Digital nomads in Thailand

[LS24]

Are digital nomads / online consultants deemed to be working in Thailand if all their income is generated in and paid into banks in a country other than Thailand? I'm talking Elite visas, marriage visas or retirement visas. Would anyone foresee a legal issue arising for a digital nomad under those circumstances?

[DrJack54]

No problem.

Don't big noise it. 

[OneMoreFarang]

3 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

No problem.

Don't big noise it. 

I would say it a little different:

Likely it is no problem if not many people know about it and if you don't have anybody who wants to make trouble for you.

I am pretty sure working like that is not legal and there could be trouble - if people complain. 

[DrJack54]

1 minute ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I would say it a little different:

Likely it is no problem if not many people know about it and if you don't have anybody who wants to make trouble for you.

I am pretty sure working like that is not legal and there could be trouble - if people complain. 

Most ridiculous post I have read today.

I stated ...."don't big noise it"

The OP  had  clear specific question. 

Who will complain?? 

Nonsense 

[BritTim]

6 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I would say it a little different:

Likely it is no problem if not many people know about it and if you don't have anybody who wants to make trouble for you.

I am pretty sure working like that is not legal and there could be trouble - if people complain. 

Nobody can say with 100% assurance that there could never be a problem. After all, a perfectly innocent duplicate bridge club was raided in Pattaya a few years ago. However, it is vanishingly unlikely that anyone will make a fuss about someone earning money overseas while resident in Thailand. Even if there was a complaint, unless the person complaining was someone of influence, the officials would just ignore it.

[DrJack54]

OP, Just about all rubbish posts above.

You have zero issues with your plan.

Assuming that you will avoid public work spaces.

ZERO issues.

 

Bit off topic but some oil/gas workers work 30 on off off and use Extensions based on retirement with a multi reentry permit.

 

[indyo]

3 hours ago, LS24 said:

Are digital nomads / online consultants deemed to be working in Thailand if all their income is generated in and paid into banks in a country other than Thailand? I'm talking Elite visas, marriage visas or retirement visas. Would anyone foresee a legal issue arising for a digital nomad under those circumstances?

I guess it depends more on where you are and not where the money are and also on the law of the other country.

[JimTripper]

34 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Most ridiculous post I have read today.

I stated ...."don't big noise it"

The OP  had  clear specific question. 

Who will complain?? 

Nonsense 

Not necessarily. I’m asked pretty often what I do. Avoiding the question takes skill and practice.

 

Make sure to say nothing to real estate agents and landlords and anyone doing immigration reporting where there could be problems later with deposits, home repairs, whatever. They like to know about income when renting. Easy answer is you do nothing, you’re retired.

[Karma80]

Yes, performing the work while physically in Thailand makes it Thai sourced income for tax purposes, even though you are doing the the work for an overseas entity and being paid there. Do people do it anyway? Yes.

[DrJack54]

10 minutes ago, JimTripper said:

Not necessarily. I’m asked pretty often what I do. Avoiding the question takes skill and practice.

 

Make sure to say nothing to real estate agents and landlords and anyone doing immigration reporting. They like to know about income when renting. Easy answer is you do nothing, you’re retired.

Have another read of the OP between another  Leo.

You post zero addresses the OP question. 

[DrJack54]

4 minutes ago, Karma80 said:

Yes, performing the work while physically in Thailand makes it Thai sourced income for tax purposes, even though you are doing the the work for an overseas entity and being paid there. Do people do it anyway? Yes.

So incorrect on every level pointless to correct. 

The OP was asking about online work. 

Read the the OP

[save the frogs]

47 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I would say it a little different:

Likely it is no problem if not many people know about it and if you don't have anybody who wants to make trouble for you.

I am pretty sure working like that is not legal and there could be trouble - if people complain. 

maybe i'm being overly paranoid, but one example of a person who might complain is a disgruntled ex-gf. 

 

when you have the gf over often enough, she'll get wind that you're working online. and if there is a breakup, she might try to cause problems. 

 

[OneMoreFarang]

Why do some people write there is no problem, and they also write don't tell anybody?

If it's all legal and never a problem then it should be no problem to tell it to everyone, maybe publish the information online, etc.

 

If you think it's legal then go ahead and tell everyone and find out.

 

[DrJack54]

3 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Why do some people write there is no problem, and they also write don't tell anybody?

If it's all legal and never a problem then it should be no problem to tell it to everyone, maybe publish the information online, etc.

 

If you think it's legal then go ahead and tell everyone and find out.

 

What does your post even mean.

 

Anyone working online in Thailand for countries outside of Thailand earning income and paid into foreign bank account .

So your point??

Please address the OP question

[RAZZELL]

41 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

What does your post even mean.

 

Anyone working online in Thailand for countries outside of Thailand earning income and paid into foreign bank account .

So your point??

Please address the OP question

Simple. Technically should have a WP. In reality doesn't need one.

[Dan O]

6 hours ago, LS24 said:

Are digital nomads / online consultants deemed to be working in Thailand if all their income is generated in and paid into banks in a country other than Thailand? I'm talking Elite visas, marriage visas or retirement visas. Would anyone foresee a legal issue arising for a digital nomad under those circumstances?

