Introduction to Personal Income Tax in Thailand

[The Cyclist]

13 minutes ago, chiang mai said:

Brain fart....I had half a bottle of beer last night, dreadful hangover this AM.

 

Well spotted, apologies to all.

 

As I am now another year closer to claiming the State Pension, I was actually hoping that you were correct 😀😀

[KhunHeineken]

11 hours ago, chiang mai said:

Brain fart....I had half a bottle of beer last night, dreadful hangover this AM.

 

Well spotted, apologies to all.

Looks like you are back on it again tonight.  

[Keith5588]

Would love some advice to help me fully decide what to do this year.

I have read most of this thread and have learnt a lot so thank you all so much.

 

I am a 71 year old male from the UK. I have had a relatively simple life in that I worked for the same company for 40 years in the UK.

I came to Thailand in 2017 after giving a Letting Agency control to manage my house. Until now I have not been back to the UK and love life here in Thailand. Each year I declare my income including rent to HMRC (HM Revenue & Customs)

 

I feel for several reasons that it is now time to sell my house. I plan to go to the UK in the very near future, probably March this year to do that.

I bought my house in the UK in 1980, lived in it until 2017. Hopefully I will sell it in 2025.

I plan to spend the first 2 months decorating my house before putting it on the market so I guess I will need to spend about 6 months in the UK, so it will not be any inconvenience to make sure I spend less than 180 days in Thailand during 2025.

 

So let’s assume that I receive £350,000 for the sale of my house and I pay £5,000 CGT.

I do also have savings of over £300,000 and proof that I had that in savings accounts at the end of 2023.

My intention is to buy a house in Thailand in the future.

As an aside I have looked into the details of buying a house in Thailand, I might have more to learn but I would look for my girlfriend of 8 years who I fully trust to buy the land freehold and also have a Usufruct contract. I know the area in Thailand that I wish to live and I like the thought of having my own house, all part of preparing for when older.

 

My question’s are:-

1. Can I transfer all of the money from the sale of my house to my Thai bank account via Wise in year 2025 or future years without any need to declare it to the Thai tax department? Basically it will not be assessable?

2. Should I definitely make sure that this year I spend less than 180 days in Thailand to be on the safe side?

3. Keep the money from the sale of my house in a UK bank or Wise, somewhere that I can receive a higher interest than in Thailand. Would I be confident that I could then transfer this to Thailand in a future year without paying any Thai tax, that it would not be assessable for Thai tax?

4. Should I forget about transferring money from the sale of my house to Thailand and just invest it in the UK. I would still want to look to buy a house in Thailand but could move my savings across confident after reading this thread that it would not be assessable for Thai tax?

 

I’m very interested what others would do in my situation.

Thanks in advance

Keith

[chiang mai]

Lots of questions there so Ill just address one aspect and leave the rest to others:

 

With those sorts of amounts, you may want to think about holding multiple currencies in multiple territories. I think it would be a mistake and risky to hold only Baht and to hold it all in Thailand.

 

I would also think long and hard about whether you really need to buy a home here instead of renting.

 

 

Good luck in what you decide to do.

[oldcpu]

30 minutes ago, Keith5588 said:

My question’s are:-

1. Can I transfer all of the money from the sale of my house to my Thai bank account via Wise in year 2025 or future years without any need to declare it to the Thai tax department? Basically it will not be assessable?

2. Should I definitely make sure that this year I spend less than 180 days in Thailand to be on the safe side?

3. Keep the money from the sale of my house in a UK bank or Wise, somewhere that I can receive a higher interest than in Thailand. Would I be confident that I could then transfer this to Thailand in a future year without paying any Thai tax, that it would not be assessable for Thai tax?

4. Should I forget about transferring money from the sale of my house to Thailand and just invest it in the UK. I would still want to look to buy a house in Thailand but could move my savings across confident after reading this thread that it would not be assessable for Thai tax?

 

 

My take on those questions , noting I am NOT a tax expert, nor do I know the UK-Thai Double Tax Agreement (DTA).  Hopefully some who are familiar with that DTA will chime in.  And hopefully those and others will correct my assessment  if I am wrong.

 

My opinion correspond to your questions

.

1.  If you are a non-resident to Thailand, you can transfer the money from the sale of your house to your Thailand bank tax free in Thailand in the year in which you are a non-resident to Thailand (I know nothing about UK tax on such a sale).  However (ignoring the Thai-UK DTA) if you bring the money into Thailand in a year in which you are a resident of Thailand, then profit on the sale of that house may be taxable in Thailand. IMHO you need to consult the UK-Thai DTA to assess this.

 

2. To be on the safe side, spend less than 180 days in Thailand in the year in which you bring the money from the (profit of ? the ) sale of your house, into Thailand.

