Tax refunds from fixed savings accounts.

[skatewash]

6 minutes ago, shortstop2 said:

 

This year I had it set up to get a $1 refund.  Had a buck withheld so I could get a refund and have my bank details on record.  But somehow it turned out the IRS grabbed  6 bucks rather than refunding 1 probably due to something  I did not list on my return but got 1099ed for.

 

I don't care about the 6 bucks but I have a real concern that my true AGI is unknown to me.  When filling out taxes online I generally have to input my prior year's AGI  to prove it's me.

 

Have no idea how to find out my true AGI as opposed to what's on the copy of my tax form. If anyone knows, please clue me in.

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript

As a $0 taxpayer aspirant I usually request a copy of my tax return from the IRS using the above link.  Yes, I know Turbo Tax tells me that they've sent my tax return to the IRS and the IRS has accepted it, but I sleep better knowing that the IRS got my tax return and is able to send me a transcript verifying that fact.  If you pay $0 you neither get the warm fuzzy feeling of a refund nor the cold hairless feeling of seeing the money pulled out of your account.  The transcript will indicate your AGI as calculated by the IRS.

[shortstop2]

27 minutes ago, skatewash said:

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript

  The transcript will indicate your AGI as calculated by the IRS.

 Thanks for the link and the good news  upon reading the instructions it appears what I need to file next year is the AGI from my return which I have rather than the recalculated AGI which I don't have.  The number they're looking for is from the Tax Return transcript rather than the Tax Account transcript.

 

Quote

You can get various Form 1040-series transcript types online or by mail. If you need your prior year Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) to e-file, choose the tax return transcript type when making your request. To find out how much you owe or to verify your payment history, you can view your tax account.

 

 

[clivebaxter]

Applied for refund in Jan, called today as not heard anything. First they said I had only asked for a tax number, then after about 20 mins and talking to somebody else said I did not give them the passport photocopies, which I certainly did and signed. They seem to accept they could not find them and would call back, nobody has so far. ???? 

[clivebaxter]

delete double post

Edited May 24, 2021 by clivebaxter

[nrasmussen]

On 5/11/2021 at 2:35 PM, shortstop2 said:

 

I still haven't gotten my 2020 refund despite filing at Chonburi Revenue Office around January 3rd or 4th.  I checked on the 4th floor there a few weeks ago and they said to come back in a month. Last year it was 6 months.   

 

Finally in the middle of last year I got Krungsri to accept my TIN ( Tax Identification Number) so they are no longer withholding tax.   Bangkok Bank and Kasiskorn were fine with an official looking piece of paper with my TIN but Krungrsri where the overwhelming bulk of my money is stashed insisted on a TIN card which I had misplaced and it was a major league hassle to get a replacement card.

 

For those of you that have nominal tax withheld it is probably not worth the hassle of filing a return.  But getting a TIN and bringing it to your bank should stop the withholding forever.

 

A buddy of mine who just arrived in Thailand got a TIN and it was fairly painless, just his passport and and some form from Immigration showing residency.   Chonburi Revenue Office in Jomtien is just a 5 minute walk from Immigration on Soi 5.

 

I tried to follow your advice and get my TIN registered at my bank, so I presented my TIN card at my local Bangkok Bank branch.

 

However, after a few minutes of keyboard typing and staring at the computer screen, I was told that it was not possible to register a TIN. Since, according to you, it is in fact possible, it obviously meant that she didn't know how to do it.

 

I usually get very good service there, so I didn't press the issue further. I'll just try again next time I'm there and hopefully get someone more knowledgeable.

[skatewash]

19 minutes ago, nrasmussen said:

 

I tried to follow your advice and get my TIN registered at my bank, so I presented my TIN card at my local Bangkok Bank branch.

 

However, after a few minutes of keyboard typing and staring at the computer screen, I was told that it was not possible to register a TIN. Since, according to you, it is in fact possible, it obviously meant that she didn't know how to do it.

 

I usually get very good service there, so I didn't press the issue further. I'll just try again next time I'm there and hopefully get someone more knowledgeable.

When I did what you are doing at my Bangkok Bank branch it was necessary for them to open a new account with my TIN and close the old account which did not have a TIN.  I don't know if that's what they have to do but it's what they did.

[nrasmussen]

10 minutes ago, skatewash said:

When I did what you are doing at my Bangkok Bank branch it was necessary for them to open a new account with my TIN and close the old account which did not have a TIN.  I don't know if that's what they have to do but it's what they did.

 

Interesting. Thanks.

[clivebaxter]

1 hour ago, skatewash said:

When I did what you are doing at my Bangkok Bank branch it was necessary for them to open a new account with my TIN and close the old account which did not have a TIN.  I don't know if that's what they have to do but it's what they did.

I was told the tax refund could only come via KrungThai bank, the one with the long lines, so opened an account with them. Woman from Tax office never rang back about missing passport copies. Rang back and said it was not her responsibility, passed us onto another office which does amin the refunds and sent them pics of passport, we live in hop, oh claimed they sent us a letter, which mysteriously never arrived. 

