On 3/26/2025 at 6:10 PM, Sigmund said:

No matter what the lazy officer at the counter says, if the pension is paid abroad and is taxable...the Tax Man will catch up sooner and later and the arrears could end up in a huge amount. Better put the money aside as to not get into a financial distress when the tax man catches up. Better, if you can, either stay less then 180 days...or sell if you can and move to another country in Asia or even places in Europe like Malta, Portugal or Spain that have very low cost of living and far more decent treatment of foreigners.

 

Well I guess the vast majority of non tax playing Thais need to also pack up and move to another country before the tax man comes knocking on their door too..

 

I guess the only people who will be left in Thailand will be a few dozen tax handwringing  Asean Now Posters...

On 3/26/2025 at 10:51 PM, redwood1 said:

On 3/26/2025 at 9:00 AM, federicoP said:

Since the Swiss pension, unless it is a state pension, is taxable in Thailand, I would strongly suggest you do the calculations and check if your friend has to pay anything.

This is to avoid possible future problems, an official who says that the tax would be "very small" and that "other things that could be deducted are likely higher",  only shows his superficiality and incompetence

 

Wrong.....This guy sounds right on the money to me...

 

Redwood1, could you please be so kind to explain me what I did write "wrong" ?
I cannot understand but would like to know what is my mistake.

On 3/26/2025 at 8:05 PM, BusyB said:

 

Looking at the posts of the last few months I suspect no tax office in Thailand would have any idea about this 555. The Finanzamt would.

 

But I'm not going to bother them because I'm keeping my tax residency in Germany.

 

I'll probably be resident in Thailand for 179 days next year. But I won't be ruffling the Thai revenue service's feathers as long as they don't ruffle mine.

 

I'm pretty sure they aren't interested in farangs who are only drawing a pension anyway.

 

Yes, I'm starting to agree with those who say ignore it. If it is true that state pensions from Germany aren't to be taxed in Thailand then despite my company pension and small Uk pension which can be taxed I still fall below the tax threshold due to deductions. I don't transfer all my combined pensions so how are they to disentangle what should be taxed and what not, by percentage perhaps? When at the office the officer was good at telling me what I could deduct and what not (he was assuming that the total transfers were to be taxed) I don't think DTA's were on his radar. My wife tells me that in her conversations with him he seemed unsure about the whole thing. I have since met with two Germans whose Thai wives accompanied them to the office told their husbands to ignore it, I presume they are more used to the machinations of their own government than we are. I've decided not to return to the office to fill out their forms as they don't appear to know anything.

5 hours ago, soalbundy said:

Yes, I'm starting to agree with those who say ignore it. If it is true that state pensions from Germany aren't to be taxed in Thailand then despite my company pension and small Uk pension which can be taxed I still fall below the tax threshold due to deductions. I don't transfer all my combined pensions so how are they to disentangle what should be taxed and what not, by percentage perhaps? When at the office the officer was good at telling me what I could deduct and what not (he was assuming that the total transfers were to be taxed) I don't think DTA's were on his radar. My wife tells me that in her conversations with him he seemed unsure about the whole thing. I have since met with two Germans whose Thai wives accompanied them to the office told their husbands to ignore it, I presume they are more used to the machinations of their own government than we are. I've decided not to return to the office to fill out their forms as they don't appear to know anything.

 

Good decision as far as I'm concerned. 

On 3/26/2025 at 3:50 PM, Andycoops said:

Not as I understand it because the UK Thai DTA only includes civil service pensions and not the ordinary citizens getting company and state pensions.

 

I'll stand corrected, if course if someone can show me where in that DTA it says differently.

 

The absence of any specific provisions covering company and State pensions is IMHO a fundamental flaw in the existing UK/Thailand DTA (dating back to 1981), which I raised with HMRC a few months ago in the form of a complaint. This is what HMRC said in their reply:

 

"Following my review I agree with your statement that there isn't, in the UK/Thailand Double Taxation Agreement (DTA) anything that does not include specific Articles covering the State Pension and company occupational pensions. Meaning that it is not within the agreement and therefore cannot be taxed by the Thailand authorities and are in breach of the agreement doing so and will need to take this up with the Thailand authorities."

 

Not holding my breath for this anomalous situation to be resolved any time soon, though!

 

 

 

 

 

 

4 hours ago, OJAS said:

Meaning that it is not within the agreement and therefore cannot be taxed by the Thailand authorities and are in breach of the agreement doing so and will need to take this up with the Thailand authorities."

This doesn't seem to make much sense. If it isn't in the DTA my understanding is it could be taxed by whoever but the respondee seems to be suggesting that they cannot - or am I misinterpreting what they said? 

16 hours ago, topt said:

This doesn't seem to make much sense. If it isn't in the DTA my understanding is it could be taxed by whoever but the respondee seems to be suggesting that they cannot - or am I misinterpreting what they said? 

 

The whole thing is very poorly written IMHO - but, assuming that what has been said does, indeed, represent the official HMRC view on this matter, then it doesn't, I think, necessarily follow that it also represents the TRD's view. This point would presumably be up for discussion between them in the context of possible amendments to the DTA.