Report Foreign Earnings Taxed Under New Thai Rules - But With Exceptions

[Presnock]

On 5/20/2025 at 11:11 AM, kuzmabruk said:

Is this why you live in Thailand?  Did you tell that to your home country revenue department?  And now you are wanted for tax evasion.   I would think your home country prison would be more comfortable that the Thai prison that you might be visiting.   Tax evasion is a serious crime even in Thailand.   Be careful.  

As a American some of us can't avoid the IRS of the US no matter where we live, we might be affected by the DTA with Thailand and maybe we can get a tax credit...maybe.

[Presnock]

On 5/20/2025 at 8:55 AM, NoDisplayName said:

 

Yes and no.

 

Global income may be assessable but only if remitted, so it's not like the US where remittance is irrelevant.  Everything everywhere all the time is taxable.

that was the rule last year and might be the rule this year but then depending on how the decree is written, it may go back to global income if it is assessable and one is a tax resident

[Bruce Aussie]

On 5/20/2025 at 7:43 AM, quake said:

 

it's much better to, slip in and out of the cracks .  

Be careful I got a cold once sleeping next a crack . 😀

[zepplin]

On 5/19/2025 at 8:31 PM, lordgrinz said:

Again with the constantly changing rules, if they are trying to frighten and scare off investment, they are doing a great job!

 

On 5/19/2025 at 8:31 PM, lordgrinz said:

Again with the constantly changing rules, if they are trying to frighten and scare off investment, they are doing a great job!

Yes , with the super confusing, constantly changing tax rules and now the total ban on Thai nominee companies to buy land/houses here they are doing a superb  job in scaring away foreign investors! 
outstanding! 

[sandyf]

17 hours ago, TroubleandGrumpy said:

The most stupid views are those based on ignorance and racism - like yours. The TRD process about 10 million tax returns a year - where are the other 30-40 million from Thais earning over 60/120K per year??  None of my Wife's family have ever paid income taxes, and two of them run businesses (hairdressers) that pull in well above 10K per month. Thais I know that pull in 100K in a good month do not pay income taxes - compliance is one thing, but enforcement is another thing altogether in Thailand.  That is the same for the majority of Thais who does not work for a company that have a TIN and the company pays TRD a percentage of their income as income tax.

You are out of order to suggest my post was racist but I suspect due to an ignorant interpretation. Many on here(falangs) have nothing but contempt for the Thais, they are the racists.

There is nothing clever in supporting tax evasion and the TRD has every right to minimise tax avoidance.

[sandyf]

27 minutes ago, Presnock said:

they said that it will depend on the final decree whether one who paid tax in 2024 will be able to get a refund or not.

That would be a step up on HMRC.

When they changed the NI reqquirement from 44 to 30 years a friend of mine had been making voluntary contributions and wrote and asked for a refund.  That was wishful thinking.

[Farang baa]

On 5/19/2025 at 7:13 PM, Gaccha said:

The article appears to be suggesting that non-resident Thais can now repatriate money to Thailand without paying the tax if sent in that year etc.

 

This seems baffling, because I assumed that non-resident Thais would not pay anyway.

 

Can somebody clear this up?

 

On 5/19/2025 at 7:13 PM, Gaccha said:

The article appears to be suggesting that non-resident Thais can now repatriate money to Thailand without paying the tax if sent in that year etc.

 

This seems baffling, because I assumed that non-resident Thais would not pay anyway.

 

Can somebody clear this up?

Okay—here it is—there is no difference between foreigners and Thais when it comes to tax.Its residency based tax—so more than 180 days in the country for tax your are Thai.Gathered they would change—as all foreigners and elite Thais would then just NOT remit i come into Thailand —which has now happened.

 

So after been gazetted—thais (gor tax purposes everybody who is in Thailand for more than 180 days per year)NO tax on income.

 

So its a complete 180 degrees on foreign income submitted to Thailand👍👍👍💪💪💪💪

[Cliffo]

Problem is with no tax being paid in Thailand, you will need to pay tax in the originating country where the income was generated under international dual tax exemption rules. 

[Presnock]

11 minutes ago, Cliffo said:

Problem is with no tax being paid in Thailand, you will need to pay tax in the originating country where the income was generated under international dual tax exemption rules. 

Duh, this has been theproblem all along.  People though now realize that as long as they are not long enough in a particular country, then they don't become tax residents (have to be from the US as we are taxed no matter where at - but can obtain tax credits and other possible benefits through the DTA between Thailand and US)

[Presnock]

14 minutes ago, Cliffo said:

Problem is with no tax being paid in Thailand, you will need to pay tax in the originating country where the income was generated under international dual tax exemption rules. 

