Mike Lister

Can I just make an observation on what you wrote? It seems like two extremes to build a house here yet refuse to live here for more than 180 days per year, and, withdraw money from offshore accounts using an ATM! My advice to you is to wait and see what the RD has to say in the coming months because I don't believe the outcome will be nearly as bad as some people think. Thailand wants the money that foreigners bring into the country, more than it needs the 5% or 10% tax that it could earn from taxing transfers.

Indeed it is. But whether or not the backwards and forwards repeatedly routine is, is a different matter. Let me close this exchange by saying that there is often a tendency for foreigner's in Thailand to regard the country as third world, simply because many of the processes and functions here seem so antiquated by comparison to what they've known back home. It would be a serious mistake to under estimate the capability that exists here in many seemingly antiquated departments and institutions. Put more bluntly, the Revenue is not stupid!

There is no requirement today for tax clearance certificates to exit the country. If a system is put in place I'm sure it will consider people such as yourself who don't need to file a return.

Agreed, very much, that's a recurring feature of this whole thing, everyone needs to have patience and sit back and wait.

See the post above, please.

There is no established link between the changes proposed by the RD and an application for a visa extension at present.

Gifts up to THB 20 mill. between husband and wife in Thailand are tax free, whether or not overseas gifts are tax free is not clear. Travelers can bring up to USD15k into Thailand without having to report it it to Customs, anything over that amount requires a Customs declaration. The question then is, what to do with that money next? If it is deposited into a bank it will register as a Foreign Currency Exchange and identification/passport will be required. Yes, technically that is assessable income that has been imported in cash. The capability to monitor and report on foreign ATM transactions does exist since they all go through bank or visa/mastercard networks and then via a Central Clearing bank. Whether or not those transaction will be reported, is another matter entirely.

The old rule was that income remitted in the year it was earned is taxable. Any income you earned in 2023 and remitted in the same year, should be reported in a tax return before 31 March this year, assuming you were Thai tax resident. You say you were out of the country for 180 days, does that mean you were in Thailand for the rest of the year which is 185 days. You need to count those day very carefully to be certain because if it is 185 days, yes, you were tax resident in Thailand. Finally your question about the 800k. Whether or not it is taxable here will depend on when it was earned and when it is remitted. If it is from savings earned before 1 January 2024, not, it will not be taxable.

No, if you are below the threshold for filing a tax return, you do not have to file a return.

After how many iterations of husband to wife and back again gifting, do you think the Revenue might allow before they suspected it was ruse to evade tax and start to investigate and do something? One? Two, Three? Almost certainly by the third time, it would be labelled as tax evasion , simply because that's what it is. So if three times is tax evasion, why not just once! I'm going to allow this subject some more latitude but as I said earlier, discussions about tax evasion are illegal and against forum rules so please take things in a different direction shortly. Thanks.

Can I ask you to read the document at the start of the thread, please and then come back to me with any questions regarding what is not clear? Thanks.

Yes, the tax year is 1 January thru 31 December and you have until 31 March to file a return.

I was highlighting changes in the previous thread but since we are starting again afresh, I thought I would establish a baseline and highlight changes once again from hereon out. My apologies for extra reading effort involved.

How old are you and are you married to a Thai? Assuming you are, it seems to me that if you are over 65 years of age and married, your allowances/deductions/exemptions will be 500,000 so there wouldn't be any tax to pay here.

Those seem like odd reasons to deny a loan application, presumably the land has a full channotte?

Pleas read the document at the start of the thread, your answer is in there.

It depends on the nature of the non-compliance, anywhere from a fine for late filing when payment is due, up to 10 years and 200k fine for evasion.

In theory yes, but how that would work in practice is not clear. Under the old rules the answer would be very clear, under the new one it is less so. The answer therefore once again is, wait and see until more is known.

Which ever lender you approach will be looking to make sure the borrower has the means to repay the loan, that means employment and earnings history. No reputable lender will lend solely against the land without that income being confirmed. Since foreigners cannot own land in Thailand, the best you could hope for is that your wife acts as guarantor and the land is used as collateral. But this really comes down to whether your wife is gainfully employed and her earnings levels etc.

I can only help with some of the answer and that's the same one I've given to a number of people. Income earned prior to 1 January 2024 is free of tax in Thailand. Proving that was earned before that date will involve a baseline statement of each account, as of 31 December 2023. Thereafter, I don't know, part of the answer depends on what the RD decides to do regarding tax on these transfers for foreigners from countries with whom Thailand shares a DTA. In a worst case scenario, a copy of your US tax return showing the income has been the subject of a return may be helpful but mostly this is a wait and see.

Have you read the document at the start of the thread because I think you ought to, there is information in there that you need to understand which I would rather not have to repeat here? It will also help me if you can come back and tell us if you understood the document or not because that will tell me if we need to make changes to it.

Indeed. I think where we will end up very shortly is a list of knowns and a list of unknowns and as the unknows are made clear and announcements are made, the picture will become clearer. but it will take time and some patience.

It sounds as though you transfer savings and sale proceeds that were all accumulated prior to 1 January 2024, in which case, there is no tax to pay in Thailand on those transfers.

Yes, your son can remain as a deduction as long as he remains in full time education, I believe until age 26 if I'm not mistaken. Yes, UK military pensions are treaty exempt. Your state and company pensions are potentially taxable here but your allowances will be close to 600k baht per year.

Once again, if anyone has inputs they wish to include in the document, things that are facts and are certain, let's include them. But let's please not mask the things that are known with debates and conflicts about things that are uncertain or unknown. My role here is to organize the debate and manage it, not to be a subject matter expert. Right now the deliverable is the document in order to bring lots of people up to the same level of understanding, using the facts that are known today.