1 hour ago, JimmyTobacco said:

Besides savings before 2024, aren't any savings I bring into Thailand that I had before I was a Thai tax resident exempt from tax as well? Say I was not a Thai tax resident in 2025 but I am one in 2026 and I have 100k USD in savings in my western bank account in December 2025. I bring this 100k USD into Thailand on January 1st. Then I am still not liable to pay tax on it, am I right?

where I do think it gets confusing is if you have say 100k sitting in a foreign bank account and you start sending your income to that bank account as well, while remitting some of the balance to Thailand sometimes. in other words, say I get 2000 in foreign income every month and add that to my savings, but I also remit 2000 a month to Thailand, but I claim what I actually remit are my savings from before and not my income. I am assuming the tax liability is then only triggered once the barrier of 100k remittance is crossed, since that was my balance before I became a Thai tax resident?

Someone posted this earlier in this thread. I think it answers your question as yes, income earned in year not a tax resident is exempt.

49 minutes ago, JohnnyBD said:

Someone posted this earlier in this thread. I think it answers your question as yes, income earned in year not a tax resident is exempt.

I meant to add, income earned in a year when not a tax resident is not subject to tax even if brought in a year when a tax resident per this chart. Sorry, 😁

On 1/6/2026 at 9:02 AM, notrub said:

I am retired and have a small pension sent directly to my Thai Bank and I understand about taxes on that (sort of). If I top up my income from my savings account in the west am I liable for tax on the top up amount? Not a huge amount, 30-40,000 THB per year. I have read that long term savings are exempt, is this true? How to prove that they are 'old' savings.

Thanks for any comments🙏

There is a tax calculator here

https://www.uobam.co.th/en/tax-calculation

My understanding, based on the kerfuffle in 2024, in which I learned that anything remitted to Thailand was to be considered taxable income, means you can plug into that calculator however much you want to bring in to Thailand as taxable income.

If you play with the numbers in the calculator, you can see you will not be liable for any income tax if your total income in Thailand (any income in Thailand plus whatever you remit) is <= THB 300K.

5 hours ago, JohnnyBD said:

I meant to add, income earned in a year when not a tax resident is not subject to tax even if brought in a year when a tax resident per this chart. Sorry, 😁

Say I had income from investments, much of which was re- invested, over the last 20 years, before becoming a Thai tax resident ; does that mean that I could remit as much cash as I wanted ( as long as it didn't total more than the sum of all the previous 20 years of income ) , tax free ? Sounds too good to be true.

19 minutes ago, persimmon said:

Say I had income from investments, much of which was re- invested, over the last 20 years, before becoming a Thai tax resident ; does that mean that I could remit as much cash as I wanted ( as long as it didn't total more than the sum of all the previous 20 years of income ) , tax free ? Sounds too good to be true.

If you can document (if ever audited) that remitted foreign money was earned while you were not Thai tax resident, it's indeed tax-free.

37 minutes ago, persimmon said:

Say I had income from investments, much of which was re- invested, over the last 20 years, before becoming a Thai tax resident ; does that mean that I could remit as much cash as I wanted ( as long as it didn't total more than the sum of all the previous 20 years of income ) , tax free ? Sounds too good to be true.

I am not a tax expert and therefore cannot advise anyone on tax law. I just reposted a chart that someone else previously posted in this thread. The chart states that income earned in a previous year before one ever becomes a Thai tax resident is not subject to Thai Tax no matter when that income is remitted. That person would normally have reported and paid tax on that income in another country, so it makes sense to me that Thailand wouldn't be able to tax money earned in a prior year when that person wasn't a Thai tax resident.

On 1/6/2026 at 9:02 AM, notrub said:

I am retired and have a small pension sent directly to my Thai Bank and I understand about taxes on that (sort of). If I top up my income from my savings account in the west am I liable for tax on the top up amount? Not a huge amount, 30-40,000 THB per year. I have read that long term savings are exempt, is this true? How to prove that they are 'old' savings.

Thanks for any comments🙏

Depends on where the money came from and if your country has a tax treaty with Thailand. For example SSA money from US is not taxed according to the treaty.

Reality - it is nearly impossible for the Thai tax authorities to know whether money coming into Thailand is pre 2024 savings or not. Also for many of us who are retired (and more so if married to a Thai, kids) the tax free amounts are quite generous and we would have little tax liability; plus DTAs may exempt even more money. And if you take money out of an ATM with a foreign card even harder to trace.

