K2938

6 hours ago, Pib said:

If the new rule does go into affect 1 Jan 2024 then they would only be looking from that date forward...and as said earlier on income, interest, dividends earned since 1 Jan 2024 (not before that) if not already shielded by a DTA.

Unfortunately my suspicion mentioned above with the caveat "if I read this correctly" now also appears to have been confirmed by the BOI as just posted by @hwas on the main tax change thread in this forum.  So I am just cross-linking this in case there are people not following both threads:

1 hour ago, ukrules said:

I think the point is - the previous year/years tax benefit which has often erroneously been referred to as 'the loophole' was never ay any point anything to do with the Thailand Elite visa.

 

The Thailand Elite visa is just a way to stay here permanently and take advantage of those tax rules.

 

Well the tax rules are apparently changing due to this proposal (we shall see on that) by a new previously non politician PM who's been in office for several weeks but it's certainly nothing to do with TE and I'll bet the folks over at TE were just as surprised and annoyed by this new proposal as the rest of us.

 

Lets face it - it will destroy their entire business model.

 

Oh yeah, my point - there's nothing to grandfather for TE as the tax thing was unrelated. It's like saying get a TE visa and take advantage of cheap 'insert cheap thing here' in Thailand - then the prices increase - nothing to do with TE.

Indeed.  But there is a strong incentive for the authorities to work out some sort of special exemption for the TE visa because otherwise the number of further TE visas sold will most likely totally collapse as many people justified the high TE visa fees by the tax advantages.  And since the Thai government makes big money from selling TE visas, they have an incentive to work out some sort of special exemption to keep this money flowing.  But strong incentive does not mean it will necessarily happen, so we will see what the future brings.

8 minutes ago, Pib said:

Money you simply transfer is not taxable now or possibly under this new tax rule beginning 1 Jan 2024..it's interest and dividends you earn from assets like say 5% interest on a 250K savings acct.

I wish you were right, but that is unfortunately not at all clear at the moment as the 250k savings are surely income of some prior year.  And if by comparison you look at other countries taxing remitted funds, then in some of them this would be a taxable event, in some it would not.  So how things will eventually be construed in Thailand nobody unfortunately knows at the moment.  The fact that the LTR exemption does not appear to cover this is therefore a real potential problem.

26 minutes ago, hwas said:

Received this from BOI today, tax exempt only for prior year:

Greetings from the LTR Visa Unit.

 

We want to clarify that the tax exemption for overseas income will commence from the month you receive the LTR Visa onward, which typically falls within the next tax year. 

 

Any income earned in the period prior to holding the LTR Visa will not be considered for tax exemption.

Thank you for posting this.  So if I read this correctly, this would unfortunately mean that the tax exemption under the LTR visa - if even this is maintained - is really of the minimal possible amount as it ONLY covers income earned while holding the LTR visa.  So if you now get a LTR visa and then transfer let's say 250k USD from your foreign savings to Thailand to buy some real estate or fund your general living expenses, then this will NOT be exempted as these 250k USD are NOT income only received AFTER holding a LTR visa.

1 hour ago, hwas said:

We want to clarify that the tax exemption for overseas income will commence from the month you receive the LTR Visa onward, which typically falls within the next tax year. 

 

Any income earned in the period prior to holding the LTR Visa will not be considered for tax exemption.

Thank you for posting this.  So if I read this correctly, this would unfortunately mean that the tax exemption under the LTR visa - if even this is maintained - is really of the minimal possible amount as it ONLY covers income earned while holding the LTR visa.  So if you now get a LTR visa and then transfer let's say 250k USD from your foreign savings to Thailand to buy some real estate or fund your general living expenses, then this will NOT be exempted as these 250k USD are NOT income only received AFTER holding a LTR visa.

33 minutes ago, jonny on the spot said:

Im pretty much sold on Malaysia for my 6 months a year if this tax thing happens. I suppose its just a case of being careful, it can happen in London if you unlucky just as easy.

The problem with Malaysia is that the conditions of their Second Home Visa are very onerous and expensive and if you go there for 6 months without a visa you will probably get into trouble even if you leave some time between the different stays.  Or what visa are you thinking about using for Malaysia?

1 hour ago, Misty said:

"Please be informed that normally, your overseas income will be subject to Thai personal income tax only when you are a tax resident (staying in Thailand 180 days or more in a tax year) and have brought such overseas income into Thailand in the same tax year that you are a tax resident and have received such overseas income.

Thank you for posting this very useful email from the BOI.  May I ask if you received this email before or after the announcement of the new taxation of foreign remittances from Jan 1, 2024 onwards?  If it was after, then it seems rather weird that the BOI continues to claim that "normally, your overseas income will be subject to Thai personal income tax only when you... have brought such overseas income into Thailand in the same tax year that you... have received such overseas income" which obviously will not be the case any longer from Jan 1, 2024 onwards.

