Thailand issues four major announcements on new visa measures

[webfact]

 

The Ministry of Interior of Thailand has issued four major announcements on new visa measures since July 15, 2024. These measures are intended to enhance the tourism industry, attract foreign investment, and bolster local businesses and communities.

 

New Visa Categories and Extensions:

 

1. Destination Thailand Visa (DTV): Designed for digital nomads, remote workers, freelancers, and those interested in Thai cultural activities. It is valid for five years and allows multiple entries, with each stay up to 180 days.

 

This visa can be renewed for an additional 180 days within Thailand. Spouses and children under 20 years old can also apply for dependent DTV visas.

 

2. Extended Visa-Free Period: Visitors from 93 nationalities now enjoy an extended visa-free stay from 30 to 60 days, encouraging longer tourist and short-term business visits.

 

3. Expanded Visa on Arrival: Additional nationalities are eligible for visas on arrival, increasing the total to 31 nationalities.

 

4. New Student Visa (ED-Plus): Aimed at undergraduate and higher-level students, this visa allows them to stay and seek employment in Thailand post-graduation.

Work and Legal Considerations:

 

The DTV visa is a significant step forward for digital nomads and remote workers. However, foreigners must adhere to the Foreigner's Working Management Law.

 

The law defines 'work' as any occupation, regardless of employer nationality. Therefore, activities potentially affecting Thai job markets may require a work permit, even if the work is for an overseas employer.

 

Clear guidelines from the Department of Employment (DOE) are anticipated to ensure compliance and build confidence among foreign workers.

 

Short-Term Business Activities:

 

With the visa-free period extended to 60 days, short-term business travelers must carefully evaluate their activities to ensure they do not constitute 'work' under the law.

 

Specific activities may require regular or urgent work permits, initially valid for 15 days and extendable for another 15 days.

 

Activities considered urgent or specific work include organizing conferences, conducting academic lectures, temporary internal audits, quality inspections, and machinery installation.

 

These measures ensure that while foreigners can take advantage of Thailand’s extended visa privileges, they comply with local employment laws. This ensures legal security and protects Thai citizen jobs.

 

These comprehensive visa updates mark Thailand's steps to attract foreign talent and investment, enhancing its international appeal and economic growth while maintaining a regulated work environment, reported The Nation.

 

Picture courtesy: Daily Post

 

-- 2024-09-16

 

 

[NemoH]

I wonder who will now want a DTV when Thailand will start taxing their world wide income ..

🤣🤣lured in by DTV.. but soon will form the first batch of foreigners to be taxed in Thailand on all their world wide income 🤣🤣🤣 under new Thai laws… 

Edited September 15 by NemoH

[hotchilli]

1 minute ago, NemoH said:

I wonder who will now want a DTV when Thailand will start taxing their world wide income ..

🤣🤣lured in by DTV.. but soon will form the first batch of foreigners to be taxed in Thailand on all their world wide income 🤣🤣🤣 under new Thai laws… 

The world wide income tax will never happen.

[Aviatorhi]

2 minutes ago, NemoH said:

I wonder who will now want a DTV when Thailand will start taxing their world wide income ..

🤣🤣lured in by DTV.. but soon will form the first batch of foreigners to be taxed in Thailand on all their world wide income 🤣🤣🤣 under new Thai laws… 

One of the selling points of the "Wealthy Global Citizen" DTV is 0% tax on overseas income.

[Straight8]

13 minutes ago, NemoH said:

I wonder who will now want a DTV when Thailand will start taxing their world wide income ..

🤣🤣lured in by DTV.. but soon will form the first batch of foreigners to be taxed in Thailand on all their world wide income 🤣🤣🤣 under new Thai laws… 

Probably those who don't intend to be here more than 180 days per year?

[kwilco]

24 minutes ago, NemoH said:

I wonder who will now want a DTV when Thailand will start taxing their world wide income ..

🤣🤣lured in by DTV.. but soon will form the first batch of foreigners to be taxed in Thailand on all their world wide income 🤣🤣🤣 under new Thai laws… 

Tax is applicable after 180 days

[kwilco]

THis is just a recap., right?

 

I think the main thing will be the ETA - a way of bringing in restrictions a different way.

