Mike Lister

That's nothing to do with franchise! Thailand operates a provincial banking system, nearly all banks levy charges on all all out of province customers for deposits and OTC transactions, excluding ATM transactions. But you are correct about car dealerships, they each have their own rules.

Chicken breast, 1 kilo, Makro, yesterday, 70 baht kilo. I do hope you are not trolling us with this nonsense, if you are, expect rapid deflation!

No, you are correct. And if you ask the merchant to give you an invoice showing that 3% charge was paid, Visa will refund it to you. Of course, the merchant wont do that, because it's against Visa rules!

There is nowhere on the tax return forms to declare excluded income. It is not a requirement to list non-assessible income There is also np requirement to prove anything, unless audited and asked to do so.

Nonsense! There is an oversupply of property in Thailand, your experience of looking for a place to live has nothing to do with inflation!

I think that answers the questions about conjugal property, visa ve Gift Tax and the reservations I had earlier, I'd completely overlooked/forgotten about Sin Suan Tua.

I suggest you read the following:

That is not correct. USD was the standard for settling trade bills globally, as agreed by Bretton Woods in 1944. Since then, several other currencies have become part of that standard to where today, USD comprises only about half of the foreign currency reserves. In Thailand's case, their Foreign Currency Reserves are held in the currencies of their top 24 trading partners which includes RMB, EURO, YEN, AUD, MYR, HKD, RUP and USD....plus others. Reserves are also held in gold and SDR's, the latter being a points system that equates to any trading currency. For international comparison and IMF purposes, Foreign Currency Reserves are expressed in USD but not held in USD.

It may depend on the card also. Clearly, Thailand is not going to stop accepting foreign credit cards across the board because they are so important to international tourism.

How many Thai people receive money from overseas, almost none! I think the subject is inflation in Thailand. I don't think the subject is the effect of inflation on foreigners in Thailand who receive money from overseas! It is amply clear that inflation in Thailand has had a significant negative effect on the Thai population. The BOT raised interest rates eight times over fourteen months in an attempt to get it under control and the rates still haven't come down.

It was put back onto the list of unknowns following the last debate. If there's nothing new to add, let's not discuss it again. P) - Returned to the list: The issue of whether income earned in a year when tax resident but remitted to Thailand in a year when not tax resident………….is it taxable? Many contradictory reports on this, even from within TRD and tax consultants themselves.

Why do you think the USD/THB exchange rate is relevant to Thai inflation?

Foreign credit cards carry higher merchant and interchange fees than native Thai bank cards, there have been several reports from different sources confirming that many merchants now refuse to accept them. I believe VISA networks require all VISA cards are accepted but I don't know about Mastercard. Recently, when my bank card was renewed, I wasn't permitted to chose and was given a Mastercard and told there were no VISA cards. I also understand that True Wallet no longer accepts foreign cards, on the basis of the higher fees.

RTF and LTF funds are popular because of the tax break and don't require income from employment to fund them. It is entirely lawful for a foreigner to remit assessable funds from overseas each year and put up to 30% of that income (max 500k) into a an RFT which must be held for a minimum of five years. That reduces assessable income each year by up to 30%. As long as the RTF performs reasonably well, it can be beneficial. I held an LTF for several years but cashed out early because pf an airline bankruptcy which destroyed my profit. The value of those share holdings in the LTF was adjusted down to reflect the purchase price alone and to forego all dividends, for the past twenty plus years. When I encashed the policy I was taxed at 5% without the ability to reclaim. The key issue with LTF is trying to find one that performs better than the Western alternatives. https://www.uobam.co.th/en/tax-benefit/rmf

Only funds that are remitted to Thailand are potentially assessable, those that remain outside the country are not. That means the priority concern and starting point is the date they are remitted to Thailand and whether or not you are tax resident here or not. If you were tax resident, those funds move to the next stage of review which is to determine their assessability to tax and when and how they were earned. If they were earned after 1 January 2024 and whilst you were tax resident in Thailand, they are highly likely to be tax assessable here, unless something in the DTA says they are not. There is an open issue that we cannot resolve regarding the assessability of funds that are remitted in a year whilst not Thai tax resident, but earned whilst you were, and if they are assessable to Thai tax or not. I appreciate this scenario runs counter to the rule whereby only remitted funds are assessable to Thai tax, but it nevertheless concerns many of us.

Members who regard Thailand as their home, those who have families here and have lived here for decades and have no other place to go, don't want to wait until they reach that point!

The fact that he has never heard from anyone means nothing whatsoever, the TRD is highly unlikely to know about those payments, unless he files a tax return....at least for now! Neither the TRD nor the banks are watching those payments flow through but that is not the issue. The problem will happen downstream when in later years the TRD has cause to ask, "why were those payments not reported on your tax return"? And of course, not reporting them is tax evasion, assuming they represent tax assessable income and he is tax resident here. This then comes back to the open issue we have in our log where we are unsure if assessable income remitted from overseas, directly to a third party in Thailand, escapes Thai tax or not and/or who must report that income, if anyone at all. If those payments were a Gift, fine, but do they meet all the requirements of the Gift Tax law, another factor we don't know the answer to with certainty? It seems to me the person on the other site who reported those payments and bragged that nothing bad happened, isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer! That's not unlike running across a six lane freeway with your eyes closed and bragging that it's perfectly safe!

The OP has his answer. Based on the earlier exchange, this thread is closed.

What are the limits? According to Thailand's official rules, you can bring up to $20,000 USD or the currency equivalent into the country before you have to declare it to customs. If you're bringing Thai baht (THB) into the country rather than a foreign currency, the most you can carry with you is 500,000 THB.Apr 18, 2567 BE https://wise.com/gb/blog/taking-cash-in-or-out-of-thailand#:~:text=What are the limits%3F,to declare it to customs.&text=If you're bringing Thai,with you is 500%2C000 THB. https://www.thailand.go.th/issue-focus-detail/009-010 The OP wants to buy THB in neighbouring countries and bring it into Thailand, a point I overlooked earlier. There is no acceptable reason why a person would want to do that, other than to avoid buying THB in Thailand in order to avoid tax assessable income being detected. On the basis the op is trying to discuss illegal activities, this thread is closed. Any further posts along the same lines will be cause for a an Admin review.

There is no limit to the amount of currency that can be imported, but anything over USD 15k must be reported to Customs.

All savings accounts are subject to 15% with holding tax, some banks will not deduct the tax, for the first 20k of interest earned, as along as you show them your Tax ID card. That tax is not with held on children's accounts. The tax is capable of being reclaimed by filing a return at the end of the year, subject to the usual tax rules regarding income etc.

All the tax forms are available in English, as are the instructions https://www.rd.go.th/english/65308.html

Er, can you please explain what you mean when you say Freelancers?

Even products that are sold in Thailand have often rely on imports for components, parts or ingredients, Iron and Steel, mineral oils and fuels, precious stones for the jewelry trade and especially, motor vehicle parts. .

And broken supply chains that increased the cost of shipping. At one point there was no available shipping containers because companies were using them to store inventory. That made shipping goods far more expensive.