Just a side question, but how do you work in Thailand and get paid a salary tax free? The only way this is possible would be by technically not being employed in Thailand right? I suspect what you mean is that you minimise income tax by having most of your salary paid offshore?

Just a side question, but how do you work in Thailand and get paid a salary tax free? The only way this is possible would be by technically not being employed in Thailand right? I suspect what you mean is that you minimise income tax by having most of your salary paid offshore?

That is right. The rules are very clear - income earned and paid offshore and not repatriated into Thailand in the year it is earned is not considered for income tax purposes.

That is easy for me as I didn't need to have work permits etc.

Edited April 6, 201115 yr by samran

Just a side question, but how do you work in Thailand and get paid a salary tax free? The only way this is possible would be by technically not being employed in Thailand right? I suspect what you mean is that you minimise income tax by having most of your salary paid offshore?

Maybe I should clarify, in my case the company picks up the tab for my tax in Thailand, so when I negotiated my package in Thailand, salary agree to was net not gross.

In Thailand, tax does need to be paid otherwise you will not get an extension of stay.

Therefore for me personally, my salary is "tax free" for all intents and purposes

Maybe I should clarify, in my case the company picks up the tab for my tax in Thailand, so when I negotiated my package in Thailand, salary agree to was net not gross.

Definitely the best way to go, saves a lot of potential headaches.

The problem for you, i think, is you only have 4 years work experience- so i would estimate 40-50K would be their offer (as another poster mentioned above).

Which begs the question why would someone with only 4 years of experience be even considered as a "project manager" all the prod's manager's I work with are 20 years plus industry experience and of course are paid accordingly...or is "Project Manager" the new buzz word job title that everyone wants ?

It used to be the new buzz word in the early 90’s together with consultant but nowadays they’re well established.

In the O&G industry you see a lot of them among contractors during construction and shutdown maintenance for example.

20 years experience in itself doesn’t really mean a lot without information regarding the size ($) of projects managed, man hours involved etc.

Just a side question, but how do you work in Thailand and get paid a salary tax free? The only way this is possible would be by technically not being employed in Thailand right? I suspect what you mean is that you minimise income tax by having most of your salary paid offshore?

Maybe I should clarify, in my case the company picks up the tab for my tax in Thailand, so when I negotiated my package in Thailand, salary agree to was net not gross.

In Thailand, tax does need to be paid otherwise you will not get an extension of stay.

Therefore for me personally, my salary is "tax free" for all intents and purposes

Ditto, and not just in Thailand, anywhere in the world I work.

Just a side question, but how do you work in Thailand and get paid a salary tax free? The only way this is possible would be by technically not being employed in Thailand right? I suspect what you mean is that you minimise income tax by having most of your salary paid offshore?

That is right. The rules are very clear - income earned and paid offshore and not repatriated into Thailand in the year it is earned is not considered for income tax purposes.

That is easy for me as I didn't need to have work permits etc.

Exactly. For anyone else that requires a work permit such as myself, there's no chance you would be able to have work permit extended/issued without showing that you've paid tax on income for the previous year.

Even still I doubt that any Thai company would (or even legally could) use the "pay salary offshore route" and that this is pretty much limited to mnc's as you've said.

Just a side question, but how do you work in Thailand and get paid a salary tax free? The only way this is possible would be by technically not being employed in Thailand right? I suspect what you mean is that you minimise income tax by having most of your salary paid offshore?

Maybe I should clarify, in my case the company picks up the tab for my tax in Thailand, so when I negotiated my package in Thailand, salary agree to was net not gross.

In Thailand, tax does need to be paid otherwise you will not get an extension of stay.

Therefore for me personally, my salary is "tax free" for all intents and purposes

Ok, that explains it. But still that is not "Tax free" for any intents and to state that it is, is misleading for the OP who may be expecting something that is not realistic. No matter whether you have to ensure tax is paid yourself or not, still the company has to pay on your behalf, which adds to their overall costs in salary negotiation.

^except that from our viewpoint the salary negotiation is the salary that we want in our pockets.

We don't care what the company tax cost is or whether it's 5% or 90% tax band.

Just a side question, but how do you work in Thailand and get paid a salary tax free? The only way this is possible would be by technically not being employed in Thailand right? I suspect what you mean is that you minimise income tax by having most of your salary paid offshore?

That is right. The rules are very clear - income earned and paid offshore and not repatriated into Thailand in the year it is earned is not considered for income tax purposes.

That is easy for me as I didn't need to have work permits etc.

Exactly. For anyone else that requires a work permit such as myself, there's no chance you would be able to have work permit extended/issued without showing that you've paid tax on income for the previous year.

Even still I doubt that any Thai company would (or even legally could) use the "pay salary offshore route" and that this is pretty much limited to mnc's as you've said.

Yeah, I only mentioned the MNC angle as the OP was looking to work for one. Conceivably, but not always, if you have a regional facing role then some can be paid in Thailand to make the cut WP and visa extension wise (+living allowance) and the rest can be paid offshore.

I suspect that if the Thai company tried to pay fees off shore there would be a withholding tax element to it in some cases, which would kind of defeat the purpose of being offshore.

^but isn't the witholding tax only 7% to foreign companies?

^but isn't the witholding tax only 7% to foreign companies?

yep - you are right. Must have been on drugs when I wrote 'kind of defeats the purpose'.

Yeah, I only mentioned the MNC angle as the OP was looking to work for one. Conceivably, but not always, if you have a regional facing role then some can be paid in Thailand to make the cut WP and visa extension wise (+living allowance) and the rest can be paid offshore.

