Andrew Mind

If someone wants a simpler explanation, then essentially in 2024, if the Thai tax office and Thai banks want to check every personal money transfer, then quite by chance everyone here will become each other’s best friends. Not rich remote workers will find their friends on both sides, retired grandfathers will find other retired grandfathers and everyone will send money as gifts to each other or to Thai close relatives or Thai friends. Yes, the scheme will certainly become more complicated, maybe there will be scammers, maybe there will be companies that have a number of trusted persons with personal accounts in different countries and who are not tax residents in Thailand. As for wealthy foreigners, those who need to transfer more than 10 or 20 million Thai baht per year to Thailand, they will simply apply for loans, eternal credits, or debts abroad, and as you know, loans, credits and debts are not taxed(Loans you take out abroad to live in Thailand as a Thai tax resident). This also applies to the tax legislation of Thailand. Just to formalize all this they will need to do a lot of hard paperwork, but rich people will not personally do this work themselves, they will hire lawyers on both sides and they will do everything for them. And they will repay the loans abroad, and in Thailand they will not pay taxes. After all, no one wants empty paperwork. This means that many who are not ready to leave Thailand, for example, for family reasons and pay taxes, will begin to transfer funds to Thailand in this way. And then what will happen in the end? At the most, Thais can tighten the tax legislation in the field of gifts and material assistance, but this will only affect poor people, the collection of taxes from whom will already be very small compared to the budget of Thailand. But no one will collect taxes on loans, credits and debts, because all over the world this is how it works for rich and very rich people and no one will allow it to be changed somehow. And for these people, now and then it turns out to be much cheaper to pay interest on loans and credits. If Thailand wants to change its tax laws in the future so that any money earned abroad will be subject to income tax, and not just money that was transferred to Thai banks from foreign bank accounts, then this will again only hit the poor and people with an average income, but will not in any way affect the rich and very wealthy people who will continue to use loans, eternal credits and debt obligations abroad(I am not 100% sure about this at this time). There is nothing good and nothing funny about this, but this is the reality. There was a conditional tax paradise in Thailand, apparently it will end soon. Otherwise, if poor foreigners don’t make friends and don’t want to pay full taxes, they will live in Thailand for less than 180 days a year. I hope this message will help to people realize that there are a lot of ways to get around the restrictions. Otherwise, the rich will again become richer and the poor will become poorer.

And also... if your foreign close relative or friend will be come in Thailand and open Thai bank account, then leave Thailand(for example him not like Thailand and not want stay at Thailand), then him can transfer money from his foreign bank account to his Thai bank account without any limits, and then him will transfer this money as gift from his Thai bank account to your bank account or to your Thai wife bank account or to your friend Thai bank account (with proof of your and him are close relatives <20 millions of Thai baht) or without proof <10 millions of Thai baht, then nor you nor your foreign close relative or friend do not need to pay any Thailand taxes. Also this is true, if your foreign friend or close relative is a Thai national with bank account in Thailand, but not stayed in Thailand more than 180 days in current calendar year.

Yes in this case, for example if you transfer money from foreign bank account to foreign bank account of your close relative or friend(whom is not stay or stay <180 days in Thailand). And then him transfer money as gift or as support funds to your Thai bank account(when you are tax resident(>180 days in Thailand) not more than 10 millions baht calendar year, then you and him do not need to pay any Thailand taxes. Or not then more 20 millions baht if this your close relative, but in this case you need to make some paperwork verified in consular of Thailand (marriage or born certificate, etc) for proof about you close foreign relatives for Thailand bank and for Thai tax office. And someone(close relative or friend) also can be a Thai national and also have own bank account in Thailand and a foreign bank account, but not a tax resident in Thailand (stay <180 days in Thailand). Also, if your foreign friend or relative(whom is not stay or stay <180 days in Thailand) transfers money to your Thai wife, for example if you do not have an account in a Thai bank, but your Thai wife does. Then in this case up to 10 million baht per calendar year because your foreign friend or relative is not a close relative of your Thai wife, so the gift tax-free limit will be 10 million baht per calendar year. And someone whom transfer money to your Thailand bank account or your Thai wife bank account or friends bank account in Thailand (close relative or friend) also can be a Thai national and also have own bank account in Thailand and a foreign bank account, but not a tax resident in current calendar year in Thailand (stays <180 days in Thailand). In this case also no need to pay any Thailand taxes nor you nor Thai national.

