There is a downloadable 2026 personal income tax guide, very useful for foreigners and better that most other sources on the internet at expattaxthailand.com. Comments?

Hmm, I see that there is no direct link to this guide. Instead you're required to download it on condition of providing your name, email address and phone number. The cynic in me, therefore, sees this as little more than a ploy by Expat Thai Thailand to drum up business for their services. If you do decide to download this guide, you had, I think, better brace yourself for subsequent deluges of marketing emails and/or phone calls from them. Needless to say, I'm not prepared to take this risk!

Edited May 13May 13 by OJAS

20 hours ago, OJAS said:

Hmm, I see that there is no direct link to this guide. Instead you're required to download it on condition of providing your name, email address and phone number. The cynic in me, therefore, sees this as little more than a ploy by Expat Thai Thailand to drum up business for their services. If you do decide to download this guide, you had, I think, better brace yourself for subsequent deluges of marketing emails and/or phone calls from them. Needless to say, I'm not prepared to take this risk!

I did download it. No extra emails yet. I would attach it here, for your convenience, but PDFs can't be attached.

7 hours ago, Banana7 said:

I would attach it here, for your convenience, but PDFs can't be attached.

Jpegs can.

https://www.ilovepdf.com/pdf_to_jpg

Download here:

https://cdnimage.sgp1.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/ett/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Thailand-Tax-Guide-2026.pdf

Edited June 5Jun 5 by JimGant

2 hours ago, JimGant said:

Download here:

https://cdnimage.sgp1.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/ett/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Thailand-Tax-Guide-2026.pdf

I read the exemptions section in the above PDF and did not see an exemption for interest on savings account if less than 20k ฿ per annum. I have long heard that such an exemption existed.

Krungsri bank website from 2019 refers to it:

https://www.krungsri.com/en/about-krungsri/about-us/overview/announce/exemption-tax-interest-savings-deposit

Has that exemption been eliminated?

6 hours ago, gamb00ler said:

I read the exemptions section in the above PDF and did not see an exemption for interest on savings account if less than 20k ฿ per annum. I have long heard that such an exemption existed.

Krungsri bank website from 2019 refers to it:

https://www.krungsri.com/en/about-krungsri/about-us/overview/announce/exemption-tax-interest-savings-deposit

Has that exemption been eliminated?

That was interesting. I searched, and could provide no evidence it has been eliminated or superseded, which does not mean it has, or has not. It just means I could not find such.

You did thou have me curious, so I did a search and found Director General Notification Regarding Income Tax No.346 (in Thai language).

https://www.rd.go.th/fileadmin/user_upload/kormor/newlaw/dg346.pdf

I put that document into Google Gemini to translate. From what I read, Section 3 has the Conditions for the Tax Exemption. It notes Interest and deposit returns are exempt from inclusion in personal income tax calculations only if all of the following conditions are met.

(1) The combined amount of interest and deposit returns from all accounts must not exceed 20,000 baht during that tax year.

(2) The deposit account name and tax identification number used to open the account must belong to the individual taxpayer who receives the benefit of the interest or deposit return.

(3) The taxpayer must not have instructed the bank not to send interest or deposit-return information to the Revenue Department.

(4) The interest or deposit return must be one for which the Revenue Department has actually received the relevant information from the bank under Section 5. Section 5 lays out some bank reporting requirments where the bank is required to report information on the individuals account to the Revenue Department.

That is a Gemini AI translation, and AI make LOTS of mistakes, so take that translation with a LOT of salt. While I found it of interest, I don't know enough to verify it. In my case, I simply pay 15% Thai with holding tax on my interest (which greatly exceeds 20,000 baht/year) , but that 20,000 baht/year exemption may be of interest to others.

One thing of note, per the Thai tax law, based on my reading translations of such, if one does pay 15% Thai income tax (with holding tax) on one's Thai bank interest, that satisfies the requirement for that income from a Thai tax perspective and hence it need not be included in the assessment if one reaches the threshold of assessable income needed to file a Thai tax return. I have posted on this before.

Edited June 5Jun 5 by oldcpu

16 minutes ago, oldcpu said:

One thing of note, per the Thai tax law, based on my reading translations of such, if one does pay 15% Thai income tax (with holding tax) on one's Thai bank interest, that satisfies the requirement for that income from a Thai tax perspective and hence it need not be included in the assessment if one reaches the threshold of assessable income needed to file a Thai tax return. I have posted on this before.

In regards to my past posts, this is my understanding:

For a Thai tax resident, bank interest income (classified under Chapter 3, Section 40(4)(a) of the Revenue Code), from which the Thailand bank has applied the 15% withholding tax (under Section 50 of the Revenue Code), offers an option. Chapter 3, Section 48(3) of the Thailand Revenue Code explicitly states that for assessable income under Section 40(4)(a) (interest income) where tax has been withheld by the Thai bank, the taxpayer may elect to pay tax at the rate of 15.0 percent of that interest income, without including it in the annual assessable income computation under Section 48(1) or (2) of the Thai Revenue Code.

