3 hours ago, Etaoin Shrdlu said:

Here's one that mentions Thai citizens, but does not touch on whether foreigners would have a filing requirement: https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2026/07/04/economy-to-be-transformed-with-new-reverse-income-tax-system-everyone-in-thailand-will-report-income/ Since this is a news article and not tax law, the use of "citizen" may not necessarily reflect what the actual law will say.

But, if reverse filing were also to apply to foreigners, that might, of course, clear the way to tax returns being a prerequisite to successful IMM annual retirement/marriage extension of stay applications. As things stand at present, I hardly see how this could be achieved in practice.

9 minutes ago, OJAS said:

But, if reverse filing were also to apply to foreigners, that might, of course, clear the way to tax returns being a prerequisite to successful IMM annual retirement/marriage extension of stay applications. As things stand at present, I hardly see how this could be achieved in practice.

Back when I was here on a non-immigrant B visa with a work permit I had to submit copies of tax returns when obtaining extensions of stay each year. I don't think it would be difficult for the Immigration Department to require this for other visa classes as well.

15 minutes ago, Etaoin Shrdlu said:

Back when I was here on a non-immigrant B visa with a work permit I had to submit copies of tax returns when obtaining extensions of stay each year. I don't think it would be difficult for the Immigration Department to require this for other visa classes as well.

It's quite obvious why someone with a work permit has to show a tax return. They want to be sure that you're not cheating!

I do not think that the TRD would want to burdened with having to deal with thousands of tax returns that will likely yield little or no revenue anyway, just to satisfy an immigration requirement.

2 minutes ago, Moonlover said:

It's quite obvious why someone with a work permit has to show a tax return. They want to be sure that you're not cheating!

I do not think that the TRD would want to burdened with having to deal with thousands of tax returns that will likely yield little or no revenue anyway, just to satisfy an immigration requirement.

The foreigners' tax returns with zero tax payable would be a drop in the bucket compared to the number of zero payable tax returns filed by Thais if this proposal becomes law.

12 minutes ago, Etaoin Shrdlu said:

The foreigners' tax returns with zero tax payable would be a drop in the bucket compared to the number of zero payable tax returns filed by Thais if this proposal becomes law.

Exactly Some 40 million I believe. So why increase the burden even more with returns that will be largely unproductive as regards revenue?

1 hour ago, Etaoin Shrdlu said:

Back when I was here on a non-immigrant B visa with a work permit I had to submit copies of tax returns when obtaining extensions of stay each year. I don't think it would be difficult for the Immigration Department to require this for other visa classes as well.

You beat me to it. Yep, to renew your Work Permit, you have to provide "copy of Work Permit holder’s Tax payment; Phor Ngor Dor 91 or 90 (for the previous calendar year).

Some may remember that until 1991, foreigners—particularly those working, residing long-term, or earning income in Thailand—were required to obtain a Tax Clearance Certificate (Form P.3) from the Revenue Department at least 15 days prior to leaving the country, proving that all tax liabilities were paid or guaranteed before they were permitted to leave the country. It was an awful system and a real hassle.

We've come along way since 1991, computers and mobile phones are used by everyone, so it would not be difficult for the authorities to make tax returns of anyone resident in the country for +180 days (or whatever the current number is) MANDATORY. So to renew an annual extension, they COULD (if they want to) the immigration laws to make it mandatory to provide your previous calendar year Phor Ngor Dor 91 or 90 hence making us non-imms file tax returns (positive or negative). I could see it happening in the future as governments try to capture as much Tax revenue as possible. Getting Thais in villages, people selling food or whatever, who don't do Tax returns and pay tax, to do tax returns will be extremely difficult, whereas controlling us farlangs by use of immigration isn't difficult making us an easier target.

1 hour ago, Moonlover said:

Exactly Some 40 million I believe. So why increase the burden even more with returns that will be largely unproductive as regards revenue?

With 40 million additional tax returns from Thais, another few hundred thousand from foreigners wouldn't be noticed.

1 hour ago, Bredbury Blue said:

Getting Thais in villages, people selling food or whatever, who don't do Tax returns and pay tax, to do tax returns will be extremely difficult, whereas controlling us farlangs by use of immigration isn't difficult making us an easier target.

And as foreigners on Non O and Non OA visas die off and adjust their spending habits to legally avoid the taxes, and other foreigners stop coming to Thailand for those long-stay visas because of all of the tax regulations . . .

There are always unintended consequences with overreaching government regulation. All of us have seen it happen in our own countries.

52 minutes ago, Bredbury Blue said:

You beat me to it. Yep, to renew your Work Permit, you have to provide "copy of Work Permit holder’s Tax payment; Phor Ngor Dor 91 or 90 (for the previous calendar year).

Some may remember that until 1991, foreigners—particularly those working, residing long-term, or earning income in Thailand—were required to obtain a Tax Clearance Certificate (Form P.3) from the Revenue Department at least 15 days prior to leaving the country, proving that all tax liabilities were paid or guaranteed before they were permitted to leave the country. It was an awful system and a real hassle.

