I wonder how the term Savings" will be defined.

Easy if it is just money earned or otherwise, and put into a bank account (Savings Account)  But what if that money earns interest?  Is tat interest taxable income?

Or consider:  I make savings by buying a property in UK.  Money that I am saving is saved in the Building Society that holds the mortgage on the property.  Later when owner of this property, I sell it, no CGT as it is my dwelling in UK Is the remaining money 'savings'?

If I make my savings by putting the money in an Asset management account in Singapore, where as a non-resident i do not have to pay income tax or CGT, Is thee money in that account all savings?

Can I claim that all money in my UK 'savings' account is savings?

Is there an official definition of 'Saving'?  Most people would call any money earned or gifted that they do not spend, to be savings.

On 11/3/2025 at 10:55 AM, Robin said:

I wonder how the term Savings" will be defined.

Easy if it is just money earned or otherwise, and put into a bank account (Savings Account)  But what if that money earns interest?  Is tat interest taxable income?

Or consider:  I make savings by buying a property in UK.  Money that I am saving is saved in the Building Society that holds the mortgage on the property.  Later when owner of this property, I sell it, no CGT as it is my dwelling in UK Is the remaining money 'savings'?

If I make my savings by putting the money in an Asset management account in Singapore, where as a non-resident i do not have to pay income tax or CGT, Is thee money in that account all savings?

Can I claim that all money in my UK 'savings' account is savings?

Is there an official definition of 'Saving'?  Most people would call any money earned or gifted that they do not spend, to be savings.

just for a start ... not taxable savings are only saving before 31.12.2023 ...

i think it was discussed somewhere what the definition of "savings" could mean ... i am not aware of a official definition ... 

1 minute ago, motdaeng said:

just for a start ... not taxable savings are only saving before 31.12.2023 ...

i think it was discussed somewhere what the definition of "savings" could mean ... i am not aware of a official definition ... 

 

Not as simple as that.

 

If you didn't live in Thailand in 2024 than the profits you made are not taxable in Thailand.

See this :

 

Source - the Thai Revenue department themselves : https://www.rd.go.th/fileadmin/user_upload/lorkhor/newspr/2024/FOREIGNERS_PAY_TAX2024.pdf

Is there any news on the tax rules for 2026 on foreign income?

 

I am planning to be a tax resident for the first time in 2026, but I don't even have a Thai bank account, nor do I have a visa that allows me to have a Thai bank account. I do wonder if leaving my money in a Wise account that is registered to my Thai address counts as remittance, in case remittance of foreign income to Thailand will still be taxed in 2026.

 

Of course remittance is a debated topic and I would even call it outdated. I still have never seen any clear verdict on whether or not credit card payments, ATM withdrawals or foreign currency brought into Thailand and exchanged into THB count as remittance.

 

I've been sending my girlfriend money from my Wise account for rent and spending but I'm considering changing that strategy a bit for 2026.

3 hours ago, JimmyTobacco said:

Is there any news on the tax rules for 2026 on foreign income?

No change so current rules stand .

 

3 hours ago, JimmyTobacco said:

I still have never seen any clear verdict on whether or not credit card payments, ATM withdrawals or foreign currency brought into Thailand and exchanged into THB count as remittance.

Verdict from whom? Most of the tax 'advisory businesses' will say it is a remittance and depending on source of funds may or may not be taxable.

In practice you could argue how would they find out and unless you find yourself a target for a tax audit for some reason I wouldn't disagree.

 

However if you want a definitive opinion you would have to go and do a tax return and ask that office whether to include it 

 

"Remittance outdated" - Most of us are hoping they don't make the move from remittance based to world wide taxation as that would be a potential game changer for some.

 

 

15 hours ago, topt said:

No change so current rules stand .

 

Verdict from whom? Most of the tax 'advisory businesses' will say it is a remittance and depending on source of funds may or may not be taxable.

In practice you could argue how would they find out and unless you find yourself a target for a tax audit for some reason I wouldn't disagree.

 

However if you want a definitive opinion you would have to go and do a tax return and ask that office whether to include it 

 

"Remittance outdated" - Most of us are hoping they don't make the move from remittance based to world wide taxation as that would be a potential game changer for some.

 

 

 

Of course remittance is useful for tax "planning" 😉 I'm not arguing with that. I just find the whole concept outdated. If money is only taxed when I put it in a Thai bank account, why would I ever do so, if I can also pay with foreign creditcards/bank accounts/etc. or potentially find other ways around this.