This election means the 15% withheld tax fully discharges further Thailand tax liability for that specific interest income. Consequently, that interest income is not included in the annual assessable income computation under Section 48(1) or (2).

Accordingly, it is generally understood that such separately taxed interest income is not taken into account when determining whether an individual has sufficient assessable income to trigger a personal income tax filing obligation. Therefore, if this bank interest is a Thailand resident's only Thai-sourced income, it is generally accepted that no personal income tax return is required based on that income only, as the tax liability on that income has already been settled through withholding at source.

Edited June 5Jun 5 by oldcpu

@oldcpu Thanks for doing that research into the details of the tax withholding/exemption . I had found most of those details before. I was just surprised that EXPATTAX document had not discussed the matter. I also have a copy of PWC's guide to 2017 Thai income tax. It also has none of the information you documented.

I have added my Thai tax ID successfully to my accounts at four major Thai banks and as a consequence I have not had any tax withheld from the interest payments. I just didn't want the annoyance of annually filing Thai taxes to recover the 2-3,000 that would have been withheld.

On 5/12/2026 at 10:03 PM, Banana7 said:

There is a downloadable 2026 personal income tax guide, very useful for foreigners and better that most other sources on the internet at expattaxthailand.com. Comments?

Expattax Thai (ETT) comes across -- with its guides, websites, and webinars -- as a professional and competent organization (at least its formatting and lack of typos says "professional")

But some of their suggestions wreak of snake oil. In their 2026 tax guide they suggest that, if you have an LTR WP visa and thus no remitted assessable income, you should still file a null tax return listing that non assessable income somewhere on the return (where? there's no comment section) -- and declaring it non assessable due to LTR visa status. Why? Because this way, when you show up on TRD's radar screen, they'll know why you didn't file.

But why would you show up on TRD's radar screen? On another of their youtube presentations they point out that remittances of less than 1.2 million baht don't trigger a looksee at TRD.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/OmLY-G7--uY

So, keep you remittances below 1.2M. This would apply to all, not just LTR visa holders.

Then, they point out that CRS and FATCA reporting will bring you to TRD's attention. Well, I don't know about CRS, but FATCA reporting doesn't have the US reporting 1099 and W2 income data to Thailand of "US persons." And even if they did, if it's not remitted income, it's of no concern to Thailand. No, FATCA came about more for the US to keep track of worldwide income of its "US persons." However, yes, FATCA does report to Thailand US income of Thai citizens:

"U.S. to Thailand Flow: Under the reciprocal framework of the agreement, the IRS is obligated to share financial account information of Thai citizens living or holding assets in the U.S. with Thailand."

But you -- as a US expat -- have nothing to fear from FATCA reporting re TRD's radar screen.

So, ETT, why all these scare tactics? Business slow? Certainly if TRD somehow remotely identified me for a chat, I could much better explain my situation than you can in a comments section of a tax return. Even without an LTR visa, I could explain, in detail, why my assessable income, due to DTA, doesn't reach the taxable threshold.

No, I don't need a TIN from you for 7500 baht -- needed in order to file a tax return. And, no, I certainly don't need to pay a minimum of 8000 baht for a tax return that's all zeros, except in the remarks section delineating non assessable income. Why would I want to draw attention to myself at TRD, when otherwise I wouldn't.......and which I could much better explain away than you ever could in a remarks section.

Snake oil. Shame on you.

1 hour ago, JimGant said:

Expattax Thai (ETT) comes across -- with its guides, websites, and webinars -- as a professional and competent organization (at least its formatting and lack of typos says "professional")

But some of their suggestions wreak of snake oil. In their 2026 tax guide they suggest that, if you have an LTR WP visa and thus no remitted assessable income, you should still file a null tax return listing that non assessable income somewhere on the return (where? there's no comment section) -- and declaring it non assessable due to LTR visa status. Why? Because this way, when you show up on TRD's radar screen, they'll know why you didn't file.

But why would you show up on TRD's radar screen? On another of their youtube presentations they point out that remittances of less than 1.2 million baht don't trigger a looksee at TRD.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/OmLY-G7--uY

So, keep you remittances below 1.2M. This would apply to all, not just LTR visa holders.

Then, they point out that CRS and FATCA reporting will bring you to TRD's attention. Well, I don't know about CRS, but FATCA reporting doesn't have the US reporting 1099 and W2 income data to Thailand of "US persons." And even if they did, if it's not remitted income, it's of no concern to Thailand. No, FATCA came about more for the US to keep track of worldwide income of its "US persons." However, yes, FATCA does report to Thailand US income of Thai citizens:

"U.S. to Thailand Flow: Under the reciprocal framework of the agreement, the IRS is obligated to share financial account information of Thai citizens living or holding assets in the U.S. with Thailand."

