Eudaimonia

No worries. You can file in January as well. Of course, if you did not stay 180+ days in Thailand in 2023, you're not even a tax resident, so you do not need to file anything. Overall, it looks like it's just me and maybe ten other foreigners in the country who have bothered to hire tax lawyers and auditors to structure their affairs and follow tax laws here and in every other country we have interests in. For 99% of expats in Thailand, it seems to be a big surprise that their foreign source income and remittances may have been taxable all along because they did not even follow the current rule and wait until the next calendar year to remit it. I would not expect the Revenue Department to start investigating old remittances, but they do have the 2023 CRS data, so who knows.

It's your 2023 offshore rental income, so you can remit now and file a tax return in March showing it as assessable 2023 income remitted in the same year it was earned. Or you can wait until January and get it tax free.

There is a useful futures contract trading on the Singapore Exchange – SGXTU, or Thai Baht in US Dollar Futures. I've used it to hedge my January 2024 transfers, in case people start remitting a lot.

No capital gains tax for the sale of US stocks. 15% withholding tax on dividends for Thailand tax residents. Portfolio interest (debt instruments like bonds and some preferred stocks) is tax-free.

Again, if you had income in 2023 and remit that money now (in the same tax year), it's taxable. If you send it on 1 January 2024, it will not be taxable. (You can send it later as well, but then it might be more difficult to prove it is pre-2024 income.) All new earnings from 1 January 2024 onwards will be taxable regardless of when remitted.

If you had income in 2023 and remit that money now (in the same tax year), it's taxable. If you send on 1 January 2024, it will not be taxable. The choice seems pretty obvious.

The point is this: Your calculation shows an 8 million deposit in Bangkok Bank, which is then spent gradually. The last 500,000 in savings, to be used in early 2028, will have enjoyed over four years of holiday in Bangkok Bank. If kept offshore and invested, this money could (in my humble opinion) have been working offshore and earning much more during that time. I think your principle makes a lot of sense. I will also bring in a lump sum of tax-free money on 1.1.2024 and then remit something taxable every year in the future. However, it is rather difficult to optimize the ratio. Small tax savings seem to lead to big lost profits. By the way, I don't think a 6-8% yield is unrealistic. Even US Treasuries that I bought recently have a yield on cost of over 5% until 2040. The average annualized return of the S&P 500 since 1928 is 9.81%.

That's a lot of money in the bank. And the spreadsheet shows 0% interest earnings. Isn't there quite a high opportunity cost for this plan? Time deposits in Thailand yield around 1.7% p.a., considerably less than many investments abroad. One might pay 25% tax for a 6-8% yield and still be better off than remitting all that money to Thailand, where it earns much less. It almost looks like you might achieve a <5% income tax rate but end up with a 5% wealth tax. [Edit: I probably misunderstood what "Bangkok UBS" means – is it funds that are not in Bangkok?]

Guys, I have finally solved the problem caused by Order Paw 161/2566 (ป.161/2566) using Google's AI. Hopefully, this answers all your remaining questions. Google it yourself if you don't believe me.

I'm thinking about buying a condo in early 2024. Owning instead of renting would lessen the need to bring in money later. The purchase window seems to be closing now: the requirement to bring in all funds from abroad combined with progressive taxation of those funds means that the Thai real estate market is dead to me from 2025 onwards.

I'm not yet 50 but that's a great benefit if it stays like that!

Yes, I forgot to mention that I am not a US citizen, I just like to invest there. As a nonresident alien, I have never filed anything with the IRS. The broker withholds 15% of my US dividends, and that's the final amount. It's shown on Form 1042-S, which I get every year.

Here's my action plan. Maybe this is helpful to someone, or someone can point out mistakes. I am not in retirement age yet but live off investments abroad, so this change certainly affects me. I have a portfolio of stocks from different countries. I now set up a new broker account and moved all my US stocks and ETFs there. Selling and buying back shares that have appreciated realised all capital gains so they will not be taxed later. The main reason to have two accounts is that dividends from various countries have different withholding taxes. For example, the UK and Singapore are 0%. Those would be taxed when remitted to Thailand after 1.1.2024. That is why it is best to have separate accounts. The US withholding tax for Thailand tax residents is 15%. I already have a Thai tax ID, which I have sent to my broker, so they apply the double tax agreement and withhold 15% tax from my US dividends. Calculating Thai personal income rates using the progressive levels (5-35%), I see that the overall tax rate rises to roughly 15% at around 1.4 million baht. I plan to remit up to 1.4 million per year and use a withholding certificate from my broker to prove that I have already paid 15%. I expect to attach proof of the withholding tax paid and be able to claim it as a credit (The Revenue Department has promised they will amend the tax forms for this). That means there should be little or no Thai tax to pay. What if 1.4 million baht is not enough in the future? Maybe I need to buy something expensive. Luckily, according to the latest order No. 162/2566, the new rules will not apply to income earned before 1.1.2024. Before the end of this year, I will transfer some funds to a new offshore bank account that is ring-fenced for remittance purposes. In January, I will send some of that money to my Thai bank account, and as pre-2024 earnings it will not be taxed. So, I have some savings as a buffer. It is possible to remit that pre-2024 money later as well, but if the offshore account accrues any interest, that interest part would be taxable in Thailand. We do not yet know how such mixed funds will be treated. (If I sent more money to my Thai account now, in December, it would be assessable income because I have earned it this year. That has always been the case, according to the old law. So I have to wait until 2024.) My other broker account, with non-US stocks, will never be used to send anything to Thailand. I can use those funds when staying abroad. At this point, they will not be assessable income in Thailand. However, even that might change in the future. Therefore, it is best to sell (and buy back) those shares now as well to realise the capital gains before 2024. Does this sound like a feasible plan? Have I missed anything?