chiang mai

As noted earlier: https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/index/dxy

Far more than most. But the issue is FOREX, not global economics.

Of course. And then there's the issue of who at TRD might have an interest. I doubt the average Somchai cares much but a few pay grades higher in regional HQ or Bangkok might be looking for career progression and decide to show some initiative.

Brits should be aware that the value of GBP/THB is calculated from USD/THB and GBP/USD, there is no direct GBP/THB rate, instead it is a cross rate. That means that if USD falls and GBP rises as a result, the impact on GBP/THB is less than the impact on USD/THB.

...especially the last part.

It's entirely true and correct.

If you say so, I feel so reassured and hope you won't mind your advice being quoted in the future. BTW you are aware that details of all bank transfers in and out of the country must be reported to BOT for foreign exchange control purposes. I know for a fact that my bank reported my inbound wire transfer some 18 years or more ago because they called me and wanted to know the purpose of it and why such a large amount. (6 mill.) The year was 2004, the amount was actually 6.3 mill and the bank was UOB. Interesting to note that BOT called me directly after getting my contact details from UOB.

Not ridiculous at all, it's a fact. If you remit funds to Thailand from overseas, the BOT and your bank are aware of your identity. If those funds start to earn interest then tax is deducted which is passed along to the TRD, regardless of whether or not you have a TIN. All the pieces of the jigsaw are there, ready for anyone to join them up, if they so wish. That is not to suggest for one moment that TRD would necessarily do that today, whether or not they would remains an unknown to forum members who can only guess at the answer. The issue of resources is also a red herring since no forum member is aware of the resources available to TRD nor their priorities.

"The point is they were and are doing nothing with all this available information. Why would they tomorrow? Do they have the capacity to yearly audit several 10K, 100K or perhaps millions of tax residents? Do they really have the political will to strictly enforce tax possibly facing unwanted large consequences on the economy?" You can't possibly know the correct answer to these questions, we have no idea what they are doing currently or what they intend to do tomorrow. But the answers to those questions shouldn't be part of deciding how to handle the tax scenario. Understanding those answer is more about gauging the risk of doing nothing. For most rational people, knowing that the capability and the data exists, should be enough to help them decide.

Which of course you cannot.

The risk with these things, apart from the obvious, is that people spend large sums on accountants and other fees, in order to avoid small amounts of tax and still don't fully mitigate the risk.

If the UK owner is UK tax resident and declares the rental income received in the UK, the landlord is free and clear. If however the landlord is Thai tax resident, rental income should be declared in Thailand, UNLESS the tenant is an employee of the landlord who receives benefits in kind AND the landlord operates a registered religious entity for which there are tax breaks. Possible but messy, as a foreigner in Thailand I wouldn't want to sit in front of a Thai tax tribunal and try to explain it all and keep a straight face.

"already a part of the system"....that doesn't mean you can walk into any TRD office and enquire about your tax status. But your existence is known to them by virtue of that transfer and that bank account. If they want to join up the dots from there, it's only a very short step.

Not a good move for the country.

In some posters minds there seems to be two categories of foreigner, one who is entirely known to TRD, because they have a TIN, the second is less well known because they don't. What I hear being said is that those who have a TIN, shouldn't be part of the debate on tax, because they are already in the system. If this is the case, and clearly from preceding posts it is, my response is, why? Has the debate on tax now turned to become a debate on how to avoid becoming part of the tax system, whatever that may mean? Just catering to the above whim for a moment......if you have an Immigration record, you are easily capable of becoming part of the TRD system whether you like it or not. If you have a Thai bank account and receive interest and pay tax, you are already part of the TRD system, like it or not. If you remit funds to Thailand from overseas, you are already part of the TRD system, like it or not. So why all the angst? Does the fact the TRD doesn't write to you and ask why you haven't obtained a TIN yet and asked if you are certain you don't need to file a tax return, make you think that you are tax anonymous and operating in the shadows? Please tell me it doesn't!

Blatant tax evasion which is illegal and not allowed to be discussed.

It's always been the case that two different people of different ages and lifestyles, living in different locations, both will have different experiences when dealing with the same aspect of life here. We're semi-rural Chiang Mai, our existence doesn't even begin to compare with that of the Pattaya or Phuket crowd.

So much of those things is subjective though, different people claim to see different things so I never really know who is telling the truth and who is exaggerating or simply BS'ing. I've been here for about 22 years now and hand on heart I can say that I've never been faced with a situation involving corruption or changed rules. I use an agent to handle all my Immigration work so I have very little contact with them, TRD has always been as straight as an arrow in our dealings. I take the view that if I follow the rules I probably can't go too far wrong, even if some of it is unnecessary. I can't believe I'm the only one who does that.

Maybe so, but HH is the guy who wants to understand the rules and the law and doesn't immediately try to imagine ways to circumvent them.....you see my point.

What I get out of what you have said is that you want me/us to say that foreigners who don't have a TIN and don't have millions in the bank, are perfectly safe because they are outside the TRD system (whatever that means). Unfortunately, there is far too much anecdotal and circumstantial evidence to suggest that wont be the case, sorry but that's the way I see things. I say these things based on my experience of working in banking and also in tax rather than a gut feel or guess based on logic. Sorry that I can't oblige.

And herein lies the problem. You're talking about what is capable of being proven by TRD, I'm talking about what is assessable in law and must be declared on a tax return....two very different things. It may well be that Devious Dave can devise ingenious ways to send money, using carrier pigeon routed via Timbuktu and that TRD would never ever find out what happened. But Honest Harry doesn't play those games, he wants to pay strictly by the book so he follows the rules to the letter of the law. You appear to be coaching Dave, I'm coaching Harry! Playing word games using the words remittance, transfer and payment are not helpful to these discussions. Claiming that an overseas payment made to a third party, for goods or services received, is not really a remittance at all, just delays arriving at the correct answer, it turns the discussions on Thai tax into a lesson on the English language and word definitions. If posters are not prepared to have the real discussion without these word games, there is no point to the thread. Mahanakorn Partners may well believe what they do and the Oxford Dictionary may well agree but I doubt very much that the Thai Revenue Service will agree that doesn't represent assessable income and that's all that really matters.

The banks must send any tax that is withheld, to TRD, even if the customer doesn't supply a TIN. In which case, almost certainly they will supply associated information in anticipation that the customer will obtain a TIN and file a return to reclaim the tax paid. When I file a return, my bank account information doesn't automatically appear, I have to enter one of my account numbers and associate it with my return. Entering one bank account number, produces a list of ALL my bank accounts so they are not grouped based on TIN, they are based on name plus plus.

The Thai ID Card number is the tax ID number, banks have the Thai ID card number of all their Thai customers. Increasingly foreigners are being asked for TIN's by their bank, if they don't produce one, tax is withheld at source on all interest paid, not just from 20k onwards. I can assure you that banks do report details of customer, TIN, interest paid and tax withheld, at a detail level. I see mine on the TRD system every year when I file a tax return and I didn't put it there.

No! a remittance is not made by the receiver, the remittance is made by the remitter or sender. To remit means to send, not to receive. A person can receive a remittance but cannot remit it.

Those transfers to foreign accounts are not income, but if the money that is transferred was income, it is assessable. Giving away your income to somebody else, doesn't allow you to escape tax on that income. Paying a bill overseas using income doesn't mean that income is suddenly transformed into something else, just because you gave it a way.