More details on Thai taxation of overseas income

[Neeranam]

20 minutes ago, connda said:

And for the majority of us, that's all that counts.

My Social Security is deposited directly into a Thai bank, so I don't see an issue there.
I transfer my pension using Transferwise (Wise).  If they begin to deduct tax out of foreign funds transfers, then it's simple.  I'll leave the money in the US.  At the way T-Bill rates are going, we'll be getting in excess of 5%+ soon on short-term T-Bill, so there is incentive to not transfer those funds to Thailand.

Who loses?  Thailand.  The nit-wits in the current administration completely fail to grasp the economic ramification of the impact of a decrease of foreign currencies entering the Thai economy.  They are about to turn off the faucet to Foreign Direct Investments and foreign capital inflows at their own peril.
Morons. 

Good points. 

Recently, I was chatting on Facebook to Korn Chatikavanij, former Finance Minister who told me all remittances will be digitalized soon. His daughter, formerly of World Bank, is now the CEO of OmiseGo, a crypto company, recently bought by CP Group! 

At the moment, Japanese can carry our cross border remittances to Japan using crypto, through SCB. 

Shortly, all monies will be easily traceable. 

Edited October 4, 2023 by Neeranam

[freeworld]

4 minutes ago, hughrection said:

You seem pretty sure - thank you. Do you have experience or a source for such a thing? Many thanks for any feedback.

Take a look at this doc from RD website.

 

https://rd.go.th/fileadmin/user_upload/kormor/eng/ITA_Kung_Proofed.pdf

[RupertIII]

43 minutes ago, hughrection said:

I have an inheritance coming soon - hopefully settled before the new year. There will be no inheritance tax taken in the UK as it is below the threshold - about 40k GBP.

The inheritance tax for Thailand is only liable if receiving over 100 million baht.

 

Will I have to pay tax on this?  Many thanks for any answers.

The Inheritance Tax Act B.E. 2558 (2015) (“ITA”) took effect on 1^st of February 2016. It stipulates the following:

1. Inheritance Tax

a. Tax Base

The inheritance tax base shall be calculated from the inheritance, which an inheritor received from each testator, whether it is received once or several times, above 100 Million THB. (Section 12, ITA). The value of the inheritance subject to tax means the value of the asset received as an inheritance offset by the liabilities inherited.

 

The tax is levied on inheritors who are:

1.    Thai individuals or Thai juristic persons or foreign individuals who are resident in Thailand according to the immigration law, which inheriting assets located in Thailand and outside the country.

2.    Foreign individuals or foreign juristic persons, which inherit assets located in Thailand. (Section 11, ITA)

The spouse of the testator is exempted from inheritance tax. (Section 3(2), ITA)

 

Foreigners who are resident in Thailand, shall be liable to pay Inheritance Tax in the portion which exceed 100 million THB, calculated from the inherited assets in Thailand and foreign countries. Foreigner who are non-resident in Thailand, shall be liable to pay Inheritance Tax in the portion which exceed 100 million THB, calculated from only inheriting asset in Thailand.

The inheritance tax applies to registered assets, including residential properties, land, vehicles, bonds, equities, and deposits at financial institutions. (Section 14, ITA)

 

Source: https://franklegaltax.com/inheritance-tax-in-thailand/

[TheAppletons]

12 hours ago, Mike Teavee said:

You have to provide copies of your home country bank statements so they would easily be able to see money coming in & could ask you to show where it came from. 

 

You really should stop posting your fan fiction scenarios as if they were indeed fact.

 

"You have to provide copies....." - no, no you don't.   

[Mike Teavee]

1 hour ago, Neeranam said:

I will get a British state pension in 10 years. 

If I am still working, could I pay tax on the pension in the UK, and tax on my work (online) in Thailand?

 

Your UK Pension will always be taxed in the UK though the 1st £12,570 will be taxed at 0% rate (subtly different than saying it's "Tax Free" but the end result is the same). 

 

Your work/income in Thailand should be taxed in Thailand though it being online might make things less clear, I would say if you're paying tax on it in Thailand today then it would stay the same.   

[Mike Teavee]

3 minutes ago, TheAppletons said:

You really should stop posting your fan fiction scenarios as if they were indeed fact.

 

"You have to provide copies....." - no, no you don't.   

Well that's what I was asked for when I filed my Tax return this year to claim back Withholding tax. 

