oldcpu

I am a Canadian, I live in Phuket, and I was on the type-OA visa for a while. One advantage you gained by entering Thailand on the Type-OA was it allowed you to open a bank account in Thailand. If instead you had entered Thailand visa exempt and tried to get a bank account ( necessary for a type-O) you may have failed getting such an account on a Visa exempt entry to Phuket. Possibly if visa exempt one might find an agent in Phuket to facilitate opening a bank account in Phuket, but I don't know of any in Phuket. Now that you have a bank account in Phuket, exiting Thailand ( with no reentry stamp) to kill off your type-OA is the way to proceed. You have been given excellent advice by others on this IMHO. Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos are all inexpensive to go to for a short hop outsideThailand, and they have great places to visit. Keep your records of your 800k in your Thai account coming in to Thailand ( in case asked when applying for type O). When I switched from type OA to type O ( by method suggested in this thread), I had my records handy. Fortunately Phuket Immigration did not ask me for that proof ( that 800k thb came from abroad), but things can change in Thailand so be prepared. You might be asked. My switch from type OA to type O ( reason on application being for retirement) went relatively smooth. It did thou take Phuket Immigration a long time to process the paperwork. So as soon as you reenter visa exempt ( having killed off the type-OA) go to Phuket Immigration to apply for the 90 day type O Visa. Then when 45 days left in type O permission to stay in Thailand, go to Phuket Immigration to apply for the one year extension of your permission to stay. My experience with Phuket Immigration is that it is better to apply as soon as you can. I am now on an LTR visa so my experience is a bit dated, but I assume no major changes since with Phuket Immigration.

I have an LTR visa, with both Bangkok bank and Krungsri credit cards. I do have > 2 million baht equivalent in each bank, but note this can be a mix of Thai baht, foreign currency accounts with the bank, mutual fund run by bank, and bonds offered by the bank. I can't recall being told I needed 2 million THB, but perhaps since I already had such in those banks this question never came up. I do recall having to set aside 100k THB in a separate account with each bank to guarantee the credit card transactions. With Krungsri I have the Krungsri exclusive account/card, and if at month end I forget to pay my credit card bill, Krungsri will phone me and politely remind me. I prefer not to have automatic credit card amount owing payment. I also note, this is far from my entire fortune. Like most expats I keep most my money overseas. I suspect this true for many long term visa holders in Thailand

I don't know about Thailand ,but my wife went for years not filing a tax return in Canada, why? Her income too small, and it wasn't worth the effort to get back the bank withholding tax. Eventually Revenue Canada sent her an email and demanded she file a tax return for the missing years. So we did ( what a PIA) and some months after filing multiple tax years at once, she received a reply with a refund of the small withholding tax and no penalty. I repeat, no penalty. She was below the tax filing threshold. What a total waste of government personal time and money to chase after her, only to have the government pay her some trivial amount of money.

Typically outbound tickets are "timed" for with a date for one to depart before the expiry end of the "visa exempt" permission to stay timeframe, that one is expected to get at Thai immigration. Typically it is NOT for a flight the same day and same airport of one's arrival. I have never heard of such before, and frankly, I struggle to believe what that friend of yours told you. .

Typically income is earned from a source country. Taxation depends on additional factors. So for an international brokerage, the earned income (profits) might be taxable based on the (1) the country where the branch of the brokerage one is using is registered/located , and (2) possibly if not a resident of the income source country, then tax may be required in the country in which one is a tax resident (ONLY if that country taxes global income). Thailand does not tax global income. As pointed out, Thailand taxes remitted income to Thailand, if that income was earned after 31-Dec-2023. There are two Thailand ministerial instructions (Por.161/162) which make this clear re: that 31-Dec-2023 date. So knowing the source country of one's income/profit, and the Double Tax Agreement (DTA) with that source country (and Thailand) in regards to one's income is very important. With regard to filing a Thailand tax return, if you have no Thai income, and if you bring no money into Thailand, then you do not have to file a Thai tax return. I tried to get a Thai TIN (tax ID #) last year. My wife applied online for me, and the Bangkok main Revenue Department (RD) sent the application to the Phuket RD to handle. A Phuket RD official phoned our place, and asked us, ... (1) was I staying in Thailand >= 180 days per year (answer : YES), (2) what was the source of my income? (answer pensions OUTSIDE of Thailand), and (3) was I bringing that money into Thailand at present (answer : NO), and (4) how was I able to afford living in Thailand (answer : money brought into Thailand a few years prior when I was NOT a Thai resident). The RD tax official stated; No Tax ID for me, and I did not have to file a Thai tax return if I had no local income and and also if I remitted no money into Thailand while I was a tax resident. another example ... I obtain a German state (old age) pension. The German Thai tax agreement states such pension can ONLY be taxed in Thailand if I am a Thailand resident. Regardless, I submitted a Tax Return to Germany. The German government sent me a letter back, advising me i did not have to submit a German tax return , with my being a non-resident of Germany, and my German sourced income only being a German state pension. So CLEARLY tax returns are NOT ALWAYS required. So when considering the need to file a Thai tax return, it depends on the specific situations. Good luck with your planning and legal tax management. .

