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Foreign Income Tax - What happened to the proposed changes?

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https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/general/3081357/law-exempting-tax-on-foreign-income-in-the-offing

https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/general/3041421/new-approach-to-overseas-income-aims-to-spur-inflows

"According to Pinsai Suraswadi, director-general of the Revenue Department, the agency is preparing to draft legislation to amend the collection of income tax to allow income sourced from abroad to be brought back into Thailand without tax liability."

 

https://scandasia.com/thailand-to-exempt-foreign-income-remitted-within-two-years/

"Thailand’s Revenue Department has announced a proposed tax exemption that will benefit expatriates and tax residents: foreign income remitted to Thailand within two years of being earned will not be taxed. The change is expected to take effect later this year through a royal decree, but will not apply retroactively."

 

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Officials from the Revenue Department said they were working on those changes over 6 months ago. Has there been any changes or updates since then? 

 

 

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  • I did.

  • Nothing happened, change of Government and that's the end of it, for now. January 2026 is rapidly approaching, a time when people would traditionally remit previous years earnings and I have a fe

  • Except for a few prominent panic mongers on forums. 

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Nothing happened, change of Government and that's the end of it, for now.

January 2026 is rapidly approaching, a time when people would traditionally remit previous years earnings and I have a feeling that with these recently introduced tax changes and the increasing price of the Baht that remittances from foreign investment accounts will plummet even lower than last year - and they did not like what happened last year.

 

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6 hours ago, TPDH said:

Officials from the Revenue Department said they were working on those changes over 6 months ago. Has there been any changes or updates since then? 

 

So many confusing and contradictory announcements that I doubt if the High Heidyins in the TRD really know what the plan is any more. They don't seem to have made any attempt to pursue anybody who didn't file a tax return after the 2024 tax year ended (i.e. most expats), let's hope we can say the same thing about the 2025 tax year soon to end. 

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15 hours ago, ukrules said:

Nothing happened, change of Government and that's the end of it, for now.

January 2026 is rapidly approaching, a time when people would traditionally remit previous years earnings and I have a feeling that with these recently introduced tax changes and the increasing price of the Baht that remittances from foreign investment accounts will plummet even lower than last year - and they did not like what happened last year.

 

I cannot but agree on both points.

 

With respect to the first paragraph - we shall have to wait until the next (non-popularly) elected government is in place and act on any advice/recommendations from the Thai Revenue Department.  My guess is maybe around mid 2026 we may hear if any changes will be proposed.

 

With respect to the second paragraph - ditto.  Later this week I shall work out how much money I spent in Thailand this year, and how much I shall have to remit from my home country bank account to cover next year's living expenses in Thailand.  With the high over-value of the Thai Baht I shall probably delay remitting any monies at this time.

After all recent hassles and 2 bank freezes for 10+ days with 2 banks in TH, after 14 years no issue banking, decided to empty all and move to revolut instead. They ship cards to Thailand as well you can have all types of currencies + pay apple pay in 7/11 etc too. 


Also it offers to send realtime to Thai visa/mastercard cards or within a day to Thai bank accounts. Then Thailand has less to do with my finances too, can only be good. They even offer good esim cards for data on top too lol, missing out on zero benefits with the 18.99 a month plan.

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So, one might conclude that they have no plan, and are working on the concept of a plan.

 

Of course, despite the legions of uniformed officials, relentless photocopies of passports, reporting, fingerprint scans, photographs of people at desks, computers and regular clampdowns they actually have no idea who is actually in the country anyway!

 

I have been here some 15 years (entirely legally might I add) and there must be enough paperwork and printouts to fill my kitchen ( and it is quite a large one!)if they were all brought together - not that that would happen, they're spread around half a dozen different stores and databases.

 

Still, in the words of Flanders and Swann, "it all makes work for the working man to do!"

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1 hour ago, JAG said:

 

I have been here some 15 years (entirely legally might I add) and there must be enough paperwork and printouts to fill my kitchen ( and it is quite a large one!)if they were all brought together - not that that would happen, they're spread around half a dozen different stores and databases.

 

 

 

Some of your paperwork at the Jomtien Immigration office?

20240923_141236.jpg

6 minutes ago, Halfaboy said:

 

Some of your paperwork at the Jomtien Immigration office?

20240923_141236.jpg

Quite possibly  - although I live in Chiang Rai and have never dealt with them!

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17 hours ago, Guderian said:

 

So many confusing and contradictory announcements that I doubt if the High Heidyins in the TRD really know what the plan is any more. They don't seem to have made any attempt to pursue anybody who didn't file a tax return after the 2024 tax year ended (i.e. most expats), let's hope we can say the same thing about the 2025 tax year soon to end. 

