Flyguy330

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Much obliged for your detailed answer! Are there any guidelines on mixed funds in the same account? Which money is already taxed and which is cap gain if I transfer 10K? Thanks! Malaysia or PH is my backup option however I have never been to the PH.

Sorry Stat, I overlooked this question yesterday.

It's a good question - about co-mingling funds from different sources in a bank account. I don't have an explicit ruling on that from the Malaysian tax authorities, however they gave me a written reply to a similar question which might be extrapolated to it. The savings I have overseas come from taxed income. I asked them if they needed me to prove the provenance of every penny I remit to Malaysia in order to prove it was from previously taxed income. Their reply was that it doesn't matter to them, as long as I can provide a tax paid cert or similar showing I paid some (at least 15%) tax on a sum equal to the remitted sum!

I was so shocked by that lenient answer that I asked them to confirm it, and asked if they meant I could even backdate such a tax cert to my first pay cheque 40+ years ago. They replied YES!

I know that sounds unbelievable, and I still don't really trust that answer, but I'm planning on 'experimenting' with it by remitting only small sums this year and I'll make a tax return showing tax I paid decades ago and see their reaction.

I may be being over optimistic, but so far all my dealings on this with the Malaysian IRD have been very friendly, and they almost seem to be bending over backward to accomodate me and prevent me being caught by this remittance tax. Yes, I know, that sounds bizarre behaviour from a taxman, but that's the feeling I'm getting. I think it's possible that at Government level they've been told to ease off on expats doing remittances - or maybe even only retired expats. And meantime the review of the MM2H rules is still in the pipeline, and I'm holding out hope that the Government will conclude that it's not wise to apply a remittance tax to foreign pensioners if they seriously want to attract them here. Common sense might actually triumph!

Fingers crossed. 

1 hour ago, Ben Zioner said:

One other thing ought ought to know is that if you stay in Thailand less than 180 days a year you can remit to Thailand as much as you want. So in case you  want to bring cash from Thailand to Malaysia. But you need, a reliable money changer in Thailand, as you wouldn't want to change THB to RM in Malaysia.

 

 

Yes indeed, as a non tax resident that's possible. I'd be sending EUR to collect in Thailand, then bring them to Malaysia for exchange to RM there. I'm not sure it's even possible to convert currency into RM in Thailand - there are still currency controls in Malaysia dating back to the Asian Financial Crisis. The them PM, Mahathir Mohamed instigated them to stop international speculators (like G.Soros) from attacking the Ringgit. It worked too, it has to be said, though it's a bit inconvenient that they are still in place. It basically stops you buying the Ringgit OTC anywhere but in Malaysia.

You can't hold a Ringgit account in banks outside Malaysia.

Not that I'd really want to!

One other thing I want to comment on - there was some mention here that proceeds from a foreign property sale imported to Thailand are NOT tax exempt.

In Malaysia such proceeds are indeed tax exempt, according to the Malaysian IRD themselves and every big accountancy firm confirms it. So you can sell a foreign property and import the proceeds without being hit for remittance tax. This rule could of course be changed any day.

One other thing that I think gives Malaysia an advantage over Thailand is that foreigners can buy and own property (land included) in Malaysia Freehold, and without any funny business with 51% local owners and 'pre signed releases' from locals etc. Not many (any?) other countries in Asia allow this. Alright, Singapore and Hong Kong maybe. But Indonesia? Vietnam etc? You cannot own property freehold as a foreigner. I've known expat friends who lived here for years, owning property, and when it came their time to leave they sold up and then applied to export the proceeds. They got their monney out after the usual bureaucratic hoops were jumped through. I find that reassuring too. Not so sure about Thailand from the comments here. So I guess I will not be buying, if I need to stay at all.

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FYI.  So far the Royal decree 743 still stands.

Thanks Ben Zioner. I hope you're right, but I'm waiting until next year to see what actually pans out. No rush.

Morning all,

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Thanks for you article and the good info on Malysia! Do you have any further info on how the remittance tax will be implemented in Malaysia?

 

However there seems to be a missunderstanding regarding the minium 15% tax.  The supposedly "worldwide" minimum tax is for corporations only, it does not apply to individuals! It is not even close to ww even for corps. Even stated in the article you linked "for corps only" in the headline so fear not! CRS or the minimum tax is NOT a reason for a remittance tax. However some politicians try to frame it in this way.

Stat, the remittance tax is being done by self reporting. In the past 12 years I lived in Malaysia I never had to file a tax return. Now I do. If I don't they'll come after me. They are quite well organised here in many respects, especially when it comes to getting taxes I think. I could of course lie, and declare nothing. But if you get audited and caught fiddling - the likely consequence is being kicked out of the country, which I definitely don't want. Anyway, I didn't go into the details very much in my last post, but there are legal avoidance methods. The Malaysians have stated that if you can show your declared remittances come from taxed income in a country with a DTA you can exempt them. At least for now. There's some rumouring that this too will change in 2026 (the Gov said that while they reversed their ealier promise of no remittance tax until 2026 they would still allow DTA exemptions until then). They also said that right now they'd apply a 15% tax, but in 2026 it would go to the FULL marginal tax rate in Malaysia (which I think is about 40% now - same as my home country).

I can indeed prove that my cash imports at present come from saved income, and I have all the paperwork to prove that. But I'm still only trickling in funds, in case they announce yet another policy reversal.

Thanks for the replies. Opinions seem mixed. I’ll try them out anyhow since it may ease the cost of transfers from a UOB account in my home country to a UOB account in Thailand. 

Anyone using UOB Bank in Thailand? Are you happy with them?

I’ve read numerous threads about the other big Thai banks and there seems to be so much difficulty opening an account with them as a foreigner. I have a UOB account already in another Asian nation and I’m hoping that will make it easier to open one with them in Thailand.
Any reasons not to use them here?