Yumthai

Even for income earned and remitted within the same year into Thailand? I thought tax exemption was only concerning income derived in the previous tax year as per Royal Decree 743.

Ignorance is bliss. My comment on LTR is a bit exaggerated and provocative, but I meant "compensate" taxwise compared to the wealthy Thai counterpart who somehow don't pay what they should.

Alternative opinion: Thai government intentions are pure demagogy, as they know as we all know that people in charge of this country will still get ways to keep somehow most of their (offshore) wealth tax-free. Instead, they smartly target the obedient mass i.e. Thai middle-class who invests abroad in order to get decent yields desperately trying to climb the social ladder. LTR visa was created to give the same tax privileges and compensate the foreign wealthy counterparts who don't know or have access to the "Thai way" system.

Until we could get an official clarification, there are two ways to interpret gift tax exemptions in case of remitted foreign-sourced income regardless of the transfer mean: Gift event occurs prior remittance event or gift occurs post remittance. I think Thai gift rules could cover the giftee as well as the gifter.

On the legal side, why would the gift tax fit for the wealthiest and not for the less wealthy ones? Please elaborate. As long as gift conditions are met rules are the same for everyone. Obviously you need someone to gift to, and gifting to an unrelated third-party is not risk-free.

Or ten million baht, for GF's. Nothing in this about how, why, or when taxation takes place for the amount gifted. Meaning, amounts of assessable income remitted to Thailand for the initial, or subsequent, purpose of being gifted -- are treated without consideration of their final gift purpose. To me, unless officially stated otherwise, gift prevails over remittance (if any). If gifter decides to give $1,000 (money abroad) to giftee, gift is acted then remittance (tax-free up to THB10M/20M since it's a gift) will occur for the giftee not the gifter.

Gifts are exempted for the purpose of income tax calculation according to RD Section 42 (27) (28) (29). No mention of remittance. https://www.rd.go.th/english/37749.html#section42

No it's not that easy. Even if technically feasible, these actions if implemented could bring more damages than benefits for Thailand either political, social or financial.

I don't believe that for one minute, they will do the same as a lot of us. It's trivially easy to lose that residency status due to the 180 day rule whether Thai or not. May 5 is just day 126 of 2024, day 180 is on June 28 this year. I don't believe that anything will change for the Thai fat cats, nor they will spend less time in Thailand. There will still be (new/legal) ways to enjoy in-country their foreign earned money. We should not forget who really rule Thailand.

How will TRD deal with the millions of Thai citizens who wrongly don't file tax returns, will they be yearly required to pass through immigration too?

The people you mention are among those who are, presumably, filing and paying tax in Thailand for years. They may feel it's unfair and secretly hope that TRD will eventually come after the huge majority of non-filing non-paying Thai tax residents, applying to them harsh penalties nay jail/ban terms retroactively. Then, they could flood the tax threads with a big and deserved "I told you so!".

The issue with this leaflet is they nowhere mention the tax residency status of the individual who remits the income, as if it does not matter. But it does. That is inconsistent and in contradiction with the current law: "A non-resident is, however, subject to tax only on income from sources in Thailand." However, the leaflet title may refer to Thai tax residents only: "HOW DO FOREIGNERS LIVING IN THAILAND PAY TAX?", implying that a foreigner who lives in Thailand spend de facto 180+ days in the country then is obviously tax resident.

https://www.rd.go.th/fileadmin/user_upload/lorkhor/newspr/2024/FOREIGNERS_PAY_TAX2024.pdf Foreign-sourced income If a foreigner derives income from sources outside Thailand, such income is subject to income tax if the two following conditions are met: - such income has been earned in any tax year starting from 1 January 2024 onward by a foreigner who stays in Thailand for 180 days or more in a tax (calendar) year, and; - such income earned has been remitted to Thailand (wholly or partially), even if that remittance occurs in a later tax year. The second condition does not precise what the individual tax residency status is (or has to be) when the remittance occurs. Either it is interpreted like CC 1161 i.e.: tax residence does not matter, then this will override the current law stating "A non-resident is, however, subject to tax only on income from sources in Thailand.", OR it is interpreted like the tax filing service company, CC 1111, and Prachuap i.e.: Thai tax residence is implied when the remittance occurs, matching with the current law stating "A non-resident is, however, subject to tax only on income from sources in Thailand." Choose your side, I vote for the majority.

Challenging Thai authority is hit-and-miss, either you get a positive outcome or get into deeper trouble. Better deal with another officer/come back another day/try another TRD office. If outcome is still negative the good news is you don't have to pay tax.

Maybe indicate that, as per several people reports, getting a TIN and being able to file a tax return is not 100% granted and at local TRD discretion.

IMO both information are valuable and should come along: describing the rules as they truly are and whether it is enforced or not. Then everyone can decide accordingly. Again, Thailand is not the West and law enforcement level is key part of the equation of any decision.

"You must obey the law" in any country worldwide but here the interpretation and enforcement of the rules vary greatly depending on the location, time and, as you mentioned, the authority you deal with. I've learnt along the decades that sticking to the law and willing to anticipate any forthcoming rules is counterproductive to say the least, considering the unreliability and corruption level of the Thai system. Since then, I move with the crowd (locals), being flexible pragmatic rather than proactive, being aware of what rules are enforced/followed and what are not, and my life is way stress-less. I will never consider this.

Yes, you're correct. I'd rather reformulate: No tax to pay, no need to file a tax return.

I follow the rules the way I interpret it i.e.: no assessable income, no need to file a tax return. If I'm wrong in my assessment I'll comply to the rules when directly required from the official authority.

Absolutely. That's why I think we won't be able to articulate an accurate and reliable version of these equivocal rules. At the end of the day, the only law interpretation that matters is the official one coming directly from the horse's mouth. According to several reports, it seems that the general consensus from various RD offices is: "If you have no tax to pay you don't need to file a tax return", conversely to "You must file a tax return in any case even if eventually your tax burden is 0". For people who worry about enforcement the most relevant thing to do is to reach their local RD office in person to get proper (written if possible) answers about their tax situation.

All these quotes refer to "taxpayer" which is an individual who effectively has tax to pay. By definition, people who assess (rightly or wrongly) that they are not liable to tax are not (yet) taxpayers. IMHO If TRD wanted to target a larger audience they would have used the wording "tax resident" or just "resident" (as it's usually used implying tax resident) rather than "taxpayer".

Section 90 falls under Chapter 4 Value Added Tax. However we could assume the same logic is applied for income tax: fine arises when a person liable to tax fails to file a tax return.

https://www.rd.go.th/english/37745.html Section 17 In relation to tax return filing, it shall be filed within the time limit specified in the Chapters regarding taxes and in accordance with the form prescribed by the Director-General. https://www.rd.go.th/english/37746.html Section 35 Any person failing to comply with Sections 17, Sections 50 Bis, Sections 51 or Sections 69, unless in case of a force majeure, shall be subject to a fine not exceeding 2,000 Baht. IMHO, the Section 17 statement implies tax return shall be filed if there is taxable income. I can't find any reference of the 2,000 THB fine for not filing from the most prominent law firms. How come? Could the English version of the RD pages be mistranslated? If the fine for not filing statement is correct then all locals and foreigners must file, which is far from the case.

How unlucky... I'm pretty sure the thousands of Thai "girlfriends" who receive multiple remittances from their sponsor boyfriends do not pay any single satang of tax on that money. No need to declare up to HKD120,000 (US$15K) in/out HK.

That alone confirms that any remittance done in a year someone is non-resident for tax purposes is tax-free, regardless of tax residency when the money was earned.