Tax on interest from bank deposit.

[Vacuum]

How to avoid it?

[Gweiloman]

Put deposit in Thai wife’s name

 

p/s; you can also reclaim it from the relevant authorities 

Edited December 26, 2019 by Gweiloman

[KhunBENQ]

1 hour ago, Gweiloman said:

Put deposit in Thai wife’s name

 

p/s; you can also reclaim it from the relevant authorities 

Reclaiming means a visit to revenue office and get a Thai tax id.

That's what we did in 2013 or so when interest was still significant.

 

I am not aware that Thai people do not pay withholding tax?

There might be specific deposits/invests that are exempted.

I bet the experts will come to the thread.

 

[Vacuum]

4 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

There might be specific deposits/invests that are exempted.

I have  an account with the 'yellow bank' and until May this year, they didnt withhold any tax if it was below 20K.

[topt]

7 hours ago, Vacuum said:

I have  an account with the 'yellow bank' and until May this year, they didnt withhold any tax if it was below 20K.

There have been a lot of posts and news items earlier this year about changes to the bank regulations in order to collect taxes which may have been avoided........

Apparently if you get a tax ID and give that to your bank there have been reports that it is still possible to be paid gross......It also depends on the type of account.

I suggest you check if this is possible with your bank and account.

[Gweiloman]

23 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

Reclaiming means a visit to revenue office and get a Thai tax id.

That's what we did in 2013 or so when interest was still significant.

 

I am not aware that Thai people do not pay withholding tax?

There might be specific deposits/invests that are exempted.

I bet the experts will come to the thread.

 

I may be wrong but I was always under the assumption that as a foreigner, our accounts are classified as external or non resident accounts and therefore subjected to withholding tax. For citizens (Thais), bank interest is not taxed so no withholding tax occurs. 

[Pib]

How to avoid it?  Get a Thai tax ID number and provide that number to your bank.  That will stop the withholding on a regular bank acct up to 20K baht interest per year. Over 20K interest earned per year on a regular savings acct then 15% tax is withheld for Thai or foreigner.   

 

Now if you have a "fixed" savings acct 15% tax is withheld on any amount of interest earned (even 1 baht) whether Thai or foreigner.

 

When I provided my Thai ID tax ID to Bangkok Bank and Krungsri Bank they both stopped the withholding on my regular accts.  I had a Thai tax ID since several years back since I use to have some fixed accts where the 15% interest was withheld and I in turn applied each year for a refund at my local tax office which was always approved. 

 

And just because you have a Thai tax ID number does not mean you must file a tax return each year...you only need to file if working here, earning a lot of interest, etc.  A lot of farangs have a Thai tax ID number simply because they had to get one during the process of applying for a tax refund of interest withheld on fixed accts.

[Vacuum]

17 hours ago, Pib said:

Get a Thai tax ID number and provide that number to your bank. 

I'll try that. Problem is that I have several tax ID numbers, seems that I get a new number everytime I apply for the refund at the tax office.

[Pib]

57 minutes ago, Vacuum said:

I'll try that. Problem is that I have several tax ID numbers, seems that I get a new number everytime I apply for the refund at the tax office.

You sure you are not confusing your tax number with the receipt for filing number.  And why would they give you a new tax number "if" you identified your original tax number when filing.

[Vacuum]

1 minute ago, Pib said:

You sure you are not confusing your tax number with the receipt for filing number.  And why would they give you a new tax number "if" you identified your original tax number when filing.

Yes, I could be mistaken with the tax number and the receipt. So where do I find the tax Id number?    Thanks.

[Pib]

3 hours ago, Vacuum said:

Yes, I could be mistaken with the tax number and the receipt. So where do I find the tax Id number?    Thanks.

Well, 2015 was the last time I filed for a bank interest refund and on my tax filing receipts each year up to 2015 it was the 13 digit number right under my name.   I just looked at a couple of my receipts....receipts are all in Thai except the spelling of my name.  And that number matches the number on my  Tax ID Card they gave me when I initially got the tax ID around 2012. 

 

Based on recent posts some tax offices may not even issue your tax id card now; instead just tell your what the number is....may just write it on a piece of paper for your....just appear on your tax filing receipt.  In fact, when I first got my tax ID they just stamped 13 empty blocks on a business card sized piece of paper, hand printed my name on the card and then fill in the blocks with my tax number....a real poor-boy's type doc....guess they had run out of the official cards.  

 

And when getting with my banks (Bangkok Bank and Krungsri Bank) earlier this year to stop the tax withholding both of them wanted a copy of my latest tax receipt (i.e., that 2015) receipt that showed the tax number along with some other official looking info versus me just telling them what my tax number or letting them copy my poor-boy tax card.