LTR Visa is Now available for Long Term Residency

[SHA 2 BKK]

4 hours ago, tomm12 said:

Are we as LTR holders required to file a Thai income tax return?

 

Regards,

I really don't know. 

 

But as I have the Wealthy Pensioner LTV and my only income comes from outside Thailand,  I bring this in the year after it us earned,  and according to Royal Decree 743 that income is Tax Exempt - my thinking is no.   I doubt the Thai RD want a return where no tax is due (and I doubt there is a form to return as such).

 

No assessable income - no Thai Income Tax Return.  And that seems to be the gist on the other tax threads where other Visa holders have asked similar.   

 

I have asked the BOI but was told that the RD will clarify matters - that was some months ago.

 

Highly Skilled LTR Visa holders will have to lodge to claim their 17% - but that is income in Thailand and there is a special lodgement form for that.

[JimGant]

33 minutes ago, SHA 2 BKK said:

But as I have the Wealthy Pensioner LTV and my only income comes from outside Thailand,  I bring this in the year after it us earned,  and according to Royal Decree 743 that income is Tax Exempt - my thinking is no.   I doubt the Thai RD want a return where no tax is due (and I doubt there is a form to return as such).

 

Indeed. In effect, we've been grandfathered under the old rule, namely: Bring your assessable income into Thailand in the year, or years, after it is earned, and it is then not taxable. So, if that is what you have been doing, nothing has changed for you.

 

Quote

Foreigners granted the LTR Visa in the categories of “Wealth Global Citizen”, “Wealthy Pensioner”, and “Work from Thailand Professional” will be exempted from paying personal income tax on their assessable income derived in the previous tax year from their work or business conducted abroad or from their properties situated abroad which have been brought into Thailand.

https://www.legal500.com/developments/press-releases/income-tax-for-foreigners-with-and-without-long-term-resident-visa/

 

[SHA 2 BKK]

10 minutes ago, JimGant said:

 

Indeed. In effect, we've been grandfathered under the old rule, namely: Bring your assessable income into Thailand in the year, or years, after it is earned, and it is then not taxable. So, if that is what you have been doing, nothing has changed for you.

 

 

Thanks Jim - have a good day mate.

[Ben Zioner]

4 hours ago, JimGant said:

Indeed. In effect, we've been grandfathered under the old rule, namely: Bring your assessable income into Thailand in the year, or years, after it is earned, and it is then not taxable. So, if that is what you have been doing, nothing has changed for you.

Are you sure? I have been cautious and kept seasoning my income, but I am not certain seasoning is required. As per RD 743.

[oldcpu]

11 hours ago, tomm12 said:

Are we as LTR holders required to file a Thai income tax return?

 

 

I believe a Thai income tax return is DEFINITELY required by a foreigner with an LTR Visa if they have a Thai sourced income over a certain amount ( 120,000 THB income/year ?? < unsure > ) .  An LTR visa does not exempt one from paying tax on Thai sourced income.

 

I think thou, with the updated tax situation, we all are wondering if LTR visa holder (whose local sourced Thai income is less than 120,000 THB) will be required to file a return if their foreign sourced income is > 120,000 THB, even if not taxable per Royal Decree.

 

I suspect we all will need to wait for further guidance from the Thai Revenue Department.

 

Edited January 9 by oldcpu

[JimGant]

1 hour ago, Ben Zioner said:

Are you sure? I have been cautious and kept seasoning my income, but I am not certain seasoning is required. As per RD 743.

 

Another source says the same thing:

 

Quote

The exemption applies to income of the previous tax year arising from a post or business carried on abroad or arising from assets located abroad , that has been brought into Thailand.

https://www.hlbthai.com/tax-benefits-for-long-term-resident-ltr-visa-holders/

 

But, yeah, I've seen other comments to the contrary. But, all my remittances are non assessable (govt pensions, social security) -- or in one small situation, definitely remitted in a later year -- so I'm really not on top of this.

