Is the Tax free allowance (basic amount £12570) in th UK classed as accessible tax in Thailand

I believe there is an overlap between the two very different thresholds and if they wanted to they could apply some tax to the bit inbetween the lower Thai tax free threshold and the higher tax free threshold in the UK and most other countries.

Taxation kicks in at 10% between 300k and 500k and £12570 is worth 551k Baht right now

So technically that untaxed 200k Baht between 200 and 500k would be taxed at 10% and the 51k above 500k stretches into the 15% band.

Because it's not taxed in the UK then it won't be double taxed.....

So in theory at least they could demand 10% of the 200k between 300 and 500k and 15% of the 51k between 500k and 551k which would be 20,000 Baht + 7,650 = 27,650 Baht.

Now this money would not be double taxed as it's untaxed in the UK so should be fair game for them to come after - but I haven't seen many people speak about this.

Is it excluded by the double taxation treaty? Who knows - I doubt it because it's not taxed is it - or if it is consdiered taxed at a zero rate - does that count at all? Also I doubt it.

It doesn't apply to me as I don't pay any tax anywhere else due to being non resident anywhere that I could pay tax so they would want to tax the lot in my case if I were to stay more than 180 days - which I don't.

You do mention a good point though as this 'overlap' as I'm going to call it is the first thing that came to mind when reading about this change long ago and I figured it would automatically affect every tax resident and bring them all into the tax net as the allowances in Thailand are very small compared to 'the west'.....

 

So it would likely come down to - where does the income come from and is it covered by the double tax agreement - and that gets complex fast - hence - see an accountant to confirm.

 

 

Edit - there is a lower 5% band as well which may or may not come into play depending on age.

They’re not that clever. Reports are that the Thai revenue department’s approach to the myriad of dual tax agreements, is to ignore them. Best to stay off their radar. 

5 hours ago, ukrules said:

I believe there is an overlap between the two very different thresholds and if they wanted to they could apply some tax to the bit inbetween the lower Thai tax free threshold and the higher tax free threshold in the UK and most other countries.

Taxation kicks in at 10% between 300k and 500k and £12570 is worth 551k Baht right now

So technically that untaxed 200k Baht between 200 and 500k would be taxed at 10% and the 51k above 500k stretches into the 15% band.

Because it's not taxed in the UK then it won't be double taxed.....

So in theory at least they could demand 10% of the 200k between 300 and 500k and 15% of the 51k between 500k and 551k which would be 20,000 Baht + 7,650 = 27,650 Baht.

Now this money would not be double taxed as it's untaxed in the UK so should be fair game for them to come after - but I haven't seen many people speak about this.

Is it excluded by the double taxation treaty? Who knows - I doubt it because it's not taxed is it - or if it is consdiered taxed at a zero rate - does that count at all? Also I doubt it.

It doesn't apply to me as I don't pay any tax anywhere else due to being non resident anywhere that I could pay tax so they would want to tax the lot in my case if I were to stay more than 180 days - which I don't.

You do mention a good point though as this 'overlap' as I'm going to call it is the first thing that came to mind when reading about this change long ago and I figured it would automatically affect every tax resident and bring them all into the tax net as the allowances in Thailand are very small compared to 'the west'.....

 

So it would likely come down to - where does the income come from and is it covered by the double tax agreement - and that gets complex fast - hence - see an accountant to confirm.

 

 

Edit - there is a lower 5% band as well which may or may not come into play depending on age.

what about the Thai allowances. 60k that eveyone gets, 100k if money is a pension, 195k if over 65, 1st 150k is 0 tax rate, and other allowances for for family etc

I think that most people that pay tax in the in the UK will be liable to pay tax in Thailand 

The £12570 tax free allowance is equal to 553,080 bhat at 44 to the £ which is in access of most of the tax free allowance in Thailand 

Some may be able to offset this with their pre 2024 savings if that is allowed 

12 hours ago, offset said:

Is the Tax free allowance (basic amount £12570) in th UK classed as accessible tax in Thailand

I am not sure it's even relevant the way you talk about it. 

It surely comes down to 

12 hours ago, ukrules said:

So it would likely come down to - where does the income come from and is it covered by the double tax agreement

If you send in the equivalent to Thailand and the money is assessable (IE not savings pre 2024 or govt. pension in the UK case) then you could declare and pay tax after you have calculated your TEDA which could include - 

6 hours ago, steve187 said:

what about the Thai allowances. 60k that eveyone gets, 100k if money is a pension, 195k if over 65, 1st 150k is 0 tax rate, and other allowances for for family etc

The tax free allowance in the UK is irrelevant to that calculation. And if you want a credit against any tax paid in the UK - good luck in being able to put that currently on the tax forms..........

6 hours ago, steve187 said:

what about the Thai allowances. 60k that eveyone gets, 100k if money is a pension, 195k if over 65, 1st 150k is 0 tax rate, and other allowances for for family etc

 

Yeah good point - there are varying zero rate allowances depending on circumstances and even age - these are generally lower than the allowances we get in the west - hence this overlap concept which exposes pretty much everyone to taxation if they submit for example the monthly requirement to meet a retirement visa for a single person.

Anyway my point about any money earned 'back home' being taxable in Thailand still stands and they do tax anything that isn't excluded by the DTA and hasn't been taxed abroad - in theory.

In practice I've been hearing a lot of people reporting they they don't tax pension income - at a local level.

 

On 3/22/2025 at 9:05 AM, offset said:

I think that most people that pay tax in the in the UK will be liable to pay tax in Thailand 

The £12570 tax free allowance is equal to 553,080 bhat at 44 to the £ which is in access of most of the tax free allowance in Thailand 

Some may be able to offset this with their pre 2024 savings if that is allowed 

 

Don't forget that, once your £12,570 UK personal tax allowance has been used up, HMRC will then charge you tax tax at a rate of 20% from the get-go. But you'll only be charged tax at a rate of 20% in Thailand if your assessable income exceeds 750,000 THB - which at a rate of 44 THB to the GBP equals £17,045.

 

But how much smaller is the tax allowance in Thailand for a single man 210000baht? against £553000 in the UK so they will lose a lot of that advantage 

It is only for a person over 65 and married does the allowances equal out

7 hours ago, offset said:

But how much smaller is the tax allowance in Thailand for a single man 210000baht? against £553000 in the UK so they will lose a lot of that advantage 

It is only for a person over 65 and married does the allowances equal out

 

At the end of the day it boils down to individual circumstances as to whether or not Thailand's tax exemptions and allowances are more (or less) favourable than their British counterpart. Generalised comparisons are IMHO pretty meaningless.