Land & Buildings Tax 2020

[Banana7]

Went to Pattaya City Hall to pay 2020 (2563) property taxes at 1:50 PM and finished at 5 p.m. Friday August 28, 2020.  Entered lower level at the front of the building. To pay taxes, you line-up in 3 different queues; yellow, orange and pink, in that order. There are no signs or instructions on what to do and there are multiple seating/waiting areas. There were 100-200 people in the waiting areas.

 

The yellow queue ticket is obtained at a small desk to the right of a doorway. It is used to get your documents checked and to obtain the orange queue ticket. The documents of most interest were chanote front page, chanote page showing last owner, the original tax notice describing your property and its use, passport photo page, blue house book pages that have writing. The processor takes your documents and gives you an orange ticket.

 

Queue callers, callout the next number for a particular queue. Numbers are only announced in Thai. The yellow queue caller was helpful if you showed your ticket to her, she would direct you to the appropriate processor.

 

After obtaining the orange ticket, about 30-45minutes later, your orange ticket number will be called in Thai language. The caller will give you a pink queue number and about 3 pages of documents for each chanote/condo. They will contain the price to be paid.

 

The pink queue is for the cashier, the area furthest from the building front door. There are 6 cashier stations, but never were all 6 in operations at the same time. The pink queue callers were least helpful. They would call a number, you show your ticket to them with the number they called, and they would keep walking away still calling the number. The pink queue has queue jumpers, assisted by the queue caller. The caller calls the next number to be serviced, takes the person’s ticket then points that person toward a cashier. The jump is accomplished when the caller approaches a “selected” person, and gives the current ticket in their hand to the “selected” person, who then becomes the next person to go to a cashier, as the number is called again. It seemed many tax payers had friends in the office that got to jump the queue.

 

 In summary, I wish they had a queue system like Jomtien Immigration where the queue calls are automated and shown on electronic signs.  Also they should increase cashiers to 20 fulltime. Finally, City Hall is not foreigner friendly; everything is in Thai language only.

[LuciusCornelius]

13 hours ago, Banana7 said:

Went to Pattaya City Hall to pay 2020 (2563) property taxes at 1:50 PM and finished at 5 p.m. Friday August 28, 2020.  Entered lower level at the front of the building. To pay taxes, you line-up in 3 different queues; yellow, orange and pink, in that order. There are no signs or instructions on what to do and there are multiple seating/waiting areas. There were 100-200 people in the waiting areas.

 

That looks like a total nightmare.  Makes me glad I did not not go.  I did not think the LINE option was at all viable, but it now seems to be the easiest and cheapest option.  

[LuciusCornelius]

I just received this from Admin at my Condo complex. It is of no benefit to me, but the option of Admin helping to get the receipts could help in 2021 if I succeed to learn the assessed liability for that year over LINE.

 

Dear:    Co-owners  

Title:    Extension of the payment period for Land and Building until October 2020. 

            Refers to announcement no: 033/2020

            According to announcement from The Pattaya City Hall on land and building tax for the year 2020 that was originally scheduled to be paid by end of September 2020, due to the large number of condo units paying. Therefore, The Pattaya City Hall has announced an extension of the payment period until October 2020. 

            However, for co-owners who are not staying in Thailand or in Pattaya, the building management has submitted a request for the amount to be paid to the Pattaya City Hall. This may take time to complete.  

            However, if the building management department receives the information back will inform to co-owners urgently.  

** Remark For the tax payment must be paid directly to Pattaya City Hall. The juristic person cannot act on their behalf. However, you can send us a proof of payment to management office,  we will help you to track receipts from Pattaya City Hall***  

   

[Leaver]

20 hours ago, Banana7 said:

Went to Pattaya City Hall to pay 2020 (2563) property taxes at 1:50 PM and finished at 5 p.m. Friday August 28, 2020.  Entered lower level at the front of the building. To pay taxes, you line-up in 3 different queues; yellow, orange and pink, in that order. There are no signs or instructions on what to do and there are multiple seating/waiting areas. There were 100-200 people in the waiting areas.

Can't this be paid online?  If not, why not?  How ridiculous?  