[JimGant]

27 minutes ago, oldcpu said:

I think thou, with the updated tax situation, we all are wondering if LTR visa holder (whose local sourced Thai income is less than 120,000 THB) will be required to file a return if their foreign sourced income is > 120,000 THB, even if not taxable per Royal Decree.

 

If you remitt it in a later year than earned, Royal Decree says, essentially, that it is NOT Assessable Income. And the RD says, you don't have to file a tax return if you have no Assessable Income, or your Assessable Income is below 120000, like if you had some Thai bank interest. Ergo, no requirement to file a Thai tax return. IMO

Edited January 9 by JimGant

[Ben Zioner]

18 minutes ago, JimGant said:

 

Another source says the same thing:

 

 

But, yeah, I've seen other comments to the contrary. But, all my remittances are non assessable (govt pensions, social security) -- or in one small situation, definitely remitted in a later year -- so I'm really not on top of this.

Thanks, I'll keep buffering at least until things get clarified.

[JimGant]

Has anybody done their one year report by mail? If so, can you describe the procedure -- and did you need to provide a return envelope to get your "due next year" reminder, which, I guess, doubles as a receipt of report, to staple in your passport? Thanx.

[tomm12]

 Thank you for all of the replies. The only income I have in Thailand is the interest I earn from my savings account with BKK Bank. They take the taxes from my earned interest automatically. All of my other income is earned outside of Thailand.

 So hopefully a return will not be required as per the above replies.

 

Regards,

[SHA 2 BKK]

15 hours ago, JimGant said:

Has anybody done their one year report by mail? If so, can you describe the procedure -- and did you need to provide a return envelope to get your "due next year" reminder, which, I guess, doubles as a receipt of report, to staple in your passport? Thanx.

Sorry Jim - my 365 day window keeps moving as I’m in and out regularly.   A few have done personal visits to Chamchuri Square and I recall reading someone did a report at an outside IMM Office.   

[Pib]

Below are LTR Visa applications snapshots as of end of 31 Dec 2023, 31 Oct 2023, and 31 Aug 2023 to give an idea of applications activity since the LTR Visa Program kickoff 1 Sep 2022...snapshots from the BoI LTR website that now seem to be in the groove of providing updates every month or two on their website. 

 

Averages out to 376 applications per month over the last 16 months...since the program's kickoff 1 Sep 2022.  Of course when the program initially opened the number of applications per month was probably much higher....that spike you see with any new program.  Now, if just looking at the last 4 months of 2023 the average was 294 applications per month.  Seems the LTR program is settling into a groove of appox 300 applications per month.  

 

Please note this is applications (applies); it does not say how many of the applications were endorsed (i.e., approved).   The Pensioner category is still the most popular closely followed by Work From Thailand Professional category.....Dependents category in third place.

 

Thru 31 Dec 2023

 

 

Thru 31 Oct 2023

 

 

Thru 31 Aug 2023

 

 

 

 

 

[TravelerEastWest]

On 1/9/2024 at 3:48 PM, JimGant said:

Has anybody done their one year report by mail? If so, can you describe the procedure -- and did you need to provide a return envelope to get your "due next year" reminder, which, I guess, doubles as a receipt of report, to staple in your passport? Thanx.

A friend did his report recently online...

[oldcpu]

On 1/9/2024 at 2:30 PM, JimGant said:

 

If you remitt it in a later year than earned, Royal Decree says, essentially, that it is NOT Assessable Income. And the RD says, you don't have to file a tax return if you have no Assessable Income, or your Assessable Income is below 120000, like if you had some Thai bank interest. Ergo, no requirement to file a Thai tax return. IMO

 

I read translations of the Royal Decree, and best I can read, no where does it clearly state that my income from outside of Thailand (as an LTR-WP), is not assessable income.  I do read its not taxable, but thats not the same thing.  Based on my reading, I can not conclude that only my interest from Thai investments is used in the 120,000 THB assessment for whether a Thailand tax return is required.