New tax rules were meant to be implemented last year, but have not been so far. Have to wait for next government after the elections next month - and they may have different ideas. Also some big holes in the tax net - like sending money to a Thai wife or bringing it in when not a tax resident.

The idea that provincial tax departments (who currently seem to know little about DTA's ) are going to want to audit our finances is unlikely - too much work.

For now, wait and see seems the better option.

9 hours ago, rickudon said:

Reality - it is nearly impossible for the Thai tax authorities to know whether money coming into Thailand is pre 2024 savings or not. Also for many of us who are retired (and more so if married to a Thai, kids) the tax free amounts are quite generous and we would have little tax liability; plus DTAs may exempt even more money. And if you take money out of an ATM with a foreign card even harder to trace.

New tax rules were meant to be implemented last year, but have not been so far. Have to wait for next government after the elections next month - and they may have different ideas. Also some big holes in the tax net - like sending money to a Thai wife or bringing it in when not a tax resident.

The idea that provincial tax departments (who currently seem to know little about DTA's ) are going to want to audit our finances is unlikely - too much work.

For now, wait and see seems the better option.

i agree with most of your post, except for this:

sending money to your thai wife is not a tax loophole, because your wife / gf is also required to pay tax and must declare this money.

transferring large amounts of money to thailand while you are not a tax resident is completely legal and is not a loophole either.

6 minutes ago, motdaeng said:

sending money to your thai wife is not a tax loophole, because your wife / gf is also required to pay tax and must declare this money.

According to Thai gift law, spouse/gf must declare and pay tax only if gifted amount is over THB 20M/THB 10M per calendar year.

16 minutes ago, Yumthai said:

According to Thai gift law, spouse/gf must declare and pay tax only if gifted amount is over THB 20M/THB 10M per calendar year.

if it were that easy to declare every money transfer to a thai partner as a gift, then no foreigner would have to pay taxes anymore in thailand ... 555

i am not a tax expert, but if i remember correctly, tax-free gifts are only allowed under certain conditions. for example, the person giving the gift must not benefit from it. if the tax office asks, the gift must be justified (reason) . it is also recommended to have the gift confirmed in writing by a lawyer, and so on ...

1 hour ago, motdaeng said:

i am not a tax expert, but if i remember correctly, tax-free gifts are only allowed under certain conditions.

I suggest you stop remembering and just quote the gift law from official source. Any other interpretation/speculation has no value.

1 hour ago, motdaeng said:

if the tax office asks

The tax office can ask anything they want as Thai law is always at Thai authority interpretation and discretion, (purposely?) inconsistent rules being bent at will in one way or another. That's why keeping low profile in Thailand, for both locals and foreigners alike, is the best thing to do.

19 minutes ago, Yumthai said:

I suggest you stop remembering and just quote the gift law from official source. Any other interpretation/speculation has no value.

the source below is not directly from the tax office. it is only meant to give you an idea of how completely wrong your own interpretation is ...

https://www.expattaxthailand.com/gift-tax-2024/

On 1/17/2026 at 9:07 AM, Yumthai said:

According to Thai gift law, spouse/gf must declare and pay tax only if gifted amount is over THB 20M/THB 10M per calendar year.

Folks this 20 million gift exemption is here to stay, the very rich will make sure of that...

Plus, there are so many other exemptions the tax is a Joke really.

Like

Have the LTR visa your exempt

Money from before 2023 is exempt.

Less than 180 days in Thailand is exempt

Wire in 1 billion baht stays 179 days.Leave Thailand. Come back after 180 more days. Your 1 billion baht is tax-free.

Social Security payments are 100% exempt..

DTAs exempt a whole lot more money...

Any money you had in Thai banks is exempt

Money received under a certain amount is exempt

Money sent as a gift is exempt

Non-reported income I guess you could say is more or less exempt

ATM pulls would be very hard to track when millions of tourists also use the ATMs

And maybe more exempts I have not thought of....

Just about everyone will have exemptions...

29 minutes ago, redwood1 said:

Folks this 20 million gift exemption is here to stay, the very rich will make sure of that...

Plus, there are so many other exemptions the tax is a Joke really.

There are exemptions, but one needs to be careful in regards to conditions, for if one is audited and one did not follow the letter of the tax law, there is potential to find oneself fined, or worse.

