Tax Withheld On Interest

[bendebeer]

I reclaim my tax on interest for 15 years already, first go to the tax office for a fixt tax number, its a small yellow card with your tax number name and address.

Then at the end of the year the bank(s) will give you a list how much interest you paid. Well fill in your taxpapers and go with the list(s)to the tax office and you will get the money back.

Usually I go to the taxoffice at the end of january when I get my taxpapers,and before the end of february they sent me a cheque.

Ben de Beer Lampang

[chiangmaibruce]

OK, to clarify. Both the OP and my own query are about reclaiming tax withheld by the Thai government - from the Thai government

Ben, with regard to my questions ... do you lodge a Thai tax return? It sounds like to you live here (Thailand).

If you don't - and simply lodge an application for a refund of withholding tax, don't they ask you to lodge a tax return as required by law? Or is the form you lodge actually a tax return in itself?

Or are they happy to hand back the money, essentially no questions asked?

[bendebeer]

OK, to clarify. Both the OP and my own query are about reclaiming tax withheld by the Thai government - from the Thai government

Ben, with regard to my questions ... do you lodge a Thai tax return? It sounds like to you live here (Thailand).

If you don't - and simply lodge an application for a refund of withholding tax, don't they ask you to lodge a tax return as required by law? Or is the form you lodge actually a tax return in itself?

Or are they happy to hand back the money, essentially no questions asked?

Yes I live here for 15 years already, but in my case it is very simple 1. I have a pension from Holland I do not have to pay tax about this. 2. I have some capital in several Thai banks where I get the interest from. I not do any business or so. That means its very easy for the taxoffice, even my wife is filling in the taxpapers.

Further there are no questions askt because i give the bank(s) list(s) where the payed tax is on and that s what they pay me back.

Every year in January they sent the tax paper to my home... Well I stay in Lampang may be it s more easy here..........and it s according to the law they (the taxoffice) checked it out

already in the beginning......... Ben de Beer

[JimGant]

If you don't - and simply lodge an application for a refund of withholding tax, don't they ask you to lodge a tax return as required by law?

If you don't have sufficient taxable income to be liable for Thai income tax, you are not required to file a tax return.

I'm not sure what form Ben gets in the mail every January (from the bank -- or from the tax authority?). But the following link suggests you're not filing an income tax form, but filling out a form specifically for the refund of over-withheld taxes -- for the past 3 years, if warranted (don't believe filing your annual tax return could accomplish this).

See the narrative in article #9 (the related link to the Pattaya expats club didn't work for me).

[Briggsy]

Who checks, if anyone, what visa the (non-)taxpayer is on and at what stage in the process? If I read this correctly, there is nothing stopping someone on a tourist visa who has had witholding tax witheld from their Thai bank accounts submitting a claim for repayment to the Revenue Dept.

[Briggsy]

Has anyone tried to reclaim witholding tax on a tourist visa? If so, what was the result?

[meatboy]

Has anyone tried to reclaim witholding tax on a tourist visa? If so, what was the result?

when i registered my wife had to take my passport with my visa status,perminant address to which the refund is sent,going on the info they asked for i wouldnt think a tourist would be able to reclaim.check their website.www.rd.go.th/ its in english.

[meatboy]

Has anyone tried to reclaim witholding tax on a tourist visa? If so, what was the result?

when i registered my wife had to take my passport with my visa status,perminant address to which the refund is sent,going on the info they asked for i wouldnt think a tourist would be able to reclaim.check their website.www.rd.go.th/ its in english.

just looking at my tax id.no.[tin as it is called] it has my name and address on it.

[Briggsy]

I am in the unusual situation of having a tax id as I was, a number of years ago, on annual extensions and work permit and now I am on a tourist visa. So I guess it might be possible to reclaim my witholding tax whilst being on a tourist visa. I guess I should just try.

When will the banks start dishing out letters confirming the amount of witholding tax witheld for 2012? Is it after Jan 1 2013?

[Briggsy]

I went in to the bank today and asked for a letter covering tax withheld on interest for 2012. They asked me to leave me details and pick up the letter in a day or two.

[Briggsy]

OK, I got my certificate of tax deducted for 2012 today. So now I guess I wait till mid-January before putting in a claim.

[meatboy]

OK, I got my certificate of tax deducted for 2012 today. So now I guess I wait till mid-January before putting in a claim.

if you are not paying anymore tax this year and you had a tax id previous you should be able to claim on line,january.

[Briggsy]

OK, I got my certificate of tax deducted for 2012 today. So now I guess I wait till mid-January before putting in a claim.

if you are not paying anymore tax this year and you had a tax id previous you should be able to claim on line,january.

Thanks

Unfortunately I don't know my tax id, but I definitely have one from years ago. I tried using the online "find your tax number" service but it could not match my details.

[Guderian]

Thanks for all the replies, most helpful. It's about time I got started on this process. The first thing will apparently be to get a tax number. I live in Pattaya and I've seen several large tax offices here - they go by the name Chonburi Area Revenue Office #, where # is a number. This is one:

Does anyone know if these are the right places to get the small yellow tax card? Can I just go to whichever one is nearest to my home?

