52 minutes ago, CallumWK said:

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?

It depends on which country your pension (not you) is from & what it says in the DTA between there & Thailand...

E.g. If it was UK (assuming it's not a government pension) then you would need to pay tax on the whole amount minus any tax already paid in the UK (In your example None) if your pension is from somewhere like Canada then it can only be taxed in Canada so no tax to pay irrespective of whether you've paid tax in Canada or not.

3 minutes ago, SamSpade said:

It depends on which country your pension (not you) is from & what it says in the DTA between there & Thailand...

E.g. If it was UK (assuming it's not a government pension) then you would need to pay tax on the whole amount minus any tax already paid in the UK (In your example None) if your pension is from somewhere like Canada then it can only be taxed in Canada so no tax to pay irrespective of whether you've paid tax in Canada or not.

My country is Belgium and all pensions are paid by the government

10 hours ago, CallumWK said:

My country is Belgium and all pensions are paid by the government

I know nothing about Belgium pensions but to use the UK as an example of where the Government pays a pension to (almost) everybody, there is a difference between a "Pension Paid by the Government" (E.g. the UK State Pension) and a "Pension Earned Whilst Working for the Government" (E.g. Public services, Military etc...) with the former being Tax Assessable if remitted to Thailand and the latter exempt.

A quick look at the Belgium-Thailand DTA (https://www.rd.go.th/english/2558.html), Article 18 covers any pension earned whilst working for the Government wouldn't be taxable & Article 17 covers other Pensions (Private or State) which would be tax assessable...

ARTICLE 17
Pensions

 

1.         Subject to the provisions of Article 18, pensions or other remuneration for past employment arising in a Contracting State and paid to a resident of the other Contracting State may be taxed in the first - mentioned State.

2.         Pensions or other remuneration for past employment shall be deemed to arise in a Contracting State if the payer is that State itself, a political subdivision or local authority or a resident of that State. Where, however, the person paying such income, whether he is a resident of a Contracting State or not, has in a Contracting State a permanent establishment, and such income is borne by the permanent establishment, then the income shall be deemed to arise in the Contracting State in which the permanent establishment is situated.

 

 

ARTICLE 18
Government service

 

1.         (a)        Remuneration, other than a pension, paid by a Contracting

                         State or a political subdivision or a local authority thereof to

                         any individual in respect of services rendered to that state or

                         subdivision or local authority thereof shall be taxable only in

                         that State.

            (b)        However, such remuneration shall be taxable only in the

                         other Contracting State if the services are rendered in that

                         State and the recipient is a resident of that State who:

                         (1)        is a national of that  State; or

                         (2)        did not become a resident of that State solely for the

                                      purpose of performing the services.

2.         (a)        Any pension paid by, or out of funds created by, a Contracting

                         State or a political subdivision or a local authority thereof to

                         any individual in respect of services rendered to that State or 

                         subdivision or local authority thereof shall be taxable only in

                         that State.

            (b)        However, such pension shall be taxable only in the other

                         Contracting State if the recipient is a national of and a

                         resident of that State.

4 minutes ago, SamSpade said:

A quick look at the Belgium-Thailand DTA (https://www.rd.go.th/english/2558.html), Article 18 covers any pension earned whilst working for the Government wouldn't be taxable & Article 17 covers other Pensions (Private or State) which would be tax assessable...

Thanks and sorry for the misunderstanding about government pension. I never worked for the government

I had a look at it myself yesterday, and my pension is not due any income tax in Belgium because of the amount being below the threshold, so if I send it to Thailand, I will be taxed on everything above 150K Thai baht.

So Belgium is where my pension will remain.

On another note, I have an account with a significant balance in Belgium, and where the last movement, other than interest accumulation, was before January 2024.

So do I understand correctly from the OP that I can send the balance of that account to Thailand without paying income tax on it?

To make clear, my pension payments started January 2024 and are deposited in a different account.

Just now, CallumWK said:

Thanks and sorry for the misunderstanding about government pension. I never worked for the government

I had a look at it myself yesterday, and my pension is not due any income tax in Belgium because of the amount being below the threshold, so if I send it to Thailand, I will be taxed on everything above 150K Thai baht.

So Belgium is where my pension will remain.

On another note, I have an account with a significant balance in Belgium, and where the last movement, other than interest accumulation, was before January 2024.

So do I understand correctly from the OP that I can send the balance of that account to Thailand without paying income tax on it?

To make clear, my pension payments started January 2024 and are deposited in a different account.

Check your allowances, you have at least the 60K personal allowance (if you're married and your wife does not work you can have her 60K as well) & if you're >65 you get another 190K "Age Based" allowance, add this to the 1st 150K being "Taxed at 0%" and you may find that you can bring the 400K over with no tax...

Yes, any savings in a Bank account as at 31/12/2023 can be brought in without Tax, however as with everything to do with Thailand/Tax it's not that straightforward as they operate on FIFO (First In First Out).

So if you had 100K in your account as at 31/12/2023 but have since spent 60K of that replenshing it as your income has come in, then the available amount is 40K not 100K.

There's a long thread on here covering the Personal allowances (TEDA)... https://aseannow.com/topic/1324294-introduction-to-personal-income-tax-in-thailand/#comment-18822996

5 minutes ago, SamSpade said:

Yes, any savings in a Bank account as at 31/12/2023 can be brought in without Tax, however as with everything to do with Thailand/Tax it's not that straightforward as they operate on FIFO (First In First Out).

So if you had 100K in your account as at 31/12/2023 but have since spent 60K of that replenshing it as your income has come in, then the available amount is 40K not 100K.

Thanks for the clarification about the allowances.

Though the above is not clear to me.

The money in the savings account in Belgium hasn't had any movements since end 2023, other than interests been added yearly. In 2023 I didn't earn a pension yet, and pensions earned since 2024 are deposited in a current account, and eventually moved to other deposit accounts.

So far I didn't transfer any of my pension to Thailand.

3 minutes ago, CallumWK said:

Thanks for the clarification about the allowances.

Though the above is not clear to me.

The money in the savings account in Belgium hasn't had any movements since end 2023, other than interests been added yearly. In 2023 I didn't earn a pension yet, and pensions earned since 2024 are deposited in a current account, and eventually moved to other deposit accounts.

So far I didn't transfer any of my pension to Thailand.

Then all of the money in the savings account (excluding interest earned on it since 1/1/24) is not tax assessable when you bring it over :)

18 hours ago, JimGant said:

Interesting. What country are you from?

One which doesn't have a DTA that covers my private pension. And my pension is small enough not to attract any tax. The only reason I file a return in recent years is to claim a refund of withholding tax on Thai bank interest.

22 hours ago, CallumWK said:

My country is Belgium and all pensions are paid by the government

My view is it behooves all expats who may remit income (from abroad) to Thailand, should be aware of the DTA of their income source country with Thailand. I think there is more than one thread specific to the taxation aspects of income from different specific countries. For example, I did my best in contributing to a thread in regards to the Thailand-Canada DTA here:

Those from other countries, if there is not already a thread on one's country, one could consider starting such a thread (for a specific country) to share information.