Teachers Claiming Tax Back

[sunset22]

Hi, not sure if this is in the right forum so please redirect as needed.

Ive been working in Thailand and at the same school for over a year and a half. I would like any info people have on claiming the tax back that I have paid over this period of time?? Ive read a few threads and theres mention of treaties etc and Im a little confused. Id like to know the simplest way to cmake a tax claim.

Thank u

[tonititan]

It's never simple.

To start, which country are you from? That will make a difference, depending on your country's tax treaty with Thailand.

[sunset22]

Im Irish.

[beano2274]

You should get a form from the school telling you how much you have paid, you should get it at the beginning of the year. If you do not get it go to the Local Revenue Department and ask them to check you have been paying tax and how much it is. You can claim online at their website the instructions are in English.

For this year it is too late.

[tonititan]

Then I probably can't you out much, but hopefully others can. I know lots of American colleagues/friends who have gotten the money back, but it always requires a ton of paperwork and takes a long time - months or even years for some of the people. I don't know anything about the Irish treaty, but I know that for the American treaty, most teachers I know have found it necessary to work with an agent/lawyer in order to recover the money. And it was typically done at the end of a calendar year.

I haven't yet heard about the online system. Beano, can you please specify which website you are referring to? I'd be interested in checking it out.

[beano2274]

www.rd.go.th

My wife told me you can be fined for not claiming a tax rebate, the fine is 200 baht.

Just do it next time around.

Edited June 16, 2011 by beano2274

[tonititan]

www.rd.go.th

My wife told me you can be fined for not claiming a tax rebate, the fine is 200 baht.

Just do it next time around.

Thanks for the link! I'll check it out.

I'm wondering if we're talking about the same thing, though. OP, are you talking about filing an income tax report in Thailand, or applying for a tax refund due to a double tax treaty? I can't speak for people of all nationalities, but I know that for me, it certainly is not mandatory to file for a double tax refund. I've tried the process, and it seems like the Thai authorities don't want us to apply (and why would they?). Filing an annual income tax report is of course mandatory, but that's something completely different from what I've been talking about.

[beano2274]

I think he means an income tax rebate in Thailand for tax paid in his present job (annual income tax).

[beano2274]

Also Ireland has no such treaty with Thailand

http://www.revenue.ie/en/practitioner/law/tax-treaties.html

However the UK does.

[Phatcharanan]

Also Ireland has no such treaty with Thailand

http://www.revenue.ie/en/practitioner/law/tax-treaties.html

However the UK does.

The treaty with Ireland has been agreed and is already written. However, the agreement is not yet in force but is expected to be 'soon'.

That probably means another few years then.

[troehr]

If you have a work permit. you need to file for your taxes here. They are not supposed to renew a work permit without you showing your tax receipt. Taxes are due I believe the end of February. Your school should have given you a form to take to the tax office. You should get most of the tax back. You might find out that your school was not paying your taxes and then you can have problems. It is not to late to file, you just have to pay a small fine for being late. I have been asked for my tax receipt every time I have renewed my work permit.

[richard10365]

Some schools have 2 kinds of taxes. One pays the government and one is a retirement tax. You have to figure out which tax you are paying. If you are paying the government I am not sure if you can get that back. If you are paying the school you might get that back. The retirement tax is set by the school. A little bit of money comes out of your paycheck every month. The purpose is to have a retirement plan for the employees who stay with the school for 20 or 30 years. When they retire, they get this money back. If you stop working with the school early you can get the money back too. That's how it works for Thai people but you never know if an unethical money manager is keeping the foreigners retirement money for their self because they know foreigners are unaware of this type of local tax.

[puchooay]

If you have a work permit. you need to file for your taxes here. They are not supposed to renew a work permit without you showing your tax receipt. Taxes are due I believe the end of February. Your school should have given you a form to take to the tax office. You should get most of the tax back. You might find out that your school was not paying your taxes and then you can have problems. It is not to late to file, you just have to pay a small fine for being late. I have been asked for my tax receipt every time I have renewed my work permit.

I was told by my local revenue department that the fine is 200 baht if less than seven days late. After that it is 2000 baht.

[beano2274]

If you have a work permit. you need to file for your taxes here. They are not supposed to renew a work permit without you showing your tax receipt. Taxes are due I believe the end of February. Your school should have given you a form to take to the tax office. You should get most of the tax back. You might find out that your school was not paying your taxes and then you can have problems. It is not to late to file, you just have to pay a small fine for being late. I have been asked for my tax receipt every time I have renewed my work permit.

