Thai Tax Refund Changes. "What Are They Thinking?"

[KhunKenAP]

Got my 2018 Thailand tax refund. Have gotten these for over 20 years, in the form of a refund check. This year the Thai Revenue Department, in their infinite wisdom, has decided to no longer issue tax refunds by check. Instead they require all tax refunds to be funneled only through Krungthai's E-Money/E-Wallet, or Krungthai Prompt Pay.

 

Very inconvenient to anyone without a Krungthai bank account or E-Money account. After waiting 15 minutes for Customer Service, it took another 25 minutes to have a Krungthai E-Money account setup and card issued, then having the tax refunded deposited into it. Restrictions on the account are you can only withdraw 20,000 baht at a time from a Krungthai ATM. At least there is no daily restrictions on how many withdrawals you can make.

 

So there I am making multiple withdrawals from the ATM machine, across from the Whatchai (spelling?) Market and filling my pockets with cash. Not a very safe or comfortable feeling walking back to my car, parked in Whatchia, to drive to my bank to deposit the money. 

 

I am sure when year-end reports are made by the banks, Krungthai will show a major increase in their number of customers. Probably also add to their revenue numbers. I hope the rest of the Thai banks cry foul and give the Thai Revenue Department a game misconduct!

 

Now I do not know why this change was made, (perhaps, it has resulted in some off the books financial benefits to a select few). I just hope we do not see too many "copycat" reports of muggings of people withdrawing their tax refunds from Krungthai ATM machines. 

 

 

[johng]

14 minutes ago, KhunKenAP said:

making multiple withdrawals from the ATM machine

Why not  transfer in the bank at the counter to any other bank or  do it online ?

[KhunKenAP]

Not allowed per the instructions. Asked Krungthai to do that and NO was the answer. They do not give a check. Just the instruction with a small slip of paper you cut-off on the bottom with a bar code on it. Only Krungthai can access.

[dabhand]

Then why not do it where there is a cluster of banks in one location? Such as Central Beach Road. Withdraw from an ATM then walk a few yards to your bank branch. Minimal security issues I would have thought.

[johng]

1 hour ago, KhunKenAP said:

Not allowed per the instructions.

So you have a bank account that only allows you to withdraw your own money via an ATM ??

doesn't sound right to me..surely once the money is in your account you can do with it as you wish ???? 

 

You know you can "normally" transfer money to another  (Thai Bank) account actually at the ATM

electronically no need to physically touch the money.

[blackcab]

 

6 hours ago, KhunKenAP said:

Now I do not know why this change was made

 

The government wants to stop using paper cheques.

[HampiK]

50 minutes ago, blackcab said:

The government wants to stop using paper cheques.

If this is the real reason, then I think is a good move.

And as another poster already said, it should be possible to move the money from the ATM to your account at your bank. But of course It would be perfect, when they also would accept Prompt Pay with a phone number!

[blackcab]

They do accept promptpay, but at the moment only for Thai citizens.

 

The current system for non-Thai people is a complete waste of everyone's time, so hopefully the process will be streamlined. If you want to digitise refunds then there is not much point replacing a paper cheque with a plastic card where you have to withdraw the cash from an ATM - other than pushing the cost of the transaction away from the Revenue Service and onto the bank - which is a state owned enterprise.

[KittenKong]

20 hours ago, KhunKenAP said:

Restrictions on the account are you can only withdraw 20,000 baht at a time from a Krungthai ATM. At least there is no daily restrictions on how many withdrawals you can make.

Your tax refund exceeds 20,000B? You must have a lot of savings.

 

Mine is just a few thousand.

[HampiK]

1 hour ago, KittenKong said:

Your tax refund exceeds 20,000B? You must have a lot of savings.

 

Mine is just a few thousand.

A Millionair *smile

[KittenKong]

25 minutes ago, HampiK said:

A Millionair *smile

I dont think I would care to put that much into a Thai bank only returning a couple of percent interest. I get about 5% on my millions.

Each to his own, of course.

[topt]

11 hours ago, KittenKong said:

Your tax refund exceeds 20,000B? You must have a lot of savings.

 

Mine is just a few thousand.

I am guessing the OP (not the poster who replied to you) works as he mentions 20 years of repayments so presumably refunds from paying too much income tax - either that or he really has shedloads invested here.........

[moontang]

we beat this topic to death in a few other threads.  yep, about 40 minutes..she actually walked me to the machine...worse shit has happened to me, that is certain.  Never been a fan of ktb, either.

[KittenKong]

2 hours ago, topt said:

I am guessing the OP (not the poster who replied to you) works as he mentions 20 years of repayments so presumably refunds from paying too much income tax - either that or he really has shedloads invested here.........

Oh yes. There are people who work, aren't there? I keep forgetting.