 

3. Yes, you can also keep the money (in particular, I believe keep the profit) from the sale of your house in a UK bank, so to receive a higher interest. I do NOT recommend keeping large amounts of money in Wise as I believe funds there are not-insured.   However once you bring this money (from a UK bank) into Thailand, then it could be considered assessable and taxable and the paper trail on this (to prove money comes from before 1-Jan-2024) could be complex. 

 

Its possible you could keep a record of proof of the ORIGINAL purchase price ... and maybe bring that amount in tax free into Thailand when a resident of Thailand.  BUT I do not know if that opinion is accurate

 

4.   You could keep the money in the UK, but there are ways to bring the money into Thailand if you do so when not a resident of Thailand.

[Liquorice]

55 minutes ago, Keith5588 said:

Would love some advice to help me fully decide what to do this year.

I have read most of this thread and have learnt a lot so thank you all so much.

 

I am a 71 year old male from the UK. I have had a relatively simple life in that I worked for the same company for 40 years in the UK.

I came to Thailand in 2017 after giving a Letting Agency control to manage my house. Until now I have not been back to the UK and love life here in Thailand. Each year I declare my income including rent to HMRC (HM Revenue & Customs)

 

I feel for several reasons that it is now time to sell my house. I plan to go to the UK in the very near future, probably March this year to do that.

I bought my house in the UK in 1980, lived in it until 2017. Hopefully I will sell it in 2025.

I plan to spend the first 2 months decorating my house before putting it on the market so I guess I will need to spend about 6 months in the UK, so it will not be any inconvenience to make sure I spend less than 180 days in Thailand during 2025.

 

So let’s assume that I receive £350,000 for the sale of my house and I pay £5,000 CGT.

I do also have savings of over £300,000 and proof that I had that in savings accounts at the end of 2023.

My intention is to buy a house in Thailand in the future.

As an aside I have looked into the details of buying a house in Thailand, I might have more to learn but I would look for my girlfriend of 8 years who I fully trust to buy the land freehold and also have a Usufruct contract. I know the area in Thailand that I wish to live and I like the thought of having my own house, all part of preparing for when older.

 

My question’s are:-

1. Can I transfer all of the money from the sale of my house to my Thai bank account via Wise in year 2025 or future years without any need to declare it to the Thai tax department? Basically it will not be assessable?

2. Should I definitely make sure that this year I spend less than 180 days in Thailand to be on the safe side?

3. Keep the money from the sale of my house in a UK bank or Wise, somewhere that I can receive a higher interest than in Thailand. Would I be confident that I could then transfer this to Thailand in a future year without paying any Thai tax, that it would not be assessable for Thai tax?

4. Should I forget about transferring money from the sale of my house to Thailand and just invest it in the UK. I would still want to look to buy a house in Thailand but could move my savings across confident after reading this thread that it would not be assessable for Thai tax?

 

I’m very interested what others would do in my situation.

Thanks in advance

Keith

 

You may find the answer to your questions from this very informative (UK specific) video.

 

 

[KhunHeineken]

1 hour ago, chiang mai said:

I would also think long and hard about whether you really need to buy a home here instead of renting.

Completely contradicts your theory that there is no need for people to hold off buying a property here until they see how this unfolds.  Ahhhh, maybe that's because the member is not Chinese or Russian.  

[KhunHeineken]

1 hour ago, Keith5588 said:

Would love some advice to help me fully decide what to do this year.

Best advice is to do nothing this year.  Keep the status quo and see how this unfolds.  Be patient.

[oldcpu]

52 minutes ago, KhunHeineken said:

Best advice is to do nothing this year.  Keep the status quo and see how this unfolds.  Be patient.

 

Why ?  Because ONLY of concerns over future taxation implementations?  Or because of other factors (such as market value, interest rates .. etc) ?

 

 

[oldcpu]

2 hours ago, chiang mai said:

I would also think long and hard about whether you really need to buy a home here instead of renting.

 

 

IMHO thats good advice all the time - regardless as to timing.  Typically, the vast majority of people spend a substantial amount of money on a home, so clearly a long and hard think is appropriate.

 

But the question I see ... is doing such a hard and long think today (when such is a good idea) different from doing such a long and hard think 10 years ago?  ... and if it is different today, ... then why is it different today?

[chiang mai]

8 hours ago, KhunHeineken said:

Completely contradicts your theory that there is no need for people to hold off buying a property here until they see how this unfolds.  Ahhhh, maybe that's because the member is not Chinese or Russian.  

I never suggested that anyone should hold off from buying property, where did I say that?

 

I don't think that buying property in Thailand in your 70's is a great idea, especially when you have good levels of cash to support yourself as the poster does, Renting allows for far greater flexibility.

[Keith5588]

@chiang mai   Thanks for your advice and all your other posts in this thread.

I agree totally about “spreading the risk” or “not putting all your eggs in one basket”. 

