Bangkok Bank Now Doing FATCA

[mudcat]

Sorry, did not realize your wife was not a citizen.  For us the SSA survivor benefit should be around $2,000 per month so not too worried about her bank interest.

[anrcaccount]

12 hours ago, NoDisplayName said:

 

Why make myself expendable?

 

Planning to start off with a million a year until we figure everything out.  Can make larger transfers as I approach my "use-by" date.

 

Ha yes, I was being tongue in cheek, but yes, makes complete sense!

 

 

[JimGant]

On 2/21/2025 at 3:02 PM, mudcat said:

recommend that she go with a tax professional at least for the first year. 

Why not just make sure she over withholds taxes, and/or pays a surplus in estimated taxes? As such (unless she has self-employment income over $400) she is NOT required to file a US 1040 -- therefore, not required to file a FATCA Form 8938.

 

Thus, the money she donates to Uncle Sam can be setup to approximate what she'd pay to a tax professional -- thus a wash. I've set this up for my wife, as she'd have a hard time collecting required info for the tax professional, like 1099s, as she's not computer literate -- and going paperless is becoming extinct. Plus, this would have to be done by mail to someone outside Chiang Mai, since there are no tax professionals here dealing with US tax returns, at least that I know of. Thus, a simple way to avoid the hassle -- and one less problem for the wife when I croak.

[Presnock]

5 minutes ago, JimGant said:

Why not just make sure she over withholds taxes, and/or pays a surplus in estimated taxes? As such (unless she has self-employment income over $400) she is NOT required to file a US 1040 -- therefore, not required to file a FATCA Form 8938.

 

Thus, the money she donates to Uncle Sam can be setup to approximate what she'd pay to a tax professional -- thus a wash. I've set this up for my wife, as she'd have a hard time collecting required info for the tax professional, like 1099s, as she's not computer literate -- and going paperless is becoming extinct. Plus, this would have to be done by mail to someone outside Chiang Mai, since there are no tax professionals here dealing with US tax returns, at least that I know of. Thus, a simple way to avoid the hassle -- and one less problem for the wife when I croak.

since she is not a US. citizen, she can inform the the pension provider not to withhold US taxes as per the DTA, taxable in US only if person (in this case your wife) is a Thai citizen, then she would have to pay thai taxes on that ss income but she can petition the US not to withhold taxes as she has to pay taxes in Thailand.  just saying...

[mudcat]

1. I was referring to the year of my death when our executors will be around to help but the corpus of my estate will pay for a professional to file her f1040 as my widow, and certainly if she needs to file f8938.  The other variable is at what portion of my Social Security gets taxed  - currently at 85% - if I should die earlier in the year it would be either exempt or at 50%, so I imagine there will be over-withholding if I make it past one more Songkran.  

[NoDisplayName]

1 hour ago, JimGant said:

Why not

 

Hi Jim!  I have an unrelated but related question, and this seems to be the only active tax thread now.

 

Got my 1099's and was figuring US taxes last night, and something came up that is dear to all our hearts.  Foreign tax credit.  In other threads we talk about DTA's letting us take 1:1 tax credit if Thailand taxes our already taxed income, or home countries having to eat the tax if we pay Thailand tax.  But nobody knows.

 

As to the US, it doesn't seem to work that way.  I've got $1500 foreign tax paid via ETF's, and a tax due of $250 due to an unexpected late-Dec special distribution.  I try to manage investments to avoid paying tax, and was at $63K total income.

 

Putting the foreign tax on a 1116 has me calculate the percentage of foreign income in my total income, and using that % to calculate the amount of credit.  In my anecdote, I can only take $75, but can carry forward to next year.

 

Alternatively, I can skip the 1116, and take up to $300 of 1:1 tax reduction, bringing this year's tax due to zero, but losing the carry forward and potential use of 1116 in the future.

 

Do I have that about right?

Any word yet on how Thailand manages foreign tax credits.