 

As an aside they also asked me to complete an income questionnaire & almost every question was about pension income to which I replied N/A as I don't have any. 

 

Still waiting to get the tax back 5 months later.

  

 

[Neeranam]

3 minutes ago, Mike Teavee said:

Your UK Pension will always be taxed in the UK though the 1st £12,570 will be taxed at 0% rate (subtly different than saying it's "Tax Free" but the end result is the same). 

 

Your work/income in Thailand should be taxed in Thailand though it being online might make things less clear, I would say if you're paying tax on it in Thailand today then it would stay the same.   

Thanks, I didn't know that. 

 

[SportRider]

24 minutes ago, connda said:

And for the majority of us, that's all that counts.

My Social Security is deposited directly into a Thai bank, so I don't see an issue there.
I transfer my pension using Transferwise (Wise).  If they begin to deduct tax out of foreign funds transfers, then it's simple.  I'll leave the money in the US.  At the way T-Bill rates are going, we'll be getting in excess of 5%+ soon on short-term T-Bill, so there is incentive to not transfer those funds to Thailand.

Who loses?  Thailand.  The nit-wits in the current administration completely fail to grasp the economic ramification of the impact of a decrease of foreign currencies entering the Thai economy.  They are about to turn off the faucet to Foreign Direct Investments and foreign capital inflows at their own peril.
Morons. 

Yes inbound transfers from say GBP or USD require fx into THB.  This supports demand for THB helping the strength of the Baht.

A reduction in remittances, if large, might somewhat soften the Baht against other currencies.

[proton]

2 minutes ago, Mike Teavee said:

Well that's what I was asked for when I filed my Tax return this year to claim back Withholding tax. 

 

As an aside they also asked me to complete an income questionnaire & almost every question was about pension income to which I replied N/A as I don't have any. 

 

Still waiting to get the tax back 5 months later.

  

 

I waited 6 months they 'lost' most of the documents filled in ????

[bstafford214]

I am also concerned about the tax issue. What is the percentage? I heard from my wife it is increasing to 10%. 

So how is the much tax per $1,000?

[proton]

So whats to stop you transferring 150k tax free into your account, 150k into the mrs and 150k a year onto another relative? that would do me, add to it by bringing cash over from home if needed.

[hondoelsinore]

What would be the worst tax bill you could expect in a single tax year bringing US dollars into Thailand from an IRA after 25% in US taxes are immediately deducted for every withdrawal and transferred into a US account and later transferred into the Thai wife's bank account via Wise transfer. Everyone is talking like you could be facing an outrageous tax payment and the possibility of being held in country until paid. Paying federal tax on all withdrawals and filing a US tax return every year, like I've done for the last 48 years of my life. Seems to me that it couldn't be much, especially since I'm not bringing millions in and if I see that it is after one year then I will go back to that piece of ground in my hometown.

[Dogmatix]

I have searched in Thai and there has been no further press release issued quoting Winit Wisetsuvarnabhumi, Deputy DG of the RD, since the one that was reported in BP on 25 September which says more or less the same things. So this seems to be a regurgitation by Scandasia with nil added value.

 

Scandasia has Winit saying information exchange under CRS, which Thailand just signed up to 5 years late, allows Thailand to finally implement the DTAs.  I am not sure if that's what he really said but it is seems nonsense, since the DTAs, many of which were negotiated in the 80s were merely intended to avoid double taxation for companies and not to increase taxation, as is implied.

Edited October 4, 2023 by Dogmatix

[Iamloki]

I'm curious... does Thailand have a standard deduction in lieu of itemized deductions?

Or, do they consider the taxable income as that amount taxed in the source country?

[kwak250]

So if I took say 20,000 out of the ATM linked to my Halifax account and did that every day for a week how would this be taxed?

[Neeranam]

3 minutes ago, Dogmatix said:

I have searched in Thai and there has been no further press release issued quoting Winit Wisetsuvarnabhumi, Deputy DG of the RD, since the one that was reported in BP on 25 September which says more or less the same things. So this seems to be a regurgitation by Scandasia with nil added value.

Thanks. 'yua hai clik'! 

 

[JimTripper]

4 minutes ago, kwak250 said:

So if I took say 20,000 out of the ATM linked to my Halifax account and did that every day for a week how would this be taxed?

someone said if funds dont hit a thai bank account they are not taxed at all

Edited October 4, 2023 by JimTripper

[Bundooman]

6 hours ago, jacko45k said:

It would all get rather difficult if one was required to 'prove it' by Thai authorities. Prove it comes from savings, prove tax has been paid on it..  etc etc. We will tax it until you can prove it should not be taxed!

