I heard that interest income from fixed deposits is subject to a 15% withholding tax but the first 20,000 baht of the income is exempted.

I have a few questions.

1) Does it mean that the maximum tax return I can get is 3000 baht per year (15% of 20000 baht)?

2) Is it possible to return paid tax on interest from a savings account? Or from a fixed account only?
3) For how many years is it possible to return paid tax?

Edited December 2, 20223 yr by 338den

It seems the default is for the banks to withhold tax on all interest bearing accounts opened by non-Thai persons.

 

There are two avenues open to stop or limit the withholding of taxes from your interest payments.  If you get a yellow tabien baan book you can then get a pink ID card that is issued to foreigners.  You can skip the yellow book/ID card and just go to a Revenue Department office with the required documents and get a Thai tax ID.  With either the pink ID card or the tax ID you can then go to your banks and ask them to stop withholding tax from the interest earned.  I have heard that once you have earned 20K ฿ in interest they will resume withholding the 15% for taxes.  I believe that the banks will still withhold 15% from ALL interest on fixed deposit accounts.

 

To get a refund of any of the money withheld you will have to file a Thai tax return.  I'm not sure how many years you can go back to claim a refund of taxes withheld.

 

If interest is your only taxable income earned in Thailand, you will most likely get all the tax withheld refunded because in addition to the 20K ฿ exemption there are other deductions that will further reduce your taxable income.