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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[RSD1]

4 minutes ago, anchadian said:

although I believe that obtaining a TIN is a must

 

Anyone who has a pink card already has a Thai TIN whether they like it or not. The 13 digit ID number on the pink card is also your TIN.

[chiang mai]

"created a personal income tax on all cash transfers into Thailand which applies to all residents of Thailand",

 

It didn't do anything like that, the op should do his homework and read up on what really happened.

[BangkokBernie]

1 hour ago, G Rex said:

 

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 

Thank you, but as I said in my OP, the purpose of this topic is to discuss changes in spending habits as a result of the changes to the Thai tax laws that will effect foreigners residing in Thailand.
 

Anyone's individual tax situation is only anecdotal. Also, it remains to be seen how much of people's taxes already paid overseas on the imported money will actually get applied to their tax liabilities in Thailand under any double taxation treaties.
 

I anticipate a number of situations where the TRD can't understand the contents of the documents that foreigners are presenting as evidence of tax already paid overseas and, thus won't accept them. 

[BangkokBernie]

1 hour ago, chiang mai said:

"created a personal income tax on all cash transfers into Thailand which applies to all residents of Thailand",

 

It didn't do anything like that, the op should do his homework and read up on what really happened.

It's semantics how you wish to interpret the new tax structure. The question was whether or not people's spending habits have changed in 2024 as a result of the fact that they could be expected to pay personal income tax on money (starting this year) that they remit into the country into their own Thai bank account via an overseas bank or fintech transfer. 

[snowybob]

I personally will have spent more than 180 days outside Thailand this year. Ipso facto my spending has probably dropped by a 50%. For next year I am looking at a similar strategy. I am waiting to see if the government implement laws taxing my worldwide income regardless of how much is brought into Thailand. If the situation stays as is I will reluctantly stay over the 180 days in LOS and suck up paying tax on what I import. However I would be importing the minimum and because of that be spending far less than in the past. The flat rate option may be attractive depending on the rate, if that is ever introduced, which probably is highly unlikely 

[chiang mai]

8 hours ago, BangkokBernie said:

It's semantics how you wish to interpret the new tax structure. The question was whether or not people's spending habits have changed in 2024 as a result of the fact that they could be expected to pay personal income tax on money (starting this year) that they remit into the country into their own Thai bank account via an overseas bank or fintech transfer. 

Interpretation of the Thai tax rules is not the issue that I commented upon, the accuracy and appropriateness of your opening statement was. What you wrote was incorrect and set the stage of understanding for many people, inaccurately and inappropriately.

 

"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 appreciate that you subsequently asked a question but you framed or preceded it with false information and not every reader is up to speed or aware of the issue.

[ELBE1]

My recommendation to all pensioners, if you will qualify for a BOI LRTW 10 years VISA get it and you will be exempted from any income tax payments for funds transferred into Thailand. The online visa process, all in English, is simple and straight forward and it takes just a month to get the approval.

[1FinickyOne]

I thought the tax was on profits from the current year. This cannot be calculated during the current year. The money that I have brought over is long time savings that was earned many years ago and as I understand it, is not subject to tax. 

[chiang mai]

14 minutes ago, 1FinickyOne said:

I thought the tax was on profits from the current year. This cannot be calculated during the current year. The money that I have brought over is long time savings that was earned many years ago and as I understand it, is not subject to tax. 

The tax is on income from any year, not just current year, EXCEPT that any savings earned prior to 31/12/2023 are not taxable.

[flexomike]

13 hours 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 

Why would you do like that when you have been saying that you would be staying outside of Thailand so that you don't meet the 180 day threshold

[chiang mai]

1 minute ago, flexomike said:

Why would you do like that when you have been saying that you would be staying outside of Thailand so that you don't meet the 180 day threshold

Belt and braces. 🙂

[Dogmatix]

I had been transferring money from overseas to make various property investments for about 10 years.  That investment project was terminated the day the initial announcement was made. The last investment was made in June 2023.
 

Used to use my Thai credit cards for everything. This year I set up a new debit card arrangement with  a foreign bank that allows me to maintain balances in major currencies and the debit card automatically debits the  currency of the payment. So I can pay directly in USD, EUR, GBP, HKD, SGD, AUD etc without incurring hefty credit card forex charges. I haven’t used the card for Thai purchases but have used it for overseas tickets and travel and all my online shopping from Amazon, AliExpress, Temu etc. 

 

The missus has paid our son’s school fees and her life and health insurance premiums from gifts remitted to her from overseas. 
 

With these adjustments my local investment income has been enough to survive for the past year. I sold an overseas property, I had been putting off selling, and am putting the proceeds into a bank account in the name of an offshore company. This is to protect from the possibility of a Thailand introducing global tax in 2026. Income in a company name would only be taxable, if the company paid it to me as a dividend. This is what Thaksin and other wealthy Thais woukd do to avoid global tax on their offshore income.

[flexomike]

11 hours ago, RSD1 said:

 

Anyone who has a pink card already has a Thai TIN whether they like it or not. The 13 digit ID number on the pink card is also your TIN.

Not true, only if you go to a tax office and have them activate the number for tax purposes. There is a form that you have to fill out to get this done.

[PaulHamon]

I've only spend 179 days in Thailand in 2024, it's the first time in 18 years I've been away from Thailand for more than a few months in a year.

 

I spent my money in Vietnam, Cambodia, Japan, USA and Australia.. money I'd usually spend in Thailand, but ow I'm free to bring in as much money as I want in the next 10 days.

 

Not sure what I'll do.

[SiSePuede419]

What new law? 😀

[chiang mai]

1 minute ago, SiSePuede419 said:

What new law? 😀

POR 161 and POR 162, reinterpretation of the current year remittance rules, dated September and November last year

[JimHuaHin]

Short answer - yes.

 

Day-to-day spending less - cutting back on "expensive" food items and eating out.  Reduced travelling out of town, unless necessary.

 

Was planning on purchasing a new motor car (current vehicle is 11 years old), but postponed that until there is more clarity on taxation, eg the actually Royal Decree and published TRD guidelines.