Tax On Savings Accounts And Deposits Held In Thailand

[Karen51]

Is income earned on savings accounts and deposits held in Thailand tax-free?

[topfield]

Is income earned on savings accounts and deposits held in Thailand tax-free?

In Thailand there is a fifteen percent withholding tax on the interest.

If you file a Thai tax return you may get the tax back depending on your income .

No...no loopholes...but if the funds in baht a/c in Lao, Cambodia or Singapore no witholding tax.

[Penkoprod]

In Thailand there is a fifteen percent withholding tax on the interest.

If you file a Thai tax return you may get the tax back depending on your income .

No...no loopholes...but if the funds in baht a/c in Lao, Cambodia or Singapore no witholding tax.

And what would be the INCOME tax situation on any income earned on savings?

Penkoprod

[topfield]

In Thailand there is a fifteen percent withholding tax on the interest.

If you file a Thai tax return you may get the tax back depending on your income .

No...no loopholes...but if the funds in baht a/c in Lao, Cambodia or Singapore no witholding tax.

And what would be the INCOME tax situation on any income earned on savings?

Penkoprod

GREAT question ..know little about Thai tax law but often wondered the position on a 10 million baht a year taxpayer subject to the Thai 40 percent rate . Would he be expected to pay a further 25 percent ??

[bendix]

yes, same as in any other country where that applied.

The interest would be classified as income and would need to be declared on your tax return. If you're in the top rate (which is 37% not 40%) then the net interest (after withholding tax) would contribute to your overall income and - thus - your tax liability.

[Martin_F]

This is the situation as far as I see understand it.

Income on savings accounts are exempt upto a certain amount and I haven't got the book here to confirm the amount but I believe it is about THB10,000 p.a. (Confirmed at WWW.BIA.CO.TH personal taxes).

I also believe that the holder of income on deposit fixed accounts has t he option to either not include the fixed deposit account interest on their tax return and only suffer the withholding tax. I do not have a reference for that.

A strange quirk is that all unearned income falls on the male tax payer. (Can somebody pls confirm that this is still true.)

There is also the follwoing item from KPMG:

Tax measure supporting bank savings of senior citizens

In the meeting held on 21 December 2004, the cabinet approved a tax measure to relieve the tax liability on interest received on savings by retired people. The provisions for this tax relief are listed below:

Exemption from personal income tax on the fixed account interest received from Thai banks - this

exemption only applies to interest from fixed accounts with a deposit period of at least one year, and only for persons who receive interest from a fixed account of not more than Baht 30,000 over the

taxable period;

To be eligible for this tax exemption, the person must be at least 55 years old.

Ministerial Regulation No. 250 on this tax exemption was announced on 21 January

2005. The Director - General of the Revenue Department also issued No. 137 prescribing the

rules, procedures and conditions on 28 January 2005 This tax relief shall apply to income arising from 1 January B.E. 2548 (2005).