It shouldn't be a problem. If you bring the income into Thailand in the same year you earn it you could be subject to taxes. Im not sure how anyone would know what money was earned and brought into the country vs money earned in a prior year.  There can always be some exception.

[Dan O]

2 hours ago, Karma80 said:

Yes, performing the work while physically in Thailand makes it Thai sourced income for tax purposes, even though you are doing the the work for an overseas entity and being paid there. Do people do it anyway? Yes.

Its not income taxable in Thailand if you dont work for a Thai company and are paid in Thailand or if working online outside the country and paid outside the country and you dont bring income into the country in the same year its earned. Short answer 

[Bill97]

If you are working in Thailand then you are working in Thailand. 
 

Where the payment goes does not change the fact of where you are working.

 

You may work illegally, many do in many countries.  Not without risk.

.

[Dan O]

2 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Why do some people write there is no problem, and they also write don't tell anybody?

If it's all legal and never a problem then it should be no problem to tell it to everyone, maybe publish the information online, etc.

 

If you think it's legal then go ahead and tell everyone and find out.

 

Some people are just caustic and don't have good people skills to communicate because the feel their opinion is the only correct one

[save the frogs]

1 hour ago, Bill97 said:

If you are working in Thailand then you are working in Thailand. 
 

Where the payment goes does not change the fact of where you are working.

 

You may work illegally, many do in many countries.  Not without risk.

.

Many countries are well aware that more and more people are working remotely online, so are adopting new laws and visas for the changing times.

 

Many countries have digital nomad visas and you need to show that you're earning a certain amount per month to be eligible for the visa. Not sure how they deal with taxes. But it's all on the up and up.

 

It's only a matter of time before Thailand also gets a digital nomad visa, but in some countries the requirements are quite high, ie you need to make over 2000$ USD per month. 

 

 

 

[save the frogs]

Other countries have more progressive policies for digital nomads. Hopefully Thailand will catch up ... 

 

Bermuda is offering a "Work From Bermuda Certificate". 

It's a one year digital nomad visa with no income requirements. The govt knows you're working online and it's all on the up and up.

 

https://forms.gov.bm/WFB

If you are working remotely from home, please take the opportunity to explore the option of working remotely from Bermuda for the next year. 

[NorthernRyland]

If you work from home Thailand has no visa for this purpose so just don't tell anyone where your money comes from and get whatever visa you can. 

[NorthernRyland]

3 hours ago, Dan O said:

It shouldn't be a problem. If you bring the income into Thailand in the same year you earn it you could be subject to taxes. Im not sure how anyone would know what money was earned and brought into the country vs money earned in a prior year.  There can always be some exception.

There's so system in place to tax foreign income earned by random foreign nationals. If Thailand wants to tax your income they'll need to implement some sort of formal visa and make people apply.

 

Until then it's no ones business where your money comes from. At most they'll ask to see bank statements when applying for certain visas and if they ask too may questions tell them you make interest on investments.

[Dan O]

1 minute ago, NorthernRyland said:

There's so system in place to tax foreign income earned by random foreign nationals. If Thailand wants to tax your income they'll need to implement some sort of formal visa and make people apply.

 

Until then it's no ones business where your money comes from. At most they'll ask to see bank statements when applying for certain visas and if they ask too may questions tell them you make interest on investments.

Im just quoting the tax law that exist currently. As I clearly pointed out there is no easy way to tell if your money you bring into the country came from working in the current year or past year nor who to look for to capture all the foreigners with income coming into the country. 

[JoseThailand]

It's not prohibited to get income from abroad in any form. What is prohibited, is getting income inside the country.

[MrNatural]

I dont really understand the debate as I have never seen in the news any police raid on western people working on Internet or of any of them being banned from staying. Authorities wont ask you where your money comes from. The bad scenario some refer would be the following: you make friends with other farangs, they look cool and know so much about Thailand, you tell them how cool is your life. But as they are not cool they are going to send your name to the tax office and your life wont be so cool. Dont know if these stories I read sometimes are true or urban legend but the psycho expats are real.

[mokwit]

Right now they don't want to bother with lone foreigners working from home. A heads up is that in future data capture and translation will be automatic and more databases linked. The data leak a few years ago suggest they are triangulating.

 

SO: there may come a time when if you have been here 181 days and not filed for tax for that period when due they may contact you to see if you should be paying tax.

[BritManToo]

2 minutes ago, mokwit said:

Right now they don't want to bother with lone foreigners working from home. A heads up is that in future data capture and translation will be automatic and more databases linked. The data leak a few years ago suggest they are triangulating.

 

SO: there may come a time when if you have been here 181 days and not filed for tax for that period when due they may contact you to see if you should be paying tax.

I'm fairly confident Global warming will have destroyed the world before Thailand gets taxing digital nomads sorted out.

[BritManToo]

37 minutes ago, MrNatural said:

I dont really understand the debate as I have never seen in the news any police raid on western people working on Internet or of any of them being banned from staying.

Happened at a coworking space in Chiang Mai a few years back.

Rounded everyone up and down to the police station, not sure how it ended for them.

[LS24]

Thank you all for the enlightening comments. I'm still a few years off retirement visa age but I thought it interesting.

 

It seems that producing income online may be technically bound to where those keyboard keystrokes are performed.