Unfortunately when it comes to this forum and the definition of pensions (government vs state) not everyone uses the same terminology. I believe the consensus as you note, is that the word 'government' pensions is nominally to refer to the pension of a 'civil-servant' or an 'ex-military' pension. And the word 'state' pension is referred to as the old age pension that almost anyone (who worked in the country and paid taxes in that country for more than some small TBD # of years) qualifies for. Many DTAs, as you note, distinguish between the two types of pensions, but the DTAs use different wording other than 'government' and different other than 'state' for pensions. This thread is about Aussie pensions , so that is the most important aspect here in regards to the Thai-Australia DTA. As I posted before, DTAs for other countries can be different. The German-Thai DTA has the 'state' (old age type) pension nominally taxable only in Thailand , and I have been told the German-Thai DTA has the 'government' (civil service/ex-military) pension taxable only in Germany. I struggle to find that last bit in the Thai - German DTA, but I have read (on this forum) that is the case. Another example, in the case of the Thai-Canada DTA, where ALL Canadian sourced pensions (and similar remunerations) are only taxed in Canada and not in Thailand. This is not the fabulous deal that it sounds, as Thai income tax rates tend to be less than Canadian in some cases, and it would possibly be better for Canadians in Thailand to have such pensions (and similar remunerations) taxable only in Thailand (and not taxable in Canada). Hopefully, for Australian government pensions, state pensions, private pensions, and similar remunerations, it becomes more clear to all as to the Thailand tax filing requirements.

I assume you are referring to your Canadian OAS, or CPP, or RRSP/RRIF or other similar 'pension' type remunerations from Canada. If that is your only income, even a number of the Tax Advisors (for Expats in Thailand) have stated if one's only income is remitted Canadian pension type remunerations, then no Thailand tax ID is needed, nor does one have to file a Thai tax return in that case (of only Canadian pensions being one's income). However if you have local Thai income, that exceeds the threshold for filing a Thai tax return (in addition to your remitted Canadian pensions), then yes, you do need to file a Thai tax return due to that local Thai income. I assume in your case, you put down 0-Thai baht for your remitted income? I assume that because there is NO PLACE to deduct that non-taxable income on the Thai tax form. Is my assumption correct? Given that, at present time there is no immigration requirement to show a tax return submitted, nor any official indication that such document for immigration will be required in the future (only some paranoid AseanNow scaremongers noting such is possible) - then I don't believe a tax return (nor tax ID) is needed in a case such as yours (if the Canadian pension (or similar Canadian derived remunerations) is the only income one has and is remitting to Thailand) . One needs to be above a certain assessable income level to qualify for a Thai tax ID. Having typed the above, no one is stopping anyone (who has a Thai tax ID) from filing a Thai tax return, even if they don't have to file. I am curious thou - just how did you list your remitted Canadian tax exempt income? Did you simply put down such as a ZERO ?

I pointed out , on this forum, in their questions pages, that one of the tax advisor sites stated the wrong things about the LTR visa. It may or may not have been Expat tax. I can no longer recall. I do recall thou, I recommended in that post, that they update their web page. Maybe they have ... or maybe they have not updated their page. But you clearly have not been tracking this as it is NOT BS. Tax advisor sites have made mistakes here, and they have left their mistakes posted for what some of us consider an excessive period of time. Why? I see only 3 possibilities. 1. They forgot they made the mistake. 2. They did not want to admit they made a mistake as people would lose confidence in them. ... or 3. They did not want to admit they made a mistake because they were trying to drum up business. I don't care which - as I think it pretty much agreed now for all LTR-WP, LTR-WGC, and LTR-WFTP visa holders, they if their only income is remitted foreign income after obtaining the visa, they do not have to file a Thai tax return, nor do they need a Thai tax ID number for that remitted income.

