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Its Happening - Law to Tax Overseas Income Now in Progress


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e.g. Foreigners will leave . Foreigners will spend less than 180 days in Thailand resulting in spending less . Foreigners who stay will bring less money to Thailand . Foreigners who stay will make budget cuts and spend less money in Thailand, which will impact VAT tax revenues for the government . Foreigners will try and avoid it through various methods

 

It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

 

 

 

 

I think Thailand is so desperate for money that they'll do it and hope for the best, even if lots of reports suggest overall tax take will be reduced.

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3 hours ago, Rolo89 said:

 

I think Thailand is so desperate for money that they'll do it and hope for the best, even if lots of reports suggest overall tax take will be reduced.

Yes, governments with wrongheaded ideas have a way of doubling down on those ideas. We see it all over the world. 

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16 hours ago, Ricohoc said:

 

This reference to "living expenses" is something I have never seen before in these discussions. That is in the current tax law?

 

That's the only reason I bring any funds into Thailand every month, and almost 100% of it is food, utilities, auto fuel, home maintenance. No rent, no loans of any kind to pay off, etc. Debt free.

There will probably be a flood of first hand info once people start filing around Feb/Mar.

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If anyone is interested in how banks are obligated to report to the Revenue dept about your Thai bank account activities, here it is: 

 

There is a law to follow for banks to report to the Revenue Dept. If it does not fall under this law, no transactions will be reported to TRD.

 

On 20 March 2019, the Government published the Act to Amend the Revenue Code (No. 48), 2562 be. E. , in the Government Gazette. This Act became effective on 21 March 2019.

 

Under this Act, the following entities have the duty to report information about a person who made certain types of transactions during the previous year to the Revenue Department by March of the following year:

 

1. Financial institutions under the law governing such businesses.

 

2. Governmental financial institutions established under specific laws.

 

3. Electronic money service providers under the law governing payment systems.

 

These certain types of transactions must have one of the following characteristics:

 

1. Depositing or accepting transfers of money in all bank accounts 3,000 times or more in the previous year.

 

2. Depositing or accepting transfers of money in all bank accounts 400 times or more, for a total amount of THB 2 million or more in the previous year. So you must have 400 transactions and the 2 million, not either or.

 

The entity liable to prepare such a report must submit the first report for the year 2019 to the Revenue Department by 31 March 2020.

 

Ministerial regulations or announcements under this Act shall be completed within 180 days of the date that this Act comes into force.

 

The information to be reported, and the reporting method, shall be as specified in ministerial regulations.

 

If the entity responsible for reporting this information fails to do so as prescribed under this Act, the Director-General of the Revenue Department has the power to instruct that entity to file the report by the period required. Failure to report the information by the time specified by the Director-General of the Revenue Department may result in that entity being subject to a fine of no more than THB 100,000, and no more than THB 10,000 per day, until the report is submitted.

 

So, unless they amend this law, nothing more will be done. To amend this law, the government needs time to draft it, present it to parliament and if approved, send it to the senate to approve. Then publish it in the government gazette. This all takes time. So, if this process has not started yet, alas it wont be done in time for the end of this year. Therefore, I don't foresee any changes to the banking laws that will help the Thai government enforce the 180 day tax law on foreighners. Nothing will change.

 

Further, for those of you listening to some of the other law firms who are peddling tax ID set up for 5000-7000 baht a pop. You can easily do it by yourself for free if TRD will even give you one or if you insist to hire a firm to get it for you, the case is worth 2500 Baht. Thats what we charge. It's so dam easy to get one. Please do not contact me, as we don't want to do them. We only do them for new employees who are hired by our clients. 

 

My advice to everyone on this new tax law is to not worry about this until if and when they announce enforcement and that wont happen anytime soon as too much needs to be done internally for enforcement to take place. Not enough time before the end of 2024 and it’s not the governments top priority. As much as many expats seem to think, they are not so important for Thailand. Today the Thai government is focusing on the development of the economy and disaster relief due to the floods in the north and BKK. Yes, you can argue that this will help the economy if they go after the tax dollars from foreigners, but in most cases, the guys that do decide to file, wont have to pay because of the DTA. This  law is only pissing people off that don’t file taxes in their home country so they want to keep that same situation here. Until enforcement is announced, everyone should stop worrying.

 

 

Edited by wmlc
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18 hours ago, Rolo89 said:

 

I think Thailand is so desperate for money that they'll do it and hope for the best, even if lots of reports suggest overall tax take will be reduced.

