K2938

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:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

While the statements of the BOI provide some comfort to LTR visa holders, the honest truth is probably that currently nobody - including the BOI - really knows what the final outcome will be and all this is kind of a giant negotiation between all interested parties. Having said that however the chances of LTR visa holders to escape the tax are probably better than those of any other group of foreigners since they do have the Royal Decree which no other group has. Quite well positioned are probably also Thai Elite visa holders since the program would show a devastating decline of applicants if the tax benefits do not remain and these people pay big money for their visa which directly goes into the Thai budget so there is a strong incentive for the government to protect them. But what the final outcome will be really only the future will show.

According to the BOI managing the LTR program this is incorrect. According to them LTR visa holders are exempt from tax on income remitted to Thailand as you can also read in the LTR thread on this forum.

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.

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 - 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

You can find it in the discussion below this post:

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.

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.

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.

According to a fb post the BOI now appears to have confirmed that for LTR visa holders foreign earnings regardless of their remittance remain tax-free: Question: "????????????, ???????????? ???????????????? ???????????????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????????????? ????????????????????????????????? That is really what is supposed to be taxed based on the new tax law changes, regardless of the time it is brought into Thailand. Please kindly also comment on this for LTR visa holders." Answer BOI: "We would like to address that for the LTR tax benefits: the revenue department has already announced a royal decree to exempt the LTR- Wealthy Global/ Wealthy Pension/ Work from Thailand from paying the income tax derived from oversea business/ work and assets." This decree could of course also be changed, but for now LTR visa holders appear to be safe. So it remains to be seen how the situation will be with 1) Elite visa holders, 2) retirement / marriage visa holders.

On this fb thread the BOI now appears to have confirmed that for LTR visa holders foreign earnings regardless of their remittance stay tax-free: Question: "????????????, ???????????? ???????????????? ???????????????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????????????? ????????????????????????????????? That is really what is supposed to be taxed based on the new tax law changes, regardless of the time it is brought into Thailand. Please kindly also comment on this for LTR visa holders." Answer BOI: "We would like to address that for the LTR tax benefits: the revenue department has already announced a royal decree to exempt the LTR- Wealthy Global/ Wealthy Pension/ Work from Thailand from paying the income tax derived from oversea business/ work and assets." So if this is true, then this would be good news.

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

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

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.

Anybody getting approved for an elite visa now should ask for a deferral until there is clarity on the tax situation.

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.