[Banana7]

On 8/28/2020 at 1:47 PM, LuciusCornelius said:

Clearly the Line method is viable then.  I certainly would have lacked the patience for that.  The accountant said they might never get back to us.  I will try using Line in March for the next payment.  If not I will go back to the accountant. Line is blocked in China, where I am based, which means messing around with a VPN on my phone to get it working.  Nothing is easy. 

Try the LINE option but be very patient. That accountant is trying to get more fees and business from you. Don't waste your money, there are much better services in Pattaya to spend your money on, especially the ladies, than an accountant. Try the LINE now, an answer would probably come within a week. If you are blocked, ask a friend in a free country to send the message on your behalf using LINE.

 

If you pay now before October, you'll save 90% of your 2020 tax bill and avoid penalties. Also you'll get an ballpark idea of your 2021 taxes, which should be less than 10% more than the 2020 taxes.

[scubascuba3]

On 8/28/2020 at 2:24 PM, thaitero said:

For Pattaya you do not need any photocopies, agents etc,,

Just use line provided, have some patience ( for me 2-3 days replydelay for every chatcomment)

Tell your name and what you own you will receive amounts to pay, what bank to pay. You receive also 5 page long thailanguage pdf- document (i do not know what is in there besides taxamount owed). After payment send receipt of your payment using line app and that is it,,

What Line ID did you use?

[LuciusCornelius]

4 hours ago, Banana7 said:

Try the LINE option but be very patient. That accountant is trying to get more fees and business from you. Don't waste your money, there are much better services in Pattaya to spend your money on, especially the ladies, than an accountant. Try the LINE now, an answer would probably come within a week. If you are blocked, ask a friend in a free country to send the message on your behalf using LINE.

 

If you pay now before October, you'll save 90% of your 2020 tax bill and avoid penalties. Also you'll get an ballpark idea of your 2021 taxes, which should be less than 10% more than the 2020 taxes.

Next year I will use the LINE option.  I already paid for 2020 using the accountant.  Actually, from what i posted above, there seem to be at least the hint of a chance that admin will find out the amounts due on behalf of non-resident owners in my complex next year.  If I know that then I can easily pay as I have online banking in Thailand set up that can be used from overseas as it uses a QR code 2FA method instead of the Thai SMS method. Admin will definitely handle the getting of receipts.  They have already said that.  I am not sure if every condo will offer this though.

[thaitero]

Scubascuba 3 : It was that number you tried..

My quess is that maby they are overwhelmed of messages etc,, and do not accept "new friends" at the moment,,

 

[scubascuba3]

if they can't be bothered to send bills out I don't see why we should be bothered to waste time struggling to pay it, I'm out

[Leaver]

2 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

if they can't be bothered to send bills out I don't see why we should be bothered to waste time struggling to pay it, I'm out

I'm a happy renter.  ????

[Banana7]

17 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

What Line ID did you use?

Use what they call ID as the phone number in Thailand.

 

[Banana7]

3 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

if they can't be bothered to send bills out I don't see why we should be bothered to waste time struggling to pay it, I'm out

Guys like you will pay full price, plus penalties, plus interest and for good measure maybe 5-7 years back taxes too. Also put a lien on your property at the land office, which will cost another fee to remove. Thailand loves guys like you, ready to dish out more cash to multiple departments for nothing.

 

[scubascuba3]

6 hours ago, Banana7 said:

Guys like you will pay full price, plus penalties, plus interest and for good measure maybe 5-7 years back taxes too. Also put a lien on your property at the land office, which will cost another fee to remove. Thailand loves guys like you, ready to dish out more cash to multiple departments for nothing.

 

Thailand loves guys like you, panicking over 200 baht, some of us don't sweat the small stuff

[jacko45k]

8 hours ago, Banana7 said:

Guys like you will pay full price, plus penalties, plus interest and for good measure maybe 5-7 years back taxes too. Also put a lien on your property at the land office, which will cost another fee to remove. Thailand loves guys like you, ready to dish out more cash to multiple departments for nothing.

 

Actually the way it works in Thailand is they get their hands on the easy money first and are too lazy to make the effort to chase the hard cases. Do you feel they have the ability to put liens on these condos? Like the police stops, argue a bit and you often get sent away for free.