I will try to explain in as much detail as possible and somewhat refute what was said in the video from Thai elite visa partner; this story does not take into account FATCA, OECD and CRS automatic and manual data exchange between jurisdictions. I’ll say right away that “loophole” has absolutely nothing to do with it. 1. The case when you receive income for remote work for a foreign company and this company pays you directly for an invoice to a Thai bank to your personal account. This is and always has been taxable if you live in Thailand for more than 180 days a year. And you've clearly paid tax before (or not?). 2. The case when you receive income for remote work for a foreign company and this company pays you into a foreign bank account into your foreign personal bank account. Next, you transfer this money to yourself into your personal Thai bank account. This is subject to tax and has always been taxed if you live in Thailand more than 180 days a year. 3. The case when you receive income for remote work for a foreign company and this company pays you into a foreign bank account into your foreign personal account. Next, you transfer this money to your Thai wife into her personal Thai bank account, as a gift, or to your son or friend or someone else in Thailand. Gift tax begins to apply if you transfer more than 10 million baht to anyone in Thailand during a calendar year, or if you transfer more than 20 million baht to your Thai wife or other close relative. But they will be the ones paying their gift tax. Note that this is a completely different tax, and you cannot gift funds without first paying income tax on them. That is, you can give it as a gift, but then you will still have to pay income tax on the funds brought into Thailand. However, you initially earned this money and it is considered income. Then you delivered this income to Thailand, no matter to whom, yourself or your Thai wife or son or friend. This is and always has been taxable if you live in Thailand for more than 180 days a year. But in cases 2 and 3 there is a problem that the Thais cannot in any way determine whether you are transferring savings or earnings, so no one ever paid taxes and simply transferred money to themselves or relatives. In 2021-22, Thailand connected to the CRS system to automatically receive data on overseas bank accounts. So they will be able to determine this, starting from 2024. It is important. Now they can get this information from your overseas bank. Not all foreign banks/payment systems within CRS operate automatically, some process only manual sent requests from any connected to CRS jurisdictions. The question is whether the Thai tax office will send such a request. There are also separate instruments for the exchange of tax information between countries, not only within the OECD. I'm just warning you in advance, don't think that you can simply transfer the funds you earned from your personal account in a foreign bank to your personal account or the personal account of your Thai wife, son, your friend, or to someone else's account, even if they live in Thailand for less than 180 days in a calendar year and are not tax residents of Thailand. The main thing is that you live in Thailand for more than 180 days in a calendar year and are a tax resident of Thailand and it is you who transfer your income to Thailand, and for whom this is not so important. This is taxable income and with Thailand connected to the CRS system and other tax data exchange tools, they will know about the transfers of your money for a particular calendar year from your overseas bank account. There is a slight exception, if you do not have a Thai bank account or you close your Thai bank account, then the tax office in Thailand simply most likely will not be able or will not initiate a request to the CRS system, since you simply do not have a bank account in Thailand and Thailand banks simple no have information about your foreign bank accounts, that is, it is very problematic to somehow do it manually and compare data with the data of the foreign account from which you sent money transfers to a bank in Thailand to the personal account of the Thai wife, son, friend and so on. But if you have always previously sent money from your foreign bank account to your bank account in Thailand, and from 2024 you will send money from the same account, but to the account of your Thai wife, son, friend then the tax office will quickly identify this method of tax evasion. The last exception is ATM cards. There is a gap here, because you never know what John Doe withdrew money from an ATM in Thailand, and there can be many such John Does, including those who live in Thailand and are tax residents. Yes, technically, Thais can start applying to CRS for all banks from whose cards money was withdrawn, but this is unrealistic at the moment. In any case, as for pensions, you will be able to provide documents from your foreign bank stating that these are pensions, if the tax office has questions for you.