Mike Lister

I did once, I used the following, amongst other things, just click on the year you're interested in: https://investor.airportthai.co.th/transport.html Forgot to say....you have to add in the non-AOT airports and passenger traffic but exclude land border crossings. I got very very close to one set of numbers issued by TAT, that convinced me they were legit.

Plenty of countries in the West and even globally, add a charge or tax to tourist room rates, its very common practise.

TAT ONLY counts people arriving by air, not many Burmese construction workers or fishermen fly into Swampy on their way to work!

The very cold air from a freezer compartment is typically fed air into the refrigeration compartment, that's how the fridge part stays chilled. If the flow of air between the two sections is blocked, very cold air will build up in the freezer and ice will form above the unit, as you have described. As others have said, defrost the entire unit and next time don't overload either part of the unit.

I sat there with the Revenue Officer whilst she entered the information in the screen and we went through my return in detail, that's enough for me. I don't care how the RD accounts for things internally, I only care about the bottom line. I also know that the RD system bottom line tallied with my manual calculation. Those things are sufficient for me, I am very comfortable that what she entered into the system reflected accurately the information I provided, very comfortable. Now, go argue with somebody else, if you don't like what I did I can't help you.

I know what I declare to the RD and that my calculation for tax due/refund agrees with their system, that's all I need to know.

I do not know if/how the online system differs from the paper based tax form because there is no English language version.

The "bottom line" is the net tax due/refund which always agrees. Yes, for system purposes it is possible that she doesn't include the US SSc amount but this would be odd since it was the subject of some explanation. TBH I have never queried this previously because there was never a need, as long as the bottom line tallies. Another odditie of the system is that you only enter one bank name/account number but you record all interest from all banks under that name/number. I have accounts with BBL/UOB/Kasi but only record the BBL account name/number, somehow that links to all account records from banks in Thailand bearing my name/tax number etc.

I prepare an income statement listing all the sources and the amounts and I take this to the local District RD office. I agree it with RD staff so they understand the sources etc and the very helpful young lady then enters into my online tax account which is in Thai. As long as the system bottom line agrees with the statement I have prepared, there's no issue...it always does. She prints off a copy of the return and I staple my statement to it....job done.

OK. I use fixed deposits quite extensively here and all pay interest of course, that's the difference between us perhaps.

I have filed for the past three years. If you file to reclaim tax with held on bank interest you are obliged to declare your income also and if you don't, the tax return is fraudulent because you're saying there is none! So I have filed and declared my income three years running, for me this is nothing new but the downstream implications might be if/when I go to transfer savings or sell my house in the UK. My Thai tax return shows income from the US SSc which I declare but exclude from the calculation, UK state pension income and Thai based savings income. I sometimes pay a small amount of tax, I mostly do not.

The point I'm trying to get to the bottom of here is who makes that determination whether that income is covered by a DTA and does that information need to be shared with the RD? All DTA's are different. Others here are saying that the existence of the DTA is sufficient to warrant that the person not even declare it, not file a Thai tax return and not even say anything to the RD. I maintain that can't be the case. I maintain that unless somebody informs the RD what that money is and that it is tax exempt, all the RD will see is that overseas funds were received and nobody said anything. Surely that's the point of this whole exercise by the RD, they want people to pay tax on money received from overseas, when it is taxable. And how will they know if it's taxable? When somebody tells them , typically via tax return.

But the subject is income received from overseas, not income derived from transactions in Thailand.

The problem is Jim that, at first glance, the RD is not able to tell the difference between the taxpayer who has legitimately excluded income under a DTA and not filed a return, and, the person who is trying to evade tax and not filed a return, because nobody has told them what that income is. You can only see the issue from your perspective, you seem unable to look at the issue from a RD perspective in order to better understand what they might require.

Ah, but, income from Thai dividends is reported to the RD by the Thai bank or broker hence they have an independent source of information by which to confirm if tax has/has not been paid already. That same secondary source of information doesn't accompany overseas income. All the RD knows is that payment was received, from a foreign source, they don't know anything about it other than what somebody has told them. In the case of my SSc, Bangkok Bank holds a copy of the original form used to notify SSc and to establish the transfer hence the bank can tell them the source of those funds and RD is capable of concluding that the funds are exempt under the DTA. But RD does not hold a comparable form for my UK State Pension yet every month, an amount is paid into the same account. How does RD know the source of those funds and whether tax has been paid on them? They don't, how can they?

Really? Well not including something on your tax return can also be construed as tax evasion, don't ya think!

That's my point, how do they know it's not taxable, if you don't some how tell them, do they employ mind readers!

Yes, it's a justification. But before it can be justified it has to be exposed, declared and accounted for. A person can't simply import a million baht into their Thai bank account and not say anything to the RD, just because they know it is excluded under a DTA. What happens next, the RD Audit team shows up his house and asks him about the 1 mill. baht that his bank told them about and he says, Oh that, it's excluded income under a DTA, go away.....and closes the door. I don't think so!

OK, and how does the tax payer communicate that fact to the RD and do they just leave them in the dark as to how they are managing their tax affairs in Thailand?

I'll go one step further, I've never had trouble (of the type the op refers), in Thailand, not in 22 years. Maybe the dog collar has helped, I dunno.

Back on my ignore list you go.

Look, I don't make up the rules, I just offer up my interpretation of what is said and offer evidence to support it. Somebody asked me if I could cite fines etc, I did, don't blame me for them, I didn't make them!!!

Whilst I would argue that unless you declare the excluded income on the return and then exclude it for the reason stated, perhaps with a note, you haven't declared it and the RD is none the wiser as to what's going on. Another way to look at things is that the DTA can't be invoked for income you haven't declared. The DTA is not a super front end power that filters out unnecessary income, it is an agreement that is referenced and cited as the reason for excluding income. The underlying theme here is communicating what you think and know, to the RD, via your tax return. Just because you know what that income is, where it comes from and the DTA excludes that income, you have to explain that to the RD so that they know also.

Never.

No, that's not my job! But because I feel sorry for you, here: A fine of THB 2,000 applies for failure to file a tax return by the deadline. Late payment penalties (below) also apply. Intentionally failing to file in an attempt to evade tax will result in a fine of up to THB 5,000, and imprisonment of up to 6 months. https://orbitax.com/taxhub/countrychapters/TH/Thailand/c06c8ef5784b4a4f838cc0c82f0e9c19/Interest-and-Penalties-580