[ryandb]

33 minutes ago, NemoH said:

I wonder who will now want a DTV when Thailand will start taxing their world wide income ..

🤣🤣lured in by DTV.. but soon will form the first batch of foreigners to be taxed in Thailand on all their world wide income 🤣🤣🤣 under new Thai laws… 

 

I'm switching to it this year, good luck to them trying, I have my own business and will pay myself next to nothing in terms of income if it is somehow actioned

[riverhigh]

Always the gimmicky visas, never the visa that the foreigner wants. In light of the new tax proposals there should be permanent residence for retirees. Always wanting the golden egg but not the golden goose that lays the egg!

[Kerryd]

I really can't see Revenue Clerks in Thailand trying to check bank accounts of foreigners in every country that's a part of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that developed the "Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information" (or "Common Reporting Standard" for short).

Thailand isn't a member of the OECD yet (in progress as of mid-2024) and though they are a member of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, they haven't signed on to the Common Reporting Standard so by rights they can't check foreign bank balances of people who are "tax resident" in Thailand.

And then there's going to be the confusion (and constant arguments) about which income is "taxable" and which isn't and how they are going to deal with non-pension income that's already taxed in your home country (and interpreting the clauses of the different tax treaties between each country which are not only going to be different in languages but in the interpretation of terms and conditions).

And right now, doing a tax return is "voluntary" and as far as I know, they don't have any way to verify who has or hasn't done a Return.

Immigration and Revenue are two different departments and I doubt Immigration wants to start doing Revenue's job for them.
Imagine if you are on a "year long" Visa or Extension and you "go home" or visit another country for a week and when you come back to Thailand (via airport or border crossing) and they want to see your tax returns before they'll let you back into the country.

And imagine the line-ups at Immigration when you go to do an Extension or 90 day Report or any other business and they want to see your tax returns first.

But remember, this isn't about the couple thousand "western expats" living here on their pensions or about a couple thousand "digital nomads" making miniscule income from the occasional "best 10 movies that never won an Oscar" or "Top 10 worst movies to win an Oscar" lists they make up once in awhile.

China is a member of the OECD and has signed onto the Common Reporting Standard.

And you can bet there are going to be a lot more Chinese "workers" and "expats" in Thailand soon than all the "Western expats" combined.

Whenever Thailand changes something that affects foreigners, like Visa rules, condo ownership rules or tax rules, know that they are NOT thinking about the tiny percentage of "western" foreigners. 

They ARE thinking about the masses of Chinese workers and expats and businesses. That is the driving force behind these changes.

And for people who only have pension income and there's a tax treaty between those countries that covers that income - it won't be an issue anyways.

But I suspect there's going to be a lot of issues and a lot of changes in how they handle this over the next couple of years.

[topt]

5 minutes ago, Kerryd said:

they haven't signed on to the Common Reporting Standard

If they hadn't the tax threads would have been half the length at least. 

https://sherrings.com/common-reporting-standard-crs-tax-laws-thailand.html

[mokwit]

10 minutes ago, Kerryd said:

And imagine the line-ups at Immigration when you go to do an Extension or 90 day Report or any other business and they want to see your tax returns first.

It is unlikely they would assess in any way, just demand to see evidence of filing/tax paid i.e. just that you were in the tax system. How long does it take to check if you have aTM30 filed before they issue an extension, you either have it or you don't, and it likely would be the same with tax.

Edited September 15 by mokwit

[10baht]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

The Ministry of Interior of Thailand has issued four major announcements

How about announcing that the Thai gov't will not be driving the  "Golden Egg" retirees from the country due to trying to

extort I mean tax them on out of country income.

[LOG54]

Hello

One thing is that they follow their timing.. They had announced new visas rules between September and November..and here we are..

What I fear is that (and it is simple to put in place) from 2025 onwards they will ask for a tax clearance certificate to proceed with extension of stay..

Also..the law requiring tax clearance certificate to leave the country exists, just not enforced now.. What if from July 2025, when exiting the country under long term visa or extension of stay, they ask for it (30th of June is 6 months period end).. Let's see if some more announcements are made regarding visas.. and if new tax law for 2025 is announced before December..