 

If you look at this part of a video where someone is directly asking this question to the revenue department, it seems like they are not quite sure:

 

What I gather from the response is: no we do not track your creditcard payments in Thailand and no we do not ask you to include them in your tax filing, but if you only live from creditcard payments and never bring money into Thailand/a Thai bank account, you might get into trouble with the immigration department because they will ask what money you are living from.

 

Which seems to be an invitation to bring in money earned previously (before tax residency in Thailand), use that for small living expenses, and then spend as much with your creditcard as you can.

On 11/10/2025 at 1:11 PM, JimmyTobacco said:

I am planning to be a tax resident for the first time in 2026, but I don't even have a Thai bank account, nor do I have a visa that allows me to have a Thai bank account

 

a bit off topic: you become a tax resident if you stay in thailand for more than 180 days in the same calendar year. what kind of visa will you have that won’t allow you to open a bank account?

 

18 minutes ago, motdaeng said:

 

What kind of visa will you have that won’t allow you to open a bank account?

 

1. Visa Exempt  
2. Tourist Visa
3. DTV

I know a lot of us opened our accounts on a Visa Exempt but that's not only no longer the case, but nowadays there's a risk that unless you've moved to a long term visa or have bought your own Condo and have the yellow book, your account could be closed down.

 

Recent Siam Legal video covers the Visas that can open a Bank Account here... 

 

23 hours ago, JimmyTobacco said:

Which seems to be an invitation to bring in money earned previously (before tax residency in Thailand), use that for small living expenses, and then spend as much with your creditcard as you can.

Was argued ad nauseam in some of the previous very long tax threads. 

As I basically said in my earlier reply nobody knows 100% and chances are you would not have any issues.

TIT and up to you 

 

On 11/7/2025 at 5:42 PM, ukrules said:

 

Not as simple as that.

 

If you didn't live in Thailand in 2024 than the profits you made are not taxable in Thailand.

See this :

 

Source - the Thai Revenue department themselves : https://www.rd.go.th/fileadmin/user_upload/lorkhor/newspr/2024/FOREIGNERS_PAY_TAX2024.pdf

question on what they mean by "earned  "?  In the USA, Earned income is only income received due to wages, i.e think W2 form for your tax filing returns.  Monies from dividends, bond interest, capital gains, and some other things are NOT considered "earned income". And it is an important distinction between earned versus other monies because things such as SsA deductions are only based on wages/earned income, as well as are other things

8 hours ago, motdaeng said:

 

a bit off topic: you become a tax resident if you stay in thailand for more than 180 days in the same calendar year. what kind of visa will you have that won’t allow you to open a bank account?

 

DTV indeed.

4 hours ago, gk10012001 said:

question on what they mean by "earned  "?  In the USA, Earned income is only income received due to wages, i.e think W2 form for your tax filing returns.  Monies from dividends, bond interest, capital gains, and some other things are NOT considered "earned income". And it is an important distinction between earned versus other monies because things such as SsA deductions are only based on wages/earned income, as well as are other things

 

Further, in addition to any focus on that presentation slide,  I believe one needs to also carefully consider the Double Tax Agreement with Thailand of ones source income country  and also any relevant Thailand Royal Decrees ( such as that of the LTR visa)

6 hours ago, gk10012001 said:

question on what they mean by "earned  "?  In the USA, Earned income is only income received due to wages

Thailand's "earned income" definition doesn't match that of the US. In fact, the Thai-US DTA pretty much has only what the US deems "unearned income" as taxable by Thailand, if remitted. This includes private pensions, IRA and 401k distributions, and other "1099R" "unearned" distributions. 

 

In fact, Thailand only looks at US "earned Income" when you try and get an LTR visa -- whereby W-2 earned income is not allowed towards the $80k annual income. 

Has anyone been audited or called in to a tax office regarding the new regulations on overseas remittances? The reason I ask is I got into a bit of a disagreement at my local tax office because they insisted all money transferred here and earned in any year must be declared. I wasn't rude but I pointed out this wasn't the law as announced in 2023. Anyway they completed my P90 after quite awhile. I still got my small refund from Thai bank interest, declaring only post-2023 earnings remitted in 2025, so I didn't check anything else. However when I went through the verified copy the next day I found a spurious figure in the exemptions section. And it's quite large - about 140k and some satang. But I certainly didn't give them that figure and there is no documentation for it. I reckon someone might have lost face and this if some petty revenge to get me into trouble. Or maybe they thought I was wrong and wanted to activate an audit.

As far as I can see, if that spurious exemption was not there I would still get the refund, so I can't be accused of evasion. But I'm worried if the weird exemption triggers an audit and they ask for all bank statements they'll see one or two times I used my overseas debit card for services here (which I previously thought were not assessable). In fact those funds were pre-2024 money but it would be difficult to provide a paper trail.