[Henryford]

12 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

if they can't be bothered to send bills out I don't see why we should be bothered to waste time struggling to pay it, I'm out

If they don't send out bills (i haven't had one) how do you know how much to pay?

[scubascuba3]

9 minutes ago, Henryford said:

If they don't send out bills (i haven't had one) how do you know how much to pay?

Exactly, a lot faffing about by the sound of this thread

[LuciusCornelius]

11 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Exactly, a lot faffing about by the sound of this thread

Yes, they don't make it easy.  However, on balance, it is still better to pony up now and go through it rather than wait and accumulate additional levies as fines.  That's just my take though.  Each to their own.  I paid an accountant 20X the tax to handle it.  In retrospect, I probably should have waited as my condo admin team appear to be stepping up now and may handle it.  Anyway, I wanted peace of mind.  I am not there on the ground and I prefer to have stuff like this done and dusted. 

 

Next year, I will try to handle it more cost effectively through LINE and the admin team.  I was prompted to use the accountant by the apparent deadline for discount of Aug 31st.  This has now been extended to the end of October. 

 

The only ways to find out the amount due is to either go to city hall and ask or to contact them over LINE with all your property details and with some delay they may get back to you with the sum due.  if they do, all you need to do is a bank transfer.  

[Kerryd]

13 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

if they can't be bothered to send bills out I don't see why we should be bothered to waste time struggling to pay it, I'm out

1 hour ago, Henryford said:

If they don't send out bills (i haven't had one) how do you know how much to pay?

Lots of threads running in the housing forum about this tax.

 

Quote

Mr Prayoon Rattanaseni, Director-General of the Department of Local Administration (DLA), explained this week that where it is the case that the DLA has not sent an assessment notification to the taxpayer, it is considered the taxpayer has no burden to pay tax under the law. 

Quote

Mr. Lavaron Saengsanit, Director-General of the Fiscal Policy Office, Ministry of Finance, explained that should a member of the public not receive a tax assessment notification, or the deadline for tax payment is extended or postponed, they will not have to pay a fine or surcharges. Some local administrative organizations have now extended the tax deadlinebeyond the end of August. Meanwhile, many local administrative organizations as well as Bangkok Metropolitan Administration are considering extending the deadline for the payment of the tax.

 

 

[kinyara]

Since I got my notice this year and paid it I expect by routine I'll receive it again in April. Definately going to head there as soon as it drops to avoid the crowds. I seemed to dodge a bullet with ease of payment on Friday which I can only put down to having gone there in March or April and getting some sort of signed handwritten calculation on my assessment sheet. It's the only thing I can think of that seemed to fast track me on the day compared to what others have reported. I should add there were zero queues when I went back in March/April, my friend managed to pay his then but they wouldn't accept it from me at that time. 

[Banana7]

5 hours ago, Henryford said:

If they don't send out bills (i haven't had one) how do you know how much to pay?

You have to go and get the bill for this initial billing period from City Hall. They need to see your Chanote to correctly determine the payment amount and your name in Thai and your house book for cross referencing data.

 

In subsequent years, they'll probably mail it to you.

[jojothai]

Report on my visit to pattaya city hall today thursday  3 sept to pay the tax.

Same place and mostly similar to what Banana7 stated earlier, however there were total about 40 to 50 people.

Got there about 11.20am

First step short wait, gave the chanotes and blue book (falang -no name). They did not need copies. Thats all they needed, did not want my passport.

From that i got a new pink number.

Waited about 20 minutes they give you the statement of assesment and tax due 0.02 %. And  the reduced discount figure.

White ticket was attached to queue for payment. That took the longest.

I was concerned that it was lunch time. Staff started taking their lunch but some continued with the payments. I got my payment done about 12.20.

So it took about 1 hour in total.

Seemed reasonably organised. Clearly potential for queue jumpers, but not a problem in my visit. Except for one old frail lady with walking stick was given priority. No problem with that.

[OneZero]

50 minutes ago, jojothai said:

gave the chanotes and blue book (falang -no name). They did not need copies. Thats all they needed, did not want my passport.

