chiang mai

If the money was from savings and you can prove that via bank statement, you do not have to declare it on a tax return because it is non-assessable to tax.

Yes

Except they want their copies man, you gotta make lots and lots of copies.

Yes

Ah ha, that's what you have to decide.

A further ten cents on this: I THINK, the separation of excluded, exempt and disregarded funds, from tax assessable funds, is the assessment process that determines assessable income. I further THINK that the deduction of TEDA and the zero rated band, is part of the tax calculation process, that determines taxable income and tax due.

I'm not too sure about that, at least I am not certain. I THINK, assessable income means non-exempt/not excluded income that is applied to the tax calculation process, in order to be assessed, after which TEDA is applied and then the 150k zero rated band. But the last thing I want to do right now is get caught up in a debate about that, others must decide if they want to and which way they want to go.

Technically, the rules state that a tax resident must obtain a TIN, within 60 days of reaching the threshold of 60k baht.

I think/hope what I wrote was that it was his decision whether to file or not if he was within his TEDA, that's my standard answer these days.

We've made that trip over twenty times so we know the route well. The worst part of the trip is from your location into Bangkok, construction and traffic makes that the worst part of the journey. There is a short cut that avoids all the construction which I have never tried but reports are that it's excellent, it comes out around Chai nat and is pretty much a straight line north to south from your location.....a google route map may help. From there, the road North is good or better quality motorway, traffic density depends on Time of Day and Day of week, it's rarely quiet because it's the main road to Chiang Mai and the North. We sometimes make an over night stop at Phitsanulok which is a pleasant place to visit and accommodation is plentiful and inexpensive. Lampang is also a decent place to visit and stay overnight. Beware speed camera's and speed traps, especially from Lampang North, watch also as the speed limit drops to 80 when entering Chiang Mai. Excellent scenery from Lampang onwards.

What the rules state and what appears to be common practise are two different things. The rules state that a tax resident who receives in excess of 60k baht in assessable income, must file a tax return, the amount increases to 120k if the income is via employment and increases again to 220k if married.. There is no concrete evidence that TRD levies a fine of 2k baht for not filing a return, when they were supposed to, some take this to be accepted practice that TRD doesn't want a bunch of null returns clogging up their system. Some members will tell us that no AN/TVF member has ever reported being fined for not filing a return and this may or may not be correct. If you think that AN membership is representative of the entire foreigner community in Thailand, this may be a safe bet, if it is not, caution is needed. You must decide which road you want to go down.

I agree with this, the onus is always on the taxpayer to declare fully and completely and then, if required, substantiate their claim. If they do not, it becomes the Revenue Departments turn to declare for them and the onus once again remains with the taxpayer to substantiate something different.

@Celsius - If we all let the trolls get to us, there would be nobody left and that wouldn't be great for business! Ignore them, put them on ignore and move on....don't let them win.

I read your post again and realised it needs some more explanation because you don't understand what your TEDA (Tax Exemptions Deductions and Allowances) are which I have listed below: Personal allowance (you) - 60k baht Personal allowance (wife) - 60k Over age 65 years allowance - 190k Expenses for pension income. 50% of pension, max 100K - 100k Sub total 410k In addition, the first 150k of assessable income is zero rated for tax, Total = 150k + 410k = 560K baht Assuming your pension is the maximum of 220 Pounds per week, this equates to 501k Baht 220 Pounds x 43 x 53). All the above means you have no assessable income so you do not need to file a tax return.

What you've proposed amounts to tax evasion, fortunately there's no need to take such drastic action. You are entitled to enough deductions/allowances (TEDA) under the Thai system to where you should be able to receive your UK State pension here yourself and not pay tax. Assuming you're over 65 and married, you will be entitled to about 500k in TEDA which should more than cover the state pension.

The things that you need to file a tax return and what you might need during an audit are very different. I have never needed to supply any supporting documentation whenever I have filed a Thai tax return, I file and go and that's it. I can't begin to guess what a person might need during an audit, it will depend entirely on the scope of their finances and what they declared. But none of those things was the point that I made previously, which was TRD will only know what you tell them, unless of course you are audited and they find the need to start digging, in which case all bets are off.

TRD knows what you tell them in your tax return, that's all you need to support, nothing more. Just having assets overseas doesn't expose you to any potential risk with TRD, unless you remit those assets to Thailand and you were supposed to declare them here but didn't. TRD doesn't have a list of all your global assets, whyever would they!

No you are not wrong, if you don't have assessable income, you do not need to file a return or get a TIN.

Over 61 countries have dual tax agreements with Thailand, here's a list of them and the related agreements: https://www.rd.go.th/english/766.html

I think most readers will agree that very few foreigners in Thailand, exist here on less than 50k baht per month, if all the threads about how much does it cost to live in Thailand are true. I've been reading those threads for twenty years and 50k is the minimum mentioned in recent years, That equates to 600k baht a year, minimum and is more than three times the level of average earnings by Thai's. From my personal perspective, my cost of living has reduced, as I've grown older but 50K a month is what I spend, my wife has income that is similar and our house and cars are paid off and we have no debt either.

The "bond" of 400k and 800k was estimated to be equivalent to one years living expenses for a foreigner in their respective category, that was my understand of why it was set at that level. As it turns out, it's not that far off the mark although it is overdue to be increased for inflation.

I was getting 2 and 3 year fixes at 5.5% from CIMB and other banks in 2006, the potential downside of entering the tax system at that time wasn't on anybody's radar, it was never mentioned.

Between 2004 and 2008, interest rates of 5% plus could be had from the banks here. At the time, I started a thread called bank interest rates which was the first of many. Foreigners were falling over themselves to take out fixed deposits plus banks like CIMB were paying above average market rates. Hundreds if not thousands of farangs were flocking to the TRD in the new year to get their tax on interest returned because at 5% it meant something, many of us had many millions on deposit at the time. ALL of those foreigners entered the tax system, the moment they applied for their refunds, many stayed there, some left and some passed away but there will still be a sizeable number of people still registered from that period.

I don't care what you do or don't do, only that the current circumstances are clear and that you and everyone else understands that the new tax rule is currently in force and has been all year..

That was never a question or an issue, of course you don't need to file, just for having money in the bank!!!