Obtaining a Thailand tax ID #

[watgate]

Seeing as how their is a good possibility foreigners residing in Thailand for more then 180 days will have to do a thai tax return for their personal income and investments, do you think it is important to obtain a tax id # now? If this proposal to tax foreigners income and investments is passed and comes into law, their will be a mad dash by 1000's of expats to obtain a tax id # in order to comply with the thai tax Revenue Dept regulations and requirements to file a thai tax return. If one does obtain a tax id now and this tax scheme is not passed, then so be it, and one will be out a few thousand baht for obtaining a tax id now. But, if an expat  waits to see if the tax proposal is eventually passed into law, then one will have to get into the queue, along with 1000's of other expats, in order to apply and obtain a thai tax id # from the thai Revenue Dept should the tax proposal be passed into law. As they say in Thailand up to you.

Edited October 15 by watgate
corrected a grammatical error

[gamb00ler]

3 hours ago, watgate said:

If one does obtain a tax id now and this tax scheme is not passed, then so be it, and one will be out a few thousand baht for obtaining a tax id now.

I don't follow your logic in this statement.

 

I have lived in LOS for 4 years and never filed taxes here.  No income was remitted in the same year as it was earned.

 

I got a tax ID so I could open a bank account that earned much better interest than the typical savings account.  I spent only about 15 minutes in the TRD office to get my free Thai tax ID.  Having a Thai tax ID has not cost me anything.  It does save me the trouble of filing a yearly tax form to request a refund of tax withheld from bank interest payments.

Edited October 15 by gamb00ler

[Gottfrid]

3 hours ago, watgate said:

and one will be out a few thousand baht for obtaining a tax id now

Are you using an agent 😉 Obtaining a TIN is free.

[NoDisplayName]

3 hours ago, watgate said:

one will be out a few thousand baht for obtaining a tax id now.

 

That's an agent fee for doing something you can easily do yourself.

 

Some posters report their particular local tax office refused, saying you don't need to file.  Lazy or less competent office staff may not want to deal with you.

 

Explain you need a TIN to file tax returns in order to have withheld tax on interest and dividends refunded.

[gamb00ler]

6 hours ago, NoDisplayName said:

Explain you need a TIN to file tax returns in order to have withheld tax on interest and dividends refunded.

Or.... to give the banks your Thai tax ID and ask them to stop the withholding.  Unfortunately, I think you cannot stop the withholding of tax from interest earned on fixed deposit accounts.

[watgate]

I guess I could have gone to the Tax Revenue Dept to obtain my tax id # but opted to pay my accountant in Bangkok to get one for me. It wasn't expensive and saved me the hassle of having to travel to Bangkok to get my tax id #.

   I was referring to, if and when, retirees are going to have to start filing a thai tax return as part of the process to determine whether one has to pay income taxes to Thailand for income either brought into Thailand or for retirees total  worldwide income.

    There is currently an ongoing push to tax retirees who live in Thailand for more then 180 days.

[topt]

7 hours ago, watgate said:

or for retirees total  worldwide income.

This was only a "suggestion" from the recent/current DG of the Thai RD and if it happens it should take a while to go through the legal process.

 

7 hours ago, watgate said:

There is currently an ongoing push to tax retirees who live in Thailand for more then 180 days.

Really from whom?

There was a change in the interpretation of one rule which arguably could have as much effect on Thai's as much as foreigners and then a subsequent ruling allowing savings pre 31/12/2023 to be exempted.

 

Respectfully you may want to read some of the other threads on this subject as what you have written perhaps suggests some miscomprehensions....... 

 

 

[oldcpu]

Obtaining a Thai tax ID might be more difficult than what some think.

 

I posted on this a couple of times.

 

Some months back, my Thai wife submitted an online application for me to obtain a Thai tax ID. That application goes to Bangkok based RD, and Bangkok referred it back to the Phuket RD.

 

My wife obtained a phone call from a Phuket RD official.  They wanted to know (1) did I spend more than 180 days in Thailand, and (2) what was my source of income, and (3) was I bringing any money into Thailand.

 

My wife answered (1) I lived in Thailand full time, and (2) my income was ONLY pensions from outside of Thailand and (3) at present time I was not bringing money into Thailand.

 

The Phuket RD official stated I did not need a Thai tax ID and that I did not need to file a Thai tax return.  When asked if my Thai Pink-ID # could be used as a Thai tax ID, the official advised for me , no at present, because it was not activated as a tax ID.  It needed to be activated FIRST to be used as a Thai tax ID, and the official would not activate it as they believed I did not need a Thai tax ID.

 

My wife then noted I was on an LTR visa, and that I planned to bring money into Thailand while on that Visa.  Would I then need a Thai tax ID and need to file a Thai tax return?  The official replied they never heard of an LTR visa, and that they would check into this and call m wife back.

 

That was many months ago.  They never called back.  I still do not have an 'active' Thai tax ID.

 

I suspect to get a Thai tax ID, I would have to show up at the local Thai RD office in Phuket early in the morning and plant myself there for the full day, until they finally either kicked me out of the office, or gave me a Thai tax ID.   I am not overly keen to do that.

 

So this may not (at present) be as easy to get a Thai tax ID as one might think.

Edited October 17 by oldcpu