Are expats charged tax on wire transfers?

[hansomman]

If I live in Thailand on a long term visa ( ED, retire, marriage, elite.. etc etc ) and I transfer say 2000GBP from a UK bank to a Thai bank every month - does that count as an income in thailand and I will be taxed once the bank recognizes its a monthly occurrence ? 

 

One of my friends says he never transfers money into Thailand, only uses the ATM because the thai gov will try to tax him on money from overseas because it looks like income. 

Edited May 2, 2019 by hansomman

[Kwasaki]

14 hours ago, hansomman said:

One of my friends says he never transfers money into Thailand, only uses the ATM because the Thai gov will try to tax him on money from overseas because it looks like income. 

Not true your friend knows nowt like most tourist.

[Berkshire]

15 hours ago, hansomman said:

One of my friends says he never transfers money into Thailand, only uses the ATM because the thai gov will try to tax him on money from overseas because it looks like income.  

Your friend is wrong.  I wonder what else he's told you that is wrong.

[ThaiBunny]

6 minutes ago, Berkshire said:

Your friend is wrong.  I wonder what else he's told you that is wrong.

Based on the acres of misinformation you can find daily online here, you still feel the need to ask that question?

Edited May 3, 2019 by ThaiBunny

[lopburi3]

Actually his friend is right as income is taxed by law regardless of if from within or outside Thailand. 

 

But the current policy is not to tax savings from previous year being sent into Thailand so most people would be in that category if asked. 

 

There has not been any active looking for people in any case.

[ThaiBunny]

Just now, lopburi3 said:

Actually his friend is right as income is taxed by law regardless of if from within or outside Thailand. But the current policy is not to tax savings from previous year being sent into Thailand so most people would be in that category if asked. There has not been any active looking for people in any case.

Or if the income is covered under a Double Tax Treaty it would also be exempt

[Berkshire]

3 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

Actually his friend is right as income is taxed by law regardless of if from within or outside Thailand. 

 

But the current policy is not to tax savings from previous year being sent into Thailand so most people would be in that category if asked. 

 

There has not been any active looking for people in any case.

You're just going to confuse people with that.  The question is are wire transfers taxed or not?  A simple yes or no would do.  I've been sending/receiving wire transfers for 15+ years and never been taxed. 

[AgMech Cowboy]

22 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

Actually his friend is right as income is taxed by law regardless of if from within or outside Thailand. 

 

But the current policy is not to tax savings from previous year being sent into Thailand so most people would be in that category if asked. 

 

There has not been any active looking for people in any case.

Rubbish. I've been wiring money here for over 20 years, and to my wife. We've never been taxed. 

 

You work here. You pay tax. You do not pay tax for work outside Thailand.

[AgMech Cowboy]

22 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

Actually his friend is right as income is taxed by law regardless of if from within or outside Thailand. 

 

But the current policy is not to tax savings from previous year being sent into Thailand so most people would be in that category if asked. 

 

There has not been any active looking for people in any case.

I think only the USA tax their citizens like that.

[wgdanson]

12 minutes ago, AgMech Cowboy said:

I think only the USA tax their citizens like that.

UK as well.

[PingRoundTheWorld]

LOL. No. Transfers are not taxed and you will never be asked anything about such sums as 2000 UKP a month.

[oznomad]

After much time investigating this type of issue, here are my results.

 

1. If less than 183 days in Thailand in the year, then monies transferred in are not taxable, whereas money earned here is.

 

2. If over 183 days, then transfers in are taxable, on money earned (including pensions) in the current year.

 

3. If you are transferring in money earned (including pensions) in previous years, no tax.

 

4. If transferring money in earned in the current year, from a country that has a tax treaty with Thailand, and that money is already been taxed at the same or higher rate than Thailand, no tax here.

 

5. In the tax treaties I read, the originating country will take the tax on government sourced income, such as pensions. Sadly it is not an option to cease tax in the originating country, and pay the, generally, lower tax rates here instead.

 

Whether local authorities will chase down a pensioner for not paying tax on monies earned in the current year seems rather unlikely, but they could if they chose to.

 

* The 183 days may be 180, depending on what you read.

 

 

 

[ThaiBunny]

3 minutes ago, oznomad said:

4. If transferring money in earned in the current year, from a country that has a tax treaty with Thailand, and that money is already been taxed at the same or higher rate than Thailand, no tax here.

Theoretically true but in practice income taxed elsewhere in a tax treaty country is not taxed in Thailand even if there's a discrepancy in the tax rates. This falls under the ATFH rule

Edited May 4, 2019 by ThaiBunny

[arithai12]

This thread wins the prize of the year for "amount of false and incomplete information". Amazing.

[asiaexpat]

All information is available at the Revenue Department web site and Oznomad has it pretty well covered. Just because one has never been audited by the Revenue department and charged taxes does prove any different. Most cases have some form of exemption.

[watcharacters]

On 5/3/2019 at 1:30 PM, Berkshire said:

Your friend is wrong.  I wonder what else he's told you that is wrong.

 

Most likely everything.

 

 

[Time Traveller]

On 5/4/2019 at 12:55 AM, arithai12 said:

This thread wins the prize of the year for "amount of false and incomplete information". Amazing.

And this post wins the prize of the year for "thinking that complex international tax laws can be dumbed down to a simple universal answer for everyone despite each person having their own particular unique circumstances"

Edited May 5, 2019 by Time Traveller

[Time Traveller]

On 5/2/2019 at 11:30 PM, Berkshire said:

Your friend is wrong.  I wonder what else he's told you that is wrong.

Actually his friend might be right. But his friend might be talking about his own personal taxation situation which may be entirely different from anyone else's. 

Just forming an opinion based upon "bringing money into Thailand", gives no indication whatsoever if there is a legal tax obligation to thailand or not. Whether there is a tax obligation depends upon the answers to questions like, what is the source of the money? (eg. income or savings) When was it earned? Where is the tax domicile of the recipient? Does the source country have a taxation treaty with thailand? and so on.

 

Spreading misinformation like this your comments don't really help. Taxation can not be dumbed down to simplistic statements when you know nothing about that person. 

Personally I wished thailand would require all foreign source income to be reported by foreigners  (whether they tax it or not is another story) but it would help foreigners living in Thailand. The only people that would complain are the tax dodgers.

Edited May 5, 2019 by Time Traveller

[Berkshire]

On 5/6/2019 at 3:06 AM, Time Traveller said:

Actually his friend might be right. But his friend might be talking about his own personal taxation situation which may be entirely different from anyone else's. 

Just forming an opinion based upon "bringing money into Thailand", gives no indication whatsoever if there is a legal tax obligation to thailand or not. Whether there is a tax obligation depends upon the answers to questions like, what is the source of the money? (eg. income or savings) When was it earned? Where is the tax domicile of the recipient? Does the source country have a taxation treaty with thailand? and so on.

 

Spreading misinformation like this your comments don't really help. Taxation can not be dumbed down to simplistic statements when you know nothing about that person. 

Personally I wished thailand would require all foreign source income to be reported by foreigners  (whether they tax it or not is another story) but it would help foreigners living in Thailand. The only people that would complain are the tax dodgers.

Talk about spreading misinformation and being unhelpful, your post does both.  So the OP should go on some wild goose chase to figure out if his "personal taxation situation" requires him to pay taxes.  In the end, he'll find out what we already know--that wire transfers are not taxed. 

 

If the OP's friend was genuinely concerned about paying taxes for funds brought in from overseas, it would seem logical that an ATM withdraw from a foreign account would be taxed.  It's basically the same thing!  But whatever....