Limits transferring money out of Thailand

[FracturedRabbit]

I have sold a property  five years ago and now need to transfer the proceeds out of Thailand. I went to my bank (Bangkok Bank) with my TT3 and was told I could not use it because I didn't also have a document issued by the land office at the point of sale. Five years on, I have no idea where that has gone so will take a trip to the land office to try and get a copy (that will be fun).

 

Meantime, I asked the bank how much I could transfer out of the country without a TT3 and they told me 800k baht. I asked how often I could do that and they became very vague and said if I did it too often I would have to provide some documentation, but would tell me no more than that. I suspect they did not know the rules and just wanted to get rid of me.

 

Does anyone know what the actual limits are in terms of amount and frequency? Thanks

[Kwasaki]

There are limits you could use Deemoney or Bangkok bank and send max allowed over a period of time.

You said they told you 800k baht so send that as often as you can.   

[FracturedRabbit]

That's my question, how often can I transfer 800k before the system says I can't...?

[Halfaboy]

Would it be an idea to take the whole lot cash with you when going home. You declare it both on the Thai side as well on the other side (supported by documentation)....

[dave s]

from another item on Thai Visa:

"You may wonder how much can a person send. Well, I asked at the branch I signed-up at and later asked their Support Center and below is their answer….a partial quote.  Basically it’s $15,000 USD per transaction (the Bt475K mentioned below) when sending to the USA….I didn’t ask about other countries/currencies…I expect it may vary from country-to-country/currency-to-currency….notice the max amount per month depends on whether you are sending via online of visiting a branch:

 

Quote

 

For USA we have a transfer limit per transaction at 475,000THB and you can send up to 800,000THB per day.

Note : Via mobile application customer can send only 690,000THB per month, but via branches of DeeMoney no limit.

"

[FracturedRabbit]

Thanks.

[tpkhk]

DeeMoney all the way.  Bangkok Bank had a long list of transfer requirements.  If I had to wait for them, it would have taken months to line up all the documentation. 

 

I wired funds out to Singapore and the US.  You'll have to go in once to get registered.

 

I suggest doing a small token amount, confirming it was rcvd before doing larger sums.  The charge is only THB 150/transfer, and from time to time they run fee free promotions.  

[PETERTHEEATER]

As I understand it, the Bank of Thailand limits the exported cash upper limit to ThB 800,000 per transaction. This for Personal amounts. The limits are higher for commercial (Company) transfers.

 

Looking at DEE MONEY, they have an upper limit per transaction and it is lower than the 800k limit so would have to carry out two separate transactions daily to utilise the BoT limit of 800k.

 

My (Thai) wife is about to face this. She expects to sell a property and wants to transfer the proceeds to a UK account. When you are looking at (say) 25 million Thai Baht that would require two transactions per day for over a month if using DEE MONEY to avoid the much higher bank transfer charges.

 

Or am I see it wrong?

[zhangxifu]

Kasikorn bank just recently opened online international transfer, also for foreigners on their Kplus app. It says daily max 50k usd and is free of charge for a few more weeks. Transfer must be done during the banking hours.

[tpkhk]

2 hours ago, PETERTHEEATER said:

As I understand it, the Bank of Thailand limits the exported cash upper limit to ThB 800,000 per transaction. This for Personal amounts. The limits are higher for commercial (Company) transfers.

 

Looking at DEE MONEY, they have an upper limit per transaction and it is lower than the 800k limit so would have to carry out two separate transactions daily to utilise the BoT limit of 800k.

 

My (Thai) wife is about to face this. She expects to sell a property and wants to transfer the proceeds to a UK account. When you are looking at (say) 25 million Thai Baht that would require two transactions per day for over a month if using DEE MONEY to avoid the much higher bank transfer charges.

 

Or am I see it wrong?

You are correct.  For that level of amount, one way to speed it up, would be to open a separate account (you, separate from your spouse) at Dee Money and remit to the same account - although not sure if that would complicate any reporting requirements in either country.  You may want to ask them if there is a separate process for higher amounts - ie. to get a waiver.

[tpkhk]

2 hours ago, zhangxifu said:

Kasikorn bank just recently opened online international transfer, also for foreigners on their Kplus app. It says daily max 50k usd and is free of charge for a few more weeks. Transfer must be done during the banking hours.

Good to know - some people were commenting that a similar feature on SCB said open to Thai nationals only. 

[natway09]

The answer to your question is not "set in stone"

The big question the banks will ask if over 10,000 USD is the source of the funds.

I now a friend who sent  over 150,000 USD in one go to buy a property.