Re: the gift exemption, the money can NOT be used to directly benefit one's self.

29 minutes ago, redwood1 said:

Have the LTR visa your exempt

There are constraints even with the LTR visa tax exemptions. There are variants of the LTR visa, and not all variants get the same tax exemption.

Consider the LTR-WP and LTR-WGC variants of the LTR visa. The latest interpretation of BoI (as emailed to a couple of Aseannow forum members) clarified that if foreign income is brought into Thailand, in the year that it is earned, then such income is NOT tax exempt by Thailand. Such foreign income, to be Thai tax exempt (assuming no DTA exclusions), must be brought in a tax year OTHER than which it was earned.

29 minutes ago, redwood1 said:

Money from before 2023 is exempt.

More precisely, per POR.161.162, Before 1-Jan-2024, ... Not before 2023.

29 minutes ago, redwood1 said:

Less than 180 days in Thailand is exempt

Yes, this is important. Some of us remitted a LOT of money to Thailand BEFORE we became Thai tax residents.

29 minutes ago, redwood1 said:

Social Security payments are 100% exempt..

It depends entirely on what the DTA with Thailand of the 'social security' source country says. Do NOT ASSUME one's social security is tax exempt. Dependent on the source country it may not be Thai tax exempt.

29 minutes ago, redwood1 said:

DTAs exempt a whole lot more money...

Typically DTAs are in place to prevent DOUBLE TAXATION. ... Ergo in many (dare i say most) cases, one has already paid tax on one's foreign sourced income in the country of the income source. Further, in a number of DTA cases, one IS taxed (on paper) in both countries, and one has to obtain tax credit paperwork from one of the two countries, so to obtain tax exemption in the other. The paperwork to be conducted can be a PIA.

29 minutes ago, redwood1 said:

Any money you had in Thai banks is exempt

I assume you mean interest? No, it is NOT tax exempt. There can be a 15% withholding tax, and after that withholding tax is deducted, one's obligations to include that interest income (left after withholding tax deduction) is no longer considered assessable. But 15% is not the same as exemption.

29 minutes ago, redwood1 said:

Money received under a certain amount is exempt

Yes, but threshold is very small.

29 minutes ago, redwood1 said:

Money sent as a gift is exempt

NO, its not tax exempt if the money is used to benefit one's self.

29 minutes ago, redwood1 said:

Non-reported income I guess you could say is more or less exempt

I won't discuss such here.

29 minutes ago, redwood1 said:

ATM pulls would be very hard to track when millions of tourists also use the ATMs

There is a degree of risk here.

29 minutes ago, redwood1 said:

And maybe more exempts I have not thought of....

Just about everyone will have exemptions...

I recommend caution here, where I do agree with you that everyone should assess their own case, assess their income source, assess the DTA between Thailand and the source country of their income, review/assess Thai ministerial directives such as POR.161/162 so to carefully bring in pre-1-Jan-2024 savings into Thailand if no other Thai tax exemptions apply, and if one has extended travel ( > 181 days) planned outside of Thailand, use that opportunity to remit a lot of money to Thailand.

But be cautious and careful as to how one manages and structures their funds, as not all the points in your post that I pointed out, mean money can be blindly brought in. One needs, IMHO, to be alert as to one's own constraints as to how one manages legally their tax exposure.

17 minutes ago, oldcpu said:

if one is audited and one did not follow the letter of the tax law, there is potential to find oneself fined, or worse.

Sadly following the letter of the law (supposing it has been understood the same way the official sees it that specific day) in Thailand is not a sure condition that will guarantee no issue is raised.

@oldcpu thanks a lot for your helpful input. i’m glad some people here understand more than just the very basics of thai tax law ...

5 hours ago, oldcpu said:

. . . . . as not all the points in your post that I pointed out, mean money can be blindly brought in.

I don't think the post was meant to be 100% precise, but to give a flavour of the multiple openings which are available to use at one's discretion. Most readers would have got that and not gone through it with a fine toothcomb as you have done.

22 minutes ago, treetops said:

I don't think the post was meant to be 100% precise, but to give a flavour of the multiple openings which are available to use at one's discretion. Most readers would have got that and not gone through it with a fine toothcomb as you have done.

i do agree, most people will understand it, but not everyone ... i won’t call anyone out by name ... 😄

On 1/6/2026 at 10:15 AM, oldcpu said:

example equities purchased in year 2022, but sold in year 2025, ... are those considered savings? ..... But I do not know the official answer - my guess is they are NOT considered savings.

