Tax Receipt For Extending Non-imm. B?

[opebo]

I shall soon have to visit an immigration office somewhere to extend my non-immigrant B teaching visa - you know the step you take after you have 1) gotten the visa, 2) used the visa and gotten in for 'three months', and then 3) applied for and recieved a 'work permit'.

My question is this - must I present a statement of income/tax, and a receipt of income tax paid in order to extend this visa to its full year term (the term of the full year employment contract)?

[digitalchromakey]

I shall soon have to visit an immigration office somewhere to extend my non-immigrant B teaching visa - you know the step you take after you have 1) gotten the visa, 2) used the visa and gotten in for 'three months', and then 3) applied for and recieved a 'work permit'.

My question is this - must I present a statement of income/tax, and a receipt of income tax paid in order to extend this visa to its full year term (the term of the full year employment contract)?

Extension of Permission to Stay for teachers seems to be much easier (under section 7.5 or 7.6 of National Police order 606/2549) than an extension for business (Section 7.1).

The documents you require depend on whether you work for a government (7.5) or private school (7.6); but in neither case do the regulations require any evidence of your tax paid.

Check Sunbelt's translation for the regs: Thai Police Order 606/2549 – Sunbelt's English translation:

[Tywais]

but in neither case do the regulations require any evidence of your tax paid.

I wonder if it depends on the region/office (regardless of what the above document says). I work at Chiangmai University (15 years) and immigration has always required me to show proof of tax payment in the form of PND91 + receipt + up-to-date tax payment statement from the university at the time of applying for my extension. Last time was 5 months ago.

[rishi]

I'd say common sense is better than wishful thinking and references to obscure paragraphs. You can all rest assured that in case your extension depends on income earned in Thailand, supporting tax-documentation as listed by tywais is the standard - (although obscure exception may have happened). As both an employer and employee I know that the only documentation regarding your income - as an employee - that is provided by your employer and which proves he has ever passed anything along to any authority - are the tax-papers with receipts associated with filing tax. Of all the work/finance-related papers I submit at my yearly extensions the tax-receipts are the only ones I haven't produced and authorized myself. Immigration knows that this is the situation for all (private) employer/employee situations and thus tax receipts are essentials.

On a side-note: tywais tax-doc with receipts will also be about the only proof for an employee that the withheld tax actually is known to RD - which again would be the only proof that you've actually got the workpermit the employer claims to have obtained for you but never shown...

[opebo]

I have never heard of any school actually withholding tax from a farang teacher's salary - I think it would be beyond their ability.

I was hoping to avoid paying the tax, as I know many teachers who have not paid tax in many years of teaching in Thailand. But unfortunately my school's staff who prepare the documents for visa extension have told me I will need the tax receipt this time.

I wonder how much the tax is likely to be on around 265,000 annual income.

[rishi]

Not much. My (official) income is 240,000 baht/year for witch I pay 417 baht a month without any deductions except the ones that apply to all with regular employee status. In case you are in a situation where you can't deduct anything but the generally applicable things, you should ad 10% of 25,000 divided by twelve to my monthly payments to get yours.

By the way: The important evidence for immigration is the receipt - not the amount. Receipts showing 0.00 are valid documentation, that could make a difference.

Edited September 19, 2008 by rishi

[opebo]

Not much. My (official) income is 240,000 baht/year for witch I pay 417 baht a month without any deductions except the ones that apply to all with regular employee status. In case you are in a situation where you can't deduct anything but the generally applicable things, you should ad 10% of 25,000 divided by twelve to my monthly payments to get yours.

Thanks, rishi. So I'm getting a figure of about 7,500 baht per year based on what you just said (2,500/12 = 208+417= 625 * 12 = 7,500)

[Tywais]

I wonder how much the tax is likely to be on around 265,000 annual income.

Thanks, rishi. So I'm getting a figure of about 7,500 baht per year based on what you just said (2,500/12 = 208+417= 625 * 12 = 7,500)

Using the tax information at Thai Revenue Department your tax liability works out as below (based on single).

265,000 (Gross income) ~ 22,084 Baht/month

-60,000 (Standard deduction)

-30,000 (Personal deduction - self)

---------

175,000

-150,000 (0-150,000 Baht is exempt)

---------

25,000 (Subtotal)

x 10%

----------

2500 Baht tax liability for one year

----------------- If income is at or below the following ------------------

150,000

+60,000

+30,000

---------

240,000 Baht (20,000 Baht/month) = no tax liability (though I'm not sure if you still have to file the PND91)

[TerryLH]

"I have never heard of any school actually withholding tax from a farang teacher's salary - I think it would be beyond their ability."

I've never heard of a school who couldn't do that - if they want to. If they don't it's probably because they've chosen not to, not because they can't.

[Tywais]

"I have never heard of any school actually withholding tax from a farang teacher's salary - I think it would be beyond their ability."

I've never heard of a school who couldn't do that - if they want to. If they don't it's probably because they've chosen not to, not because they can't.

Fully agree. If they are not you are still responsible for the tax liability.

[rishi]

150,000 (0-150,000 Baht is exempt)

+60,000

+30,000

---------

240,000 Baht (20,000 Baht/month) = no tax liability (though I'm not sure if you still have to file the PND91)

Hurraah - money back next spring. My withheld tax of 417 Baht a month was based on 0-100,000 tax-exempt that used to be the figure until very recently, which meant there were 50,000 more Baht to pay 10% for.

Haven't heard about any RD-demands for filing PND 91 if you are below the tax-limit, but they are happy to issue a 0.00 receipt if you do and such one serves well as documentation if your extension is based on salary earned by someone under the limit like e.g. man and wife who combine their income to make it 40,000 (no tax money back to wife - she had some extra deductions that brought her 240,000 below the tax-limit also under the old calculations).

[opebo]

Turns out the tax liability for one year for around 265,000 is about 8,000 baht. Or anyway that was what was extracted of me.