How Has Thailand’s New Income Tax Law Affected Your Spending Habits?

[BangkokBernie]

Now that nearly a year has passed since the Thai government put a new law into affect that created a personal income tax on all cash transfers into Thailand which applies to all residents of Thailand, I’m curious how this change has affected your lifestyle and spending habits over the past year.

 

Have you found yourself reducing your spending in Thailand and/or canceling or indefinitely postponing any large purchases you were planning to make here?

 

Personally, while I’ve continued spending about the same amount, I’ve made a conscious decision to stop bringing significant sums of money into the country and to avoid keeping it in Thai banks. My Thai bank account balances have been steadily decreasing rather than staying stable or increasing. This approach, I think, isn’t achieving the taxation benefits the Thai government was hoping for. Instead, I’ve started using overseas debit cards for a lot of my spending here. While I understand that, technically, these transactions are also supposed to be reported to the Thai Revenue Department (TRD) and taxed, I’ll be honest, that’s not going to happen.

 

I’m struggling to see how this policy is a win for the Thai government. They aren’t going to collect any income tax from the money I spend in Thailand from my overseas savings, and, like many others, I’ve scaled back on transferring as much cash as possible into Thailand. The result is that they’re likely receiving less revenue from foreigners overall.

 

Maybe this policy benefits the TRD on Thai nationals earning money abroad and transferring it back home. But for foreigners, I think it’s far more likely to discourage spending and investment in the country. In fact, it already serves as a deterrent for retirees and potential long-term residents. If you don’t already have the ฿800,000 in a Thai bank account required for a retirement visa, who’s going to transfer that amount in (plus 20% more) and then lose 20% of it to taxes just to meet the visa requirement?

 

This feels like a long-term misstep for Thailand. Policies like this may discourage large purchases, property investments, and even retirement plans for foreigners who might otherwise bring significant amounts of money into the country.

 

The only way I see this policy working in Thailand’s favor is if it were limited to taxing Thai nationals on any overseas income they repatriate while leaving foreigners out of it. That way, foreigners could continue to spend freely, providing a big boost to the Thai economy.

[scubascuba3]

I'll be bringing in the minimum, I've even started paying using contactless with UK cards and Wise card, I'll also use Wise to pay larger amounts, common fees, maybe even much larger purchases 

[ChumpChange]

Like all the other past hare brained governmental brain farts intended to grab even more money out of the pockets of the people who come here and do nothing but spend money, this is just another disastrous misstep. 

 

And just wait until all the foreigners in the first three months of next year start showing up at their local TRD tax office to file a tax statement. Probably the majority of the people working in those government offices don't speak English, let alone Chinese, Arabic, Russian, etc. Not only that, many of the foreigners will be showing up with all kinds of financial documents written in various different foreign languages. I can imagine not only is this going to be a major headache, and an extra unwanted burden for the government employees who don't benefit at all from any of this, there will probably be a fair number of blowups with foreigners losing it when the locals don't understand their financial reporting questions. You will be sure to get a bunch irate foreigners souring the milk since emotions can easily turn hot when it's all about matters of money. 

[SoCal1990]

47 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

I'll be bringing in the minimum, I've even started paying using contactless with UK cards and Wise card, I'll also use Wise to pay larger amounts, common fees, maybe even much larger purchases 

Let me know when you've figured out a way how to pay for a short times using Wise without showing your real name on the transaction. That could be a game changer for Thailand. Think about what that might do for the local economy and how many more new houses might get built by knights in shining armor in the hub of som tam. 

[scottiejohn]

51 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

I'll also use Wise to pay larger amounts, common fees,

Pay directly into the Thai Business accounts from your home country account!

[jayboy]

1 hour ago, BangkokBernie said:

the Thai government put a new law into affect

 

It didn't

 

1 hour ago, BangkokBernie said:

created a personal income tax on all cash transfers into Thailand

 

It didn't and in any case many transfers are not taxable

 

1 hour ago, BangkokBernie said:

which applies to all residents of Thailand,

 

Only to some

[KhunLA]

IF it actually becomes law and instituted, being a Yank, it won't affect me at all.  Been here a while already, and all bought in already.  Don't need any big ticket items, and the money for, is already here.

