Interest withholding tax

[gamb00ler]

35 minutes ago, skatewash said:

I can only speculate why they said it cannot be done.  Maybe they misunderstood the guidance from the Thai Revenue Department, maybe they don't know how to do it in the SCB computer system, maybe it can't be done in the SCB computer systems.  I don't know.  But as I have an alternative I will take no for an answer and use the alternative.

Ask your SCB branch to call me.  I will give them my account number.  Hopefully they can use my account as example so they can then correctly set up your account.  I opened my account in Aug. '21 and now two interest payments have been received with NO tax withheld.  I can send you my phone # in a private message if you decide to give this method a shot.

[peterfranks]

1 minute ago, gamb00ler said:

Ask your SCB branch to call me.  I will give them my account number.  Hopefully they can use my account as example so they can then correctly set up your account.  I opened my account in Aug. '21 and now two interest payments have been received with NO tax withheld.  I can send you my phone # in a private message if you decide to give this method a shot.

Maybe you can tell us which branch did it for you, as they obviously know how to do it.

 

 

[gamb00ler]

15 minutes ago, peterfranks said:

Maybe you can tell us which branch did it for you, as they obviously know how to do it.

The branch is in Chiang Mai at the Big C North-East of the intersection between Routes 1141 and 11.  The phone number may be 053851613.  I found that phone number using Google maps so I'm unsure how accurate it will be.

 

https://goo.gl/maps/XZjC54qnWKS7rw9z5

 

Edited July 20, 2022 by gamb00ler

[peterfranks]

Just now, gamb00ler said:

The branch is in Chiang Mai at the Big C North-East of the intersection between Routes 1141 and 11.

 

https://goo.gl/maps/XZjC54qnWKS7rw9z5

 

Thanks, unfortunately not good for me, since I'm in Pattaya.

 

If it was a branch in or near Pattaya, I would have just moved my account to there.

 

Thanks anyway.

[walailak]

22 minutes ago, gamb00ler said:

Ask your SCB branch to call me.  I will give them my account number.  Hopefully they can use my account as example so they can then correctly set up your account.  I opened my account in Aug. '21 and now two interest payments have been received with NO tax withheld.  I can send you my phone # in a private message if you decide to give this method a shot.

Did you open the account using passport or pink id? 

Were you given the chance to provide your tax id at the opening of the account? 

Thanks

Edited July 20, 2022 by walailak
????

[gamb00ler]

3 minutes ago, walailak said:

Did you open the account using passport or pink id? 

Were you given the chance to provide your tax id at the opening of the account? 

Thanks

From earlier in the thread:

If you're in CM, try going to the branch where I opened my SCB EZ savings account.

The branch is in the BigC at Donchan, just North of the intersection of route 1141 and the superhighway.

On my first visit they were having trouble opening the EZ account.  I asked them if it would work better if I had a Thai tax ID and they said yes.  A couple of days later I got my tax ID and went back to that branch and got the EZ account opened.  I have never had tax deducted from the interest paid on that account. 

 

On the first visit, I provided only passport, Thai license and an expired Residence Certificate from CM Imm.   For the 2nd visit I added my Thai tax ID card.

[DrJoy]

This is from SCBs site -

 

Interest payment :Twice a year: Every 25th June and 25th December.

 

For individual customers, withholding tax at a rate of 15% is applicable to total savings interest receivables at all banks over 20,000 baht per year, or interest not meeting the requirements of savings interest tax waiver as specified by the Revenue Department.

 

For juristic person customers, withholding tax is applicable by type of juristic person.

 

 

https://www.scb.co.th/content/dam/scb/personal-banking/product-sales-sheet/deposits/jad-tem-account-en.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mike Teavee]

What is the process for reclaiming the withheld tax?

 

I've never bothered before, but 1 of my UK Banks is making noises about being registered somewhere for tax so I finally got around to doing it a couple of weeks back so might as well try to reclaim the tax I was paid in June (Bangkok Bank normal Savings account). 

 

Do I reclaim the tax I've paid now or do I wait until January & reclaim the tax that I've paid in June & December (I got the impression from the girl at the revenue office that I needed to wait until January then had until the end of March to reclaim all tax paid)? 

 

From this thread I've learnt that I should go into the Bangkok Bank to get my Thai TaxID registered which might mean that I only need to reclaim the tax paid in June.  

 

As an aside, I've taken a large chunk of the money I had in my Savings account & put it into a 6 month fixed term deposit account, does this change what tax is likely to be withheld in anyway?   

 

Thanks

 

 

Edited July 20, 2022 by Mike Teavee

[skatewash]

3 minutes ago, Mike Teavee said:

What is the process for reclaiming the withheld tax?

 

I've never bothered before, but 1 of my UK Banks is making noises about being registered somewhere for tax so I finally got around to doing it a couple of weeks back so might as well try to reclaim the tax I was paid in June (Bangkok Bank normal Savings account). 

 

Do I reclaim the tax I've paid now or do I wait until January & reclaim the tax that I've paid in June & December (I got the impression from the girl at the revenue office that I needed to wait until January then had until the end of March to reclaim all tax paid)? 