1 hour ago, Dogmatix said:

The Royal Decree potentially exposes LTRs to random visits from RD officials with outstretched hands examining bank remittances and making the owner prove it was income earned only in the prior tax year and not in years earlier than that which are assessable under the Royal Decree combined with the reinterpretation.

I wonder if "prior year" in the English version of the Royal Decree for LTR visa holders really means "prior years" and the whole thing is just a translation mistake.  This is just a guess, not something I verified myself.  But somebody should.

12 hours ago, Hummin said:

For most my best guess, it will continue as it have done, but for those who already have tax number, it will be easier to squise a few more baht from. 

 

The very same who claimed a tax number on long stay visa, have done it to save paying tax to their orign country. 

 

It is a very good reminder, that what we have today, might not continue the same way in future. 

Currently having or not having a Thai tax number should not make any difference whatsoever.  If you are legally staying in Thailand which I assume applies to most on this forum, then the Thai authorities know about you regardless of if you have or do not have a Thai tax number.

1 hour ago, Dogmatix said:

Inheritance tax in Thailand is exempted between spouses and otherwise only payable over l million baht. 

If you allow me to correct your typo:  The inheritance tax threshold in Thailand is actually not 1, but 100 million baht.  And if the assets are not in Thailand and you are not a Thai national and you are only on a non-immigration visa such as Elite, retirement etc., there is no inheritance tax regardless of value.

1 hour ago, Happy happy said:

So sorry if this has been asked already above.

It is:

1.Can someone with a retirement O visa (800,000 in bank method) change it to a Elite 5 year Visa?

2. And if so, is the holder of such Elite Visa exempt from income brought in from overseas?

1 - yes, if you apply, get approved (which most people do) and pay the sizeable Elite visa fee

2 - depends on the as yet unpublished details of the new regulations from Jan 1, 2024; based on what has so far been published no

1 minute ago, K2938 said:

You can find it in the discussion below this post:

7 hours ago, mrmagyar said:

Could you link to the facebook thread please? Or tell us which page it's on?

You can find it in the discussion below this post:

8 hours ago, Mike Teavee said:

Oh and Capital Gains Tax will also be a problem, currently don't need to pay anything on profits from share sales, now going to have to try to keep track of when I bought each individual share, what money (Savings, Dividend, Income from House) I used to pay for it & how much I made/loss on it

And on top of this there is no certainty that you might actually be able to separate these components.  They could also say that partially contaminated funds are to be entirely taxed or they could even say that any remittances regardless of their components are taxable.  Currently, nobody knows.

8 hours ago, redwood1 said:

O-Boy  The Elite sellers were sure lucky lucky lucky with their timing.....Just perfect timing.....

A little too perfect....

Since you do not need to go ahead with your Elite visa if you do not want to, your conspiracy theory does not really work.  Any time before payment you can withdraw your application.

36 minutes ago, Conno said:

Who in their right mind is going to pay that?  So I'm speculating in the dark corridors of power there might be a good chance the Elite visas also end up remaining exempt. 

Entirely agreed.  Unless Thai Elite visa holders will be protected from remittance tax, their applicant numbers will totally collapse.  Many justified the huge visa fee with the tax benefits.  If the tax benefits are gone, then of course Thai Elite will not make a lot of sense any longer for a lot of potential applicants.

23 hours ago, clearance said:

So, for example, if I'm a foreigner who lives in Thailand on an Elite visa. In 2024 I'm planning to buy a house or apartment there. I will transfer money from my savings abroad. And they will tax me for 35%?

Entirely possible, but it depends on what the detailed regulations will say which nobody knows yet

On 9/21/2023 at 10:35 AM, Yumthai said:

According to 2023 PIT rules, need to declare a bit less than 1.75 M THB (~$48K currently) basic deductions included to get that rate.

What deductions are included in your calculation, please?  Asking because just looking at the tax rate table, a 15% marginal tax rate is already reached at more than 500k THB

On 9/21/2023 at 10:34 AM, stat said:

If you read my post carefully you would have noticed I mentionend to use the cc of a relative, friend etc ... Not even sure if the payment of cc even satisfies the wording of the law as brought into Thailand...

You might then be charged for money laundering so this might not necessarily be the best way forward.  If you do this once or twice, of course the likelihood of anybody noticing is slim.  But if you constantly use it and withdraw significant amounts of money this way, then things might be different.

4 hours ago, Pla Sai said:

I've been reading information they provided in approval letter and it says some nationalities need tourist visa prior to arriving to Thailand to get visa affixed at the airport - anyone knows anything about it? Sent email to their support to ask but thought I ask here as well.

Presumably they mean those who cannot enter visa-free need to have a tourist visa to enter if they want the elite visa affixed at the airport, i.e. want to enter without having already gotten the elite visa affixed abroad via an embassy/consulate.  So check if you are on the list of countries able to enter visa-free and you know the answer.