Yes read about the OECD agreement and the reason for that among 136 countries as too many people have been hiding somewhere where they could avoid paying any tax to any country.  I do believe that banking rules and other country tax rules will eventually seek out everyone earning any money but not paying any tax on that income.  This is my opinion anyway and since I am an American I have never been able to escape the tax man and don't understand why so many do so.  But then seeing how in the US the richest folks want more and more tax breaks too and I believe greed comes into the equation.  But just because we have had to pay our income taxes, most American complain about that too.

[PomPolo]

Another announcement to add to my new filing system "The trash"

[whitfield]

Please note that this only applies to foreign earnings brought into Thailand.  It doesn't include capital transfers.  So if you need money here sell some investments and bring in the proceeds.  Buy back the investments with your earnings. 

[JohnnyBD]

New article regarding this issue makes things pretty clear.

 

Financial world expects policy reversal on taxation of foreign income repatriated to Thailand - Pattaya Mail

https://www.pattayamail.com/latestnews/news/financial-world-expects-policy-reversal-on-taxation-of-foreign-income-repatriated-to-thailand

[Johno57]

I can imagine people will begin to by pass banks all together and bye safes to keep their money at home due to tax & very poor bank interest rates , bye  gold ingots thus completely derailling this badly thought out idea...gold prices will rise as well as the baht which will be no good for tourism or economy..

[redwood1]

Only the little people pay taxes....

 

Me.....I am a King living like a king off Social Security......

[shackleton]

There are 2 answers if you are a expat residing in Thailand I am mainly looking at retired expats

1.  if you ae worried and can't sleep 😕 😴 I am sure there are plenty of Lawyers and accountants willing  to help you at a cost cash  🤑

2 probably like the majority of us wait  and see 👀 what transpires

Or the Government people bank ect contact you 

Enjoy your stay 

[JB300]

On 5/23/2025 at 3:13 PM, ukrules said:

 

They can forget about getting additional remittances forever if they do that, people would simply leave unless they did the absolute unthinkable and went 'full USA' but I doubt that will ever happen.

 

Even if they went “Full USA” Thailand couldn’t tax non-Tax residents on anything unless they were Thai Citizens (maybe argue a case for PR holders) so the approach of  spending <180 days in-country would still work. 

 

[Captor]

On 5/20/2025 at 4:36 AM, sandyf said:

"Under these new rules, foreign income earned and remitted within the same or following year will not incur tax."

So if I want to remitt income earned in this year (2025) for example 5 years later then I must pay tax?

The rule about remitted within the same year or the following year will not apply and I need to pay tax on that. 

That is a way of forcing the foreign income into Thailand faster. If waiting more than following year of the earning we must still pay tax and we are still screwed. But later on...

[EVENKEEL]

Is this still a topic of discussion, I thought we'd moved on. Seems if those who don't pay any tax in their home country, they could be liable here. Seems only fair.

 

Are there many of you guys who don't pay any taxes to any home country?

[StayinThailand2much]

40 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

Are there many of you guys who don't pay any taxes to any home country?

 

In my case: "If a person has neither a domicile nor his habitual residence in ..., but at the same time generates income in ..., he is subject to limited income tax liability. This means that in this case there is no taxation of world income but only of income earned in ...", meaning no. 😊 

[wensiensheng]

On 5/22/2025 at 3:25 AM, JimmyTobacco said:

 

Indeed, the confusing thing about this whole situation is that the rule seems now reversed to the opposite of what it was before.

 

Before you had to wait for the next year to bring in your earnings to Thailand to avoid it being taxed; now you will have to bring it in immediately to avoid it being taxed.

 

I agree with another user that in practice, it takes some doing to prove which money is earned in which year. Personally, I have savings, investments and bank accounts, and any money earned is mixed with other money earned previously in either of those places, and some of that money is sent ... well if I were actually able to open a bank account in Thailand, some of that money would be sent to Thailand. Since I am not, it finds other ways to Thailand, like cash, or send it to my girlfriend through Wise, after which she gives me cash.

I have been segregating income from capital since the time the rules changed in 2024. All interest, dividends and bond coupons are automatically credited to a separate account and accumulate there.

 

Any money sent to Thailand is taken from my original capital account. When overseas, I use up some of the money accumulated in the income account.

 

should this new proposal become law, I’ll need to rejig things so that any income earned but not remitted to Thailand in the year it’s received, is segregated and not sent to Thailand. Simple enough to do.

[NoDisplayName]

3 hours ago, Presnock said:

that was the rule last year and might be the rule this year but then depending on how the decree is written, it may go back to global income if it is assessable and one is a tax resident

 

Thailand tax system was never based on global income.

 

Tax residents never ever had to declare global income, never ever had to report offshore accounts.

 

Only ever paid tax (sometimes) on remitted income unless exempt by DTA or royal decree.

[wensiensheng]

1 hour ago, EVENKEEL said:

Is this still a topic of discussion, I thought we'd moved on. Seems if those who don't pay any tax in their home country, they could be liable here. Seems only fair.

 

Are there many of you guys who don't pay any taxes to any home country?