Personally we go before July 2025.. we won't be staying here when there is no security about what will be going on in coming weeks and months..

In Italy recently EU expats have received a HUGE tax bill, some had to sell condos or houses there to pay the bill.. For french they had payed taxes in France..They taxed them in Italy, with 4 years arrears !!

Not taking the risk

Bye Thailand

Have a good day

[gejohesch]

1 hour ago, hotchilli said:

The world wide income tax will never happen.

"The world wide income tax will never happen" : it certainly cannot be applied to citizens of countries that have a bi-lateral agreement with Thailand to avoid double taxation and tax 1) income in Thailand, in Thailand; 2) income in home country, in home country. In such case, Thailand attempting to tax a foreigner's income in his home country would just be plain illegal. Thailand would have to renegotiate such bi-lateral agreement, and I would not think that would be a quick and easy thing to do (my guess is it would take years).

[LOG54]

Also check what they do in Malta (EU country)..

No double taxation ..they tax 15% the money you enter into the country...BUT minimum taxation 7500 euros per year !!!!!

Have a good day

[LOG54]

2 minutes ago, gejohesch said:

"The world wide income tax will never happen" : it certainly cannot be applied to citizens of countries that have a bi-lateral agreement with Thailand to avoid double taxation and tax 1) income in Thailand, in Thailand; 2) income in home country, in home country. In such case, Thailand attempting to tax a foreigner's income in his home country would just be plain illegal. Thailand would have to renegotiate such bi-lateral agreement, and I would not think that would be a quick and easy thing to do (my guess is it would take years).

And what if they tax anyway and let you go through the court process to have the Thai tax cancelled ?...

They can also ask to file a tax return, calculate the Thai tax amount and deduct what you pay abroad.. From my calculation even with all deductions (elderly people bonus etc..,) thai tax is higher than tax I pay abroad.. difference for me would be quite huge..

Have a good day

[chipperPDU]

Extended Visa-Free Period does not exist, it's an extended visa exempt period.

[wadsy]

2 hours ago, NemoH said:

I wonder who will now want a DTV when Thailand will start taxing their world wide income ..

🤣🤣lured in by DTV.. but soon will form the first batch of foreigners to be taxed in Thailand on all their world wide income 🤣🤣🤣 under new Thai laws… 

Not if they stay less than 180 days in a calender year, problem solved.

[Hakuna Matata]

[koolkarl]

2 hours ago, hotchilli said:

The world wide income tax will never happen.

My Singapore bank will disagree with you.  They informed of this reporting of world wide income at least 3 years ago.

[Phaka2]

"Not if they stay less than 180 days in a calender year, problem solved.

 

Not so easy if you have a home, children in school, etc,

Edited September 16 by Phaka2

[whitfield]

1 hour ago, Kerryd said:

I really can't see Revenue Clerks in Thailand trying to check bank accounts of foreigners in every country that's a part of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that developed the "Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information" (or "Common Reporting Standard" for short).

Thailand isn't a member of the OECD yet (in progress as of mid-2024) and though they are a member of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, they haven't signed on to the Common Reporting Standard so by rights they can't check foreign bank balances of people who are "tax resident" in Thailand.

And then there's going to be the confusion (and constant arguments) about which income is "taxable" and which isn't and how they are going to deal with non-pension income that's already taxed in your home country (and interpreting the clauses of the different tax treaties between each country which are not only going to be different in languages but in the interpretation of terms and conditions).

And right now, doing a tax return is "voluntary" and as far as I know, they don't have any way to verify who has or hasn't done a Return.

Immigration and Revenue are two different departments and I doubt Immigration wants to start doing Revenue's job for them.
Imagine if you are on a "year long" Visa or Extension and you "go home" or visit another country for a week and when you come back to Thailand (via airport or border crossing) and they want to see your tax returns before they'll let you back into the country.

And imagine the line-ups at Immigration when you go to do an Extension or 90 day Report or any other business and they want to see your tax returns first.

But remember, this isn't about the couple thousand "western expats" living here on their pensions or about a couple thousand "digital nomads" making miniscule income from the occasional "best 10 movies that never won an Oscar" or "Top 10 worst movies to win an Oscar" lists they make up once in awhile.