Another question: I pay my own social security (prakan sangkom) here since I retired, but since they went paperless I can't find a way to print an official annual statement. In the end I just did a screenshot of my 2025 contributions but there has to be a better way. Anyone know?

4 minutes ago, orientalist said:

Has anyone been audited or called in to a tax office regarding the new regulations on overseas remittances? The reason I ask is I got into a bit of a disagreement at my local tax office because they insisted all money transferred here and earned in any year must be declared. I wasn't rude but I pointed out this wasn't the law as announced in 2023. Anyway they completed my P90 after quite awhile. I still got my small refund from Thai bank interest, declaring only post-2023 earnings remitted in 2025, so I didn't check anything else. However when I went through the verified copy the next day I found a spurious figure in the exemptions section. And it's quite large - about 140k and some satang. But I certainly didn't give them that figure and there is no documentation for it. I reckon someone might have lost face and this if some petty revenge to get me into trouble. Or maybe they thought I was wrong and wanted to activate an audit.

As far as I can see, if that spurious exemption was not there I would still get the refund, so I can't be accused of evasion. But I'm worried if the weird exemption triggers an audit and they ask for all bank statements they'll see one or two times I used my overseas debit card for services here (which I previously thought were not assessable). In fact those funds were pre-2024 money but it would be difficult to provide a paper trail.

Another question: I pay my own social security (prakan sangkom) here since I retired, but since they went paperless I can't find a way to print an official annual statement. In the end I just did a screenshot of my 2025 contributions but there has to be a better way. Anyone know?

And your actual question is what? I read bla bla bla, mumble mumble mumble, tax this satang that.

1 hour ago, orientalist said:

Another question: I pay my own social security (prakan sangkom) here since I retired, but since they went paperless I can't find a way to print an official annual statement. In the end I just did a screenshot of my 2025 contributions but there has to be a better way. Anyone know?

I can't give you a good answer, but since the GF lost her job during Covid (wasn't much work for mall workers) she just collects the receipts of payment (IIRC 432 THB pm at a 7-11) as proof should she need it.

She's at our local hospital (Semi Gov - Semi Not) tomorrow for a check-up so is armed with the receipts :)

1 hour ago, SamSpade said:

I can't give you a good answer, but since the GF lost her job during Covid (wasn't much work for mall workers) she just collects the receipts of payment (IIRC 432 THB pm at a 7-11) as proof should she need it.

She's at our local hospital (Semi Gov - Semi Not) tomorrow for a check-up so is armed with the receipts :)

That makes sense. Unfortunately, I pay by direct debit.

2 hours ago, BuffaloRider said:

And your actual question is what? I read bla bla bla, mumble mumble mumble, tax this satang that.

The question is does anyone have experiemce of being audited in the past 2 years and, if so, what did it entail? I'm expecting I will be at least questioned, so I want to be prepared.

7 hours ago, orientalist said:

The question is does anyone have experiemce of being audited in the past 2 years and, if so, what did it entail? I'm expecting I will be at least questioned, so I want to be prepared.

You can't get a answer on that on the basis of your random story. Specially not here.

11 hours ago, orientalist said:

The question is does anyone have experiemce of being audited in the past 2 years and, if so, what did it entail? I'm expecting I will be at least questioned, so I want to be prepared.

Not sure if it counted as an "audit" as such but @khunPer has reported being questioned in a number of threads which seemed to be a specific process aimed at mainly Scandinavian (inc Denmark) individuals in a specific region.

15 hours ago, orientalist said:

I found a spurious figure in the exemptions section.

Where on the form is the exemptions section where you found this spurious figure? And exempt why -- because it's non assessable income? Did you show them any paperwork (like your Thai bank statements) that showed your remittances? Without such, how could they possibly arrive at that 140k figure -- unless your oral discussions somehow included info on remittances......? Hmmm.

12 hours ago, orientalist said:

The question is does anyone have experiemce of being audited in the past 2 years and, if so, what did it entail? I'm expecting I will be at least questioned, so I want to be prepared.

Yes, for 2024 income year, in late 2025. The will audit your P.N.D.90 and compare the reported foreign income with bank statements for a full tax year and all foreign transfers. Furthermore the tax office wish to see prof of income and taxed paid in one's home country (if any paid), and they do check it carefully and calculate with exchange rates to Thai baht.

I've been filing tax return for several years. I've also for several years used a small spread sheet (MS Excel) where I have a line for each transfer, separated in columns with source of fund in local currency and same received in Thai currency. My income is withheld taxed retirement pension; withheld taxed dividends from stocks, untaxed income from fees or capital gain; untaxed interest from bonds; and finally savings from before 2024, which are tax free to transfer into Thailand. Easy and simple to make, great help when you need to both file your tax return and for example explain the foreign transfers...

