I am a UK citizen resident in Spain for the past 20 years. I pay taxes in Spain where I am self-employed. I have a property in Thailand. If I decide to move to Thailand on a retirement visa (the 800,000K in the bank type), can I move my tax residency there or do I need to maintain residency in Spain for tax purposes?

As you're not asking about a visa to a country other than Thailand, I'll your question to the Home Country Forum where members may have better knowledge of your question, and even better than the banking forum.

The answer to your query may lie in the terms of the double taxation agreement between Thailand and Spain:

 

https://www.rd.go.th/publish/766.0.html

 

 

18 hours ago, Virtualrecluse said:

I pay taxes in Spain where I am self-employed.

Your details are a little vague - Will you still be earning money in Spain and do you own a property there?

If you are planning on cutting all ties (no Spanish residency) to move to Thailand then I don't see how they can have any say (as you are originally British). However I am guessing that you plan to still work and if so then will depend on Spanish tax law and the DTA referenced by the previous poster.

 

18 hours ago, Virtualrecluse said:

If I decide to move to Thailand on a retirement visa (the 800,000K in the bank type),

Makes no difference which visa you have. You are theoretically tax resident if you spend more than 180 days a year in Thailand. This doesn't necessarily mean you have to pay tax here as I presume you know? 

54 minutes ago, topt said:

Your details are a little vague - Will you still be earning money in Spain and do you own a property there?

If you are planning on cutting all ties (no Spanish residency) to move to Thailand then I don't see how they can have any say (as you are originally British). However I am guessing that you plan to still work and if so then will depend on Spanish tax law and the DTA referenced by the previous poster.

 

Makes no difference which visa you have. You are theoretically tax resident if you spend more than 180 days a year in Thailand. This doesn't necessarily mean you have to pay tax here as I presume you know? 

In the event I terminate my Spanish residency, no longer earn anything in Spain and am not a property holder there, and I then move to Thailand on the basis described, what kind of tax liabilities would I face in LOS? Would I be taxed on money in a bank account (poss.offshore) in the UK or only money I deposited in a Thai bank. p.s. until last year I held a job in LOS and have both bank accounts there and a property. Thanks

3 minutes ago, Virtualrecluse said:

In the event I terminate my Spanish residency, no longer earn anything in Spain and am not a property holder there, and I then move to Thailand on the basis described, what kind of tax liabilities would I face in LOS? Would I be taxed on money in a bank account (poss.offshore) in the UK or only money I deposited in a Thai bank. p.s. until last year I held a job in LOS and have both bank accounts there and a property. Thanks

 

Simple answer is if no income earned in Thailand and you only bring in earned income (can mean salary/dividends/coupons/rent/pension etc) in the following calendar year after it is earned then no taxable liability. No issue on savings.

 

In practice Thai revenue have not gone after pensioners who have their pension remitted monthly when paid to them by their respective countries although theoretically they could. There is also the potential issue for the Thai Revenue of working out what is current year income and what is from savings as that could be impossible to untangle - however see CRS below.

 

As it works on calendar year if you get paid something in December and remit it to Thailand from your offshore or UK account in January then you are not liable. This is also of benefit to Thais so not just foreigners.

 

Thailand have signed up to implement CRS (Common Reporting Standards) but still have a way to go and who knows when they will really get round to it - https://ihsmarkit.com/research-analysis/crs-development-thai-financial-market.html