I disagree. Foreigners think they are on the Thai government's mind, but in actual fact, the Thai government couldn't care less. Too many other problems. 

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1 hour ago, wmlc said:

If anyone is interested in how banks are obligated to report to the Revenue dept about your Thai bank account activities, here it is: 

 

There is a law to follow for banks to report to the Revenue Dept. If it does not fall under this law, no transactions will be reported to TRD.

 

On 20 March 2019, the Government published the Act to Amend the Revenue Code (No. 48), 2562 be. E. , in the Government Gazette. This Act became effective on 21 March 2019.

 

Under this Act, the following entities have the duty to report information about a person who made certain types of transactions during the previous year to the Revenue Department by March of the following year:

 

1. Financial institutions under the law governing such businesses.

 

2. Governmental financial institutions established under specific laws.

 

3. Electronic money service providers under the law governing payment systems.

 

These certain types of transactions must have one of the following characteristics:

 

1. Depositing or accepting transfers of money in all bank accounts 3,000 times or more in the previous year.

 

2. Depositing or accepting transfers of money in all bank accounts 400 times or more, for a total amount of THB 2 million or more in the previous year. So you must have 400 transactions and the 2 million, not either or.

 

The entity liable to prepare such a report must submit the first report for the year 2019 to the Revenue Department by 31 March 2020.

 

Ministerial regulations or announcements under this Act shall be completed within 180 days of the date that this Act comes into force.

 

The information to be reported, and the reporting method, shall be as specified in ministerial regulations.

 

If the entity responsible for reporting this information fails to do so as prescribed under this Act, the Director-General of the Revenue Department has the power to instruct that entity to file the report by the period required. Failure to report the information by the time specified by the Director-General of the Revenue Department may result in that entity being subject to a fine of no more than THB 100,000, and no more than THB 10,000 per day, until the report is submitted.

 

So, unless they amend this law, nothing more will be done. To amend this law, the government needs time to draft it, present it to parliament and if approved, send it to the senate to approve. Then publish it in the government gazette. This all takes time. So, if this process has not started yet, alas it wont be done in time for the end of this year. Therefore, I don't foresee any changes to the banking laws that will help the Thai government enforce the 180 day tax law on foreighners. Nothing will change.

 

Spot on, well said.

 

Thanks for balancing out, with reality,  the constant paranoia / worrying we see in these type of threads.

 

Poor reporting, with sensationalist , inaccurate wording  like the article this thread is based on,  doesn't help the situation. 

 

 

1 hour ago, wmlc said:

 

Further, for those of you listening to some of the other law firms who are peddling tax ID set up for 5000-7000 baht a pop. You can easily do it by yourself for free if TRD will even give you one or if you insist to hire a firm to get it for you, the case is worth 2500 Baht. Thats what we charge. It's so dam easy to get one. Please do not contact me, as we don't want to do them. We only do them for new employees who are hired by our clients. 

 

The new firms that have sprung up are best described as opportunistic vultures, feeding off worry, taking advantage of peoples concern , and clearly overcharging while doing it! 

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, wmlc said:

My advice to everyone on this new tax law is to not worry about this until if and when they announce enforcement and that wont happen anytime soon as too much needs to be done internally for enforcement to take place. Not enough time before the end of 2024 and it’s not the governments top priority. As much as many expats seem to think, they are not so important for Thailand. Today the Thai government is focusing on the development of the economy and disaster relief due to the floods in the north and BKK. Yes, you can argue that this will help the economy if they go after the tax dollars from foreigners, but in most cases, the guys that do decide to file, wont have to pay because of the DTA. This  law is only pissing people off that don’t file taxes in their home country so they want to keep that same situation here. Until enforcement is announced, everyone should stop worrying.

 

 

 

Spot on, again, well said. 

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1 hour ago, wmlc said:

I disagree. Foreigners think they are on the Thai government's mind, but in actual fact, the Thai government couldn't care less. Too many other problems. 

Well, my post wasn't about foreigners. I think the Thai government's mind is on money. Whether that's wealthy Thai or foreigners is kind of irrelevant; they just want a source to shake for more.

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2 hours ago, wmlc said:

If anyone is interested in how banks are obligated to report to the Revenue dept about your Thai bank account activities, here it is: 

 

There is a law to follow for banks to report to the Revenue Dept. If it does not fall under this law, no transactions will be reported to TRD.