China is a member of the OECD and has signed onto the Common Reporting Standard.

And you can bet there are going to be a lot more Chinese "workers" and "expats" in Thailand soon than all the "Western expats" combined.

Whenever Thailand changes something that affects foreigners, like Visa rules, condo ownership rules or tax rules, know that they are NOT thinking about the tiny percentage of "western" foreigners. 

They ARE thinking about the masses of Chinese workers and expats and businesses. That is the driving force behind these changes.

And for people who only have pension income and there's a tax treaty between those countries that covers that income - it won't be an issue anyways.

But I suspect there's going to be a lot of issues and a lot of changes in how they handle this over the next couple of years.

I went to Immigration the other day and they asked why I only kept 400,000 in my account.  I told them that we don't want to bring in more money than we need because they are going to tax us.  The girl looked at ,e with eyebrows raised and said, "How?"  She had no clue.  If it ever did happen that Immigration needed to sign off a tax return or similar, you can bet your life that the only thing that would change would be the "Agent's Fee".

[hotchilli]

22 minutes ago, koolkarl said:

My Singapore bank will disagree with you.  They informed of this reporting of world wide income at least 3 years ago.

How can a country say it's going to tax someone on income generated in another country and not transferred to the host country.

Antone thinking of staying or investing in that country would go elsewhere.

[Tropicalevo]

31 minutes ago, koolkarl said:

My Singapore bank will disagree with you.  They informed of this reporting of world wide income at least 3 years ago.

But it still hasn't happened yet.

Three years and counting.

[Dan O]

26 minutes ago, whitfield said:

I went to Immigration the other day and they asked why I only kept 400,000 in my account.  I told them that we don't want to bring in more money than we need because they are going to tax us.  The girl looked at ,e with eyebrows raised and said, "How?"  She had no clue.  If it ever did happen that Immigration needed to sign off a tax return or similar, you can bet your life that the only thing that would change would be the "Agent's Fee".

She had no clue because nothing has been done to make any connection to Immigration about taxes other than speculation here on AN and other forums.  

[Stargeezr]

I am happy not to be a Thai expat. Feel sorry for my relative though who lives year round in Thailand.

  Good luck to all yu expats, and I hope that Thailand takes another 100 years to impliment

this latest grande idea.

[Patong2021]

So much panic over nothing.

Who is eligible to benefit from a double tax agreement? The double tax agreement will be applied to individuals and juristic persons of a signatory state to the agreement.   To be entitled to the benefits of a double tax treaty benefits and be classified as a Thai resident, the person must satisfy the following:

i. An individual who stays in Thailand for at least 180 days in a tax year

ii. A company registered in Thailand with the Ministry of Commerce 

 

 

Thailand has concluded 61 double tax agreements with countries worldwide.

Armenia	Hungary	Poland
Australia	India	Romania
Austria	Indonesia	Russia
Bahrain	Israel	Seychelles
Bangladesh	Italy	Singapore
Belarus	Japan	Slovenia
Belgium	Korea	South Africa
Bulgaria	Kuwait	Spain
Cambodia	Laos	Sri Lanka
Canada	Luxembourg	Sweden
Chile	Malaysia	Switzerland
China	Mauritius	Taipei
Cyprus	Myanmar	Tajikistan
Czech Republic	Nepal	Turkey
Denmark	Netherlands	Ukraine
Estonia	New Zealand	United Arab Emirates
Finland	Norway	United States of America
Germany	Oman	Uzbekistan
Great Britain and Northern Ireland	Pakistan	Vietnam
Hong Kong	Philippines	France

 

https://belaws.com/thailand/double-tax-agreements/

 

[NorthernRyland]

42 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

How can a country say it's going to tax someone on income generated in another country and not transferred to the host country.

 

Easy, Thailand just has to request the money and say pay up or go home. They don't need any more justification than that. They could literally come out tomorrow and say 1 mil baht expat visa fee starting January 1st and we can't renew our visa unless we pay. Governments are basically the mafia let's not forget.

[sabai-dee-man]

1 hour ago, Phaka2 said:

"Not if they stay less than 180 days in a calender year, problem solved.

 

Not so easy if you have a home, children in school, etc,

 

Then it's not the correct visa for you! Simples!