The director of my local revenue office says that all foreigners staying for more than 180 days in a tax year shall file a tax return. The can deduct foreign paid taxes in accordance with a DTA between Thailand and their home country, or country from where the funds are earned.

Others have mentioned that it depends on the DTA. For example, if a retirement pension can only be taxed in one's home country, you shall not file a tax return, if you have no other taxable income; they are referring to the detailed regulations/law. I cannot say which is the right way to do it.

The Danish DTA says for example that retirement income is taxable in both states; while the Danish tax office insists on taxing retirement income as country of source (I've asked the directly and got a written answer). Dividends are taxable in Denmark, but you can get part of the tax refunded – down to 15% – if being tax resident abroad and can prove that. I have some US stocks, and it's the same; after I moved to Thailand, US only withhold 15% dividend tax.

Savings from before 1st January 2024 need not to be filed in a tax return. I've made a list of my savings as per year end 2023 and kept documentation for it; so I can prove any savings I transfer, if questioned. They however didn't question my savings transferred when checking the 2024-tax year and my transfers.

For the 2025 eFiling online tax return, you need to register your total foreign income (in Thai baht), eventual paid taxes abroad, and the amount of foreign income transferred into Thailand. My little spread sheet became very useful here, as I could take the year's total amount of each source, and the similar amount received in Thai baht, and calculate the exchange rate, which I needed for the total earnings and withheld taxes.

The 2025-eFiling is fairly easy to use and any registered foreign taxes are deducted for said amount's due Thai income tax. Your 10% expenses deduction of maximum 100,000 baht; your personal allowance of 60,000 baht; and eventual retirement deduction if over 65 year's old are also deducted...

1 hour ago, khunPer said:

For the 2025 eFiling online tax return, you need to register your total foreign income (in Thai baht), eventual paid taxes abroad, and the amount of foreign income transferred into Thailand.

I doubt it. They're only interested in foreign ASSESSABLE income remitted to Thailand. And, yes, there is a space for that to be entered. And, I guess, the newer eFiling forms have a space for foreign taxes paid, as a credit, on said income. But including non ASSESSABLE remitted income on an eFile form -- is not doable with the existing forms. Yeah, maybe down the road, the RD may want to see all your foreign income, at least the amounts remitted to Thailand -- with an explanation of why or why not such income is assessable. But we're not there yet.

And the beauty of eFiling is -- no personal contact with Thai RD folks (unless, horrors -- such filers are now getting requests for more information about their remittances).

The director of my local revenue office says that all foreigners staying for more than 180 days in a tax year shall file a tax return.

What revenue office is that? With my LTR visa, latest guidance says no tax filing required. And even without an LTR visa -- my remittances are mostly DTA exempt income, and not enough to meet taxable requirements. Thus, I certainly wouldn't waste my time filing a null tax return, as there, under current law, could be little to no consequence -- as the fine is a percentage of taxes owed, which of course is zero (yeah, maybe a 2000bt fine for having assessable income above 220k, even tho' still not taxable. No reports of anyone ever having such a fine -- how would they even have such exacting data......?).

2 hours ago, JimGant said:

Where on the form is the exemptions section where you found this spurious figure? And exempt why -- because it's non assessable income? Did you show them any paperwork (like your Thai bank statements) that showed your remittances? Without such, how could they possibly arrive at that 140k figure -- unless your oral discussions somehow included info on remittances......? Hmmm.

In section 40.1 (income) they put the overseas transfers that I told them. In section 40.2 (exemptions) they added about 43% of the income. No idea why and I didn't notice because they did it in another room and returned the completed form to me. It doesn't relate to anything which is why I think they added it as petty revenge because I insisted pre-2024 income was irrelevant. Obviously I should have checked the competed form was I was in a hurry and having a bad day. Plus this tax office has always been friendly and helpful in the past.

2 hours ago, khunPer said:

Yes, for 2024 income year, in late 2025. The will audit your P.N.D.90 and compare the reported foreign income with bank statements for a full tax year and all foreign transfers. Furthermore the tax office wish to see prof of income and taxed paid in one's home country (if any paid), and they do check it carefully and calculate with exchange rates to Thai baht.

I've been filing tax return for several years. I've also for several years used a small spread sheet (MS Excel) where I have a line for each transfer, separated in columns with source of fund in local currency and same received in Thai currency. My income is withheld taxed retirement pension; withheld taxed dividends from stocks, untaxed income from fees or capital gain; untaxed interest from bonds; and finally savings from before 2024, which are tax free to transfer into Thailand. Easy and simple to make, great help when you need to both file your tax return and for example explain the foreign transfers...