You also give good advice about buying a house in Thailand. It is risky which is why I have been renting the past 7 years.  

I think your advice is good but of course everyone’s circumstances are different. I have never had children and now have no immediate family in the UK. My Thai gf and has looked after me well the last 8 years and her family are good hard working people, buying a house in part is a way to leave something to her or more likely to her 2 sons. Probably the worst thing I could do is leave my assets in the UK for the UK gov to eventually take a high %.  I also like the thought of owning my own house and preparing for when I am older. I am naturally optimistic but I hope also a realist and do realise that things can go wrong in Thailand, unwanted noise is my biggest worry.  
I might end up continuing to rent.

Thanks for the good wishes.

 

@oldcpu  Thanks for all your advice.

You have helped me decide. I will definitely transfer some of the money from the sale of my house to Thailand during 2025 when I am not Thai resident.

Thanks for your comment concerning Wise.

 

@Liquorice   Thanks for the video link. I have now listened to it and I think it is very good. It answered several things I was unsure about. For one, I wondered about having bank accounts offshore to the UK like Isle of Man but I have had no experience, in the past I think there were tax advantages but now with information sharing I think that the advantages have gone, but if this video it mentioned that IoM does not have a DTA with Thailand which could be a big disadvantage …….. so that has stopped me wondering. The video had a lot of other information that I have noted.

 

@KhunHeineken  Waiting is not really an option for me as I have a lot of other things that need to be done which are best done while in the UK. Also it will become more and more of an effort as time passes to go to the UK and deal with all that is involved with the selling of my house. 

 

[chiang mai]

3 minutes ago, Keith5588 said:

@chiang mai   Thanks for your advice and all your other posts in this thread.

I agree totally about “spreading the risk” or “not putting all your eggs in one basket”. 

You also give good advice about buying a house in Thailand. It is risky which is why I have been renting the past 7 years.  

I think your advice is good but of course everyone’s circumstances are different. I have never had children and now have no immediate family in the UK. My Thai gf and has looked after me well the last 8 years and her family are good hard working people, buying a house in part is a way to leave something to her or more likely to her 2 sons. Probably the worst thing I could do is leave my assets in the UK for the UK gov to eventually take a high %.  I also like the thought of owning my own house and preparing for when I am older. I am naturally optimistic but I hope also a realist and do realise that things can go wrong in Thailand, unwanted noise is my biggest worry.  
I might end up continuing to rent.

Thanks for the good wishes.

 

@oldcpu  Thanks for all your advice.

You have helped me decide. I will definitely transfer some of the money from the sale of my house to Thailand during 2025 when I am not Thai resident.

Thanks for your comment concerning Wise.

 

@Liquorice   Thanks for the video link. I have now listened to it and I think it is very good. It answered several things I was unsure about. For one, I wondered about having bank accounts offshore to the UK like Isle of Man but I have had no experience, in the past I think there were tax advantages but now with information sharing I think that the advantages have gone, but if this video it mentioned that IoM does not have a DTA with Thailand which could be a big disadvantage …….. so that has stopped me wondering. The video had a lot of other information that I have noted.

 

@KhunHeineken  Waiting is not really an option for me as I have a lot of other things that need to be done which are best done while in the UK. Also it will become more and more of an effort as time passes to go to the UK and deal with all that is involved with the selling of my house. 

 

I absolutely understand that because I have done similar. My wife of 20+ years owns the house we share together, which was always intended to be hers after I depart for greener pastures. If you are comfortable and confidant in your relationship and you wont be damaged if the absolute worst case happens, ignore the naysayers and doom-mongers, most of whom are ant-Thai anyway. All the best

[Keith5588]

My plans have now improved after reading different members advise and listening to the video.  

So assuming that I am able to sell my house.

1. I will make sure to spend less than 180 days in Thailand during 2025.

2. I plan to transfer enough money to Thailand this year while non resident to buy a house and also living expenses for a few years to avoid the need to file a tax return for a few years. In the next few years I will make sure to transfer less than 120,000 THB.

Thank you all for helping me

Keith

[BritManToo]

15 hours ago, Keith5588 said:

My intention is to buy a house in Thailand in the future.

As an aside I have looked into the details of buying a house in Thailand, I might have more to learn but I would look for my girlfriend of 8 years who I fully trust to buy the land freehold and also have a Usufruct contract. I know the area in Thailand that I wish to live and I like the thought of having my own house, all part of preparing for when older.

 

My question’s are:-

1. Can I transfer all of the money from the sale of my house to my Thai bank account via Wise in year 2025 or future years without any need to declare it to the Thai tax department? Basically it will not be assessable?

1. Get her to buy the house with a mortgage, you make the 10% deposit and repayments (your risk is only the 10%).

2. transfer the money to Thailand in a year when you're here less than 6 months, so no tax payable.