Bank Funds Transfer Reporting Thresholds

[hyperdimension]

What are the maximum amounts for a bank funds transfer above which the bank will need to file a report to authorities?

In USA I believe it is 10K USD. How about for Thai banks (for both sending and receiving)? 200K THB?

Would it be better to break large amounts into smaller transfers?

Has anyone ever got any trouble from authorities due to transfers of large amounts?

[clinique]

errrrrrr!!!!!!!!!! i doubt these are questions you want to raise on a public forum ??

as i understand it, US$ 20k can be sent for 'personal or family reasons' without documentatio - all other transfers require supporting documentation for reporting to Bank of Thailand. At a certain level (dont know how much currently)the bank you are using must get approval from BoT BEFORE remitting the funds..

[hyperdimension]

Thanks for your response. Yeah but I have nobody else to ask at the moment and you guys seem to know all these kinds of things. I just don't want to have to answer questions or fill out forms or show documentation or be interrogated etc.

So I guess it's better to break transfers into smaller chunks.

Are there deposit thresholds into Thai bank accounts? e.g. would a 25K USD deposit raise alarm bells and require reporting and answering questions? Or should deposits be limited to 200K THB each to avoid any hassle?

Edited April 15, 2010 by hyperdimension

[clinique]

Thanks for your response. Yeah but I have nobody else to ask at the moment and you guys seem to know all these kinds of things. I just don't want to have to answer questions or fill out forms or show documentation or be interrogated etc.

So I guess it's better to break transfers into smaller chunks.

Are there deposit thresholds into Thai bank accounts? e.g. would a 25K USD deposit raise alarm bells and require reporting and answering questions? Or should deposits be limited to 200K THB each to avoid any hassle?

suggest you talk to your bank or a lawyer..

[hyperdimension]

suggest you talk to your bank or a lawyer..

Maybe Sunbelt can answer here.

It's a valid question though isn't it? Similar to making sure that you don't bring in too much cash on you when you travel into another country - you don't want to be stopped by customs.

[clinique]

suggest you talk to your bank or a lawyer..

Maybe Sunbelt can answer here.

It's a valid question though isn't it? Similar to making sure that you don't bring in too much cash on you when you travel into another country - you don't want to be stopped by customs.

tryingto be helpful here,

i doubt the 'specific' questions your asking qualify for free advice.. except maybe from your bank - mind they might look at you sideways on,, as in "why are you asking??"

get the point yet ?

[hyperdimension]

So I'm guilty until proven innocent? Maybe I just happened to have worked hard and saved for most of my life and now I want to bring my savings into Thailand where I now intend to live and spend for the remainder of my life.

[clinique]

No one said you were guilty.

But a lot of 'Companies' look at Thailand as a 'laundry'.

So asking these questions in public, in LOS does not engender the same response you might get at home !

[simoncnx]

a few years ago i was told by my lawyer its 800,000 baht.

[BB1950]

I think the originator of this thread brought up a serious question, with no hint of illegalities. Too bad he didn't get a serious reply.

In order to get a retirement visa, you must deposit at least 800,000 baht in a Thai Bank (with a 90 day hold). The money must come from outside Thailand. Usually you need a letter from the bank showing that the funds were transfered from outside Thailand.

I think there's another kind of Visa, which you were required to invest 3,000,000 baht in Thailand. Which also must also come from outside of Thailand.

Then there situations in which you would like to invest in Thailand, or purchase a home or condo, which would also require large sums of money coming into Thailand.

But I also seem to recall that if foreigners invested in Thailand, there was some kind of hold placed on the funds for one year or pay a 30% penalty, if removed before the 1 year.

In general from what I've heard, there is no limit to the amount of money you can bring in (Thailand wants your money). It just needs to be declared and paperwork needs to be done so that you can repatriate your funds should you desire to leave (Thailand doesn't want you to leave with more than you brought in, without paying taxes). The problem comes to be when you take funds out of Thailand. There are limits as to how much you can take out at a time or per day. Usually the bank will schedule the transfers to meet these requirements. You also have to show the documentation received when you brought your money in, to repatriate your funds, keeping in mind the 1 year hold.

A banker, investment banker, certified accountant, or lawyer in Thailand can answer all these questions for you, usually at no charge (they'll want your future business with them). To be sure, I've learned it's best to talk to several.

When I came over to retire here about 10 years ago, I brought a $200,000 cashiers check with me. I didn't have any problem. Although, I later learned it would have been better to wire the funds to Thailand, as a 45 day hold was placed on the cashiers check. Of course, i have no intention of ever repatriating those funds.

Now bringing in cash would have been a different story.

[Somrak]

If you send you money from "a normal alien bank" to a thai bank. And if it are ony a few million Bath, you like to spend here, they ask no futher questions.

[keeniau96]

USA banks are required to report transfers of $5k or more. US Treasury requirement, just a heads-up for them to add to their database. Bank are also required to report suspicious activity eg. multiple transfers of just under $5000. Thai banks can send US$20k equivalent just by filling in form at forex counter. Over 20K requires documentation for the reason eg. payment of invoice and will have to be approved by bank's headquarters. No limit on receipt of funds that I have heard of but large sums, say over 1 mn baht, may result in phone call from bank and short explanation from you.