The director of my local revenue office says that all foreigners staying for more than 180 days in a tax year shall file a tax return. The can deduct foreign paid taxes in accordance with a DTA between Thailand and their home country, or country from where the funds are earned.

Others have mentioned that it depends on the DTA. For example, if a retirement pension can only be taxed in one's home country, you shall not file a tax return, if you have no other taxable income; they are referring to the detailed regulations/law. I cannot say which is the right way to do it.

The Danish DTA says for example that retirement income is taxable in both states; while the Danish tax office insists on taxing retirement income as country of source (I've asked the directly and got a written answer). Dividends are taxable in Denmark, but you can get part of the tax refunded – down to 15% – if being tax resident abroad and can prove that. I have some US stocks, and it's the same; after I moved to Thailand, US only withhold 15% dividend tax.

Savings from before 1st January 2024 need not to be filed in a tax return. I've made a list of my savings as per year end 2023 and kept documentation for it; so I can prove any savings I transfer, if questioned. They however didn't question my savings transferred when checking the 2024-tax year and my transfers.

For the 2025 eFiling online tax return, you need to register your total foreign income (in Thai baht), eventual paid taxes abroad, and the amount of foreign income transferred into Thailand. My little spread sheet became very useful here, as I could take the year's total amount of each source, and the similar amount received in Thai baht, and calculate the exchange rate, which I needed for the total earnings and withheld taxes.

The 2025-eFiling is fairly easy to use and any registered foreign taxes are deducted for said amount's due Thai income tax. Your 10% expenses deduction of maximum 100,000 baht; your personal allowance of 60,000 baht; and eventual retirement deduction if over 65 year's old are also deducted...

Thanks a lot. I'd better prepare accordingly. My income is simple, just a small overseas pension and modest Thai bank interest, for which I claim back the withholding tax. I had expected them to explain the new system to me but they didn't. For my my three overseas transfers they just wanted the Wise transfer slip. I just gave them that, the bank tax statement and a screenshot of my welfare payments.

5 hours ago, JimGant said:

I doubt it. They're only interested in foreign ASSESSABLE income remitted to Thailand. And, yes, there is a space for that to be entered. And, I guess, the newer eFiling forms have a space for foreign taxes paid, as a credit, on said income. But including non ASSESSABLE remitted income on an eFile form -- is not doable with the existing forms. Yeah, maybe down the road, the RD may want to see all your foreign income, at least the amounts remitted to Thailand -- with an explanation of why or why not such income is assessable. But we're not there yet.

And the beauty of eFiling is -- no personal contact with Thai RD folks (unless, horrors -- such filers are now getting requests for more information about their remittances).

You only quoted half, you forgot this part:

"Others have mentioned that it depends on the DTA. For example, if a retirement pension can only be taxed in one's home country, you shall not file a tax return, if you have no other taxable income; they are referring to the detailed regulations/law. I cannot say which is the right way to do it."

5 hours ago, JimGant said:

What revenue office is that? With my LTR visa, latest guidance says no tax filing required. And even without an LTR visa -- my remittances are mostly DTA exempt income, and not enough to meet taxable requirements.

Surat Thani Province, Samui Branch – your DTA might give you special tax-benefits.

On 3/22/2026 at 2:19 PM, orientalist said:

In section 40.1 (income) they put the overseas transfers that I told them. In section 40.2 (exemptions) they added about 43% of the income

Sounds like you broke out your remittances between assessable and non assessable income, as dictated by your DTA, and POR 161/162. Was this the case? If not, how could they possibly have arrived at this 43% exemption (non assessable) figure?

53 minutes ago, JimGant said:

Sounds like you broke out your remittances between assessable and non assessable income, as dictated by your DTA, and POR 161/162. Was this the case? If not, how could they possibly have arrived at this 43% exemption (non assessable) figure?

No idea. I gave them the total sum transferred from overseas (ie pension) and total Thai bank interest. There was no discussion of exemptions. It couldn't be a mistake. I think they just added it to cause problems for me later since they were clearly unhappy that I insisted pre-2024 savings were not assessable whereas they insisted they were. All they had to do was read their own regulations.

I don't have an applicable DTA.

33 minutes ago, orientalist said:

I don't have an applicable DTA.

Interesting. What country are you from?

How about this?

My country has a DTA with Thailand. My pension is the equivalent of about 400K Thai baht.
I don't pay any income tax on it, because it is below the threshold for income tax in my country.

In Thailand the threshold is only 150K, so what if I send my pension every year to Thailand?