But you -- as a US expat -- have nothing to fear from FATCA reporting re TRD's radar screen.

So, ETT, why all these scare tactics? Business slow? Certainly if TRD somehow remotely identified me for a chat, I could much better explain my situation than you can in a comments section of a tax return. Even without an LTR visa, I could explain, in detail, why my assessable income, due to DTA, doesn't reach the taxable threshold.

No, I don't need a TIN from you for 7500 baht -- needed in order to file a tax return. And, no, I certainly don't need to pay a minimum of 8000 baht for a tax return that's all zeros, except in the remarks section delineating non assessable income. Why would I want to draw attention to myself at TRD, when otherwise I wouldn't.......and which I could much better explain away than you ever could in a remarks section.

Snake oil. Shame on you.

I don't know about FATCA, but what you wrote about FATCA also applies to CRS

1 hour ago, Hish said:

I don't know about FATCA, but what you wrote about FATCA also applies to CRS

Not only that but if they know you made say 500k GBP in the previous year but only sent 50k then they already know about the 50k (apparently) as it was remitted - and knowing about the other 450k which is likely invested somewhere won't do anything for them as it hasn't been remitted.

I've said this before but it should be repeated, it doesn't matter how much you earn in other countries until you remit it so all this scaremongering about CRS for a territorial tax system like Thailands is largely irrelevant to Thailand - the home country will be interested in what you're earning in Thailand if you are also tax resident there which is possible in some cases.

Has anybody actually PAID any takes or been approached by the TRD yet.?

I have been here for many years and know a lot of foreigners who live here year round and not ONE has made any atempt to pay tax or have been approached by the taxman to pay tax?

1 hour ago, ThaiPauly said:

Has anybody actually PAID any takes

Yes - I pay tax. In addition to nominal GST, I pay 15% withholding tax on Thai Government bonds and 15% withholding tax on money in Thai banks. I prefer not to comment re; the amount I pay.

1 hour ago, ThaiPauly said:

or been approached by the TRD yet.?

I've posted many times - my Thai wife and I approached TRD, and they advised for my specific case, I need not submit a Thai tax return.

1 hour ago, ThaiPauly said:

I have been here for many years and know a lot of foreigners who live here year round and not ONE has made any atempt to pay tax or have been approached by the taxman to pay tax?

Everyone's case is typically different. There are many different ways to earn income, which are covered in many cases by many different Double Tax Agreements. So its really inappropriate to assess if any ones person's specific tax situation definitively defines what others should do.

Rather, again, each case likely needs to be assessed on its own.

.

14 hours ago, ThaiPauly said:

Has anybody actually PAID any takes or been approached by the TRD yet.?

I have been here for many years and know a lot of foreigners who live here year round and not ONE has made any atempt to pay tax or have been approached by the taxman to pay tax?

I have been approached by the TRD about income tax, and I was approached, several years ago, by the district about condo tax.

Edited June 10Jun 10 by Hish

57 minutes ago, Hish said:

I have been approached by the TRD about income tax

Any reasons you can think of on why that might have been?

6 hours ago, Hish said:

I have been approached by the TRD about income tax, and I was approached, several years ago, by the district about condo tax.

Can I ask what city, town, province , island that was in. ?

8 hours ago, JimGant said:

Any reasons you can think of on why that might have been?

This may shed some light on it, but I see you commented on that thread already so maybe not.

https://aseannow.com/topic/1394978-how-to-prove-you-exited-thailand-so-you-are-not-tax-resident/

3 hours ago, rocketboy2 said:

Can I ask what city, town, province , island that was in. ?

3 hours ago, rocketboy2 said:

Can I ask what city, town, province , island that was in.

Bangkok

2 minutes ago, Hish said:

Bangkok

Ok thanks.

Was just wondering is you were one of the Scandinavians that were targeted on

one of the islands. think it was on a different tax thread on here.

but obviously not.

Edited June 11Jun 11 by rocketboy2

9 hours ago, JimGant said:

Any reasons you can think of on why that might have been?

I have had a TIN for years, so they knew me. But I was never approached by them.

Last year, for the first time, staff started to casually ask/mention " you don't have any income?"

The signage in their office started to include more and more English.

This year, for the first time ever, there was another foreigner (Chinese speaker) trying (unsuccessfully) to file an income tax return.

It is obvious that they increasingly expect foreigners to file a tax return (and to declare some income).

I guess approaching me has to be seen in this context.

59 minutes ago, Hish said:

I have had a TIN for years, so they knew me. But I was never approached by them.

I now remember from another thread where you said, "I have been a tax resident (and filed null-returns) for the last 10 years or so."

I guess now they're curious as to why you haven't had any taxable income for ten years.....

.... which hammers home even more solidly why one shouldn't file a null tax return, nor even get a TIN, if you don't mind foregoing piddly withholding tax on bank interest. [But for Yanks who file US tax returns, you can get this withholding tax back as a credit -- and not having a TIN makes this audit proof.]