 

Nobody I know living in Thailand has filed a return, and nobody they know has filed a return.  Not one single expat.

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I was sent away at my Thai Tax Office....

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3 hours ago, ChaiyaTH said:

After all recent hassles and 2 bank freezes for 10+ days with 2 banks in TH, after 14 years no issue banking, decided to empty all and move to revolut instead. They ship cards to Thailand as well you can have all types of currencies + pay apple pay in 7/11 etc too. 


Also it offers to send realtime to Thai visa/mastercard cards or within a day to Thai bank accounts. Then Thailand has less to do with my finances too, can only be good. They even offer good esim cards for data on top too lol, missing out on zero benefits with the 18.99 a month plan.

 

But you cannot open a Revolut account as a resident of Thailand. If you have proof of address for a country they support, such as your home country, you can obviously find a workaround, but that may be a great way to have your Revolut account frozen sometime down the road. Otherwise I'd be very interested, too.

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1 hour ago, shdmn said:

Nobody I know living in Thailand has filed a return, and nobody they know has filed a return.  Not one single expat.

 

Except for a few prominent panic mongers on forums. :clap2:

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3 hours ago, shdmn said:

Nobody I know living in Thailand has filed a return

I did.

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6 hours ago, ChaiyaTH said:

After all recent hassles and 2 bank freezes for 10+ days with 2 banks in TH, after 14 years no issue banking, decided to empty all and move to revolut instead. They ship cards to Thailand as well you can have all types of currencies + pay apple pay in 7/11 etc too. 


Also it offers to send realtime to Thai visa/mastercard cards or within a day to Thai bank accounts. Then Thailand has less to do with my finances too, can only be good. They even offer good esim cards for data on top too lol, missing out on zero benefits with the 18.99 a month plan.

I was going to reply, but I saw the same from Caldera below:

 

3 hours ago, Caldera said:

 

But you cannot open a Revolut account as a resident of Thailand. If you have proof of address for a country they support, such as your home country, you can obviously find a workaround, but that may be a great way to have your Revolut account frozen sometime down the road. Otherwise I'd be very interested, too.

Last Saturday I got a request from Revolut to confirm personal details. This is when I will have to close my Revolut account I think.

 

Thankfully I haven't had to use Revolut in all the time I've been in Thailand. Wise has been perfectly adequate in that regard and also allows me to live in Thailand too.

27 minutes ago, BeastOfBodmin said:

I was going to reply, but I saw the same from Caldera below:

 

Last Saturday I got a request from Revolut to confirm personal details. This is when I will have to close my Revolut account I think.

 

Thankfully I haven't had to use Revolut in all the time I've been in Thailand. Wise has been perfectly adequate in that regard and also allows me to live in Thailand too.

I just closed my Revolut account. It may have been possible to fake it, as it let me change my phone number to a Thai one and as I had to give a TIN I gave my Thai TIN. I don't think I would have had to change or verify my address, in which case it could have been left as my EEA address.

 

But I don't want extra financial complications in my life.

7 hours ago, ChaiyaTH said:

after 14 years no issue banking, decided to empty all and move to revolut instead

 

Your solution is a non-solution.

 

Revolut is not available to Thai tax residents; they will block any attempt to sign up.

 

The tax remit issues in Thailand apply only to Thai tax residents and are not an issue to visitors. 

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The Thai's will sit on this legislation and pull it out to use it on an individual, when they need to.

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14 hours ago, Gaccha said:

 

Your solution is a non-solution.

 

Revolut is not available to Thai tax residents; they will block any attempt to sign up.

 

The tax remit issues in Thailand apply only to Thai tax residents and are not an issue to visitors. 

I'm not a tax resident neither a Thai, and it works entirely fine for any foreigner. Stop talking crap.

16 hours ago, BeastOfBodmin said:

I was going to reply, but I saw the same from Caldera below:

 

Last Saturday I got a request from Revolut to confirm personal details. This is when I will have to close my Revolut account I think.

 

Thankfully I haven't had to use Revolut in all the time I've been in Thailand. Wise has been perfectly adequate in that regard and also allows me to live in Thailand too.

Nonsense, have had the account since 2018 while living here since 2013, all my friends switched using the same in the same position, many already did since 3+ years too as they never even had a Thai bank. People who had this issue simply not understand to do their KYC/address properly.

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22 hours ago, shdmn said:

Nobody I know living in Thailand has filed a return, and nobody they know has filed a return.  Not one single expat.