In this case he had worked here for 20 years & saved it. The bank accepted his tax returns 

[Tapster]

If you feel competent to use Bitcoin, you could change your Baht into Bitcoin using a Thai company.

I have used https://bx.in.th/

 

You do this the day before you fly to wherever you want the money to end up.

Fly to wherever and then cash out the Bitcoin at an exchange in that country and into your bank account.

 

Your exposure to risk is minimised by doing the transfer into BTC just before you travel and at the other end, getting out of BTC, ASAP.

 

If you want to go this route, I suggest a lot of online research. I know that it can be done and you can test the system with a small amount first (you don't have to be in the receiving country to transfer money there and into your account there).

 

Good luck   ????

[zhangxifu]

Good to know - some people were commenting that a similar feature on SCB said open to Thai nationals only. 

On SCB app it says coming soon.


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[Tomahawk21]

I have sold a property  five years ago and now need to transfer the proceeds out of Thailand. I went to my bank (Bangkok Bank) with my TT3 and was told I could not use it because I didn't also have a document issued by the land office at the point of sale. Five years on, I have no idea where that has gone so will take a trip to the land office to try and get a copy (that will be fun).

 

 

typical moving the goal posts. i bought a house 15 years ago expensive property at the time i wanted to make sure i could get my money back out of Thailand trouble free if necessary, i was told all i needed was to have a TT3 which i have but now it would seem you need some else that i was not told about at that time of bringing the money in. please do let us know how it goes at the land office. thanks.

[Postmaster]

WWW.deemoney.com  also known as Sawasdeeshop  Soi 8 Sukumvit corner and Floor 31 Ocean Tower near BTS Asoke walkable  15 minutes.   No other branches so far as I am aware.  You can register on their web page but easier to go in with your passport and paperwork.  The compliance hoops are simple. They will remit your money home in chunks of 800,000 or similar amounts at a fee of 150 baht each time.  Large sums they may waive the 150 baht fees.  Speak to Santosh. Ciustomer Acquisitions 02 696 9599 Ext 1201.

Its a decent deal, as good as anything else you will find if any other avenues exist at all.

[DrDave]

8 hours ago, PETERTHEEATER said:

As I understand it, the Bank of Thailand limits the exported cash upper limit to ThB 800,000 per transaction. This for Personal amounts. The limits are higher for commercial (Company) transfers.

 

Looking at DEE MONEY, they have an upper limit per transaction and it is lower than the 800k limit so would have to carry out two separate transactions daily to utilise the BoT limit of 800k.

 

My (Thai) wife is about to face this. She expects to sell a property and wants to transfer the proceeds to a UK account. When you are looking at (say) 25 million Thai Baht that would require two transactions per day for over a month if using DEE MONEY to avoid the much higher bank transfer charges.

 

Or am I see it wrong?

We were in a similar situation a couple of years ago. Sold our home and wanted to transfer the proceeds back to the US. I ran into all sorts of issues at Bangkok Bank - the local branch was fine, but the HQ in BKK wouldn't approve the transfer, even with the branch faxing them lots of backup documentation.

The solution was to move the money to my wife's account at the same bank, and have her do the transfer to our joint account in the US, using "family support" and "living expenses" as the reasons for transfers. No problem at all transferring several million baht at a time. The bank fees were minimal - a couple thousand baht as I recall, and funds were in our US account the next day.

[Ddbanksy]

SGD$4,600 BACS,invoiced to my BKK Bank account last week from India(now my Singapore company finance hub)
THB78,430 banked!
What happened to about THB12,000 (0.0413 ...ish) exchange(copy sent with invoice)
Am I missing something fishy?
Any advice welcome.Ask for payment by check for the full amount next time and bank it myself?
The Mrs says it's the main Bank in Bangkok taking the money,before it's in my local branch??
I'm confused


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[Scooter24]

I frequently wire money in and out  of Thailand in the amounts of $50,000 USD and one time $120,000 USD.  No issues.  Maybe it has to do with where the money originally came from.  Go to the bank and tell them you want to wire your money.  When you wire money in they want a reason what the money is for.   If I can remember, if you wire money out of the country I think $50,000 USD, they want a reason.  I’ve never had any issues whatsoever.  Note the the money all originated from my account in the United States.

[jimmyyy]

Last time i sent money back to the USA was to pay off a credit card, i simply brought the credit card bill in with me to the bank in Maha Sarahkam, told her we wanted to pay it off.  In about 30 minutes the money was on its way.  Now i use K plus if i need to move money back to the states. 

