Elite Visa Holders exempt from paying personal income tax in Thailand

[churchill]

I think this is new ?

 

' Taxation regulations in 2024

Thailand Privilege membership holders are exempt from paying personal income tax in Thailand if they remit funds from a personal bank account abroad into a local bank account in Thailand and can provide proof that the money is not personal income in the same calendar year. 

Additionally, if your country has a Double Tax Agreement (DTA) with Thailand, no tax is required in Thailand, even if the income is transferred within the same calendar year it was earned. For further clarification, please refer to the attached summary prepared by the Revenue Department. '

 

see https://go.thailandprivilege.co.th/b/17863/4625/2000460/F/F/F/F/F

 

[MART]

12 minutes ago, churchill said:

I think this is new ?

 

' Taxation regulations in 2024

Thailand Privilege membership holders are exempt from paying personal income tax in Thailand if they remit funds from a personal bank account abroad into a local bank account in Thailand and can provide proof that the money is not personal income in the same calendar year. 

Additionally, if your country has a Double Tax Agreement (DTA) with Thailand, no tax is required in Thailand, even if the income is transferred within the same calendar year it was earned. For further clarification, please refer to the attached summary prepared by the Revenue Department. '

 

see https://go.thailandprivilege.co.th/b/17863/4625/2000460/F/F/F/F/F

 

 

No, nothing new. It pertains to 2024 only and is the case for any type of visa or permission to stay. Any income earned before January 1st, 2024 is not assessable income. However, in 2025, 2026, etc. it will not be "not in the same calendar year" but "before January 1st, 2024".

Edited yesterday at 07:40 AM by MART

[Alldar]

13 minutes ago, MART said:

No, nothing new. It pertains to 2024 only and is the case for any type of visa or permission to stay.

Well this part is definitely new and it is not true for any type of visa:

20 minutes ago, churchill said:

Additionally, if your country has a Double Tax Agreement (DTA) with Thailand, no tax is required in Thailand, even if the income is transferred within the same calendar year it was earned.

Also the wording about income from the same calendar year is a bit strange. Why they wouldn't say even now that income earned before 1st January 2024?

[ukrules]

I got this same email from TE today.

Nobody pays any tax on remitted funds for 2024 if they came from any previous year, this is just a result of the clarification memo they issued.

 

This would be big news if it also carries over into 2025 and applies to 2024 foreign income gained whilst resident in Thailand, which I very much doubt.

Suspect that cut off date at the end of 2023 is going to apply to everyone.

[MART]

51 minutes ago, Alldar said:

Well this part is definitely new and it is not true for any type of visa:

Also the wording about income from the same calendar year is a bit strange. Why they wouldn't say even now that income earned before 1st January 2024?

 

I think you're wrong. Read it carefully. The headline is "Taxation regulations in 2024", but it should read "Taxation regulations for 2024", and then it makes perfectly sense.

It pertains to 2024 only that income not earned in the same year is not assessable. In 2025, 2026, etc. this statement will not be true any longer and it will have to read "income earned before 2024". 

 

I suspect the strange wording is made on purpose for readers to think that their income made in another calendar year is not assessable. The statement about DTAs is also very vague and misleading. All DTAs are different and none applies to all types of income.

Edited yesterday at 08:43 AM by MART

[Alldar]

3 minutes ago, MART said:

I suspect the strange wording is made on purpose for readers to think that their income made in another calendar year is not assessable. The statement about DTAs is also very vague and misleading. All DTAs are different and none applies to all types of income.

The part about the DTAs made me believe that it is something new because even if the country has DTA with Thailand you are usually paying difference of the taxes in the target country and exactly every DTA is different and different sources of income is treated differently as well. Why would official statement be misleading like this?

 

But yeah probably it is nothing new. It will be interesting what would be the statement for 2025.

[MART]

12 minutes ago, Alldar said:

Why would official statement be misleading like this?

 

The Thai Elite Privilege scheme is a private business AFAIK. So it's not an official statement from the Thai government.

[Pattaya57]

Just some fancy worded PR to give the Elite Visa members some hope that they didn't entirely waste their millions of baht when they could have just got a DTV for 10,000 baht instead 😀

[Presnock]

15 hours ago, MART said:

 

No, nothing new. It pertains to 2024 only and is the case for any type of visa or permission to stay. Any income earned before January 1st, 2024 is not assessable income. However, in 2025, 2026, etc. it will not be "not in the same calendar year" but "before January 1st, 2024".

In addition as noted, it states that if your country has a DTA with Thailand even that earned in this the same calendar year is exempt - I think that they believe that the individual paid taxes on that income in the country that has a DTA with Thailand.  I could be wrong but it sure seems strange that they even brought up the taxation bit.  ANsd, we must recall TIT and next year might be worldwide income taxation and it will be interesting to see how they handle all the exemptions if they are still valid.  Best of luck to all.

[Karma80]

There are zero special tax regulations or allowances for Thai Elite Visa holders. Their statement is misleading people into thinking there is, or a marketing spin at best.

 

Yes, some DTAs can impact a Thai tax resident. And yes, there is some transitory provision regarding money transfers before 2024. In some circumstances, an elite visa may make sense in someone's tax strategy compared to that of their home country.