 

it really depends a lot on the kind of social circle you in ...

many of the people i talk to (i do not go to bar's) about the tax situation in thailand do file an annual tax return ...

 

 

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On 12/28/2025 at 5:28 PM, Guderian said:

So many confusing and contradictory announcements that I doubt if the High Heidyins in the TRD really know what the plan is any more. They don't seem to have made any attempt to pursue anybody who didn't file a tax return after the 2024 tax year ended (i.e. most expats), let's hope we can say the same thing about the 2025 tax year soon to end. 

 

the TRD has done a very poor job overall: communication about the rule changes has been minimal, most tax officers seem unaware of them, and the forms have not been updated to reflect the new regulations, and so on.

 

the tax office does currently not actively collecting taxes from foreigner tax residents. however, this does not mean the situation will remain this way forever. the tax authority has the legal right to review money transfers going back up to the last ten years ... dealing with the TRD is not so easy ...

 

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5 minutes ago, motdaeng said:

dealing with the TRD is not so easy .

Best to ignore them then!

22 hours ago, Caldera said:

 

But you cannot open a Revolut account as a resident of Thailand. If you have proof of address for a country they support, such as your home country, you can obviously find a workaround, but that may be a great way to have your Revolut account frozen sometime down the road. Otherwise I'd be very interested, too.

I opened a Revolut account whilst I was in the UK using my parent's address & put on the application that I was a Tax Resident of Thailand only temporary resident in UK (Which was true, I was there for 3 weeks)... No problem opening the account. 

 

I then told my mate about it & suggested he opened an account before his trip to the UK as his UK Bank accounts had been closed by his Bank (Virgin/RBS or whoever they are nowadays) and he opened one from Thailand, said nothing about Tax residency and used his father's address where he was planning to stay for a few days. 

 

Neither of us had to show any proof of address, in fact all's you needed was a scan of your passport and a Live "Photo" that showed it was you making the application. 

 

They won't deliver a physical card to Thailand so if you want one, you should use an address that you'll either be visiting or have somebody there who can forward it to you.

 

 

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20 hours ago, Stocky said:

I did.

Me also, took 5 minutes and they owed me money from the withheld tax on interest in my bank accounts but I said I didn't want to claim it so all done & dusted in the 5 minutes.

1 hour ago, motdaeng said:

 

the TRD has done a very poor job overall: communication about the rule changes has been minimal, most tax officers seem unaware of them, and the forms have not been updated to reflect the new regulations, and so on.

 

the tax office does currently not actively collecting taxes from foreigner tax residents. however, this does not mean the situation will remain this way forever. the tax authority has the legal right to review money transfers going back up to the last ten years ... dealing with the TRD is not so easy ...

 

I agree and the idea that the TRD in 5 years may decide to go back and review my transfers is something that I find very irritating and scary, I thought after 2 years of this tax change being in place the TRD would have made things clearer but that is not the case.

 

I am only transferring savings that was earned prior to 2024 and also prior to moving to Thailand so should not owe any tax and currently do not file a tax return. I  think I can prove this but you never know in Thailand what prof they will accept.

3 hours ago, ChaiyaTH said:

I'm not a tax resident neither a Thai, and it works entirely fine for any foreigner. Stop talking crap.

 

The thread is about dealing with notification of taxable income from foreign remittances to Thailand, and these will not apply to you if you are a non-tax resident of Thailand. Your "solution" is an irrelevant non-solution. 

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3 minutes ago, Gaccha said:

 

The thread is about dealing with notification of taxable income from foreign remittances to Thailand, and these will not apply to you if you are a non-tax resident of Thailand. Your "solution" is an irrelevant non-solution. 

I thought the thread was about "what happened to the changes"

And the answer is, they quietly forgot about them.

1 hour ago, motdaeng said:

 

the TRD has done a very poor job overall: communication about the rule changes has been minimal, most tax officers seem unaware of them, and the forms have not been updated to reflect the new regulations, and so on.

 

the tax office does currently not actively collecting taxes from foreigner tax residents. however, this does not mean the situation will remain this way forever. the tax authority has the legal right to review money transfers going back up to the last ten years ... dealing with the TRD is not so easy ...

 

so you decided to "assume the position"   and take it like a man 

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The only people who have benefitted from this are those annoying Utube "experts" illegally offering incorrect advice backed by scaremongering         The only ones who have or will suffer are those that listened to them'  

3 minutes ago, Bday Prang said:

so you decided to "assume the position"   and take it like a man 

aren't you  man? :cheesy:

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