And we all know that twisted Thai logic equates to 'fact'!

[CTwelve]

3 minutes ago, proton said:

So whats to stop you transferring 150k tax free into your account, 150k into the mrs and 150k a year onto another relative? that would do me, add to it by bringing cash over from home if needed.

Exactly, they are not going to be able to police that..  I really think this issue is a nothing for most people. Most pensioners barely bring in enough to even hit the tax thresholds anyway to even worry.

 

The most impacted people will be high net worth 'tourists' on Elite Visas. If they are going to tax all 'income' from abroad, especially those who already pay tax in another country then that Visa is basically finished.

 

I suspect there will be more back and forth over the coming months until this is cleared up.

 

 

[kwak250]

1 minute ago, JimTripper said:

someone already said if funds dont hit a thai bank account they are not taxed at all

 

I will have to get busy with the ATM if this happens.

Not used it for years.

It's sh7t exchange rates and have to pay transaction fees but still.

I guess Wise will be very concerned as they must be raking it in.

[grubman]

So how will this effect me, I work out of Thailand for 4 month at a time and then spend 2 months in Thailand and have my salary send to my Thai account, I enter on a one year visa based on marriage, i am not a resident of Thailand so with this new tax effect me ??

[Neeranam]

2 minutes ago, kwak250 said:

I will have to get busy with the ATM if this happens.

Not used it for years.

It's sh7t exchange rates and have to pay transaction fees but still.

I guess Wise will be very concerned as they must be raking it in.

Nowadays, there are many options so you never have to use an ATM. 

So many apps, online credit cards, crypto cards, etc. 

[Neeranam]

3 minutes ago, grubman said:

  i am not a resident of Thailand so with this new tax effect me ??

no

[flexomike]

1 hour ago, Hamma said:

I think it is rather fair to pay tax in the country you live in, and I have no respect for people avoiding paying taxes. But I would prefer paying tax of my pension here rather than in Danmark like it is now because of the double tax agreement between the two countries. I know that many countries don’t tax pensions, but DK does (37 %). 

everyone here is paying tax daily, VAT 7%, this adds up very fast, no way is your country ever going to let you pay taxes on pensions in Thailand and not on the country where it originates, dream on

Edited October 4, 2023 by flexomike
missed word

[jaywalker2]

4 hours ago, Neeranam said:

They're are many ways to avoid paying tax on this. 

How about sending smaller payments to different bank accounts via apps like Wise? 

How about buying USDT and using P2P on exchanges like Binance? This way, you have Thai baht going to your accounts from random Thai accounts. 

 

 

yes. I wonder how Wise transfers would categorized, since they are registered as domestic transfers.

[jaywalker2]

16 minutes ago, JimTripper said:

someone said if funds dont hit a thai bank account they are not taxed at all

But if you try to deposit the money, the bank will probably give you a hard time and want to know the sources of the funds.

[Karma80]

 

15 minutes ago, kwak250 said:

So if I took say 20,000 out of the ATM linked to my Halifax account and did that every day for a week how would this be taxed?

Technically, you are remitting it into Thailand so you would need to declare it. In practice, there is no way to enforce this.

So, you will now see people just hitting up the ATM for cash from their overseas account, or using a no international fee credit card from an overseas bank.

Completely tax legal? Nope.

[MeePeeMai]

1 hour ago, Mike Teavee said:

But I wouldn't be receiving the money, I'd transfer it directly into her bank account from the UK  

And there is the reason they might require banks to withhold tax on ALL remittances from a foreign country and then require you to sort it out later (via proof/tax returns should you "request" a refund from the RD).

[beammeup]

1 hour ago, CTwelve said:

But it wouldn't be money laundering if those accounts are registered via the originating country (not Thailand) and they are just using the app..

 

The only way they could know would be to require all businesses to report every transactions for every person. 

 

 

 

 

Of course its not, but they might think it is. and you might have to prove otherwise.

[Srikcir]

4 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

I don't understand your logic. Transferring funds into Thailand to purchase a condo is not income. It is simply a capital  transfer.

 

Income would be dividends or interest earned on overseas stocks????

Regardless needs definition. Hope is not a strategy.

Edited October 4, 2023 by Srikcir
Typo