House Sale - Transfer Of Money To UK

[PETERTHEEATER]

My wife, a Thai national has sold a property in Thailand and wants to transfer the proceeds to her UK bank account to purchase a UK property. Looking at the Bank of Thailand website there appears to be a daily limit to the amount that can be transferred which means that it could take dozens of transactions to move (say) ThB 6 million off shore. Her local bank manager has previously told her that it can be done in one transaction but can it?

 

If a non-Thai owning property in Thailand sells and wants to send the proceeds off-shore how do they do it? Are there different rules?

 

 

[kwonitoy]

Their is a certificate of sale from the land office that has the amount of the house sale on it.

This form shows that you have paid the proper land tax on the sale of your property.

That is what they care about, that the transfer tax has been paid.

 

Take this form to the bank and you can transfer up to this amount in one go,

I did it last Sept for much more than 6 million

Transfer at SCB cost 550 baht commission and 800 baht for the bank fee

 

If you don't have this form you can still transfer up to 50K USD per day as allowed by the bank of Thailand

I have also done this last September.

As with all things banking you need to find the one higher up/supervisor person who understands the process and can do it, your average teller is probably going to say, sorry cannot

[PETERTHEEATER]

Thanks for your prompt response.

 

I  guessed that tax would feature and my wife has that document.

 

I take your point about some bank staff being negative to cover their lack of knowledge. We have all faced this at some time. It was the manager of the branch in which my wife banks who told her it could be done in one transaction.

[PETERTHEEATER]

What currency should be indicated on the banks Foreign Currency Transaction form? Her account is Thai Baht but her UK account is in Pounds Sterling. At which end does the exchange rate apply?

[kwonitoy]

You can't transfer in Thai Baht, in your case you convert baht in pound sterling in Thailand and then transfer that amount to your receiving bank, that expense is covered by the 800 baht bank fee.

It's a good time to be selling baht.

[PETERTHEEATER]

Thanks, So the bank exchanges the ThB into GBP using their current exchange rate and the total amount in GBP is entered onto the Foreign Currency Transaction Form?

 

I have prepared a form but will leave the amount blocks blank for now.

[RickBradford]

21 hours ago, kwonitoy said:

As with all things banking you need to find the one higher up/supervisor person who understands the process and can do it, your average teller is probably going to say, sorry cannot

A friend of mine planned to transfer out to Australia a trivial sum ($30K), the same amount which he'd brought into Thailand some years before, and the bank asked for all sorts of minor details and confirmatory documents. Amazingly, he had them and presented them. The bank manager then refused outright to transfer the money.

 

He had to go up the chain of command to head office in Bangkok before he found someone with the ability and willingness to do it. That may well be necessary for larger sums.

Edited May 4, 2020 by RickBradford
Clarify

[kwonitoy]

17 hours ago, PETERTHEEATER said:

Thanks, So the bank exchanges the ThB into GBP using their current exchange rate and the total amount in GBP is entered onto the Foreign Currency Transaction Form?

 

I have prepared a form but will leave the amount blocks blank for now.

I let the bank fill in all the forms and then I checked them.