 

While I would like to infer such (no tax return if Thai investment less than 120,000 THB) , I also don't want to let my wishful thinking drive my assessment.

 

The translation I read (where I have a LTR-WP visa) from the Royal Decree states:

 

"Section 5 Income tax under Part 2 of Chapter 3 in Title 2 of the Revenue Code shall be exempted for a foreigner categorised as Wealthy Global Citizen, Wealthy Pensioner, or Work-from-Thailand Professional who is granted a Long-Term Resident Visa under immigration law for assessable income under section 40 of the Revenue Code derived in the previous tax year from an employment, or from business carried on abroad, or from a property situated abroad, and brought into Thailand."

 

I do not know what "part 2 of chapter 3 in Title 2 of the Revenue code is".  Is that the definition of assessable income? or is it something else?

 

If that is not the definition of 'assessable' income, then that suggests to me that while no income tax will be due, it does not suggest to me that no income tax return need be filed. 

 

I would be happy to be wrong on this.

 

Further there are also (and these are translated words) in the Royal Decree which state:

 

" In order to be granted exemption under paragraph one and two, the foreigner shall file a tax return reporting assessable income which is exempted from having to be included in computation of income tax. "

 

Does that refer to an LTR-WP ? I would like to think not, but the translation to English language is not clear to me.

 

For certain, that translation suggests for some of the LTR visa types, that an income tax return must be filed. Whether that applies to an LTR-WP is not something I can tell reading the Royal Decree translation ...

 

My hope is that this will become more clear as time goes by.

 

[Thailand J]

7 hours ago, oldcpu said:

" In order to be granted exemption under paragraph one and two, the foreigner shall file a tax return reporting assessable income which is exempted from having to be included in computation of income tax. "

 

Does that refer to an LTR-WP ? I would like to think not, but the translation to English language is not clear to me.

paragraph one and two of Section 4  RD 743 do not apply to my foreign income . There is no requirement to file income tax on my foreign income  exempted by Section 5 RD 743.

 

Edited January 10 by Thailand J

[JimGant]

13 hours ago, TravelerEastWest said:

A friend did his report recently online...

 

Can you provide further details on this, like the online link? Thanx.

[aublumberg]

20 hours ago, Pib said:

Below are LTR Visa applications snapshots as of end of 31 Dec 2023, 31 Oct 2023, and 31 Aug 2023 to give an idea of applications activity since the LTR Visa Program kickoff 1 Sep 2022...snapshots from the BoI LTR website that now seem to be in the groove of providing updates every month or two on their website. 

 

Averages out to 376 applications per month over the last 16 months...since the program's kickoff 1 Sep 2022.  Of course when the program initially opened the number of applications per month was probably much higher....that spike you see with any new program.  Now, if just looking at the last 4 months of 2023 the average was 294 applications per month.  Seems the LTR program is settling into a groove of appox 300 applications per month.  

 

Please note this is applications (applies); it does not say how many of the applications were endorsed (i.e., approved).   The Pensioner category is still the most popular closely followed by Work From Thailand Professional category.....Dependents category in third place.

 

Thanks for sharing the latest stats. I would have thought the tax exemption for remittances under LTR-T, LTR-WP and LTR-W would become a bigger draw, but perhaps that is yet to come.

 

So it looks like we're on target ;-)

 

"Thailand on Thursday (1 Sep 2022) started accepting applicants for its new Long Term Resident (LTR) visa scheme which hopes to attract 1 million wealthy or highly-skilled foreigners over the next 5 years and generate some 800 billion baht (S$30.5 billion) in new investments in the country."

 

 

[JimTripper]

There are so many regulations and requirements to keep up with it feels to me like I'm not even retired. I doubt this visa will change anything. The hassles seem built into the system.

[Pib]

1 hour ago, aublumberg said:

 

Thanks for sharing the latest stats. I would have thought the tax exemption for remittances under LTR-T, LTR-WP and LTR-W would become a bigger draw, but perhaps that is yet to come.

