Repatriation of property sales proceeds

[pj123]

I am considering purchasing a house via a company. Purchase price will be about 10,000,000 THB. Funds will come from the UK. When I come to sell the house will there be any problems sending the sales proceeds back to the UK?

[marin]

I would deal with buying it first. That alone can be a minefield here, even with having a Thai wife.

[scubascuba3]

Do you understand the costs and taxes with the illegal company route?

[kwonitoy]

Not at present.

Take taxes paid form from the sale of the house as provided by the land office, to the bank and you will be able to  transfer that amount out of Thailand

[jcmj]

As long as you have the proof a TT3 of sending the money here you can easily send that money back. If you end up selling and making a profit, it will be a bit more difficult as you only officially own 49%, but you can still find a way to get the funds back to your home country. 

[JBChiangRai]

2 hours ago, jcmj said:

As long as you have the proof a TT3 of sending the money here you can easily send that money back. If you end up selling and making a profit, it will be a bit more difficult as you only officially own 49%, but you can still find a way to get the funds back to your home country. 

Getting a Tor Tor Sam (TT3) can be problematic, you need to declare on your transfer to Thailand the reason for the transfer.  You can't declare "Buying a house" for obvious reasons, you can declare "Buying a Condominium" though the bank may ask to see a contract which shouldn't proof too difficult....  Reason given as buying a condo, will get you your TT3 but only if you request it at the receiving bank.

 

In any event, providing you don't close your bank account and keep a record of the initial transfer, you can ask the bank at any time in the future to return that money to the UK with or without a TT3.

 

A note on company ownership of property.  It is not illegal for a foreigner controlled company to own house(s)/land, BUT, if the purpose of your company is to facilitate illegal ownership of house & land by a foreigner, then it is illegal.  Your company has to have another primary trading activity where ownership of the house/land is a necessary part of delivering that activity.  In the highly unlikely event of being investigated, they have to prove your intention was to find a way around the land ownership law.  There are ways, so put your thinking cap on.

 

 

 

[bradiston]

21 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

Getting a Tor Tor Sam (TT3) can be problematic, you need to declare on your transfer to Thailand the reason for the transfer.  You can't declare "Buying a house" for obvious reasons, you can declare "Buying a Condominium" though the bank may ask to see a contract which shouldn't proof too difficult....  Reason given as buying a condo, will get you your TT3 but only if you request it at the receiving bank.

 

In any event, providing you don't close your bank account and keep a record of the initial transfer, you can ask the bank at any time in the future to return that money to the UK with or without a TT3.

 

A note on company ownership of property.  It is not illegal for a foreigner controlled company to own house(s)/land, BUT, if the purpose of your company is to facilitate illegal ownership of house & land by a foreigner, then it is illegal.  Your company has to have another primary trading activity where ownership of the house/land is a necessary part of delivering that activity.  In the highly unlikely event of being investigated, they have to prove your intention was to find a way around the land ownership law.  There are ways, so put your thinking cap on.

 

 

 

A foreigner can own a house, but not the land it's built on.

[JBChiangRai]

32 minutes ago, bradiston said:

A foreigner can own a house, but not the land it's built on.

Correct.

 

A company can own the land.  Almost all companies here do it illegally.

 

[bradiston]

3 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

Correct.

 

A company can own the land.  Almost all companies here do it illegally.

 

Yes. In Philippines they have the "Anti-Dummy Law" that outlaws any attempts to circumvent existing land laws.

 

https://attorney.org.ph/legal-news/252-the-philippine-anti-dummy-law#:~:text=The Anti-Dummy Law is,not allowed under Philippine law.

[JBChiangRai]

2 minutes ago, bradiston said:

Yes. In Philippines they have the "Anti-Dummy Law" that outlaws any attempts to circumvent existing land laws.

 

https://attorney.org.ph/legal-news/252-the-philippine-anti-dummy-law#:~:text=The Anti-Dummy Law is,not allowed under Philippine law.

It's all down to what yout intention is here in Thailand.

 

 

[keithkarmann]

If you go that way, do not in anyway have a Thai lady involved. 

[khunPer]

21 hours ago, pj123 said:

When I come to sell the house will there be any problems sending the sales proceeds back to the UK?

The sales proceeds belongs to the company that owns the house. Taxes at Land Office shall be paid first. Then you can take funds out of the company as dividends to shareholders of which tax shall be withheld. The payout to your shares is yours; don't forget that you can only own 49 percent. There is a limit of how much you can transfer out of Thailand without declaration. It's normally advised to keep the incoming transfer's declaration from Bank Of Thailand – state for example investment or "buying a house" – as you will be eligible to transfer similar amount out of Thailand.

 

A better way might be to lend the company part of the sum for buying property and be eligible for being paid back upon sale of property. You can have the loan declared as a servitude. If you are paid interest on the loan, the interest is taxable in Thailand. The sales proceeds exceeding the loan value however still belongs to the company that owns the house.

[khunPer]

6 hours ago, JBChiangRai said:

You can't declare "Buying a house" for obvious reasons...

Yes you can – a foreigner can own a house, I own my house – but you cannot declare buying house & land, as you cannot own the land under the house, if you haven't entered on a 40 million baht investor visa. If you however state "buying property", it can both be condominium and house...