 

1 hour ago, Captor said:

So if I want to remitt income earned in this year (2025) for example 5 years later then I must pay tax?

The rule about remitted within the same year or the following year will not apply and I need to pay tax on that. 

That is a way of forcing the foreign income into Thailand faster. If waiting more than following year of the earning we must still pay tax and we are still screwed. But later on...

Yes. In fact they make it explicitly clear that the intention of the change is to force repatriation of income to Thailand asap. Delay a year and it’s taxed.

[NoDisplayName]

2 hours ago, Cliffo said:

Problem is with no tax being paid in Thailand, you will need to pay tax in the originating country where the income was generated under international dual tax exemption rules. 

 

Maybe..........depends.

 

Stay under the IRS limits and US single filers can earn $60 cap gains ($120K married) tax-free in the US, tax-free remitted to Thailand depending on timing and which rules are in effect.

 

Thai nationals can invest at a US brokerage where only dividends and interest are taxed for non-resident aliens.  Cap gains are tax-free, would now be tax-free remitted to Thailand in same or subsequent year under proposed rule.

[ronnie50]

2 hours ago, Cliffo said:

Problem is with no tax being paid in Thailand, you will need to pay tax in the originating country where the income was generated under international dual tax exemption rules. 

Not necessarily. If the income was say an occupational pension (as opposed to a state pension - or Social Security as the US calls it), whether it was taxed at source would depend on whether you were considered a 'resident' there - usually more than 180-183 days, and/or you have sunstantial assets or a spouse there (in most countries except the US - they pay the US IRS no matter what or where they are). If you have nothing there except a bank account (no DL etc.), you would most likely be deemed non-resident and not taxable. Your state pension or social security, capital gains from stocks or bank interest would likely be taxed at source though (a non-res withholding tax - most countries 25%) 

[Presnock]

12 minutes ago, NoDisplayName said:

 

Thailand tax system was never based on global income.

 

Tax residents never ever had to declare global income, never ever had to report offshore accounts.

 

Only ever paid tax (sometimes) on remitted income unless exempt by DTA or royal decree.

read some of the interviews with finance minister from last year.  When Setta was pm they began the transition to worldwide income for the OECD membership.  One of those from last year specifically says the "goal is to transitions to a worldwide income tax".  If they ever will actually get there is anybody's guess as by changing the system last year to remitted income was taxed, they are ending up 20 BILLION short on revenue collected by September 2025. As for what we might have for the rest of this year who knows, just have to wait for decree.

[NoDisplayName]

4 minutes ago, Presnock said:

One of those from last year specifically says the "goal is to transitions to a worldwide income tax".

 

Some random official says he likes a thing.

That's not official policy.

It's just a dude sayin' stuff to get attention.

 

Some other official says the goal is to become an interstellar space hub and another one says they want to be a technology hub, and yet another wants to be the hub of robotics and AI.

 

Hub of fantastical pronouncements.

[Presnock]

On 5/22/2025 at 10:33 AM, lordgrinz said:

 

Which questions the intelligence of the imbeciles who put that change in place, it was obvious to anyone with a brain that it would cause a "negative impact".

I do believe that was clearly shown by the comments on this forum.  Then a poll was taken of the expats and 58% indicated that they would not do anything about tax and would be remitting a lot less than normal, plus some ceased to be tax residents by spending less time here and more in other countries.  Now they admit the shortcoming of remittances so are "drafting" an lowering of the requirement to pay hoping for immediate remittances that folks have been keeping outside the country.  Only thing is they need to speed up the process to any change for folks to prepare IMHO

[Presnock]

1 minute ago, NoDisplayName said:

 

Some random official says he likes a thing.

That's not official policy.

It's just a dude sayin' stuff to get attention.

 

Some other official says the goal is to become an interstellar space hub and another one says they want to be a technology hub, and yet another wants to be the hub of robotics and AI.

 

Hub of fantastical pronouncements.

He is the finance minister and that was also mentioned by the PM at that time who probably passed that on to the finance minister but a change in the tax situation is considered necessary to conform to OECD standards as Thailand wants to become a full member.

[ronnie50]

3 minutes ago, Presnock said:

read some of the interviews with finance minister from last year.  When Setta was pm they began the transition to worldwide income for the OECD membership.  One of those from last year specifically says the "goal is to transitions to a worldwide income tax".  If they ever will actually get there is anybody's guess as by changing the system last year to remitted income was taxed, they are ending up 20 BILLION short on revenue collected by September 2025. As for what we might have for the rest of this year who knows, just have to wait for decree.

That's why they're offering this remittance tax holiday. The money will likely be hard currency that the banks receive and is exchanged into Thai baht (though I don't recall them saying it had to arrive in Thailand in hard currency). Anyway, the remittance that does arrive in hard currency is good news for the government given the suspiciously over-valued Thai baht. Perhaps the gov have some way of getting their hands on it at a lower rate and adding the differencee to their foreign reserves?