 

On 20 March 2019, the Government published the Act to Amend the Revenue Code (No. 48), 2562 be. E. , in the Government Gazette. This Act became effective on 21 March 2019.

 

Under this Act, the following entities have the duty to report information about a person who made certain types of transactions during the previous year to the Revenue Department by March of the following year:

 

1. Financial institutions under the law governing such businesses.

 

2. Governmental financial institutions established under specific laws.

 

3. Electronic money service providers under the law governing payment systems.

 

These certain types of transactions must have one of the following characteristics:

 

1. Depositing or accepting transfers of money in all bank accounts 3,000 times or more in the previous year.

 

2. Depositing or accepting transfers of money in all bank accounts 400 times or more, for a total amount of THB 2 million or more in the previous year. So you must have 400 transactions and the 2 million, not either or.

 

The entity liable to prepare such a report must submit the first report for the year 2019 to the Revenue Department by 31 March 2020.

 

Ministerial regulations or announcements under this Act shall be completed within 180 days of the date that this Act comes into force.

 

The information to be reported, and the reporting method, shall be as specified in ministerial regulations.

 

If the entity responsible for reporting this information fails to do so as prescribed under this Act, the Director-General of the Revenue Department has the power to instruct that entity to file the report by the period required. Failure to report the information by the time specified by the Director-General of the Revenue Department may result in that entity being subject to a fine of no more than THB 100,000, and no more than THB 10,000 per day, until the report is submitted.

 

So, unless they amend this law, nothing more will be done. To amend this law, the government needs time to draft it, present it to parliament and if approved, send it to the senate to approve. Then publish it in the government gazette. This all takes time. So, if this process has not started yet, alas it wont be done in time for the end of this year. Therefore, I don't foresee any changes to the banking laws that will help the Thai government enforce the 180 day tax law on foreighners. Nothing will change.

 

Further, for those of you listening to some of the other law firms who are peddling tax ID set up for 5000-7000 baht a pop. You can easily do it by yourself for free if TRD will even give you one or if you insist to hire a firm to get it for you, the case is worth 2500 Baht. Thats what we charge. It's so dam easy to get one. Please do not contact me, as we don't want to do them. We only do them for new employees who are hired by our clients. 

 

My advice to everyone on this new tax law is to not worry about this until if and when they announce enforcement and that wont happen anytime soon as too much needs to be done internally for enforcement to take place. Not enough time before the end of 2024 and it’s not the governments top priority. As much as many expats seem to think, they are not so important for Thailand. Today the Thai government is focusing on the development of the economy and disaster relief due to the floods in the north and BKK. Yes, you can argue that this will help the economy if they go after the tax dollars from foreigners, but in most cases, the guys that do decide to file, wont have to pay because of the DTA. This  law is only pissing people off that don’t file taxes in their home country so they want to keep that same situation here. Until enforcement is announced, everyone should stop worrying.

 

 

 

44 minutes ago, anrcaccount said:

 

Spot on, well said.

 

Thanks for balancing out, with reality,  the constant paranoia / worrying we see in these type of threads.

 

Poor reporting, with sensationalist , inaccurate wording  like the article this thread is based on,  doesn't help the situation. 

 

 

 

The new firms that have sprung up are best described as opportunistic vultures, feeding off worry, taking advantage of peoples concern , and clearly overcharging while doing it! 

 

 

 

 

 

Spot on, again, well said. 

Both of you are referring to CRS and money laundering rules under AMLO which has nothing to do with banks reporting details of accounts  to TRD, from which they withheld the statutory 15% WHT on any interest earned. The latter already happens and has been happening for many many years.

 

 

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On 10/14/2024 at 4:14 AM, chiang mai said:

There is no tax aspect to remitted "living expenses" which are nothing more than inbound funds which may or may not be Thai tax assessable.

Indeed. IMMO-TH.com is completely off-base with their observation. More unhelpful misinformation.

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On 10/14/2024 at 2:37 AM, shdmn said:

It would be better to file even if you don't think you have to rather than having to deal with what may happen if you don't.

Out of curiosity.... If you're absolutely sure you have no taxable income for Thai tax purposes -- thus owe no taxes to Thailand -- what do you think might happen if you don't file? Yes, I know we're addressing 'risk tolerance' -- but that's exactly the point -- what, if any, risk exists? And if there's no risk, tolerance is not applicable. Nevermind.

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The Panama Papers leak in 2016 showed that a lot of rich Thais keep their money overseas. While we could look at those accounts as savings, where the money came from will never be known or taxed.

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