In the past 12-months, the exchange rate difference (comparing the money kept in Australia (Aus$) instead of Thailand (in THB)) , that money in Thailand could have netted one 9% to 12% (timing dependent) due to a BIG drop in the Aus$. So if one adds to the benefit of a strong THB, with 1.5% in a Thai bank, that is 10.5% to 13.5%, or 84,000 THB to 108,800 THB better than cash in AUS$. That is 44,000 THB to 60,000 THB more than the 40,000 THB (AUS$ equivalent) that makes you happy by having your money in Australia. And that is with no agent. Lets consider the agent - If one subtracts say 15,000 THB for an agent, and your 40,000 THB has shrunk to 25,000 THB, while those with their money in Thailand are ahead 84,000 to 108,000 THB due to the strong Thai Baht. The simple financial fact is that if your money is in the wrong currency at the wrong time (such as the past 12-months in Australia) , your approach will cost you a LOT more money if you keep your money outside of Thailand (in Australia). But hey - if it keeps you happy ...

There is no appropriately labelled line to claim the remitted tax income, is tax exempt ,due to a Double Tax agreement. Hence the viewpoint of many of us is if the Double Tax Agreement (between Thailand and the source country of your foreign income) states the income is only taxable in the source country of the income, then per that DTA (and per Royal Decree-18 which calls up the DTA), that remitted income is exempt for the purpose of the tax calculation, and should not be included on a Thai taxation form. There is at least one case where a user on this forum phoned up the Thai Revenue Department (RD) (talking to their help line) and they confirmed what I typed above. However given the amount of attention drawn to Thailand taxation as a result of Ministerial instructions Por.161/162, many more foreigners are now assessing if they have to file a tax return. From what I read many of the local Thai RD offices are not conversant with the content of DTAs, and hence one can not be 100% certain the advice provided by the local RD officials is 100% accurate. ... I tend to believe in the reported phone call to the Thai RD help line, which confirms what I typed ... but others on this thread (and even some youtube bloggers (with a possible conflict of interest)) dispute the Thai RD help line. Best wishes in your approach. My view is IF you are 100% certain your remitted income is tax exempt in Thailand (due to a specific DTA) and if you have no Thai sourced income, nor other remitted income (not covered by a DTA), then there is not need to file a Thai tax return, as in such a case the assessable income threshold for filing a Thai tax return will not have been reached by you. Note - I am not a tax expert. I am just an ordinary expat. Do take care as to whose advice you follow. There are some posting (and advertising) who IMHO have either financial , or simple scaremongering motives.

I am an LTR visa holder. I was able to do this with a yellow book and pink ID card ( in Phuket). I suspect, like Phuket, such residency documents are not required if one has a yellow book & pink ID. That doesn't mean to rush out and get a yellow book, as frankly it can be a real PIA to get.

I think your assumption very very very unlikely for LTR-WP, LTR-WGC, and LT-WFTP where Royal Decree states those visa holders are exempt Thai tax on foreign remitted income, and both BoI and also the RD ( help line) state no income tax return is required for those visa holders if local Thai income less than Thai tax filing threshold.

A factor here is also the foreign exchange rate. The Thai Baht is up 9% vs the Euro in the past year. Pre-1-Jan-1954 Euro savings I brought into Thailand i Dec 2023 and converted to Thai baht is up about 9% ( due to strong Thai baht vs Euro). Add 1.5% earned in a Thai bank and subtract 2.5% average Germany bank interest for Euro and that means I am 8% better off had I left that money in Germany. However this dynamic, and if it is not planned to spend the money now in Thailand, then in such a case now may be a good time to move the money out of Thai baht to another currency. It's very difficult to time such .. but the point I wish to make is when looking at interest rates of different countries, one also has to consider the currency exchange rate. Don't just blindy assume country A is a better place to keep one's money due to their higher interest rate. The relative movements of the currency to the Thai baht is also a big factor.

I would very very surprised. Thai banks want and need the foreign money to retain solvency. If foreign money left ( due to foreigners having no Thai tax ID ), banks would be at more risk of not being solvent. The top level bank managers have massive influence over politicians. They will ensure this doesn’t happen. Money to the banks talks here.

No. It's because we don't share your view and we may or may not have family here, and further unlike you, we may like Thailand. Is everyone in the world compelled to share your view? especially if we believe you wrong? No one is compelling you to stay. Go in the world where you are most happy, and please allow us to do the same.