I am thinking of moving to thailand as a non imigration visa? I understand that I have deposit 800,000 bahts into a Thai bank, do they pay interest and if so is it tax free? How do you open the account and what documents are required? I was looking at the Kasikorn Bank is this a good choice? Any help would be appreciated.

You mean you are age 50 and plan to obtain a non immigrant visa before arrival providing a 90 day entry into Thailand and then extend your stay one year at a time? For that 800k in a Thai bank account is required (2 months first time and 3 months after that) at that amount or more and in your name only. It can be a passbook savings account at about 1/2% interest and there should not be any tax deduction. Or it can be a fixed deposit (only about 3/4% or a little more now) and that would require payment of 15% on the interest in tax I believe. At this time no account earns much.

To open account you need your passport and perhaps a letter from your Embassy listing your current address. You may have to go branch to branch to find one willing to open account but should not take very long.

Yes. Forget about interest. It is so small and taxed at 15%.

Yes. Forget about interest. It is so small and taxed at 15%.

The average retiree will not pay Thai tax on the bank interest. If you earn less than 150,000 baht then there is no need to pay, nor even to file a tax return.

However, because it is not taxed by Thailand, U. S. citizens must claim that income on their FED tax filing.

It appears this poster is talking about retirement so will not have any local income or a tax ID number. In that case, no tax ID number, fixed deposit interest is taxed at 15% withholding I believe. Believe passbook savings accounts are only taxed if interest if over a set amount per year - at at current rates that would take a huge account balance.

Edited May 18, 200917 yr by lopburi3

Yes. 15% will be deducted at source before it is credited to your account.