 

From this thread I've learnt that I should go into the Bangkok Bank to get my Thai TaxID registered which might mean that I only need to reclaim the tax paid in June.  

 

As an aside, I've taken a large chunk of the money I had in my Savings account & put it into a 6 month fixed term deposit account, does this change what tax is likely to be withheld in anyway?   

 

Thanks

 

 

You can begin as early as January.  Obtain tax withholding documents from your Thai banks that have withheld tax on your interest earned.  With these documents and your Thai Tax ID card go to your local Thai revenue Department and ask to file your Thai Income Tax Return, a PND-90 in order to reclaim the tax withheld.  Having the tax withheld documents from your bank goes a very long way in explaining why you are at the revenue department.  The documents sort of speak for themselves, you needn't be worried that they won't understand why you're there even though English may not be spoken understood widely.  They will likely help you fill it out (only a few entries needed to report your tax withheld on interest) or they might even do it for you.  Retain a copy and use as a template for filing next year's return.  File the return with the revenue department.  In 3-6 weeks you will receive by mail a refund check that you can deposit into your bank account.  Note: filing can be done year-round but if you file outside the normal period (January to end of March) you may have to pay a very nominal penalty fee.

Once you get comfortable with filing your tax return you can do it yourself online (no visit to revenue department) but you will likely need to use Google Translate machine translation from Thai to English available in the Chrome browser, and maybe even the Google Lens app on your phone to translate the buttons from Thai into English.  It's a bit like doing a crossword or Sudoku puzzle.  It's not for everyone.  Patience is required.  Again, assuming you are not able to read Thai.  The process after filing online is the same, wait 3-6 weeks for your check to arrive.

The register your Thai Tax ID account number with your Thai banks thing only works for "regular" savings accounts only, does not work for fixed term accounts (in these withholding is mandatory and cannot be waived).  However, all tax withheld can be reclaimed (assuming you are below the minimum income under which no tax is due and if you have only interest from savings this is likely the case).

[livram]

Last month Krungsri deducted tax first time, never got a chance to go to bank to correct or find out the problem. But just checked and NO TAX deducted end of July.

[peterfranks]

13 minutes ago, livram said:

Last month Krungsri deducted tax first time, never got a chance to go to bank to correct or find out the problem. But just checked and NO TAX deducted end of July.

Reading your post encouraged me to check my Krungsri account.

 

As mentioned earlier in this thread, I had no tax deducted for the first 5 months, but tax was deducted for the month of June.

 

I complained to my branch, and of course they had no idea why, and had all possible excuses, so I threatened closing my account.

 

So I decided to wait until this month to see if they corrected it.

 

This month tax was deducted for the previous 5 months and the month of July.

 

The tax deduction was the exact same amount as the interest for this month.

[DrJoy]

25 minutes ago, peterfranks said:

and had all possible excuses

Whats the excuse this time?

[peterfranks]

1 minute ago, DrJoy said:

Whats the excuse this time?

Don't know, just checked in the app 30 minutes ago

[userabcd]

Funnily I have the opposite problem with Krungsri.

 

They are not taking tax on the interest paid on my account.

 

Tried several times during in person branch visits over the last 3 years to ask them to deduct the tax, they continue to pay interest gross without deducting any tax.

Edited July 31, 2022 by userabcd

[peterfranks]

Actually we shouldn't care about, because technically it is only 3000 baht total you can get refunded each year, which is peanuts of course, but then again they also pay peanuts for interest.

 

Tomorrow my Krungsri account will be history for sure, and I plan to close a few other accounts as well, and just leave 800K in one account.

 

The interest we receive isn't worth the risk imo, as I think there are quite a few banks in bad papers, and everything over 1 million is not guaranteed.

 

Even the 1 million I want to see when it gets refunded to a foreigner, if the unexpected happens.

 

[DrJoy]

1 hour ago, peterfranks said:

Actually we shouldn't care about, because technically it is only 3000 baht total you can get refunded each year, which is peanuts of course, but then again they also pay peanuts for interest.

 

Tomorrow my Krungsri account will be history for sure, and I plan to close a few other accounts as well, and just leave 800K in one account.

 

The interest we receive isn't worth the risk imo, as I think there are quite a few banks in bad papers, and everything over 1 million is not guaranteed.

 

Even the 1 million I want to see when it gets refunded to a foreigner, if the unexpected happens.

 

There is no such thing as customer service in LOS.

They dont give a <deleted> if you close your account.

 

 

[shortstop2]

On 7/4/2022 at 7:20 PM, gamb00ler said:

Be polite but persistent and you should prevail. 

I don't think any of my banks got it right on my first try but now I don't have anymore withholding.  Persistence worked in my case.  I did prevail!

 

Part of the problem is that there is no easy way to check if withholding has stopped until you next receive interest which on some accounts is just twice a year.

 

I'm not sure if certain banks are easier than others.  It seems to depend on the employee. Showing the employee what you want on Google Translate can also help in coem cases.

[shortstop2]

On 7/17/2022 at 5:39 PM, skatewash said:

waiving the tax withheld on interest seems to work for Bangkok Bank and Krungsri Bank, but not SCB.

