anrcaccount

OK, I'll bite on this: Let's assume a Thai tax resident remits 50M THB of assessable foreign income, directly from a foreign country (as a gift) to their spouses Thai bank account. You honestly believe that both: 1) The spouse, will pay gift tax of 5% of 30M THB above the exemption (1.5M THB) 2) Somehow, the giver, will pay Thai PIT on this entire 50M THB at normal rates ( approximately 18.6M THB), even though they never received a cent into their Thai bank account? 3) The TRD will somehow assess and tax a single inbound remittance twice, for two different parties? Does not compute, right?

Complete hypothetical fearmongering to drive their business, as is typical of this outfit. Has anyone ever heard of a single "letter of summons" / any form of investigation being issued to any foreigner, for undeclared remitted foreign income? "Crickets"

Precisely why no one should trust a word from "Expat" Tax agencies / some would less kindly describe as Charlatans. This particular agency recently held a webinar and released "definitive" advice that all LTR WP and WGC holders need to file a "zero" Thai tax return, assuming nothing owed. This is clearly not correct. Be very careful with any "Expat" focused thai tax advice, many would say- best to avoid it altogether!!!

Based on past experience, absolutely nothing will happen. 99% + of foreigners , (tens, if not hundreds of thousands of people) never file Thai tax returns, for many years, despite technically being tax residents, and freely remit technically assessable foreign sourced income, with no consequences or enforcement. Despite the internal interpretation change of 2024, there is zero sign any enforcement or practical change has occurred. The status quo of many years remains: if you're not employed in Thailand or run a business/property here, you don't pay Thai tax , and have nothing to do with the TRD. Thanks for sharing your experience, but it is an absolute outlier/ fringe case , and doesn't represent the reality for the vast majority of foreigners residing here.

Welcome. Here, the origin of the funds of the gift isn't relevant. The gift is received in Thailand and is subject to assessment for the recipient. It's a gift - so falls into the threshold.

No, you don't. If the funds aren't earned in Thailand, nor remitted to you ( you being the donor), there's no thai tax liability for you. The recipient has no tax liability either, as under the gifting thresholds. People speculating that donors pay tax somehow on remitted gifts, consider: For that to occur -the same funds - would need to be subject to thai taxation twice, once for the donor and again for the recipient, which is obviously nonsensical...........

No more illegal or scammy than any agent in Thailand. They simply have contacts at the DLT and get the line skipped, no waiting for months and months for an appointment. The customer goes through exactly the same process ( reaction test etc) and gets exactly the same valid license issued as anyone else.

You have got hold of the wrong agent then. Try searching the Facebook expat groups to check. The experience is as I described above, it is many magnitudes easier than doing it yourself.

Love it, it is simply a box ticking exercise and doing exactly that, any 13 digit number will satisfy the foreign bank need for compliance, and you'll almost certainly never hear anything of it again.

This is a perfect example of where you'd be much better to simply pay an agent. For maybe 5-8K THB , several agents in HKT would have all your docs sorted, including the residence cert, and medical report if required. You would not lift a finger, turn up to the DLT when the agent says, straight to the front of the line, then do the needed admin, and you'd have your license. One and done, maybe a couple of hours max. No stress, no frustration. It seems that many people don't put a value on their time and frustration.... look at all the time you've spent, back and forth, asking Q's on here, calling the DLT, going in there, looking back on that now,...........not a good idea right? Travel all the way to Phang Nga? Why? Take a whole day to get there and back, not a good idea. How is that even cost effective...... Just pay an agent, take it as a lesson and relax.

IMO - not a single person has ever paid a single baht of Thai tax on funds remitted to Thailand to buy a property.

Yup, fair opinion. The overall amount of tax paid on foreign income remitted is 2024 is likely to be a paltry amount anyway, as with even a small amount of planning this could be avoided, or ignored entirely, as there have been no practical changes on enforcement, i.e. no enforcement. Refunding anyone who actually paid it would be a smart move to encourage those individuals to remit freely in the future, however, as it is the smart move........ it's probably unlikely to happen!

This looks very likely to happen, and don't be surprised if it is applied retroactively even to 2024...........then the 1% of fearful expats who managed to pay Thai tax on their foreign income remitted in 2024, will get the tax back. What they won't get back, is the $$ they paid to 'expat' tax specialists to file their returns, the type of companies that prey upon fear to create a business model. For the vast majority of foreigners in Thailand, this rule change will simply keep the status quo, that is: "if you don't work in Thailand, or run a business in Thailand, you have nothing to do with the TRD, and you don't pay Thai tax."

Yes - if this was actually true- we'd see these reports immediately. There are significant numbers of foreigners extending these visas every week. No need to wonder, the predatory agency paid him for sure, and why? Pretty clear! How senior? I'd be surprised if he's anything other than a former employee. He states he "used to" work for immigration.....

Sorry, no. It is you that has missed the point. No, because it has never happened - and 99% of retired foreigners living in Thailand have never filed a Thai tax return. Have you ever heard of a single "culprit"? This agency is making things up to drive business - classic fear mongering. No, the required 65k is simply funds remitted to Thailand. There has never been, nor is now, any requirement that these funds are "income" or have been subject to Thai taxation. There is no "verification". Again, they are are making this up.