Bank account in THB outside of Thailand

[KiChakayan]

With the Thai Baht going up, I may have to get my UN pension calculated and paid at a fixed rate under the so called "two track system". For obvious Thai Income tax reasons I would have to get UNJSPF to make THB payments into a THB account based outside of Thailand.

Would anyone know if this is possible in places such as Singapore or Hong Kong? I am pretty sure it is if you run large amounts through their systems, but in my case we would speak of a modest monthly payment of THB 220000.

Edited October 18, 2017 by KiChakayan

[KittenKong]

1 hour ago, KiChakayan said:

For obvious Thai Income tax reasons I would have to get UNJSPF to make THB payments into a THB account based outside of Thailand.

 

Obvious? I've never studied it closely but as far as I know pensions are exempt from income tax in Thailand.

[KiChakayan]

5 hours ago, KittenKong said:

 

Obvious? I've never studied it closely but as far as I know pensions are exempt from income tax in Thailand.

Nope, must not been transferred to Thailand in the year they are earned. Otherwise the taxman could, technically, collect income tax. For now they put this into the "too difficult basket". But the wise keep a one year buffer in an account outside Thailand. This has been discussed on several other threads. For now I'd love to find where I could open a THB account outside of Thailand

[KittenKong]

2 hours ago, KiChakayan said:

Nope, must not been transferred to Thailand in the year they are earned. Otherwise the taxman could, technically, collect income tax.

 

No, that's the rule for taxable income.

[KiChakayan]

50 minutes ago, KittenKong said:

 

No, that's the rule for taxable income.

[glasswort]

I have a THB account with HSBC in HK. No problems.

[KiChakayan]

2 minutes ago, glasswort said:

I have a THB account with HSBC in HK. No problems.

Just a couple of questions:

 

A) When did you open it? You probably know that, a few years ago, HSBC was accused of facilitating tax evasion and became selective  when opening new accounts.

 Would they bother opening accounts for non business small customers? In Singapore the only bank that looked interested when I moved to Thailand required a USD 250000 deposit. For me this was putting all my eggs into the same basket. Stayed with UBS.

 

Thanks

[keithcresswell]

If you're a "UK resident" you can open a Revolut Bank account. It is purely app based but allows you to hold a number of currencies within the account. You can instantly change sterling to THB without any charges. I used it recently to pay a hospital bill here, and also switched to Euros when in Athens this month. 

I was able to open the account within a few minutes whilst in Thailand. You do of course need a UK address and proof of identity.

[KittenKong]

15 minutes ago, keithcresswell said:

If you're a "UK resident" you can open a Revolut Bank account. It is purely app based but allows you to hold a number of currencies within the account. You can instantly change sterling to THB without any charges. I used it recently to pay a hospital bill here, and also switched to Euros when in Athens this month. 

I was able to open the account within a few minutes whilst in Thailand. You do of course need a UK address and proof of identity.

 

I use Revolut extensively when travelling in the US and Europe and it is very good value, but Thailand is one of the very few countries for which it does not give a very good rate. Also at weekends they apply an extra markup, apparently due to the THB's lack of international fluidity. Also cash withdrawals are very limited unless you are prepared to pay an extra fee on top of the Thai bank's ATM fee.

 

So I would say ideal for developed countries where basically you can pay for anything with a card, but not so good here.

[glasswort]

9 hours ago, KiChakayan said:

Just a couple of questions:

 

A) When did you open it? You probably know that, a few years ago, HSBC was accused of facilitating tax evasion and became selective  when opening new accounts.

 Would they bother opening accounts for non business small customers? In Singapore the only bank that looked interested when I moved to Thailand required a USD 250000 deposit. For me this was putting all my eggs into the same basket. Stayed with UBS.

 

Thanks

I,  as a private individual opened the account in 2004. No deposit was necessary because I had been working in HK since 1994 and already had HK$, US$ and GBP accounts. No idea of the current situation with regard to new accounts. US$200,000 seems a bit over the top.

[KiChakayan]

13 hours ago, glasswort said:

I,  as a private individual opened the account in 2004. No deposit was necessary because I had been working in HK since 1994 and already had HK$, US$ and GBP accounts. No idea of the current situation with regard to new accounts. US$200,000 seems a bit over the top.

Thanks.

 

I should probably contact my UBS agency in Geneva too, as they state that current accounts can be in "foreign currency". Unfortunately, in Switzerland this often means CHF,  EUR, GBP, USD, AUD and a select few others.