Is This Considered Working?

[samuiman]

Many thanks in advance for any replies - all welcome.

I have visited the LOS many times and on the last trip I bought some land within a managed estate. The land lease consists of multiple 30 year leases. I am currently having a house built which I intend to rent out and naturally I want to pay all the required taxes etc. The management company will deposit the rental income in my Thai bank account. I do not intend to live in Thailand, just go for a few weeks holidays per year. I may retire in Thailand at some stage in a few years.

My question is as follows:

Q). Is renting your home in Thailand considered working?

How can this be legally done. Eg Start a company etc?

Regards.

Samuiman.

[astral]

Firstly you did not buy any land, that would be illegal.

You simply leased the land your house is being built on.

I do hope you used an independant lawyer to handle the details,

and protect your interests?

Renting your house is not WORK.

You can start a company, to own your house, or for more adventurous projects.

Taxes on property are only assessed when you sell the property,

in the interim there is nothing to pay, apart from utility bills and, in your case, the management fee.

You may be liable for income tax, depending on the rental level.

It will be a good idea to sign up at the local tax office, even if they assess your as zero. Keeps the books clean. Check with your lawyer, he will advise.

Read through the posts in this section and you will get a pretty good idea

of what is possible.

[samuiman]

Firstly you did not buy any land, that would be illegal.

You simply leased the land your house is being built on.

I do hope you used an independant lawyer to handle the details,

and protect your interests?

Many thanks Astral. Slip up on my part, I should have said lease instead of own.

The land was purchased through the longest established construction and management company on Samui. They have German/English management and cater to lots of tourists buying property.

I am relieved to hear that renting the property while I am not resident in the country is not considered working. I am happy to pay any taxes due on the rental ( Who is really happy to pay taxes? ) Thanks again for your input. I will search the forum for the tax rates applicable when selling the property.

Thanks again and any other replies welcome.

[simey]

Hey Samuiman,

I did/do the same (my property in Samui may well be on the same project as yours). I rented for the first time this year to help out a freind of mine who runs a web site renting properties - she handles everything outside Thailand and therefore there is no problem with the local taxes. Some agents there (including the one that runs the project) insist that you have a thai company and the money is paid into that but it seems to be a bit over-the-top.

Having a company can have advantages - other posts in this forum indicate that you can use the company to get a longer visa and you might be able to transfer the land into the company name and get out of the 30+30 lease thing.

[samuiman]

Hi Simey,

Thank you for the post. What a coincidence it would be if we were neighbours!

I wonder if rental payments made outside Thailand would be liable for tax? I suppose technically they would but it would be very difficult to track. Its not that I want to avoid tax as it would probably be quite reasonable and I have no problem giving a little back to the goverment. I suppose if you had a disgruntled neighbour who reported that there were many different visitors renting the property, it could become awkward.

I will investigate the option of opening a company and see what advantages there are. If I could get a little more control over the land that would be a bonus and the visa issue is a pain for everyone.

Wouldnt mind having a look at the rental website your friend runs to see what I can expect to get per week.

Thanks again for taking the time to reply.

Cheers.

[simey]

I've sent you a pm samuiman, with the details. I'll use that rather than clutter the forum with discussions on life in Samui.