 

White ticket was attached to queue for payment. That took the longest.

 

Jojothai, thanks for report.

I take it you were Not claiming the property as you're primary residence (since you stated you paid the bill).

 

Or rather, were you indeed claiming the property as your primary residence, but they did not regard your documents as sufficient evidence / proof to avoid the tax?

[jojothai]

54 minutes ago, OneZero said:

Jojothai, thanks for report.

I take it you were Not claiming the property as you're primary residence (since you stated you paid the bill).

 

Or rather, were you indeed claiming the property as your primary residence, but they did not regard your documents as sufficient evidence / proof to avoid the tax?

Your point is well noted.

I was not claiming as my residence so there was no need to follow through with them on that issue.

Useful if other people can let us know what happened if they had to claim it was main residence, and if that caused any problem or more documents were required.

FYI, I have my main residence in bangkok, and the district sent me a notification in june by registered post that indicates as my residence and showing zero tax, so i did not get taxed there.

For that, all i had to do was sign a card that was included and send it back to them.

It would be good if the rest of the districts did something similar, but clearly that has not happened.

[scubascuba3]

9 hours ago, OneZero said:

Jojothai, thanks for report.

I take it you were Not claiming the property as you're primary residence (since you stated you paid the bill).

 

Or rather, were you indeed claiming the property as your primary residence, but they did not regard your documents as sufficient evidence / proof to avoid the tax?

if main residence you don't have to pay this circ 20 baht tax?

[jojothai]

1 hour ago, scubascuba3 said:

if main residence you don't have to pay this circ 20 baht tax?

Thats what i understand.

There is an exemption for individuals declared resident up to a value of 10 million baht.

The tax is 0.02% of the assessed value of the property.

That is this year. I think it was going to be 0.03% and may be that next year. Have to check for advice online.

[Delight]

  Visited PCH today

 

Simple 3 stage process.

Paid 48 Baht  for my 75M condo.

 

Next year 480 Baht . Must be before 31st April 2021

 

The hardest part was parking.

 

Motorbike(me) -bit of a struggle.

Car -somewhere between very difficult and impossible.

Suggest the use a motorbike -if possible

[scubascuba3]

51 minutes ago, Delight said:

  Visited PCH today

 

Simple 3 stage process.

Paid 48 Baht  for my 75M condo.

 

Next year 480 Baht . Must be before 31st April 2021

 

The hardest part was parking.

 

Motorbike(me) -bit of a struggle.

Car -somewhere between very difficult and impossible.

Suggest the use a motorbike -if possible

that your main and only property? if it is it's meant to be zero baht, next year maybe not they told me, they asked me to phone again next year, I decided it's not worth it, they seem very disorganised hence bills not being sent out

[prk888]

never seen wife so angry.  Ban Amphur office at about 2.00pm yesterday.  1 person in queue.  Staff chatting, mobiling and disappearing.  Took nearly one hour to pay B30.  Good to see her spirit, but of course to no avail

[HampiK]

On 8/26/2020 at 12:51 PM, Banana7 said:

Which visas are qualifying visas for the yellow book? Is a retirement "O" a qualify visa? Where can the blue book be exchanged for the yellow book?

This depends on your office where to obtain the yellow book (you actually not exchange the blue book for a yellow book).
You become an yellow book extra to your existing blue book, which should be probably empty.

 

About Visa, I made my yellow book a few years ago (4-5) with only a visa except stamp in it. I think if you have an O-Visa or extension based on retirement or marriage then you should be on the safe side. I also heard from some they only become if they are married.. so every office handles it a little bit different. The best is you go there and check what the requirements from your office are!

 

good luck

[mran66]

I got these papers also. Seems the sqm number for my house is way bigger than the actual house is so wonder if anyone had the same issue, and went in to challenge the number, and if so, any success?

 

As long as tax rates remain like this (ridiculously low...), does not matter. However I think it is more than certain they go up in future - whether will go to same level as in the old system is the question (in my case 3xx bath vs 7500 baht annually).

 

Anyway, will go city hall later with house drawings to ask...maybe the sqm number as basis for tax is what is allowed to build in the plot, not the actual size. Will see...