Hi everyone,

 

Just looking for some advice from long term expats…

I’m stuck in Australia at present because of COVID.

I want to send a large sum to my partner in Chiang Mai….maybe a million at the moment.

My partner works full time but with a low wage…maybe 12,000 a month…so no tax.

 

My question is:  Is there a possibility this money transfer will create problems…?

Particularly tax problems for them…?

 

Any experience greatly appreciated…
 

Thanks…

As of 2016 there is a gift tax....technically...but I'm not sure that they would ever go after someone. The bigger problem is likely to be a large lump sum will be subject to abuse...perhaps from recipient or even from others around them. I would consider a monthly smaller sum as a supplement instead. Less risk for both running afoul of the tax code and for temptation.

From my experience there should not be any problems with sending such amount in intervals, i have sent couple of millions of baht and no issues...

No problem.. have sent more than this...

I agree with the others. I'm in the same position as you unfortunately. I've sent 2m to finish the new house we had started as well as a monthly top ups for her salary. No problems. BTW I use Wise for the transfers. Quick, reliable and good exchange rate. GL

I mentioned Remitly recently after no fee and good exchange, however the 2nd had fees and lower exchange. I'll give wise a try as suggested here.

For 16 years I've been transferring monies regularly, via Westpac on line, no problems

monito.com will compare several money transfer services.  Remitly rate is deceiving because they don't take anything off the top of the exchange for your first transaction.  Their exchange rate is considerably lower than wise.com for subsequent transactions, but still better than western union.

 

After recently looking into this myself I concluded that wise.com is probably the best for bank to bank transactions where it is going to an exising bank account.  They don't do cash pickup service.  Remitly is probably best for cash pickup since their rate is better than western union.

Thank you all for the replies….grateful to hear the experience..

This ‘gift tax’ that was mentioned hasn’t cropped up at all with anybody…..?

 

I use Transferwise (now Wise) from Australia, and paid with Commbank And Citibank, no issues. If you transfer a large amount you may have the transfer delayed a bit, and you may need to provide extra info for money laundering checks.

I transfer money internationally to my Bangkok bank account, and then use iBanking to transfer internally (usually small amounts).

Remitly regardless of rates and exchange, transfer within minutes. As they say convenience costs. WU will do same day if done early. If days is ok up to 3 days higher rates and lower fees. See add for deemoney will check.