I was told by my local revenue department that the fine is 200 baht if less than seven days late. After that it is 2000 baht.

Even without a WP you can get a tax rebate (Fact).

It is now too late, if you try next year it will also cost you 200baht.

I got a 100% tax rebate, this included the tax paid on a hotel when I was on holiday in Hua Hin.

[troehr]

If you have a work permit. you need to file for your taxes here. They are not supposed to renew a work permit without you showing your tax receipt. Taxes are due I believe the end of February. Your school should have given you a form to take to the tax office. You should get most of the tax back. You might find out that your school was not paying your taxes and then you can have problems. It is not to late to file, you just have to pay a small fine for being late. I have been asked for my tax receipt every time I have renewed my work permit.

I was told by my local revenue department that the fine is 200 baht if less than seven days late. After that it is 2000 baht.

Even without a WP you can get a tax rebate (Fact).

It is now too late, if you try next year it will also cost you 200baht.

I got a 100% tax rebate, this included the tax paid on a hotel when I was on holiday in Hua Hin.

I was not talking about a work permit being required to get your tax rebate. I was stating that if you do not file your taxes, you will have problems renewing your work permit.

[beano2274]

If you have a work permit. you need to file for your taxes here. They are not supposed to renew a work permit without you showing your tax receipt. Taxes are due I believe the end of February. Your school should have given you a form to take to the tax office. You should get most of the tax back. You might find out that your school was not paying your taxes and then you can have problems. It is not to late to file, you just have to pay a small fine for being late. I have been asked for my tax receipt every time I have renewed my work permit.

I was told by my local revenue department that the fine is 200 baht if less than seven days late. After that it is 2000 baht.

Even without a WP you can get a tax rebate (Fact).

It is now too late, if you try next year it will also cost you 200baht.

I got a 100% tax rebate, this included the tax paid on a hotel when I was on holiday in Hua Hin.

I was not talking about a work permit being required to get your tax rebate. I was stating that if you do not file your taxes, you will have problems renewing your work permit.

I realise what you implied, however I was letting any teachers out there, who do not have a WP, know that they can also claim back Tax

Edited June 17, 2011 by beano2274

[beano2274]

When I got my WP renewed there was no need to show the Tax receipts however TIT and things change on a regular basis

[skybluestu]

If you have a work permit. you need to file for your taxes here. They are not supposed to renew a work permit without you showing your tax receipt. Taxes are due I believe the end of February. Your school should have given you a form to take to the tax office. You should get most of the tax back. You might find out that your school was not paying your taxes and then you can have problems. It is not to late to file, you just have to pay a small fine for being late. I have been asked for my tax receipt every time I have renewed my work permit.

The last three years I've taken a document given to me by my employer to the tax office and filed my tax return myself. My school don't pay my taxes, my full salary is transferred into my account each month with no tax deductions and I then pay tax for the year based upon the document supplied by my employer which states how much I've earned in that tax year.

I've been late the last two years by over a month and had to pay a 200baht fine both times. The boss in the tax dept within the Amphur does all the paperwork for me with all possible deductions ie married, children, homeowner and this year I paid just over 1% of my declared annual income. 1%!!! I used to get stung for around 25-30% EVERY month in the UK!

[Towzak]

I made my way down to the local tax office earlier this year to claim some tax back. Or so I thought. I was informed that I owed THEM somewhere in the region of 5000 baht !! Apparently the school I was working for had been deducting about 1% when they should have been deducting 3%. I guess it was some naivety on my part as I just accepted what they were taking from my salary and didn't question it. I haven't coughed up the amount I hasten to add.

On a side note I was also told by a colleague that foreign workers do not have to pay tax in their first year. How true this is I do not know.

[troehr]

I made my way down to the local tax office earlier this year to claim some tax back. Or so I thought. I was informed that I owed THEM somewhere in the region of 5000 baht !! Apparently the school I was working for had been deducting about 1% when they should have been deducting 3%. I guess it was some naivety on my part as I just accepted what they were taking from my salary and didn't question it. I haven't coughed up the amount I hasten to add.

On a side note I was also told by a colleague that foreign workers do not have to pay tax in their first year. How true this is I do not know.

They do have to pay taxes, but many do not make enough during what is usually a short year to have to pay.

[Somtamnication]

I got the form from the school at the end of March. You then file ONLINE. After a few days, you get a letter at your address to go to the tax office with that letter, passport and any relevant paperwork ( not that much). Out of 10k in takes, I got back 8700 back, married with one child (3k alone for child credit).