[dave s]

The Bank of Thailand has a short list of reasons for which foreigners may send money out of Thailand, such as repatriation of funds (sending back money you can verify that you earlier brought into Thailand) or sending money you earned here to your home country. There is a different short list of acceptable reasons for Thai citizens, such as paying for education expenses in a foreign country, or paying medical expenses of a close family member. You have to convince your bank that you have a good reason, and then they must file papers to convince Bank of Thailand. If you are paying a bill, you have to document this by attaching the invoice for the charge. There can be many other restrictions. For example, it at least used to be that you could send no more than 80% of your Thai salary home in no more than 10 of the 12 months of the year, and you had to do that at the time you earned it, and there is still a fixation on work permits, tax records and similar documentation. As with all things in Thailand, the rules may be indefinitely hazy in Thai language, may be badly translated into English, and of course are subject to (mis)interpretation all along the line, just like at immigration.  Go to the biggest bank branch in the biggest city you can, to minimize your chance of being spuriously denied by a bank clerk or even bank manager who has no idea what you're asking, but must "save face" at all costs. Be prepared for every person you talk to at every branch of every bank telling you a different story, sometimes differently on different days. So every person who tries to send money home may well have a different experience. Some banks are much more picky about "covering their a**" than others: in my experience, for example, one particular bank was vastly more likely to give a huge hassle about a work permit than another, so shop around. You're supposed to turn in your work permit the instant you quit, but that may strand your funds in Thailand. Buy a waterproof, fireproof safe, because when the roof collapses in your company apartment and destroys your bankbook, your bank may deny that it is possible to provide statements older than 12 months, and so you cannot document that money was brought into Thailand in the first place. Talk to your Thai friends, especially students who have gone abroad: they will suggest many elaborate ways to smuggle cash out of Thailand.

 

Bangkok Bank form for outbound SWIFT transfer (note particularly item 70): https://www.bangkokbank.com/-/media/files/personal/other-services/transfers/outwardremittance_app_feb2019.pdf?la=en&hash=876272C518D06C925D4B7E1E322B3FB9B8626971

 

Another recent discussion on ThaiVisa with more information:

 

[mysterym2m]

On 6/23/2019 at 12:23 PM, tpkhk said:

DeeMoney all the way.  Bangkok Bank had a long list of transfer requirements.  If I had to wait for them, it would have taken months to line up all the documentation. 

 

I wired funds out to Singapore and the US.  You'll have to go in once to get registered.

 

I suggest doing a small token amount, confirming it was rcvd before doing larger sums.  The charge is only THB 150/transfer, and from time to time they run fee free promotions.  

DeeMoney may be the easiest way but I doubt it is the quickest way to receive. I waited two weeks until the amount was credited in the beneficiary's bank account in India after making several calls and inquiries about the transfer. Eventually, DeeMoney was very apologetic.

[gamb00ler]

On 6/24/2019 at 9:34 AM, dave s said:

The Bank of Thailand has a short list of reasons for which foreigners may send money out of Thailand, such as repatriation of funds (sending back money you can verify that you earlier brought into Thailand) or sending money you earned here to your home country. There is a different short list of acceptable reasons for Thai citizens

Can you provide a link to the applicable rules and regulations that you outline?  There a 3 Thai people here to translate for me if no English version is available.

[dave s]

Before making the posting above, I tried, unsuccessfully, to locate a neat set of rules for Thai nationals and for foreigners. I remember such a pair of lists, but it may have been on one of the forms I was filling out that got yanked away from me and chucked when the respective bank went into "no no no no no cannot" mode. Down near the bottom of this link are pairs of acceptable reason and the paperwork necessary to attach if you claim that reason:

    https://www.udonmap.com/udonthaniforum/what-is-the-best-way-to-transfer-funds-from-thailand-t21757.html

This link:

    https://www.bangkokbank.com/en/Personal/Digital-Banking/Bualuang-iBanking

has a kind of vague list for Thai nationals, and only one acceptable reason for foreigners (that is of course not true).  This discussion in ThaiVisa is the best I found this time around, especially the remarks by the member named "chiang mai":

   

What he says corresponds well to my experiences running around trying to send money back home. Response #2 there is the only reference I could find to the 80% rule: neither the human resources staff nor those who took care of paperwork for the international employees at the place I worked had ever heard of any restrictions at all on moving money around. It is a fact of life around here that every tin-horn "authority" interprets rules (when they even exist) their own way, or makes them up. So again I would advise that you shop around as much as possible, and hopefully you will randomly happen upon a bank, a branch office, a manager, a clerk, a personal mood, a phase of the moon, that will allow you to do the reasonable task you're looking for. As always, TIT. ????

 

Edited June 26, 2019 by dave s