Obtaining a Thai tax number without Work Visa

[SaraKc]

Hi all,

I am a French person residing in Thailand and living off private income. My French bank is requiring that I produce a Thai tax number. Can I obtain one if I don't work/have a work permit and where should I go to find out/obtain one? Thank you for your reply! S.

[ubonjoe]

You can get one without a work permit.

Required documents here: http://www.rd.go.th/publish/21987.0.html

Location of local tax office can be found here by clicking the region where you are located. http://www.rd.go.th/publish/38156.0.html

[darrendsd]

Depending on which office you go to they may give you one within 30 minutes with no hassle or they may require you to pay tax first before issuing you a number

[simoh1490]

You MUST first prove that you are tax resident in Thailand for at least 180 days each year and your visa stamps will confirm this, if you are not, you can't get a tax ID.

[jenny2017]

6 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

You MUST first prove that you are tax resident in Thailand for at least 180 days each year and your visa stamps will confirm this, if you are not, you can't get a tax ID.

Sorry, but there's no can't in Thailand. Everything is possible and nothing is impossible. OP, please spend some time reading here: http://www.rd.go.th/publish/21987.0.html

[simoh1490]

4 minutes ago, jenny2017 said:

Sorry, but there's no can't in Thailand. Everything is possible and nothing is impossible. OP, please spend some time reading here: http://www.rd.go.th/publish/21987.0.html

and here:

 

 

[elviajero]

35 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

You MUST first prove that you are tax resident in Thailand for at least 180 days each year and your visa stamps will confirm this, if you are not, you can't get a tax ID.

You don’t need to be “tax resident”.

[simoh1490]

1 minute ago, elviajero said:

You don’t need to be “tax resident”.

The common or garden variety of farang will need to show they spend at least 180 days in Thailand before the tax folks will issue a tax ID.

 

Investors in unique or different situations will, of course, be able to obtain a tax number albeit such people are far and few between. 

 

My advice, therefore, was aimed at the common or garden variety of farang, if the OP is not in that category I wonder why he's asking for tax advice on a social forum.

[elviajero]

2 hours ago, simoh1490 said:

The common or garden variety of farang will need to show they spend at least 180 days in Thailand before the tax folks will issue a tax ID.

 

Investors in unique or different situations will, of course, be able to obtain a tax number albeit such people are far and few between. 

 

My advice, therefore, was aimed at the common or garden variety of farang, if the OP is not in that category I wonder why he's asking for tax advice on a social forum.

I understand what you are trying to say, but what you are saying is wrong.

 

The revenue office will issue a TIN to any foreigner that has an actual or potential tax liability. It doesn’t matter how much time they spend in the country.

 

Whether the revenue office will issue one solely to satisfy a foreign bank is the only point up for debate.

[simoh1490]

5 hours ago, elviajero said:

I understand what you are trying to say, but what you are saying is wrong.

 

The revenue office will issue a TIN to any foreigner that has an actual or potential tax liability. It doesn’t matter how much time they spend in the country.

 

Whether the revenue office will issue one solely to satisfy a foreign bank is the only point up for debate.

In practice that seems to not be the case, in Chiang Mai at least. There have been several reports where posters have applied for a TIN but have been asked to produce their passports to prove the 180 day rule. In one case a poster was told to come back when he had been here at least 6 months, in another case a poster was refused because he only had a tourist visa - at least one of the two posters was renting out his condo and wanted to settle his tax liabilities.

 

Perhaps the process and requirement changes from district to district (or indeed person to person) or perhaps posters were not asking the question in the right way, who knows. All I know is the Revenue used to be one of the easiest and most pleasant offices to deal with and getting a TIN a few years ago was a very simple matter, then something changed about two years ago and various reports lead me to believe the Revenue is now looking at farangs differently.

[simoh1490]

48 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

In practice that seems to not be the case, in Chiang Mai at least. There have been several reports where posters have applied for a TIN but have been asked to produce their passports to prove the 180 day rule. In one case a poster was told to come back when he had been here at least 6 months, in another case a poster was refused because he only had a tourist visa - at least one of the two posters was renting out his condo and wanted to settle his tax liabilities.

 

Perhaps the process and requirement changes from district to district (or indeed person to person) or perhaps posters were not asking the question in the right way, who knows. All I know is the Revenue used to be one of the easiest and most pleasant offices to deal with and getting a TIN a few years ago was a very simple matter, then something changed about two years ago and various reports lead me to believe the Revenue is now looking at farangs differently.

TO add: Post 10 in the link below is one of several I have read.

 

 

 

[OJAS]

I do have to say that I find the apparent obsession of Western banks in general with the provision of Thai TIN's from their account holders resident in LOS somewhat puzzling, to say the least.

 

I have completed a couple of self-certification forms for my UK bank, the information contained in which apparently feeds through to annual returns which they submit to HMRC. The information which I have provided in these forms generally duplicates that which I provide in my annual tax returns to HMRC as a non-resident landlord - in particular through the SA109 (residency) supplementary pages - save for the TIN for which HMRC do not require the provision of specific information in their tax returns. Little that we on the coalface here in LOS can do about this in practice, of course, but it does strike me that Western banks may well be making a mountain out of a molehill as regards the TIN requirement. If this is really of interest to HMRC, for instance, then why do they not include a specific field covering this in the SA109 supplementary pages?

Edited June 15, 2018 by OJAS