Keep trying Skatewash as SCB is no longer withholding tax in my EZ Savings.  I opened the account at the Central Festival Branch and the bank rep said tax will be deducted. I tried again 6 months later and found a rep who now how to do it at the same branch.

[shortstop2]

On 7/20/2022 at 4:06 PM, skatewash said:

I was hoping that since Krungsri Bank's Mee Tae Dai savings account was considered a regular savings account that the SCB EZ Savings would be as well.  It might not be.  I use the Krungsri Bank account for my retirement extension 800k baht.

Guys have reported that Immigration accepted the EZ Savings for the 800K.   But like you I still use my Krungsri to be on the safe side.

[DrJoy]

On 8/5/2022 at 4:58 AM, shortstop2 said:

I don't think any of my banks got it right on my first try but now I don't have anymore withholding.  Persistence worked in my case.  I did prevail!

 

Part of the problem is that there is no easy way to check if withholding has stopped until you next receive interest which on some accounts is just twice a year.

 

I'm not sure if certain banks are easier than others.  It seems to depend on the employee. Showing the employee what you want on Google Translate can also help in coem cases.

Congratulations !

[DrJoy]

On 8/5/2022 at 6:37 AM, shortstop2 said:

Guys have reported that Immigration accepted the EZ Savings for the 800K.   But like you I still use my Krungsri to be on the safe side.

Used SCB EZ already for Thai wife based extension at CW. No issues.

[DrJoy]

On 7/31/2022 at 10:27 PM, peterfranks said:

Actually we shouldn't care about, because technically it is only 3000 baht total you can get refunded each year, which is peanuts of course, but then again they also pay peanuts for interest.

 

Tomorrow my Krungsri account will be history for sure, and I plan to close a few other accounts as well, and just leave 800K in one account.

 

The interest we receive isn't worth the risk imo, as I think there are quite a few banks in bad papers, and everything over 1 million is not guaranteed.

 

Even the 1 million I want to see when it gets refunded to a foreigner, if the unexpected happens.

 

Whats the update peter? Did you close krungsri?

[peterfranks]

16 minutes ago, DrJoy said:

Whats the update peter? Did you close krungsri?

I didn't close the account yet, as I don't know where to place the money.

 

What they did is backdate the withholding tax from the first 5 months when they didn't deduct, and deduct it all in one go from the July interest.

 

I have Kasikorn, SCB and UOB accounts , and they also deduct the tax, so that is no alternative.

 

Had Bangkok bank before, and they also said they couldn't do, although that was a term deposit, so I may check them out again in a different branch

 

Don't think there is much I can do other than learn to live with it, after all, legally the maximum refund you can get in 1 year is 3000 baht.

 

Every account I have will earn more than 20K interest.

 

I have such a feeling that the revenue department has discovered that I have too many accounts, and informed the banks that they have to deduct, to prevent the farang gets a windfall when every bank doesn't tax the first 20K interest.

 

 

[gamb00ler]

2 hours ago, peterfranks said:

Don't think there is much I can do other than learn to live with it, after all, legally the maximum refund you can get in 1 year is 3000 baht.

I don't think that is accurate.  Certainly you are limited to 3000฿ if the exemption for the first 20K in interest is the only exemption/deduction for which you are eligible.  However, they are many other deductions that can be applied against the interest income that exceeds that 20K limit.

[peterfranks]

3 minutes ago, gamb00ler said:

However, they are many other deductions that can be applied against the interest income that exceeds that 20K limit.

I'm all ears.

 

Please note, I'm on retirement visa, so no work income

[gamb00ler]

@peterfranks

https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/thailand/individual/deductions#:~:text=Personal allowances,born in or after 2018.

[DrJoy]

10 minutes ago, gamb00ler said:

@peterfranks

https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/thailand/individual/deductions#:~:text=Personal allowances,born in or after 2018.

Those deductions are mostly for working professionals.

Peter is on a retirement visa.

[DrJoy]

3 hours ago, peterfranks said:

I don't know where to place the money.

 

You dont own bank accounts in your country?

[peterfranks]

8 minutes ago, DrJoy said:

You dont own bank accounts in your country?

I guess you are joking.

 

Why would I want to lose tens of Thousands of baht to send back to Europe, and get 0.3%?

[gamb00ler]

29 minutes ago, DrJoy said:

Those deductions are mostly for working professionals.

Peter is on a retirement visa.

I don't see in the webpage I provided that those deductions are restricted to wages/earned income.  The document mostly states that "taxpayers" are eligible for most of those deductions.  Only the very first deduction (Employment Expenses) listed on that page is restricted to wages/earned income.  If @peterfranks has paid or accrued taxes on his interest income is he not a taxpayer?

 

I see that they call some of the reductions in taxable income deductions and some are called allowances.  The deductions are primarily against wages but the allowances are for anyone to use.  So Peter would be eligible for 60K personal allowance and his health and life insurance premium up to 100K and charitable donations.

 

Horses mouth: https://www.rd.go.th/english/6045.html

Edited August 6, 2022 by gamb00ler