Foreigners Avoid Condo Property Tax With Yellow House Book

[skatewash]

31 minutes ago, Bob4u said:

Interesting read:

 

https://writingbymatt.com/thailand-yellow-book/?fbclid=IwAR0T8sF6Ajum2xKlzsARJh6s908iIq5vwf3se6K9myslk6LCgZ4Qb6yLesA

Yes, that was interesting.  It refreshed my memory about the process.

I was interviewed as well, a combination of being asked in English and being asked in Thai which my witnesses helped me to answer.  I was questioned about blood type, place where I was born, when I first came to Thailand.  I was also asked if I were married or working and answered no to both of those questions so I guess they were not disqualifying.

However, I guess every amphur office is a little different as I did not have to have my passport translated or validated nor did I need anything from my embassy (like an address affidavit).  I did have to have pictures, too.  

The funny thing is that in Phuket where I live the yellow book is definitely not accepted by the Land Transport Office as evidence of your address (only a residence certificate from immigration or an address affidavit from your embassy).  Also, my amphur refused to issue me a pink card saying they are only for migrant workers from neighboring countries.  I would have liked to have a pink card but it didn't seem worth it to push the matter.

 

[jackdd]

9 minutes ago, Bradmeister said:

Most Residents per Thai law were required to have a Yellow Book for over 5 years now.

Residents are registered in a blue book, not in a yellow book. The yellow book is for temporary visitors.

 

10 minutes ago, Bradmeister said:

Regardless of Being a Property Owner or Renter, you, me, or anyone without a Thai National ID has been required since last September to have with your retirement Visa renewal.

Required what?

[topt]

8 minutes ago, Bradmeister said:

Most Residents per Thai law were required to have a Yellow Book for over 5 years now.

 

Regardless of Being a Property Owner or Renter, you, me, or anyone without a Thai National ID has been required since last September to have with your retirement Visa renewal.

I don't fully understand your comment but, if you are suggesting, that it is required by law that all foreigners should have a yellow book and they would not renew an extension without than I am afraid I have to say that appears to be nonsense - in my experience..........????

[skatewash]

Just now, topt said:

I don't fully understand your comment but, if you are suggesting, that it is required by law that all foreigners should have a yellow book and they would not renew an extension without than I am afraid I have to say that appears to be nonsense - in my experience..........????

Yes, I've applied for and received a retirement extension for the last seven years and while I have always had the yellow book with me they have never asked to see it.  This is Phuket Immigration.

[Banana7]

7 hours ago, arick said:

We asked while collecting the chanote and blue book and they said no! 

Where or what office did you ask?

[Banana7]

7 hours ago, Bradmeister said:

Residents, property owners!!!!

 

Not Foreigners. You attempting to keep everyone segregated? 

 

Most Residents per Thai law were required to have a Yellow Book for over 5 years now.

 

Regardless of Being a Property Owner or Renter, you, me, or anyone without a Thai National ID has been required since last September to have with your retirement Visa renewal.

 

As far as taxes being required, or discounted for anyone...thats up to your Province and Town and each owners intent and usage of the property.

 

 

What do you think is being segregated? Yellow books only apply to foreigners!

 

Could you please identify the government website saying a foreigner owning a condo requires a yellow book?

 

What government of Thailand website supports your comment, "Regardless of Being a Property Owner or Renter, you, me, or anyone without a Thai National ID has been required since last September to have with your retirement Visa renewal" ?

 

As far as tax discounts, its not up to the town or province, it is distinctly stated as part of the transition period. See in page 1 of this thread, a post by scubascuba3, that has the government's detailed explanation of property tax process.

 

 

[soi3eddie]

19 hours ago, arick said:

You can only get a yellow book if your married to a Thai. I havnt been sent any tax request for my Condos. But Thais have been sent a tax bill. When I  enquired I was told only Thais pay the tax. Yellow book and pink ID card means nothing chanote does. I havent has a Pink card since I went to Heaven and GAY Pride in Vuaxhall in the 90s 

Wish I could do sad and laughter emojis at the same time. I got my yellow book and pink ID card in 2019. Still not had to pay property tax on my condo that I owned since 2009. I have chanote and tax receipt too. I lived on on Wandsworth Road near to Vauxhall in 1980's, does that help me in anyway? Never been to Heaven or Gay Pride but would gladly participate if that exempted me from tax. I await, eagerly, your response. 

[mark5335]

On 4/19/2021 at 5:03 PM, Banana7 said:

How else could the primary property waiver be obtained?

