Online Banking.

[IvorBiggun2]

I do online banking with 'Smile Bank'. Of late I've been getting forms regarding Urgent Action Required

                                                                                                     We need some information from you about your tax residency 

They want to know about my SSN and my TIN number. Why can't they allow me to do it using online banking? After all that's what I thought online banking was all about. Also I dunno what the hell a (TIN) is. So I filled out the form as best as I could and got the missus to post the filled in form back to 'Smile Bank'. Cost 300 Baht standard post. Doing it online would cost nothing and the replied forms would get there more or less instantly. Am I being ****ed about or are other posters getting this hassle?

[scubascuba3]

Some of the older banks still have old processes, Halifax wanted a change of address posted to them, then eventually they changed the process. I didn't think Smile was still around i was with them in the 90s

[Tropicalevo]

Nothing for me from Krungsri or SCB banks - then again, I am employed and pay tax every month.

Krungsri is my main bank and I use online banking all of the time.

SCB does not allow it any more.

[IvorBiggun2]

1 minute ago, Tropicalevo said:

I am employed and pay tax every month.

I'm medically retired retired since 2005 and I too pay tax every month on my pensions.

[topt]

3 minutes ago, Tropicalevo said:

Nothing for me from Krungsri or SCB banks - then again, I am employed and pay tax every month.

Krungsri is my main bank and I use online banking all of the time.

SCB does not allow it any more.

Smile is a UK digital banking arm - I think for the Co Op

[topt]

4 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Some of the older banks still have old processes, Halifax wanted a change of address posted to them, then eventually they changed the process. I didn't think Smile was still around i was with them in the 90s

https://www.smile.co.uk/

 

Quote

We were invented by The Co-operative Bank in 1999 and we’ve been smiling ever since. 

 

[topt]

17 minutes ago, IvorBiggun2 said:

Am I being ****ed about or are other posters getting this hassle?

It has got nothing to do with online banking per se.

 

There have been many threads over the last few years about UK banks and other countries asking their account holders for these details. It is all about "knowing your customer" and international tax sharing agreements like CRS. Among them Barclays have actively closed down a lot of non-residents accounts.

 

it sounds like they know or are guessing you are not living in the UK and possibly hence asking.

 

TIN stands for Tax Identification number. For the UK this is your NI no.

[Tropicalevo]

23 minutes ago, topt said:

Smile is a UK digital banking arm - I think for the Co Op

Thanks - I had no idea.

To the OP -

 

I am with NatWest on line banking in the UK and again, nothing from them, but they may have had that information from back in the day when I worked in the UK.

I became a 'tax exile' when I move to Bangkok back in '93.

[IvorBiggun2]

26 minutes ago, topt said:

TIN stands for Tax Identification number. For the UK this is your NI no.

Thanks for your input 'topt'. I know it's got nothing to do with online banking but I fail to see why it can't be carried out using 'online banking system' in saving time, postal costs for the bank and 300 Baht for me to send the forms back.

[freeworld]

Ha you have managed to get away with filling in those forms up to now.

 

TIN = tax identification number.

[IvorBiggun2]

49 minutes ago, freeworld said:

Ha you have managed to get away with filling in those forms up to now.

 

TIN = tax identification number.

Tropicalevo says it's  ones NI number. Never knew that 'til now. And I would have thought the bank would know that when I joined the bank.

[jor]

3 minutes ago, IvorBiggun2 said:

Tropicalevo says it's  ones NI number. Never knew that 'til now.

 

Lloyds Bank asked for my tax residence and TIN. 

 

I messaged HMRC to ask for my TIN.  They replied that they don't use TIN numbers and advised me to use NI number instead. 

 

Have done this but am waiting to hear whether Lloyds will accept it. 

[topt]

9 minutes ago, jor said:

Have done this but am waiting to hear whether Lloyds will accept it.

If you are UK resident for tax then they will accept it - it is basically a box ticking exercise for them unless you are on file with them with a foreign address.

When this came up in the past many who had addresses and claimed residency in Thailand simply said that they did not need a TIN in Thailand as they did not pay tax here.......

 

This worked for some at that time.

 

[OJAS]

On 3/26/2024 at 10:01 AM, topt said:

Smile is a UK digital banking arm - I think for the Co Op

 

I bank with the Co-op, and back in 2018 they required me to complete a form which is presumably similar to at least one of those which Smile have sent to the OP. No big deal really.

 

 

On 3/26/2024 at 10:10 AM, topt said:

TIN stands for Tax Identification number. For the UK this is your NI no.

 

I stated my TIN as being the 10-digit UTR code used for my tax returns to HMRC, and the Co-op seemed happy with this.

[OJAS]

On 3/26/2024 at 12:33 PM, topt said:

When this came up in the past many who had addresses and claimed residency in Thailand simply said that they did not need a TIN in Thailand as they did not pay tax here.......

 

That's more or less what I also told the Co-op back in 2018, but I did also give them my HMRC UTR number for good measure. However, rather than go through all the hassle of obtaining a local TIN from my local RD office soley in order to satisfy my home country bank, I would be sorely tempted these days - if specifically pressed by them for a local TIN - to merely give them the 13-digit ID Card Number stated in my COVID certificates!