 

So it looks like we're on target ;-)

 

"Thailand on Thursday (1 Sep 2022) started accepting applicants for its new Long Term Resident (LTR) visa scheme which hopes to attract 1 million wealthy or highly-skilled foreigners over the next 5 years and generate some 800 billion baht (S$30.5 billion) in new investments in the country."

 

 

"Aspirational" projections with the 1M farangs signing up for LTR visas over 5 years.  Probably had a TAT rep pull the projection from his backside.

 

The LTR visa income requirements were set way too high to draw a million farangs.   

 

And the govt has most likely set the new Elite Visas prices way too high unless the govt has made a decision (which they will never admit publicly) that they want to limit Elite visas to the truly well-off/rich folks....what better way to do this than raise the Elite visa prices BIG TIME.

 

Thailand has way too high an opinion of itself regarding the number of farangs that want to retire/work here....the govt reads too many of those travel magazine surveys where Thailand always gets high ratings from tourists regarding the holiday/vacation they had in Thailand.   

 

 

[oldcpu]

6 hours ago, Thailand J said:

paragraph one and two of Section 4  RD 743 do not apply to my foreign income . There is no requirement to file income tax on my foreign income  exempted by Section 5 RD 743.

 

 

That's good.  

 

However the RD743 notes the LTR foreigner is exempt to pay "income tax" under "Section 5 - Part 2 of Chapter 3 of the Revenue Code".   It does not say "income tax return" is exempt.

 

So I dug up "Section 5 - Part 2 of Chapter 3 of the Revenue Code". Its long. Very long.

 

That Revenue code section does thou note income tax "returns" are required for specific incomes over certain amounts and as near as I can tell (where I am reading a translation)  it makes makes no distinction between local nor foreign income.  Again, we are talking about "tax return" submission requirements here.   So while clearly RD 743 exempts one from paying income tax on foreign income, it does not make it clear that a "tax return" is not required.  

 

This is VERY ambiguous to me.

 

My hope is a tax return is not required, but it is by no means clear to me at present.  I think with time it should become very clear.

Edited January 11 by oldcpu

[TravelerEastWest]

3 hours ago, JimGant said:

 

Can you provide further details on this, like the online link? Thanx.

I emailed my friend and asked for the form number - lets see what he reports...

[manon8]

Hello!

 

I am considering the wealthy global citizen visa. But there are two factors I would need to clarify before splurging 500k on a condo :)

 

- my current country does not issue tax returns. Can this be done with payslips/bank statements/contract?

- does rental income works towards the 80k?

 

Other than fellow forum members help, which of course is more than welcome! is there anywhere I can pay to get this info with 100% security?

 

Thanks in advance

[Pib]

16 minutes ago, manon8 said:

Hello!

 

I am considering the wealthy global citizen visa. But there are two factors I would need to clarify before splurging 500k on a condo :)

 

- my current country does not issue tax returns. Can this be done with payslips/bank statements/contract?

- does rental income works towards the 80k?

 

Other than fellow forum members help, which of course is more than welcome! is there anywhere I can pay to get this info with 100% security?

 

Thanks in advance

Best to contact BoI LTR at their website regarding the income proof/docs required.   Now days they usually reply within just a couple of business days....many times same day....use the Contact selection on their website to submit an inquiry/question.   Earlier on in the LTR program they could be slow to answer but now days they respond pretty fast (unless something has changed very recently).

 

Regarding not showing any tax returns because your current country does not issue tax returns and only using payslips/bank statements/contracts to prove income, you would need to ask BoI that question.   In this very long thread there are reports of successful applicants for various LTR visas who said they didn't need to provide any tax return(s)....they just provided a lot of other income proof like pay statements, benefit letters, rental income docs, etc.   

 

And be sure to specify what "current" country you are saying does not issue tax returns as BoI will know whether a country issues/requires a tax return or not....you don't want to sound like you are really trying to avoid providing your tax return(s) by not being upfront in identifying the country.

