Wiring Money Into A Thai Bank

[thaiman]

I currently live and work in Thailand legally (I have a work permit) I also have a bank account set up by my employer here. I also have income from another country and I wish to have it sent into my thai bank account. When the money is wired into Thailand, do I have to pay thai taxes on it?

[lopburi3]

1. Bank account set up by employer (I assume for him to deposit his payments to you) I would not use - if they set it up perhaps they could take what they like, when they like?

2. Open a new savings account. Wire transfer funds from an overseas "savings account from the previous tax year" to avoid any question of tax payment. There is no tax at the wire transfer time and unlikely there would be at any other time but policy is not to tax savings in any case so best to work on that premise.

[brianbrain]

I currently live and work in Thailand legally (I have a work permit) I also have a bank account set up by my employer here.  I also have income from another country and I wish to have it sent into my thai bank account.  When the money is wired into Thailand, do I have to pay thai taxes on it?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Don't forget that you'll be charged by the bank(s) for the transfer. That may be more than the tax if any on the money. Personally, I doubt there will be any tax liability, as the money was earned and paid abroad. All you are doing is withdrawing some money to spend here - as you would do with an ATM. I should add the caveat that I'm not certain about this, and if you want to check may I suggest you take a look at http://www.rd.go.th/publish/5998.0.html Don't bother sending them an email (there is a contact form in English) as they don't reply.

[Clip_My_Wings]

I currently live and work in Thailand legally (I have a work permit) I also have a bank account set up by my employer here.   I also have income from another country and I wish to have it sent into my thai bank account.  When the money is wired into Thailand, do I have to pay thai taxes on it?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Don't forget that you'll be charged by the bank(s) for the transfer. That may be more than the tax if any on the money. Personally, I doubt there will be any tax liability, as the money was earned and paid abroad. All you are doing is withdrawing some money to spend here - as you would do with an ATM. I should add the caveat that I'm not certain about this, and if you want to check may I suggest you take a look at http://www.rd.go.th/publish/5998.0.html Don't bother sending them an email (there is a contact form in English) as they don't reply.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

if the money is earnt abroad and you have alreay paid tax on the income then there will be no tax implications on the money you wire. Howver as mentioned before there will the bank charges so it is best to shop around to find the lowest price

[lopburi3]

There will be a wire transfer most likely at the sending bank and a very small fee at the Thai end (about .0025%). The idea is to keep transfers large as the sending bank fee is most likely the same for any amount.

By law believe any money coming into Thailand could be subject to income tax if not specifically exempted by tax treaty. But the policy is that money earned in a previous tax year will not be subject to such questions so would advise playing by the rule book being used and not make an issue of it.

[Phil Conners]

As an experiment I transferred US$1,000 from my European account to my SCB account here with all charges being handled in the Thai end (bank charges much cheaper here than in Europe).

37,567.30 THB ended up in my account. There are no breakdown of charges and exchange rate used but assuming the best possible exchange rate of 39.55, the total cost of that was just under 2,000 baht or 0.5% all charges incl. I think that's similar to the cost of getting the money here by ATM but more secure and you automatically have proof that the money originated abroad.

The transfer took two days.

I can't imagine how they could possible demand taxes on money coming in from abroad, on the contrary, I'm sure they love seeing you didn't earn the money here.

[Clip_My_Wings]

As an experiment I transferred US$1,000 from my European account to my SCB account here with all charges being handled in the Thai end (bank charges much cheaper here than in Europe).

37,567.30 THB ended up in my account. There are no breakdown of charges and exchange rate used but assuming the best possible exchange rate of 39.55, the total cost of that was just under 2,000 baht or 0.5% all charges incl. I think that's similar to the cost of getting the money here by ATM but more secure and you automatically have proof that the money originated abroad.

The transfer took two days.

I can't imagine how they could possible demand taxes on money coming in from abroad, on the contrary, I'm sure they love seeing you didn't earn the money here.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

if your merely getting the money transferred from one bank account to another there should be no tax implications. However is you were getting income paid say from a dividend from share invest there may be tax implications as it classified as earnt income.

you would then have to see if your country of origin and thailand had double taxation treaty which means you wouldnt be charged twice on the income tax. However best thing to do anyway if this was the case is simply to pay the earnt income into a bank account in your name and wire from there. that way it would be viewed merely as a transfer and not as earnt income

[Steve&mem]

Is it possible to get a company pension paid Tax free? (from a UK company), if you are living outside the UK. I am possibly able to retire next year and I was considering paying my pension into an offshore account, then taking a lump sum each year over to Thailand so I don't pay Tax

Or I am I living in a Dream World

Steve and Mem

[lopburi3]

I suggest everyone check page 16 para 7 about worldwide income being subject tax at this LINK if in any doubt.

[Steve&mem]

I suggest everyone check page 16 para 7 about worldwide income being subject tax at this LINK if in any doubt.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Very Interesting Link.

I don't think Mr Chubby Gorden Brown will let me and the wife get away with not paying our Tax.

I am going to have to give this further study .

Steve and Mem.

[Sophon]

As an experiment I transferred US$1,000 from my European account to my SCB account here with all charges being handled in the Thai end (bank charges much cheaper here than in Europe).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You won't save any money doing it that way. Asking for the charges to be "paid by beneficiary" just means, that sending bank will have subtracted their normal charges from the USD 1,000 before sending the remainder. The total charges will be the same.

Sophon

[Crossy]

I suggest everyone check page 16 para 7 about worldwide income being subject tax at this LINK if in any doubt.

Important bit is not to bring in your money in the same tax year.

[autonomous_unit]

Ask the receiving Thai bank for a transfer advice of credit. Bangkok Bank gives us one for free.

I've had a few largish transfers wired to me from the US from different banks and the breakdown was:

US $5 fee deducted on sending side

THB 500 fee deducted in Thailand

the balance at a given exchange rate with no percentage-based fees (perhaps the $5/500 baht were capped percentage fees? they've happened on transfers of different sizes)

the latest transfer we did right before Songkran got a rate of 39.55 baht/dollar.

The important note seems to be that the SWIFT transfer is "received by" Bangkok Bank Public Company Limited U.S.A. in US dollars rather than having the real sending bank buy Thai baht itself. This arrangement is what yields a good exchange rate, and I suspect you should look for the same sort of scenario in your country of origination.

[meom]

I suggest everyone check page 16 para 7 about worldwide income being subject tax at this LINK if in any doubt.

Great link.

Specially "Item IV.3.3. exemptions", where one would argue that monthly allowances send to the hooker/gf would be classed as " maintenance income derived under a moral obligation".