 

The government should consider aligning Thai Elite revenue allowances with the LTR. It would undoubtedly make it more attractive to higher-worth people. But TiT and who knows what vague tax ideas will be wafted out in public before any tax reform will be firm in future years. Until then, the only solid thing is the actual RD tax provisions - and concessions for Thai Elite Elite visas do not exist right now.

[andre47]

17 hours ago, churchill said:

I think this is new ?

 

' Taxation regulations in 2024

Thailand Privilege membership holders are exempt from paying personal income tax in Thailand if they remit funds from a personal bank account abroad into a local bank account in Thailand and can provide proof that the money is not personal income in the same calendar year. 

Additionally, if your country has a Double Tax Agreement (DTA) with Thailand, no tax is required in Thailand, even if the income is transferred within the same calendar year it was earned. For further clarification, please refer to the attached summary prepared by the Revenue Department. '

 

see https://go.thailandprivilege.co.th/b/17863/4625/2000460/F/F/F/F/F

 

Your information is quite useless.

This regulation applies to all taxpayers in Thailand, not just Privilege membership holders.

[Presnock]

17 hours ago, churchill said:

I think this is new ?

 

' Taxation regulations in 2024

Thailand Privilege membership holders are exempt from paying personal income tax in Thailand if they remit funds from a personal bank account abroad into a local bank account in Thailand and can provide proof that the money is not personal income in the same calendar year. 

Additionally, if your country has a Double Tax Agreement (DTA) with Thailand, no tax is required in Thailand, even if the income is transferred within the same calendar year it was earned. For further clarification, please refer to the attached summary prepared by the Revenue Department. '

 

 

17 hours ago, churchill said:

 

I checked the Revenue Dept webbsite, google RD tax alerts etc, regarding this issue.,...as for same year earned (post 2023) the RD linterpretation of the tax law only says that even if an elite's income has been taxed already, when remitted into Thailand that person is required to file for taxes too in Thailand and can be offered tax credits for taxes paid in one's home country.    So, seems to me that thre is no special exemption for the elite visa holder when it comes to taxation on income.  Since the elite holder also more likely has a higher income, the taxing percentage could be lower in another country as oppo Thailand so the holder might have a Thai obligation too.  

[oneupiswhatwedo]

38 minutes ago, Karma80 said:

There are zero special tax regulations or allowances for Thai Elite Visa holders. Their statement is misleading people into thinking there is, or a marketing spin at best.

 

Yes, some DTAs can impact a Thai tax resident. And yes, there is some transitory provision regarding money transfers before 2024. In some circumstances, an elite visa may make sense in someone's tax strategy compared to that of their home country.

 

The government should consider aligning Thai Elite revenue allowances with the LTR. It would undoubtedly make it more attractive to higher-worth people. But TiT and who knows what vague tax ideas will be wafted out in public before any tax reform will be firm in future years. Until then, the only solid thing is the actual RD tax provisions - and concessions for Thai Elite Elite visas do not exist right now.

They are working toward that, I guess, but are facing a lot of scrutiny and bureaucracy. The whole point of the Elite was to act as a filter to attract wealthy non-domiciled individuals to spend their money from abroad, and wealthy individuals are typically well aware of tax obligations.

[Moti24]

6.  Taxation regulations in 2024 (paragraph 2 below):

 

Additionally, if your country has a Double Tax Agreement (DTA) with Thailand, no tax is required in Thailand, even if the income is transferred within the same calendar year it was earned. For further clarification, please refer to the attached summary prepared by the Revenue Department.

 

Most replies above refer to Thai privilege membership holders, but I'm not so sure about that.  The paragraph begins with the word, "Additionally", and refers to countries that have a DTA with Thailand.  The DTA can't differentiate between different visa holders; a DTA is a DTA, full stop.  It seems quite clear to me that all countries with a DTA will not be subject to tax in Thailand.  Yes, I know, TiT, and the title refers to 2024.  

 

Stand-by for further unsubstantiated news from the Thai Revenue Department.

 

 

 

[Rob Browder]

1 hour ago, Moti24 said:

It seems quite clear to me that all countries with a DTA will not be subject to tax in Thailand.  Yes, I know, TiT, and the title refers to 2024.  

It is not that simple, unfortunately.  If the type of income one has - say, a pension / social-security - AND the specific DTA states that income is excluded, then yes.   

But, if one has other types of income, then one can only deduct the taxes paid in their home-country from the taxes one would need to pay in Thailand - then, maybe zero due, or maybe not.

 

Also, as-is, only remitted money would be subject to tax, and ONLY if those funds were earned on/after Jan 1, 2024. 

[Ben Zioner]

9 hours ago, oneupiswhatwedo said:

The government should consider aligning Thai Elite revenue allowances with the LTR. It would undoubtedly make it more attractive to higher-worth people.

Why? The Higher worth people, those who have nothing to hide, should apply for the LTR and save a heap of Dough.

[bigt3116]

On 9/25/2024 at 4:03 PM, Pattaya57 said:

Just some fancy worded PR to give the Elite Visa members some hope that they didn't entirely waste their millions of baht when they could have just got a DTV for 10,000 baht instead 😀

 

Please explain to me how someone in 2003 could have got the DTV instead of the Elite?