What makes you thinking equities are not considered as savings ?

In many cases those equities will come from income from people when they still lived and worked in their home countries and paid income taxes on.

If Thailand would now tax this money when brought to Thailand again then Thailand would clearly break the DTA (and their own tax law since the income comes from a year the person was not tax holder of Thailand).

5 minutes ago, Sato said:

What makes you thinking equities are not considered as savings ?

In many cases those equities will come from income from people when they still lived and worked in their home countries and paid income taxes on.

If Thailand would now tax this money when brought to Thailand again then Thailand would clearly break the DTA (and their own tax law since the income comes from a year the person was not tax holder of Thailand).

If you want to ship the Equities to Thailand then there would be no tax BUT if you want to sell the Equities and ship the money over then the resulting (Capital) gains are Tax assessable based on original aquisition price.

11 minutes ago, SamSpade said:

If you want to ship the Equities to Thailand then there would be no tax BUT if you want to sell the Equities and ship the money over then the resulting (Capital) gains are Tax assessable based on original aquisition price.

Sure capital gains are taxable in Thailand when transfered to Thailand and gained after 1.1.2024.

So, exactly same situation as with cash savings. Interest, dividends and capital gains since 1.1.2024 are taxable when broth to Thailand. The money of a cash account and the value of the equities and bonds as of 31.12.2023 not.

31 minutes ago, SamSpade said:

Tax assessable based on original aquisition price.

I assume the taxable amount will not be calculated based on the original acquisition price but based on Value as of December 31, 2023

48 minutes ago, Sato said:

I assume the taxable amount will not be calculated based on the original acquisition price but based on Value as of December 31, 2023

Sorry you assumed wrong, it’s the Gain since acquisition.

Obviously only the Gain part is assessable, if you bought for £100 and sold for £110 & remitted £110 then only £10 would be assessable…

It’s percentage based so if you only remit £55 then £5 would be assessable, you can’t chose to just send the original capital.

28 minutes ago, SamSpade said:

Sorry you assumed wrong, it’s the Gain since acquisition.

Obviously only the Gain part is assessable, if you bought for £100 and sold for £110 & remitted £110 then only £10 would be assessable…

It’s percentage based so if you only remit £55 then £5 would be assessable, you can’t chose to just send the original capital.

Any source ?

Forget about the 2023 changes to tax rules, how was CGT calculated, Nothing changed to those rules.

But if you want a source, ExpatTaxThailand have covered this point many times…https://www.expattaxthailand.com/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23234720076&gbraid=0AAAAAqiFVax_urJMCmduwqQoXl4lXsKDr&gclid=Cj0KCQiA-NHLBhDSARIsAIhe9X0zpeC_jOyWMs78pdiC3svl92Uh5eoOPQznTK99wWmD-yOtPw4Coh0aAkUIEALw_wcB

4 minutes ago, SamSpade said:

Forget about the 2023 changes to tax rules, how was CGT calculated, Nothing changed to those rules.

How CGT is calculated is unchained but what has changed is that savings (and that includes for me savings from capital gains till 1.1.2023 but for sure savings from Capital gains from before you moved to Thailand and become Thai tax holder).

Anyway, thank's for you're link.

I will read once I have time.

17 minutes ago, SamSpade said:

Forget about the 2023 changes to tax rules, how was CGT calculated, Nothing changed to those rules.

But if you want a source, ExpatTaxThailand have covered this point many times…https://www.expattaxthailand.com/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23234720076&gbraid=0AAAAAqiFVax_urJMCmduwqQoXl4lXsKDr&gclid=Cj0KCQiA-NHLBhDSARIsAIhe9X0zpeC_jOyWMs78pdiC3svl92Uh5eoOPQznTK99wWmD-yOtPw4Coh0aAkUIEALw_wcB

Your link is a public relation to a Falang consultant ?

10 minutes ago, Sato said:

Your link is a public relation to a Falang consultant ?

No, it's just a link to an Expat Thai Tax company who have made many videos covering this subject so take it as you like (I am certainly not associated with them).

But again I would ask how CGT was calculated before the change to rules because they didn't change anything in relation to that.