Richard007

TIT but if they flip the script on us, then many of us who signed up for the LTR visa based on the promise of a tax exemption will say goodbye to Thailand or spend <180 days here, negatively impacting their stated objective of attracting high-spending foreigners to stay in Thailand. It’s not just RD at play here. BOI has some political power here and it’s why this special visa is administered by them and not immigration. If this does change, then they will not be able to collect back taxes from people who were misled about their tax exemption.

Having worked on legal issues for most of my career, my opinion is the slides provide the legal support we need. Slides 4 and 7 provide a broad “Exemption of Personal Income Tax on foreign-sourced income” for 3 categories of LTR visa holders. If there were any exceptions to this broad exemption, for example foreign-sourced income remitted to Thailand in the same year it was earned, then those exceptions must be included in the slides for them to be valid legally. Also, trying to tax our foreign income in any way contradicts the objective of the visa as noted on slide 2. If anyone is still uncertain about this issue, it looks like you can schedule an appointment with RD to discuss the matter.

When I applied in 2024, I had to show two years of 1099s + two years of Form 1040 tax returns. Reviewing the most recent "Required Documents for Qualification Endorsement for LTR Visa Wealthy Pensioners" on the LTR website, it looks like now only one year is required. I would suggest you email BOI to confirm it before spending a lot of time on your application.

If you file a Thai tax return when you have no legal requirement to do so, all you are doing is putting yourself on TRD's radar and opening yourself up for questions, thus creating more work for yourself. Also, if you do decide to file when you have no legal requirement to do so, this is not a one-time thing; you need to file for every year you are a Thai tax resident. So, it’s more work and/or more expense every year with no benefit. With no Thai-sourced income and an LTR visa, there is 0% chance I will file a Thai tax return.

Also, on the home page for the LTR visa (ltr dot boi dot go dot th), under the “INFO SERVICES” tab, “Law & Regulations”, Document 15. Notification of Income Tax No.427 says “Clause 2 A foreigner categorised as High-Skilled Professional, Wealthy Global Citizen, Wealthy Pensioner, or Work-from-Thailand Professional who is eligible for income tax reduction or exemption under Section 3, Section 4, or Section 5 of the Royal Decree issued under the Revenue Code governing reduction of tax rates and exemption of taxes (No. 743) B.E. 2565 (2022), as the case may be, must meet the following qualifications: (1) Be granted a Long-Term Resident Visa under immigration law, as the case may be; (2) Meets qualifications for and complies with rules and conditions on Long-Term Resident Visa as prescribed by the Office of the Board of Investment.”

On the home page for the LTR visa (ltr dot boi dot go dot th), under "TYPES OF LTR VISA", it says in red text "NOTE FOR ALL VISA TYPES: Every condition and requirement must be maintained during the length of the visa, including investment amounts, employment status, bank account balances, and insurance coverage." I read this to mean all requirements at the time of issuance of the visa must be maintained every year of the visa. So, they may only ask for one year or two years at the 5-year mark, but legally you are in violation of the terms of the visa if you don't meet all requirements in year 2 or year 3, for example. I would not be surprised if they change their mind at some point and want to see proof you met the requirements for every year of the preceding 5 years.

Thank you for the follow-up post Marty. This clarity on the tax issue is great news.

Thank you for the detailed summary wordchild. This is very helpful for those of us who did not attend the meeting.

Thank you for posting this Marty. It’s interesting that there will be a presentation from the Revenue Department. Hopefully this will clarify the foreign income tax exemption.

Many of us LTR visa holders did not receive the invitation. A summary of the meeting would be helpful and much appreciated.

Good post John207. On page 82 of this thread, Thailand J posted “Reply from BOI to my question about tax exemption for LTR visa holders:” which includes a screenshot of that BOI reply and it confirms “…you will receive personal income tax exemption on your overseas income under such Royal Decree even if you have brought overseas income into Thailand in the same tax year.” Many LTR holders and applicants on this thread received the same feedback from BOI on this issue and relied on those statements in their decision to proceed with their application for the visa. Also, all of the marketing material about the LTR program, including the LTR brochure and the LTR website, mention “Tax exemption for overseas income” without any qualifiers. The lack of any mention of the year income was earned in relation to the tax exemption implies a broad tax exemption for remitted income regardless of the year in which the income was earned.

Great, thanks for confirming it JimGant.

Thanks for your comment JohnnyBD. I was previously approved based on other types of passive income (not capital gains or IRA distributions). I am now planning to make some changes to my finances/investments that could drop my income below $80,000 for those other types of passive income. If anyone reading here was successfully approved for the LTR Wealthy Pensioner visa using IRS Form 1040 line 7 when it is a loss due to capital loss carry-forwards (but capital gain distributions were positive) or using line 4a when the IRA distributions were converted to a Roth IRA, I would appreciate if they can share their experience here.

For Americans who file IRS Form 1040, regarding the $80,000 income requirement for the LTR Wealthy Pensioner visa, can a portion of this amount come from Capital gains (line 7 on IRS Form 1040) if this amount is positive? If line 7 on Form 1040 is a loss (-$3,000) due to capital loss carry-forwards, but line 2a of 1099-DIV shows Total capital gain distributions, do these Total capital gain distributions count towards the $80,000? Can a portion of the $80,000 come from IRA distributions (line 4a on Form 1040)? If the IRA distributions were converted to a Roth IRA (i.e. a Rollover) during the year, do the IRA distributions still count towards the $80,000?

Thanks everyone for these ideas. I decided to postpone this move to get the lower moving rates during the off‑peak international moving season in late fall and winter. In a few months, I will get detailed quotes from a number of different movers that handle full-service (i.e. door to door) “less than container load” (LCL) shipments.