Its called a double contract

Ok, that explains it. But still that is not "Tax free" for any intents and to state that it is, is misleading for the OP who may be expecting something that is not realistic. No matter whether you have to ensure tax is paid yourself or not, still the company has to pay on your behalf, which adds to their overall costs in salary negotiation.

Its tax free as far as I am concerned, why is not realistic to expect something like this...its pretty common for expats in Thailand...certainly the ones I work with

I forgot to mention that the company does not have a branch in my home country, so I'm not expecting that they'll pay the taxes for me.

100k per month is way low for an expat job of that type unless the organization is a lot more Mickey Mouse than you make it sound or unless you are a person whose skills are not easily differentiable from the locals.

I forgot to mention that the company does not have a branch in my home country, so I'm not expecting that they'll pay the taxes for me.

Its got nothing to do with whether a company has a branch in your own country, its to do with package negotiation/package structure in Thailand

I forgot to mention that the company does not have a branch in my home country, so I'm not expecting that they'll pay the taxes for me.

Its got nothing to do with whether a company has a branch in your own country, its to do with package negotiation/package structure in Thailand

I thought he was referring to taxes in his home country? which would make me assume he's American?

I forgot to mention that the company does not have a branch in my home country, so I'm not expecting that they'll pay the taxes for me.

Its got nothing to do with whether a company has a branch in your own country, its to do with package negotiation/package structure in Thailand

I thought he was referring to taxes in his home country? which would make me assume he's American?

I thought they only pay tax if they have an office in your home country. And yes, I was refering to MY home country, but I am not American.

The company I work for is 100% a Thai company with no office in the UK (my home country), but my salary is based on a NET rate, i.e. after tax. Offices elsewhere in the world don't have any bearing on being able to do this.

The problem for you, i think, is you only have 4 years work experience- so i would estimate 40-50K would be their offer (as another poster mentioned above).

Which begs the question why would someone with only 4 years of experience be even considered as a "project manager" all the prod's manager's I work with are 20 years plus industry experience and of course are paid accordingly...or is "Project Manager" the new buzz word job title that everyone wants ?

You in the oil patch? Loads of +50-something project managers and bugger all in between them and the graduate employee in the oil patch and you never get project managers with less than 5 years experience.... unless it's some small-fry service company with a bunch of young whippersnapper snake oil salesmen trying to reinvent the wheel or sell you hot air.

Maybe the OP is in the financial biz which is chock full of less-than-qualified project damagers... which is why we are all in the current sh!t IMHO.

You in the oil patch?

Yeap

The problem for you, i think, is you only have 4 years work experience- so i would estimate 40-50K would be their offer (as another poster mentioned above).

Which begs the question why would someone with only 4 years of experience be even considered as a "project manager" all the prod's manager's I work with are 20 years plus industry experience and of course are paid accordingly...or is "Project Manager" the new buzz word job title that everyone wants ?

You in the oil patch? Loads of +50-something project managers and bugger all in between them and the graduate employee in the oil patch and you never get project managers with less than 5 years experience.... unless it's some small-fry service company with a bunch of young whippersnapper snake oil salesmen trying to reinvent the wheel or sell you hot air.

Maybe the OP is in the financial biz which is chock full of less-than-qualified project damagers... which is why we are all in the current sh!t IMHO.

Common sense goes a long way specially for a project manager which is probably why you won’t find many of them below 50 in the oil patch since the oil patch is mostly overstaffed by brain dead morons with a limited attention span focused on their paycheck and rotation.

Common sense goes a long way specially for a project manager which is probably why you won’t find many of them below 50 in the oil patch since the oil patch is mostly overstaffed by brain dead morons with a limited attention span focused on their paycheck and rotation.

Hmmm.... doesn't sound like the oil patch I am in. Maybe you are speaking as someone who didn't make the grade... or as an outsider?

"pays about 80 to 85k USD per year"

Not trying to be funny, but if the same job pays 85k a year else where, why would you accept around half the amount in Thailand ?...you should opening negotiation at around 200k then. + medical

If accomadation + transport is not included in the 85k, then lessor salary amount and company picks up accomadation + transport costs, medical insurance should be covered in both cases.

And as others have said...I would be trying to get them to spring for a flight once a year

He's right you know. Others may be telling you to settle for peanuts but if you've anything at all to offer this organization you should be collecting at least what you would be making at home.

Common sense goes a long way specially for a project manager which is probably why you won’t find many of them below 50 in the oil patch since the oil patch is mostly overstaffed by brain dead morons with a limited attention span focused on their paycheck and rotation.

Hmmm.... doesn't sound like the oil patch I am in. Maybe you are speaking as someone who didn't make the grade... or as an outsider?

I didn't make the grade yet.

One more year to complete 20 after which I might try out project management

Common sense goes a long way specially for a project manager which is probably why you won't find many of them below 50 in the oil patch since the oil patch is mostly overstaffed by brain dead morons with a limited attention span focused on their paycheck and rotation.

Hmmm.... doesn't sound like the oil patch I am in. Maybe you are speaking as someone who didn't make the grade... or as an outsider?

I didn't make the grade yet.

One more year to complete 20 after which I might try out project management

You already qualify on all other counts do you?

Overqualified would be an understatement

And then it makes it so much harder for the likes of us to get a decent salary when companies see what they can get away with.

You want at least what you can get in your home country, otherwise why work here instead of there?

Well I was making over 300k USD pa back home ten years ago and was totally miserable. I'm currently getting by on less than 50k THB per month - that's raising two kids too - and am much happier than I ever was back there.

Of course, the way things are now I couldn't just slot back into a huge income back home, but even if I could, I'd think very hard before making the jump. Basically the only upside would be for the kids education and (only possibly) future economic security - but I'm pretty sure I'd hate my life there no matter how much money I was making.