We've come along way since 1991, computers and mobile phones are used by everyone, so it would not be difficult for the authorities to make tax returns of anyone resident in the country for +180 days (or whatever the current number is) MANDATORY. So to renew an annual extension, they COULD (if they want to) the immigration laws to make it mandatory to provide your previous calendar year Phor Ngor Dor 91 or 90 hence making us non-imms file tax returns (positive or negative). I could see it happening in the future as governments try to capture as much Tax revenue as possible. Getting Thais in villages, people selling food or whatever, who don't do Tax returns and pay tax, to do tax returns will be extremely difficult, whereas controlling us farlangs by use of immigration isn't difficult making us an easier target.

I remember having to get a tax clearance certificate in order to leave the country. We also got this stamp from the TRD in our passports.

The law requiring one is still on the books but a directive was issued in 1991 curtailing enforcement.

The negative income tax is intended to take the place of many of the current welfare schemes, so Thais will need to file returns to take advantage of the negative income tax and get some of the other government subsidies not rolled into the NIT.

Villagers already have to do some paperwork to get some government handouts, so I don't think filling out a tax form would be too much of a hurdle. Perhaps there will be a simplified form or just an attestation for those with no income.

On 7/18/2026 at 10:14 AM, Yumthai said:

"Why has Thailand not strictly enforced its tax laws since ever? Why would they start now? What will be the real consequences if they ever do?"

Sometimes it is not worth it.

There is a whole process that needs to be followed. I the time, investigative resources, legal expenses add up.

If they are spending 20,000 baht to collect 25,000 baht they may view it as a loss, not 5,000 baht collection

17 minutes ago, Ricohoc said:

And as foreigners on Non O and Non OA visas die off and adjust their spending habits to legally avoid the taxes, and other foreigners stop coming to Thailand for those long-stay visas because of all of the tax regulations . . .

There are always unintended consequences with overreaching government regulation. All of us have seen it happen in our own countries.

I think the LTR visa with the tax exemption for remitted income gives some insight into the government's thoughts on the matter. In order to claim the exemption on the remitted income, the LTR holder needs to file a tax return. At least that's how I understand it. The LTR sets much higher financial requirements than the non-O and non-OA. They want the monied people.

14 minutes ago, J Branche said:

Sometimes it is not worth it.

There is a whole process that needs to be followed. I the time, investigative resources, legal expenses add up.

If they are spending 20,000 baht to collect 25,000 baht they may view it as a loss, not 5,000 baht collection

Another unintended consequence of overreaching:

At what cost?

1 hour ago, Etaoin Shrdlu said:

I think the LTR visa with the tax exemption for remitted income gives some insight into the government's thoughts on the matter. In order to claim the exemption on the remitted income, the LTR holder needs to file a tax return. At least that's how I understand it. The LTR sets much higher financial requirements than the non-O and non-OA. They want the monied people.

Please see snippets below from TRD presentation to LTR visa holders. See page 7 of presentation which is listed on the LTR website. No tax filing is required for LTR-WP visa holders if they only have foreign-sourced income.

LTR Visa Thailand - Publication

Edited July 19Jul 19 by JohnnyBD
Added link to TRD presentation to LTR visa holders

7 minutes ago, JohnnyBD said:

I think your understanding is wrong. Please see snippets from TRD Community Day presentation. See page 7 of presentation which is listed on the LTR website.

LTR Visa Thailand - Publication

Thanks for the correction.

29 minutes ago, JohnnyBD said:

Please see snippets below from TRD presentation to LTR visa holders. See page 7 of presentation which is listed on the LTR website. No tax filing is required for LTR-WP visa holders if they only have foreign-sourced income.

LTR Visa Thailand - Publication

many LTR visa holders probably have domestically sourced income, such as money transferred to thai bank accounts and the interest earned on those deposits. i have no idea how that interest income is treated for tax purposes if you are a LTR visa holder ...

https://www.rd.go.th/english/6045.html

10 minutes ago, motdaeng said:

many LTR visa holders probably have domestically sourced income, such as money transferred to thai bank accounts and the interest earned on those deposits. i have no idea how that interest income is treated for tax purposes if you are a LTR visa holder ...

In short if 15% withholding tax is applied to the LTR-WP or LTR-WGC visa holder's Thai bank account is applied (withdrawn) then that meets their tax obligation for the interest, and there is no need to file a Thai tax return just for that. This is true for all Thai tax residents and not just LTR visa holders.

I spent a lot of time crawling through Thai tax law to confirm that to my satisfaction. Here is my summary (my words) of my digging into this:

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 a crucial 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, as the tax liability on that income has already been settled through withholding at source.

Edited July 19Jul 19 by oldcpu

Most two year olds are quite the mess.

5 hours ago, Etaoin Shrdlu said:

Perhaps there will be a simplified form

Maybe one based on the existing PND91, which, in essence, is a simplified version of the PND90 for those whose sole source of income is employment-related (including pensions)?

2 minutes ago, OJAS said:

Maybe one based on the existing PND91, which, in essence, is a simplified version of the PND90 for those whose sole source of income is employment-related (including pensions)?

That's possible.

It will be interesting to see how, and if, this gets implemented. The main stated purpose is to get the informal economy into the tax system, at least for reporting purposes. The bit about making welfare benefits contingent upon tax filing is the carrot. What will be the stick?