[skatewash]

1 hour ago, clivebaxter said:

I was told the tax refund could only come via KrungThai bank, the one with the long lines, so opened an account with them. Woman from Tax office never rang back about missing passport copies. Rang back and said it was not her responsibility, passed us onto another office which does amin the refunds and sent them pics of passport, we live in hop, oh claimed they sent us a letter, which mysteriously never arrived. 

When it arrives you will get a refund letter from the revenue department.  ???? You can take that letter to a KrungThai bank (along with your Tax ID card, which strangely used to be called a yellow card but is now white, and your passport) and they will give you an e-Money card which looks very much like an ATM/Debit card and will contain the amount of your refund as its balance.  This card can be taken to a KrungThai ATM (only) and first thing you need to do is change the PIN number (from the easy to remember temporary PIN they will tell you).  Then you can withdraw all the money from the card.  You can change the language to English on the ATM like all ATMs, so no problem navigating around from screen to screen.

Keep the card for next year, even though if you withdraw everything it will have a zero balance.  I believe it remains valid for five years, even with a zero balance.  When you go to claim your refund next year bring the card to KrungThai bank with you and they will load it with your refund.  This way you won't have to go through the PIN number changing operation again.

One clever thing they will let you do, if they don't suggest it you can suggest it yourself, is to give them cash money to round up the e-Money card to the nearest 100 baht.  Purpose of this exercise is that the ATM will only dispense a withdrawal to the nearest 100 baht.  So this little exercise will let you get all the money out of the e-Money card.  For example, if your refund is 1,860 baht, you give them 40 baht and the new balance will be 1,900 which you will be able to withdraw from the ATM, rather than leaving 60 baht sit in the account.

It's not terrible once you know how it works but there are two alternatives.

If you have PromptPay set up with your Tax ID (I think you might need a work permit to have this work), then you can have the refund paid to your account via PromptPay.  I have PromptPay but not associated with my Tax ID so it doesn't work for me.

The last alternative is opening a KrungThai bank account and you can have the refund paid into the account next year if you are due a refund.

Boy, it sure used to be easy when they just sent a refund check. ????

The 

[shortstop2]

8 hours ago, nrasmussen said:

I was told that it was not possible to register a TIN.

 

At my Bangkok Bank branch they associated the TIN with an existing account sometime in 2019.   I just showed them a printout of the number. This was also done at Kasikorn. At Krungsri they needed to see the card itself as I had misplaced the card.

 

I don't think this policy has changed at Bangkok Bank as I opened a new account for Social Security a couple months ago and they took my TIN info.  I'll know for sure at the end of June when I receive interest and see if anything is withheld.

 

But if the employee doesn't know how to properly code the account so nothing is withheld that's a problem.  

 

 

Edited May 24, 2021 by shortstop2

[shortstop2]

4 hours ago, skatewash said:

One clever thing they will let you do, if they don't suggest it you can suggest it yourself, is to give them cash money to round up the e-Money card to the nearest 100 baht. 

 

They suggested it to me.   But can't find my card unless perhaps the machine kept my zero balance card.

[cpillow]

What did you had to show as proof of residency? I'm actually not long term on a condo but jumping through hotels monthly or so, I just got the paper from the bank with my withhold taxes from previous year and planning to go to a random revenue office this week to get my TIN. Would a TM30 stamped from immigration or so suffice?

[skatewash]

4 minutes ago, cpillow said:

What did you had to show as proof of residency? I'm actually not long term on a condo but jumping through hotels monthly or so, I just got the paper from the bank with my withhold taxes from previous year and planning to go to a random revenue office this week to get my TIN. Would a TM30 stamped from immigration or so suffice?

I would try the revenue department first and see what they need.  A TM-30 might be sufficient, or they may ask for a Certificate of Residence from immigration.

[collingwood]

How and where to apply for a Tax Identification Number, Any special requirements to meet. Do I require a TIN for claiming back bank fixed interest ? Up Ubon area, sent the missus to the local joint and they told her It can't be claimed.

[cpillow]

17 hours ago, collingwood said:

How and where to apply for a Tax Identification Number, Any special requirements to meet. Do I require a TIN for claiming back bank fixed interest ? Up Ubon area, sent the missus to the local joint and they told her It can't be claimed.

 

I successfully applied and got my Tax ID a few days ago, in Bangkok. I just had to show them some justification of why I need a Tax ID, in my case I told them last year I was here more than 6 months ( despite being on a Tourist visa ) and that the bank withhold taxes over my capital interest so I'd like to get them refunded.  I just showed them the paper from the bank (this took 2 weeks for the bank to "prepare the specific document" that shows tax witheld ), and that was it.

 

The lady made some copies of my passport, gave me a paper with my name, tax ID, and some signatures and stamps, and asked me to registry online in 2-3 days as they need time to enter the data in the system before I can ask for the refund or file anything.

[cpillow]

On 5/27/2021 at 11:15 AM, skatewash said:

I would try the revenue department first and see what they need.  A TM-30 might be sufficient, or they may ask for a Certificate of Residence from immigration.

 

As an update, finally they did not ask for anything residence-related, just asked for my current address and a phone number. I guess this varies wildly depending of the bureaucrat ¯\_(ツ)_/¯