I've had a yellow book since shortly after I bought my owner-occupied condo in 2008. I received my property tax invoice from the Amphur last week which includes the 90% discount. The Amphur valued my property at 11.3MB so therefore primary property waiver does not apply as the value exceeds the exemption threshold of 10MB.

[scubascuba3]

3 hours ago, mark5335 said:

I've had a yellow book since shortly after I bought my owner-occupied condo in 2008. I received my property tax invoice from the Amphur last week which includes the 90% discount. The Amphur valued my property at 11.3MB so therefore primary property waiver does not apply as the value exceeds the exemption threshold of 10MB.

11.3M was for just the house? not land? Threshold for land and house is 50M

[mark5335]

54 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

11.3M was for just the house? not land? Threshold for land and house is 50M

It's a condo (not house) between Asoke and Phrom Phong in Amphur Wattana (i.e., relatively high prices/valuation) so unfortunately the 10MB thresh-hold applies.

[skatewash]

25 minutes ago, mark5335 said:

It's a condo (not house) between Asoke and Phrom Phong in Amphur Wattana (i.e., relatively high prices/valuation) so unfortunately the 10MB thresh-hold applies.

My understanding of how the exemption applies:

If you own a house (including a condo unit) and the land that it sits on (which you would if you own the condo unit freehold, meaning a percentage of the land belongs to you based on the proportion of your unit to the total area), then the 50 million baht threshold applies.

If you own a house that is situated on land you do not own (for example, on land owned by your wife) then the 10 million baht threshold applies.

I suppose it is possible to own a condo unit but not own a percentage of the land the condo unit is on, but that's not my understanding of how freehold condo ownership works.

[Banana7]

7 hours ago, skatewash said:

My understanding of how the exemption applies:

If you own a house (including a condo unit) and the land that it sits on (which you would if you own the condo unit freehold, meaning a percentage of the land belongs to you based on the proportion of your unit to the total area), then the 50 million baht threshold applies.

If you own a house that is situated on land you do not own (for example, on land owned by your wife) then the 10 million baht threshold applies.

I suppose it is possible to own a condo unit but not own a percentage of the land the condo unit is on, but that's not my understanding of how freehold condo ownership works.

Common property in a condominium is not taxed according to the brochure post scubascuba3 on page 1.

[arick]

On 4/20/2021 at 3:17 PM, Bradmeister said:

Residents, property owners!!!!

 

Not Foreigners. You attempting to keep everyone segregated? 

 

Most Residents per Thai law were required to have a Yellow Book for over 5 years now.

 

Regardless of Being a Property Owner or Renter, you, me, or anyone without a Thai National ID has been required since last September to have with your retirement Visa renewal.

 

As far as taxes being required, or discounted for anyone...thats up to your Province and Town and each owners intent and usage of the property.

 

 

Did they request your embassy in bkk to send them your parents names to enter into the yellow book 

[arick]

On 4/20/2021 at 3:24 PM, skatewash said:

Yes, that was interesting.  It refreshed my memory about the process.

I was interviewed as well, a combination of being asked in English and being asked in Thai which my witnesses helped me to answer.  I was questioned about blood type, place where I was born, when I first came to Thailand.  I was also asked if I were married or working and answered no to both of those questions so I guess they were not disqualifying.

However, I guess every amphur office is a little different as I did not have to have my passport translated or validated nor did I need anything from my embassy (like an address affidavit).  I did have to have pictures, too.  

The funny thing is that in Phuket where I live the yellow book is definitely not accepted by the Land Transport Office as evidence of your address (only a residence certificate from immigration or an address affidavit from your embassy).  Also, my amphur refused to issue me a pink card saying they are only for migrant workers from neighboring countries.  I would have liked to have a pink card but it didn't seem worth it to push the matter.

 

Well in my province yellow book is accepted everywhere should be accepted 

[skatewash]

40 minutes ago, arick said:

Well in my province yellow book is accepted everywhere should be accepted 

Well, it should be.  Especially since it's much harder to obtain than a Certificate of Residence.  But for some reason, Phuket Land Transport Office is an outlier. 

[arick]

I will collect my yellow book tomorrow. I posted on here all the hassle. At the end of the day after calling relatives in other provinces Amphur office. All my Amphur needs is a copy of my passport. No MFA no translations no witnesses. Just passport and blue house book. Last month they insisted I needed to be married.  

