Taxes on bank transfers?

[John Kassow]

Hi TV members. I'm currently on a retirement extension, living in Bangkok. I'm considering transferring about 3 million Baht from the USA to my UOB account, which is in good standing. The purpose is to meet the "new" immigration requirements and to fund my life for a couple of years. My bank says this is fine and that no significant fees will apply. However, I'd like to have some real world input before I go ahead. I have two questions and would appreciate any help offered:

 

1) What sorts of fees, taxes or other withholding should I expect? 

2) It's a fairly large sum...what sort of scrutiny can I expect from Thai authorities?

 

Many thanks!

John

[jacko45k]

You are unlikely to be able to transfer it in one go, break it up into a number of transfers. Maybe 3 or 4.

(Limits from your home bank in my case) 

Nevertheless there are no issues doing this. The fees are whatever your bank charges, usually a $50 or so SWIFT fee, and the Thailand receiving bank takes a one off charge to convert the money, 500 baht in my case. 

No taxes or with-holding.

I received no scrutiny...

Edited October 16, 2019 by jacko45k

[Sheryl]

1. There is no tax of funds remitted to Thailand unless transferred in the same year as earned.  So assuming these are accumulated savings, no legal tax liability.

 

In practice Thai tax authorities don't seem to bother trying to figure out when funds brought from abroad were earned.  I've not heard of anyone facing a tax issue for money brought in from abroad.

 

Fees will depend on how you transfer the funds and bank policies.

 

2.  Anything above a certain amount (which this surely will be) will require that the receiving bank complete some paperwork under the anti-money laundering regs.  usually they  contact you and ask a few simple questions i.e. source of the funds and purpose of the transfer.  .The only time I had to deal with this (years ago) they just called me on the phone and it was sorted in a matter of minutes.  Should be especially easy if you are transferring from an account also in your name in the US.

 

You will need to file F-BAR every year to the US regarding your Thai bank account, maybe you already do.  Depending on where your tax home is and total value of funds in all your foreign accounts combined you may or may not also need top file IRS form 8938.

 

I strongly advise that after the transfer is completed you obtain and save a copy of the Credit Advice which you can get from your bank. This will come in handy should you ever need to prove the funds came from abroad e.g. if you for any reason need to remit funds back to the US,  or Immigration asks for it (currently using the lump sum method proof of coming from abroad is not required but I have occasionally heard of some offices asking for it. And one never kno0ws what new regulations may come on line in future. )

[blackcab]

You will undoubtedly be remitting USD to Thailand as you will receive a much more favourable rate than letting your home bank purchase baht for you. When the foreign currency arrives it will be exchanged into baht by your Thai bank.

 

Once this is done you should ask from your Thai bank, and ensure you receive, a FET (Foreign Exchange Transfer) form. The form is free, but you have to ask for it.

 

There are two benefits with having the form. The first is that should you ever wish to transfer money out of Thailand, there is a chance you will be asked for a FET form to prove you imported the currency in the first place. The second benefit is that should you ever wish to purchase a condo you will be required to show a FET form to prove the currency was imported and exchanged to baht.

 

You might not do either of these things, but it is always nice to have the option. It's better to ask for and receive the FET form at the beginning, than wish you had done so at the end.

[natway09]

No problem at this end. Make sure you have the currency conversion done in Thailand.

Not my favourite bank but when I have done at BKB & KTB all well with good exchange rates.

Make sure you get an external funds import receipt just in case you need to move some out again at a later date

[exppenang]

I'm thinking you want to send this amount now before the THB rises any further against the USD. If you are CERTAIN you will be staying a few years, and you are CERTAIN that this money will not be needed back home during that time, then it MAY be a good hedge strategy against the rising THB.

However, it's a good strategy ONLY IF the THB continues to rise against the USD for the 'few years' you are CERTAIN you will stay. A few years is a long time to bank on the THB continuing to rise.

I would recommend doing the transfers once a year to coincide with the deposit requirements for your visa. IMHO it's a more prudent course of action.

 

Wishing you a happy stay here!

[kuzie57]

You may first want to set up a foreign currency account with your Thai bank in the currency you are going to transfer. There is no tax payable this end and most Thai banks will charge 500 baht regardless of the amount being transfered. I personally transfered a little more than that in one transfer when I bought (her) land and built our house. The intrest is not great on these accounts, think about 1.1% currently, the advantage is you can get TT rates on any money exchanged at no cost to you and exchange when the rate is favourable. If it will ever be again. 

[thailand49]

From my own experience, I done a number of transfers in the past but I never do basically $30,000 each time my brother in the past transfer over 100,000 at a time and it got held up in the U.S. he had to verify where the money originated before it would complete to his Bangkok Bank account here in Thailand. This I believe a money laundry problem?

 

This last year I've move over 6 million baht done it a number of ways Transferwise, Charles Schwab, Vanguard and pretty much 30 at a time and each time it went into my Bangkok Bank as FTT,

 

What I noticed this year from all my Bangkok Bank account when I updated my book I got interest then a tax was taken out for the interest. Never seen this since I open my first account 18 years ago.

[johng]

Yes they recently started deducting tax from all foreigners accounts regardless of whether they reached the "tax threshold"
the solution is to get a Thai Tax number from your local tax office (no need for work permit ) then go to the bank with tax number and they will will stop deductions,untill interest reaches the tax threshold.

[DanielS]

40 minutes ago, thailand49 said:

 

 

What I noticed this year from all my Bangkok Bank account when I updated my book I got interest then a tax was taken out for the interest. Never seen this since I open my first account 18 years ago.

I have a Bangkok Bank  saving account for 15 years.

The tax have always been 15% on the interest, but earlier the did not print this in the book but gave me a separate slip for the interest and tax and gave me the netto interest cash.

Edited October 16, 2019 by DanielS

[1FinickyOne]

You might want to break this into 2 transfers... I did about the same amt last year to buy a condo - I think they just asked what the money was being used for... no problem.

 

I have found Kasikorn to be really good with this... money from USA sent during our night is here the next morning... 

[thailand49]

13 hours ago, DanielS said:

I have a Bangkok Bank  saving account for 15 years.

The tax have always been 15% on the interest, but earlier the did not print this in the book but gave me a separate slip for the interest and tax and gave me the netto interest cash.

Funny, for me all Bangkok bank deposits that has never and I mean never happen to me.

[sead]

As stated before.  The recommended amount is under 50000 bht for each transfer. I would do 5x50000 once a week if you want to avoid paperwork. If you dont care a out paperwork then I would try 250000 at time to time

[topt]

57 minutes ago, sead said:

As stated before.  The recommended amount is under 50000 bht for each transfer.

Recommended by whom exactly?

 

Also did you mean 50k or 500k? 3m baht in 50k amounts would be a lot of transfers...........

Good job I had never heard of this "recommendation" before as I normally send over 1m a time with no issue. OP should not have any concerns as long as he sets it up with his home bank first.