 

Older married guys don't have much to worry about, and enough exemptions/allowances to barely get taxed, if any, if only bringing in about 800k to meet Imm requirements.

 

More than enough to live on, aside from any extra brought in would get hit with a minimum tax.  Not worth concerning one's self about.

[scubascuba3]

23 minutes ago, scottiejohn said:

Pay directly into the Thai Business accounts from your home country account!

Cheaper to use Wise, would never enter my thai accounts

[G Rex]

I am bringing less money in.  I too have made some larger purchases using Wise , but transferring directly from one of my home country bank accounts.  I have also used my foreign credit cards more, and paid them from my home accounts.

This is, however, just practice for me.  I have no intention getting a TIN , and will not do so until I am dragged kicking and screaming into their office.

My aim is to keep my head down, stay off the radar, and see what really happens here.

My gut feeling is that nothing much will change here.

Thailand - the land where the Left hand does't know what the Right one is doing! 

[anchadian]

22 minutes ago, G Rex said:

I am bringing less money in.  I too have made some larger purchases using Wise , but transferring directly from one of my home country bank accounts.  I have also used my foreign credit cards more, and paid them from my home accounts.

This is, however, just practice for me.  I have no intention getting a TIN , and will not do so until I am dragged kicking and screaming into their office.

My aim is to keep my head down, stay off the radar, and see what really happens here.

My gut feeling is that nothing much will change here.

Thailand - the land where the Left hand does't know what the Right one is doing! 

Shouldn't that have read 'I have no intention getting a TIN, and will not do so until I'm dragged off to the county jail'.

[RSD1]

Speaking of Wise, they caused me an embarrassing situation today and a big waste of time. I paid for something in a shop to the shop's Thai business bank account. Money shows in the app that it has been delivered. It was even transferred from Wise using the same bank as the shop. So it was a total in bank transfer. Money doesn't show up in their account though. Then the shop spent an hour on the phone with their bank trying to locate the missing payment. Eventually I gave up because I was getting tired of the awkward situation and so I paid the shop a second time using a local bank transfer so that I could leave the shop and I asked them to refund the second payment to me once they receive the Wise payment. When I left the shop I planned to get in touch with Wise once I got home. After I was at home, I rechecked the app and now the payment showed up with a different status and that the shop would be receiving the payment in their bank account within another 12 minutes. I was planning to call the shop and ask them to please recheck their account balance again, but then the shop messaged me to tell me they got the money and would be refunding my local bank transfer to me. It all worked out fine in the end, but it was a huge waste of my time and the shop girl's time and a somewhat stressful situation, not to mention I ended up making the payment twice as I didn't feel comfortable leaving the shop without knowing that they had surely received payment from me. This made me think twice about using Wise to transfer any business payments ever again in the future that need to be received within a timely manner. The app did tell me the funds would arrive in seconds when I initiated the transfer and then gave me confirmation that the money was successfully in their account. This whole Wise screw up sent me on a wild goose chase, when in reality the shop didn't receive the money from Wise until about 3 hours later and not within seconds as they promised. A strong word to the Wise!

[G Rex]

7 minutes ago, anchadian said:

Shouldn't that have read 'I have no intention getting a TIN, and will not do so until I'm dragged off to the county jail'.

 

I am retired , living off my savings , so anything I bring in has already had substantial tax paid in Australia - so - no - I don't think it would come to that!

I cannot be bothered dealing with the local tax officials - so will not be doing so unless absolutely necessary.

Jail!! 555 

[anchadian]

You didn't mention this in your initial post ', so anything I bring in has already had substantial tax paid in Australia' which now puts a different light on your foreign income although I believe that obtaining a TIN is a must, whether or not you file a tax return.

 

We'll have to wait and see what transpires.