They said Canada passport only maybe its because Thai Miss Universe in half Canadian 555

[skatewash]

2 minutes ago, arick said:

I will collect my yellow book tomorrow. I posted on here all the hassle. At the end of the day after calling relatives in other provinces Amphur office. All my Amphur needs is a copy of my passport. No MFA no translations no witnesses. Just passport and blue house book. Last month they insisted I needed to be married.  

They said Canada passport only maybe its because Thai Miss Universe in half Canadian 555

Each amphur or tessaban potentially has slightly different requirements.  I, too, did not require MFA or other official translations, but I did have to provide two Thai witnesses.

I occurs to me that one reason for the translations are that the amphur office has to be able to translate your name (and the names of your mother and father) into Thai as that information is contained in a yellow book.  If they can get that information from you directly, via a document from the Land Office as you might have for registering a freehold condo unit, or from a marriage certificate, then maybe  they don't need an official translation or something legalized at the MFA.

This requirement to translate your name and the names of your parents into Thai, may be what's behind some of the difficulties applicants seem to encounter at some offices.  They want to outsource the translation of your name so they're not responsible for doing it themselves.  In a similar way that the Land Transport Office doesn't want to get into the business of verifying your address and outsources that responsibility to the immigration office in the form of a residence certificate.

[arick]

2 hours ago, arick said:

I will collect my yellow book tomorrow. I posted on here all the hassle. At the end of the day after calling relatives in other provinces Amphur office. All my Amphur needs is a copy of my passport. No MFA no translations no witnesses. Just passport and blue house book. Last month they insisted I needed to be married.  

They said Canada passport only maybe its because Thai Miss Universe in half Canadian 555

Why do they need 5 passport photos.  At least when I die hopefully in more then 30 years from now they say I looked gorgeous when I was younger. 

[arick]

1 hour ago, skatewash said:

Each amphur or tessaban potentially has slightly different requirements.  I, too, did not require MFA or other official translations, but I did have to provide two Thai witnesses.

I occurs to me that one reason for the translations are that the amphur office has to be able to translate your name (and the names of your mother and father) into Thai as that information is contained in a yellow book.  If they can get that information from you directly, via a document from the Land Office as you might have for registering a freehold condo unit, or from a marriage certificate, then maybe  they don't need an official translation or something legalized at the MFA.

This requirement to translate your name and the names of your parents into Thai, may be what's behind some of the difficulties applicants seem to encounter at some offices.  They want to outsource the translation of your name so they're not responsible for doing it themselves.  In a similar way that the Land Transport Office doesn't want to get into the business of verifying your address and outsources that responsibility to the immigration office in the form of a residence certificate.

No office wants to translate your name. But the land office in my province did it in a second. 

[arick]

Just now, arick said:

No office wants to translate your name. But the land office in my province did it in a second. 

Google does it even quicker

[skatewash]

4 minutes ago, arick said:

Google does it even quicker

I get a slightly different transliteration of my last name using Google Translate, but it gets my first and middle name correct.  Which makes perfect sense as my first and middle names are much more common than my last name and machine translation does much better with common names than with unusual names. 

In any case they're supposed to follow the Royal Thai General System of Transcription:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Thai_General_System_of_Transcription

Google Translate gives a good first approximation though.

[smutcakes]

Property tax on residential property went up 12%? This law has only just been enacted and this is the 1st time its ever been paid. It has not gone up from anywhere.

 

 

[Banana7]

On 5/23/2021 at 6:58 PM, smutcakes said:

Property tax on residential property went up 12%? This law has only just been enacted and this is the 1st time its ever been paid. It has not gone up from anywhere.

 

 

It was first billed in 2020, so 2021 is not the first that it had to be paid. My tax bill went up 12% from 2020 to 2021. So maybe the property value or some other factor made the tax bill go up.

[sanuk711]

On 4/20/2021 at 2:45 PM, skatewash said:

nteresting.  My experience is that I received the chanote and blue book from the Land Office,

That was my experience when I brought a Condo in Ban Chang (Rayong) a few years ago. Blue book if you own a condo-- Yellow book usually means you have been placed on a owners blue book as a place of your residence.

 

As been said different Ampurs etc.

[arick]

On 4/20/2021 at 2:35 PM, arick said:

I have been with lawyers in Chiang Mai and in Chiayaphum and you need to be married 

I got a yellow book a couple of weeks ago.  I didn't need to be married I just needed the school  teacher to call her friend at the Amphur.