 

Rental income is an accepted form of income for a Wealthy Global Citizen LTR visa per the application form.

https://ltr.boi.go.th/documents/Wealthy-Global-Citizen.pdf

Regarding is there some where you can pay to get LTR info with 100% security...I guess you mean use a "visa agent"....maybe have a visa agent do the application with you in the background?   With the LTR program there are only four agencies (agents) that BoI LTR will work with regarding applications for an LTR visa....they are what is called the "Certified Agencies"....that is, certified by BoI to help process LTR applications for an applicant....they have contracts with BoI.   These four agencies will charge their own agent fee which is on-top of the govt BoI LTR Bt50K visa fee.  The BoI Certified Agencies are listed at this BoI LTR webpage: https://ltr.boi.go.th/page/ca.html

 

Lots of good/detailed info at the BoI LTR website especially under the "Application Process" menu.  Notice their main webpage even has a big red warning banner talking about agents who claim to be authorized LTR agencies.

https://ltr.boi.go.th/index.html

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[sometimewoodworker]

On 12/12/2023 at 8:06 PM, OneZero said:

Pib,

I downloaded the blank TM.95 form but am unable to fill /type information onto it. I don't know what I may be doing wrong.

Do you have any suggestions? 

You just have to use the correct software. There are many programs that allow you to do exactly what you want, this took a minute or two

[n00dle]

4 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

You just have to use the correct software

https://www.sejda.com/pdf-editor

[manon8]

Thanks a lot for your very detailed and helpful response.

 

I contacted BOI at the same time that I posted, and they replied to me in like 20 minutes! They confirmed rental income acceptable, and also that if country does not issue tax returns, payslips would do.

 

I just might hire one of those agents to make sure this works in practise.

 

Best regards

[n00dle]

On 12/12/2023 at 8:06 PM, OneZero said:

Pib,

I downloaded the blank TM.95 form but am unable to fill /type information onto it. I don't know what I may be doing wrong.

Do you have any suggestions? 

https://www.sejda.com/pdf-editor

[Ben Zioner]

3 hours ago, JimTripper said:

There are so many regulations and requirements to keep up with it feels to me like I'm not even retired. I doubt this visa will change anything. The hassles seem built into the system.

Seriously? I thought it was the easiest visa to get; showed my pension, showed my health insurance and got my letter of approval. The only extra was that immigration wanted the nod from my wife as I had to cancel my Thai wife extension. Really, it was like one hour on my computer and 90 minutes at Chamchuri. Didn't even need to report my address as I had a holiday abroad.

[Thailand J]

3 hours ago, oldcpu said:

However the RD743 notes the LTR foreigner is exempt to pay "income tax" under "Section 5 - Part 2 of Chapter 3 of the Revenue Code".   It does not say "income tax return" is exempt.

"Section 42 The assessable income of the following categories shall be exempt for the purpose of income tax calculation:"

SEction 42 is a list of nontaxable income, do not have to be  reported.

 

Section 5 of RD 743 exempts foreign income earned in the previous  year and remitted into Thailand.

This  foreign income became non-taxable income,the same as those listed in section 42 , in Part ii of Chapter 3 of the Revenue Code.

None of these non-taxable income needed to be included in your tax return if you had to file one for whatever reason. There is no line on tax form 90 or 91 for these non-taxable incomes and it's not correct to add them to taxable income.

My opinion.

 

 

 

[Pib]

3 hours ago, JimTripper said:

There are so many regulations and requirements to keep up with it feels to me like I'm not even retired. I doubt this visa will change anything. The hassles seem built into the system.

What regulations/requirements are you talking about?  After you get a 10 year LTR visa you only have an annual address reporting requirement for the 1st five years of the ten year visa.  Then you have the mid term/5 year renewal process which will probably be mostly a repeat of the initial application process to show you still meet income and health coverage requirements and the renewal will be fee-free. Then you are back to the annual address report for the remaining 5 years of the 10 year visa.