[thehop]

I have some of my consultancy fees (around 11,000U$ from a US bank) transfered to our account in Thailand every month. I do not work in Thailand but another country in the region, my base (home) is in Thailand. We have not encountered any issues thus far. However I do not know what is declared at the US end of the transfer.

Stewart

[clinique]

I think the originator of this thread brought up a serious question, with no hint of illegalities. Too bad he didn't get a serious reply.

In order to get a retirement visa, you must deposit at least 800,000 baht in a Thai Bank (with a 90 day hold). The money must come from outside Thailand. Usually you need a letter from the bank showing that the funds were transfered from outside Thailand.

I think there's another kind of Visa, which you were required to invest 3,000,000 baht in Thailand. Which also must also come from outside of Thailand.

Then there situations in which you would like to invest in Thailand, or purchase a home or condo, which would also require large sums of money coming into Thailand.

But I also seem to recall that if foreigners invested in Thailand, there was some kind of hold placed on the funds for one year or pay a 30% penalty, if removed before the 1 year.

In general from what I've heard, there is no limit to the amount of money you can bring in (Thailand wants your money). It just needs to be declared and paperwork needs to be done so that you can repatriate your funds should you desire to leave (Thailand doesn't want you to leave with more than you brought in, without paying taxes). The problem comes to be when you take funds out of Thailand. There are limits as to how much you can take out at a time or per day. Usually the bank will schedule the transfers to meet these requirements. You also have to show the documentation received when you brought your money in, to repatriate your funds, keeping in mind the 1 year hold.

A banker, investment banker, certified accountant, or lawyer in Thailand can answer all these questions for you, usually at no charge (they'll want your future business with them). To be sure, I've learned it's best to talk to several.

When I came over to retire here about 10 years ago, I brought a $200,000 cashiers check with me. I didn't have any problem. Although, I later learned it would have been better to wire the funds to Thailand, as a 45 day hold was placed on the cashiers check. Of course, i have no intention of ever repatriating those funds.

Now bringing in cash would have been a different story.

beg to differ, the OP did not ask about sums needed for retirement etc..

he was asking questins about 'reporting levels' which could obviosly raise some interest as to why he would want to avoid those reportings .

tha t was and is my point.

seriously.

[steelepulse]

In years past, it really was what kind of relationship you had with your banker. If they knew you were bringing in funds for a biz, house etc. then I have heard of sums much bigger than those mentioned in this thread having no problems. Things might have changed recently so for that I haven't heard anything one way or another.

[hyperdimension]

Thanks guys for the responses.

I didn't know about the 5K USD threshold for USA banks; I thought it was 10K USD. Did they lower the threshold? The USA continues on their increasingly totalitarian way.

So bringing money into Thailand would be Ok, but I hope not to have any hassle if I ever want to make transfers out. Here's what I read on the Bank of Thailand web site (Exchange Control Regulations in Thailand, A Guide For General Public):

A person travelling to Thailand's bordering countries including Vietnam is allowed to take out Thai Baht up to 500,000 Baht and to other countries up to 50,000 Baht respectively without authorization.

However I think that only applies for physical cash notes.

Maybe I'll just keep outgoing bank funds transfers to under 200K THB. I don't want to have to do extra paperwork or answer questions on every occasion that I want to transfer some of my own money out.

[hyperdimension]

In years past, it really was what kind of relationship you had with your banker. If they knew you were bringing in funds for a biz, house etc. then I have heard of sums much bigger than those mentioned in this thread having no problems. Things might have changed recently so for that I haven't heard anything one way or another.

I assume after all the terrorism in the world money transfers are now more policed and scrutinized. I want to be able to move my own money around freely and without any risk of having assets frozen for any reason. Some people are much more wealthy than others; moving around 20K USD for them is like moving around 2K USD for ordinary people.

Edited April 16, 2010 by hyperdimension

[JimGant]

So I guess it's better to break transfers into smaller chunks.

Not really. And not just because of the cost of all those extra wire fees........

You're not going to draw anyone's attention by sending a large chunk of money to Thailand. Yes, you may have to answer a "purpose" question at one or both ends -- but there are no wrong (reasonable) answers. And, yes, under the Bank Secrecy Act, all amounts over $10k have to be documented. But no one's going to notice. It will just go into a data base, never to be evaluated, unless you become a 'person of interest" to the Feds. And I doubt anyone reading this is very interesting under Fed criteria. I even doubt the fact that, if you sent over $10k, this fact is bounced off whether or not you filed a TD 90-22.1 to indicate $10k+ in a foreign bank (but, I wouldn't push that one too far -- best to file!).

No, by sending incremental "small chunks," when it's obvious you could have sent the whole enchilada, just might cause the bank to file a TD 90-22.47 -- a "Suspicious Activity Report."