3 weeks later I got the check. Deposited the check at my bank. The bank holds funds for a few days, then you get the money.

The online tax site is all in Thai. You will need your tilac to do it for you, with that school tax form next to her. You are issued a password online and you are good to go.

Edited June 27, 2011 by Somtamnication

[talk2sam]

Please I'd like to know how many percent of your salary P.A are you suppose to remit as tax.. on a first year of contract.

[paulfr]

Getting a tax refund from overpaid tax paid by your school is easy.

I have done it in four different years and got the money [a check]

in less than a few weeks.

Simply get documentation from your school about what was paid.

Then go to www.rd.go.th the Revenue Dept website and get the tax form.

You get 30Kbaht deduction and pay no tax your first 150Kbaht earnings.

Then you pay 10% on the amount above 150K to 500Kbaht.

After that it is 15 or 20%, I forget.

Offices to file it personally are at the Times Square Bldg on Sukhumvit

near Soi 12. Also a bldg on Silom Rd 5th floor. It is a 10 minute walk

down Silom from the Sala Daeng BTS on the right side.

Good luck

[luibkk]

I've filed for personal income tax return twice so far and both times I had a problem with it for different reasons though. Fact is that you can file a tax return at your local revenue office and you can do it anytime after the 1st of March for the year before and anytime even for up to two years back. At the first time, I found out that my employer had paid only 3% tax for part-time work but deducted the whole amount from my salary. I had to pay 13,000 THB to the tax office to get the receipt for paid taxes that I needed to renew my work permit. I confronted my former employer about the withheld tax and she finally admitted that they had kept the money. That was about one year after termination of the employment.

I got the difference between withheld and actually paid tax back in cash the same day.

The second time, I claimed a tax return for the year before , that is in August 2010 I filed for 2008 and all the paperwork was processed nicely in about one hour including 40 minutes waiting time. I was told I'd get a cheque by mail from the main revenue office at Chang Wattana Rd. After 4 months I asked about my cheque and at first, I was told they're busy with last year's tax returns which have priority. After 6 months, I asked again and there was much confusion about the whereabouts of my documents. After calling my local office and the main office a couple times I eventually received the cheque by mail about another 3 weeks later. Result: It can be done, just don't give up.

BTW, the amount of tax paid is 10% of your taxable income if your taxable income is between 100,000 and 500,000 THB a year. There are deductions from your salary adding up to 240,000THB if you are not married, don't support any dependents, pay no extra health insurance, etc. On an 500,000 THB annual salary you will pay 10% of 260,000 THB taxable income which is 26,000 THB obviously. If your employer deducted more, you'll get it back.

In your first year of employment, you'll probably not work for 12 months in that tax year but all deductions can be applied, e.g.you start working in May until Dec. (end of the tax year) on 50,000 TH/month salary. That makes a taxable yearly income of 160,000THB for which you'll have to pay 16,000 THB personal income tax.

Hope that helps a bit.

Go to your local revenue office with a Thai speaking friend ( absolutely mandatory or you'll get nowhere) and just ask them.

[luibkk]

Check this out: http://www.rd.go.th/publish/6045.0.html

Please I'd like to know how many percent of your salary P.A are you suppose to remit as tax.. on a first year of contract.

[Thormaturge]

The OP makes reference to treaties, and as mentioned above the Irish treaty has still not been ratified. I frequently use the Irish treaty as an example of how long simple matters can take at this level. The UK has been attempting to agree a new treaty since 2006 with even less success.

That said, the deciding factor is not the OP's nationality but where he lived immediately before coming to Thailand since the treaties refer to residence and not nationality in this respect. If the OP lived in the UK before coming to Thailand he can claim a tax refund for his first two-year visit. If he lived in the UAE or China the exemption is three years. For Ireland, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand and many other countries there is no exemption.

Frankly the OP needs to speak with someone who specialises in tax, not one of the many visa lawyers who have jumped on the bandwaggon and who just process the simpler claims in the same way they process visa applications. He will be in the same situation as Canadians (who have a treaty but with no teacher exemption in it). Most lawyers won't know how to claim the OP's refund even if he is entitled, and even if he is the procedure will require very specific documentation from the country where he previously resided. A claim of this nature will probably take a good two or three years.

Some schools are less than co-operative (especially those that aren't paying the teachers' payroll tax to the government), many Revenue Department staff actually despise teachers for claiming these refunds, and the interpretation of the treaties themselves is in a state of flux.

Edited December 25, 2011 by Thormaturge