Buying Condo With Funds From Inside Thailand

[Tonto21]

Some 4 years ago I leased some land, and on this land I built a house. So, just to set things right. I lease the land, and every thing on the land, house, bungalow and garage are owned by me, (documented in land office and Chanote) I am now in the process of selling the house, bungalow ect. The Thai land owner has no problem leasing to the incoming owner, so no worry there. All transfer taxes will be paid.

My question is this, the money I used to build this house came in on the drip from the UK over a year period, four years ago, I can prove this with my Thai bank book, I wish to buy a Condo in CM, I’m at present living in the sticks of Mae Tang…. To peaceful!

Can anyone clear something up? I’m being told that the money used to buy a condo must be coming direct from outside Thailand. To my way of thinking….My money has come from outside Thailand, it’s just been sat in property here in Thailand for 4 years.

If I have only learnt one thing in Thailand, It’s never believe what you believe to be common sense.

Anybody have the answer?

[kaxper]

what is your immigration status in thailand ? ... if you are a resident, then you don't have to show incoming funds for the condo purchase. you will have to show your resident book when transfer the condo. if you are not a resident, then did your money come into a 'non-resident' bank account? if so, then i think you can ask the bank to issue the form (i forgot what the form is called) - but they might balk at the idea that the monies have been dripping into the account.

if none of the above applies, then maybe simply wire the money out and transfer it back in .. make sure it comes into a 'non-resident' bank account. this actually helps you in the future when you want to sell the condo and transfer proceeds overseas, technically speaking, what money you bring via a non-resident account can also be take out.

hope this helps

[Tonto21]

Thanks for the reply; I’m on a retirement visa.

The bank, sorry, I don’t want to sound thick but can you define non-resident bank account? As far as I’m aware I just have a savings account at Bangkok bank in my name with my Thai house address.

[InterestedObserver]

If you want to purchase a condo in your foreign name the funds must originate outside Thailand from a foreign bank account. At this point in time the only solution would seem to be sell everything and transfer the baht out of Thailand and back again as foreign currency for the purchase of a condo. Mind you, when transferring the baht out, the bank may have a few questions as to the origin of the funds and taxes paid if any.

[PattayaParent]

^ he's indicated that he will be paying the transfer taxes etc. so that should not be a problem but the bank / land office might not accept that the money transferred in over the course of 4 years was with the intent to purchase a condo unless it's way in excess of what he would need to live off.

[chiang mai]

what is your immigration status in thailand ? ... if you are a resident, then you don't have to show incoming funds for the condo purchase. you will have to show your resident book when transfer the condo. if you are not a resident, then did your money come into a 'non-resident' bank account? if so, then i think you can ask the bank to issue the form (i forgot what the form is called) - but they might balk at the idea that the monies have been dripping into the account.

if none of the above applies, then maybe simply wire the money out and transfer it back in .. make sure it comes into a 'non-resident' bank account. this actually helps you in the future when you want to sell the condo and transfer proceeds overseas, technically speaking, what money you bring via a non-resident account can also be take out.

hope this helps

The term resident in your post may confuse people - a person is either a Thai national or they are resident in Thailand on a Non-Im visa, the OP has said that he is the latter and on a retirement visa. That being the case he needs to demonstrate that the funds used to buy the condo originated outside of Thailand regardless of the type of bank account he has and I agree that perhaps the best way under the circumstances might be to transfer the money out and straight back in again. I think it most likely that if he tries to show that funds that were "drip fed" were intended to buy the condo he will get caught out - each inbound drip fed payment required a reason for the transfer and unless he used the condo purchase as that reason then trying to aggregate all those drip feeds simply will not work.

As for the account type and the ability to transfer funds out again: when the funds were brought into the country they were to be used for the purpose stated at that time. If the reason stated reason was to buy a condo for example, the proceeds from the sale of the condo can be exported (from any account type) provided that he can produce the Land Office receipt (blue) showing that tax was paid on the sale amount and that amount shown on that form is equal to the amount to be exported.

[Tonto21]

Thanks to all for the information