating the same old boring stuff that has already been talked about a million times in the long tax thread...
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18 minutes ago, The Cyclist said:
That might be because Singapore only has a small population, where
Most Western expats will be in middle to high salary employment.
Most Western expats will not be retirees.
The number of Western Expats that actually remit foreign income to Singapore is probably miniscule
Perhaps tax avoidance is not an issue in Singapore
Thailand needs all the help it can get in trying to reach Singapore standards. Which would include sorting out the domestic tax and taxing people who are also avoiding tax.
tax and taxing people who are also avoiding tax.
Right, you are......I am sure they will start with the 1% top richest in Thailand and make sure they pay every baht owed....
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One thing that is very very clear......
The huge and massive amount of work and cost that would be required to monitor and enforce this tax plan would be vastly more than the pittance they could extract from expat retirees on a pension.....
Very well of ex-pats would just stay for 179 days and wire in a few million dollars then fly off to wherever.. Then come back in the new year and pay ZERO taxes....
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So let us see who is exempt (so Far)
About 80-90% of Thais that dont file taxes..
The very very very rich Thais you can be sure they will exempt themselves...
Anyone who stays less than 179 days.....They can import 100 million baht a year with no problem....
Anyone with a LTR visa with a strong possibility for the elite too..
Anyone who has money from before 2024
Anyone at least from the USA who lives off social security....This can not be taxed...
Any Country with a double taxation agreement at least for the no double tax part.....
Anyone who imports under a certain amount....
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I would say the number of laughs the subs have created makes them worth every baht.....And a sub without an engine creates even more laughter so an engineless sub has the most value....
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1 hour ago, deejai33 said:I think this November 23rd clarification, or ruling will make quite a few expats happier.
Money you've saved, had invested for a long period, or simply had before end of 2023 will not be taxed when remitted to thailand.
That suits me, as I have sufficient assets that clearly fit that criteria and its proveable. I'm alright jack ! 555.
I just need to show I'm only remitting pre-2024 money to thailand. Maybe setup new account for 2024+ new money.
However, I can see that another group of expats who are not flush with savings/assets will not be re-assured. Expats who mostly rely on income arising in 2024 will not be assisted by this ruling. They will still have to rely on DTAs etc.
Thailand wants to now consider if your new income made in 2024 and remitted is taxable. OK, up to them, we know now.
That a pretty good clarification. Forget about pre-2024, thailand is looking at 2024 income. You are fully aware if this now !
By the time all the many soon-to-be exclusions are figured in I think it will make more sense just to trash the whole thing.....
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4 minutes ago, neil324 said:So it's either 2 years of seasoning income before remitting into Thailand or spend 179 days or less in Thailand.
Whats the criteria for filing a Thai tax return. Do you still have to file, if no tax is due?
When you become a Thai tax payer, what do you get in return, other than access to the country? Free healthcare, state pension, social security?
Here is what immigration will give you for paying taxes
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1 hour ago, Mike Lister said:It will be whatever you say it is, you just have to be able to support what you say it is, with evidence. If you keep saying it's all old savings that predates 1 Jan 24, they may look more closely, I would. You seem not to understand basic accounting. Every pot can contain many things but they can all be separated on paper to determine what is principle and what is interest or income, it's what companies do when they compile a balance sheet, you just need to do similar.
If you have 100 in a pot, 60 of which is old savings and 40 of which earns interest, you can transfer 60 safe in the knowledge it's old savings that you can prove. When you get ready to transfer the 40, you need to know what part of it is principle and what is income.
Old savings saved over many decades I think is impossible to PROVE...When it was earned...
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2 hours ago, Dogmatix said:
It's lucky you have a choice not to use it. I have noticed very little cannabis fumes on the streets I walk on in Thailand.
Since weed became legal I have seen/smelled a grand total of ONE person on the street smoking weed....
Weed really is not all that popular legal or not.....Most weed shops I see are mostly empty most of the time....
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Thai gov. to tax (remitted) income from abroad for tax residents starting 2024 - Part I
in Jobs, Economy, Banking, Business, Investments
Posted
All this is nothing but trying to squeeze a few tiny bread crumbs out of retired expats on a fixed pension....
You could just get the tax free visa...
Or
Stay 179 days wire into Thailand 100 billion baht come back in 6 months and not pay a single baht in tax on that 100 billion baht EVER for the rest of your life....
As this lady once said.....Only the little people pay taxes....