Permanent Residence And Freelancing - Can These Work Together?

[rogerdoger10]

Hello there,

I will really like some opinion about a matter I cant find any answers to. I am currently employed as a marketing executive in a small scale ecommerce company in Bangkok. The thing is I have been pondering over doing free lancing jobs over the internet which I find myself more at home with and ones I believe offer me more return on time and money invested and also greater freedom. As next year my non-b visa will reach the third year of renewal I will become eligible for applying for a PR status.

From what I have learnt thus far, I either need to have a company here the startup cost for which is 2 million bhts (and which I dont have) or a taxable income of 80,000 bhts which will be determined from the paychecks I receive from a company here. However I cannot find one reference which points to freelancing and how the legal technicalities work out in its case . To the best of my knowledge any income from free lancing is not taxable so can I show it to apply for a PR status? If not then what other options I might have here.

Thank you very much!

-Roger

[lopburi3]

Working without a work permit under the radar is not legal and can not be used as the basis of income/employment for PR even if you had paid tax on it from reports I have seen.

[qualtrough]

Roger I have no connection whatsoever except as a customer, but I highly recommend that you speak with someone down at Sunbelt Asia, one of the sponsors here. That way you can get info from the horse's mouth, rather than 50 different conflicting opinions here. I will say that I have had a reg. company for over 10 years, and the paid up capital doesn't have to be paid up, so you don't have to put out 2m in advance or anything like that. Check with Sunbelt, they have done very good work for me and can advise you on the visa issues too.

[tripplejjj]

To the best of my knowledge any income from free lancing is not taxable so can I show it to apply for a PR status?

I might be looking at this wrong, but >>freelancing = work (self-employment). If the work produces income, then the income is taxable.

[rogerdoger10]

To the best of my knowledge any income from free lancing is not taxable so can I show it to apply for a PR status?

I might be looking at this wrong, but >>freelancing = work (self-employment). If the work produces income, then the income is taxable.

Thanks a ton for the lead Qualtrough, you are right there that I will need some authorities on legal procedures here in Thailand. Actually I spoke to an online consultant at siam-legal.com through there chat system and he just said that you need to show 80,000 bhts income for tax reasons, we could not go past that point. I will talk to someone at Sunbelt as you suggest.

Tripplejjj, yes its income but income from free lance work is barely traceable so govt really has no way of knowing how much you are earning, much less charge you on that. For instance I may be receiving the bulk of my income on Paypal or something like that from any part of the world, and draw out money when I see fit, clearly there is nothing the Govt can do there until I produce some evidence, or walk up to them and declare my earnings. Actually this is where I am stuck as apparently I cannot find any laws concerning this form of income here. Since there is no one source of income as in the case of a company, I doubt the govt (here at least) will consider it taxable.

Thanks again guys

-Roger

[samran]

To the best of my knowledge any income from free lancing is not taxable so can I show it to apply for a PR status?

I might be looking at this wrong, but >>freelancing = work (self-employment). If the work produces income, then the income is taxable.

Thanks a ton for the lead Qualtrough, you are right there that I will need some authorities on legal procedures here in Thailand. Actually I spoke to an online consultant at siam-legal.com through there chat system and he just said that you need to show 80,000 bhts income for tax reasons, we could not go past that point. I will talk to someone at Sunbelt as you suggest.

Tripplejjj, yes its income but income from free lance work is barely traceable so govt really has no way of knowing how much you are earning, much less charge you on that. For instance I may be receiving the bulk of my income on Paypal or something like that from any part of the world, and draw out money when I see fit, clearly there is nothing the Govt can do there until I produce some evidence, or walk up to them and declare my earnings. Actually this is where I am stuck as apparently I cannot find any laws concerning this form of income here. Since there is no one source of income as in the case of a company, I doubt the govt (here at least) will consider it taxable.

Thanks again guys

-Roger

You'll need 80K in offical taxable salary to tick that box for PR. You'll need a WP to go along with that however.

From a tax perspective though, income earned outside of Thailand is not taxable unless it is transferred into Thailand in the year it is earned.