Thanks if anyone knows.

[meatboy]

OK, I got my certificate of tax deducted for 2012 today. So now I guess I wait till mid-January before putting in a claim.

if you are not paying anymore tax this year and you had a tax id previous you should be able to claim on line,january.

Thanks

Unfortunately I don't know my tax id, but I definitely have one from years ago. I tried using the online "find your tax number" service but it could not match my details.

try giving the tax office a call when the wf.went to register her's was already in the system from her last employment 1989 mind you its easy i expect as they have her id.no.

[Guderian]

endure,

Thanks for your help with this one. In the end I didn't do it last year as I moved house and was completely snowed under at the time. This year life has been a bit more settled so I got around to doing it.

SCB were helpful enough once they understood what I wanted, but they would only give me the forms for the last tax year. I asked them to go back 3 years, but either they couldn't or they wouldn't.

Then it was on to the local tax office, which in my case was the Chonburi Area Revenue Office 2 in Jomtien. I must have chosen a lucky time (around 3:00) as it was almost deserted and I was seen to very quickly. They spoke enough English that there were no problems. You need a yellow tax card and tax number, so that's the first thing to get. I had my passport and proof of address (TOT bill), but they charged me 5 Baht/copy for making the copies they wanted. Oh well, fair enough, at least they didn't insist I go and find a copy shop and make them myself. They filled in the necessary paperwork and it was all done in around 25 minutes. You deposit the bundle of papers in a plastic tray, and Thai lady checks it all and then gives you an official receipt which you must keep. They told me I would get a cheque in 3 months.

After 3 1/2 months I hadn't received anything, so I returned. I drink a beer with some friends most afternoons about 200 yards away, so it's not exactly out of my way. I was pointed to the fourth floor, where I found the Refunds office. They checked my receipt and said they wanted to see photocopies of my passports, as sometimes the banks make mistakes and they wanted to check the numbers themselves. They said they'd sent me a letter asking for this, but I hadn't received it. So the next day I returned with the copies, the lady on the fourth floor checked them and said that it was OK and a cheque would be sent in a month's time.

A week later the letter arrived saying (in Thai) that they wanted to see the copies of the passbooks. It was sent by recorded delivery and I must be a hard man to track down as it took 3 weeks to get to me. I went back to the tax office to check that everything was OK, and they looked mystified as to why I was there. The cheque will be sent by Bangkok within one month, they promised.

Well finally today it arrived, a cheque for the grand sum of 6718.06 Baht. Not a huge sum, but it will pay for my afternoon beer for the next few weeks. I found the Revenue office very easy to deal with, I was quite surprised by how helpful they were. Not at all like HMRC in the UK, I'm glad to say.

Next year now that I know the ropes it shouldd be a doddle, and I'll add copies of the relevant pages of my passbooks just in case.

Thanks again for the help and information. I hope this thread will also help some other folk get a few Baht back off the tax authorities.

[JesseFrank]

Sorry to reincarnate this old thread, but I guess better than start a new thread.

I have an account with Bank of Ayudhya which pays soemthing like 2.6%. The account has a special name, but can't recall it right now. It pays interest monthly and the first 20.000 Baht interest is free of withholding tax.

So my question is, will this 20.000 Baht limit be calculated per calendar year, or will the withholding tax be deducted as soon as you reach the limit even if this is during the13th month.

[meatboy]

Sorry to reincarnate this old thread, but I guess better than start a new thread.

I have an account with Bank of Ayudhya which pays soemthing like 2.6%. The account has a special name, but can't recall it right now. It pays interest monthly and the first 20.000 Baht interest is free of withholding tax.

So my question is, will this 20.000 Baht limit be calculated per calendar year, or will the withholding tax be deducted as soon as you reach the limit even if this is during the13th month.

the actual interest you can earn is not 20,000bht,its 150,000bht that is free of tax.the 20,000bht is what tax that has been withheld on the allowance.any more interest earned first tier 150,000-300,000 is tax that you will pay,i think its 5%.

you can view the allowance tables at www.rd.go.th

[JesseFrank]

I think you are confusing income tax with withholding tax.

The account at Bank of Ayudhya is free of the 15% withholding tax for the first 20.000 Baht of interest earned.

[meatboy]

I think you are confusing income tax with withholding tax.

The account at Bank of Ayudhya is free of the 15% withholding tax for the first 20.000 Baht of interest earned.

I am not confusing anybody,wether its wages or interest earned in the bank its all classed as income of which you are allowed 150,000bht tax free every yr.the 15% the banks withhold is on all interest never mind if you only get 10,000bht in any one yr.so in any yr.that tax has been withheld up to 20,000bht you can claim back.

an example of a savings acc.with a bank.if you put 5,000,000mill.into a fixed acc.and earned interest for the tax yr.jan.-dec.

totaling 135,000bht they the bank would withhold 135,000 x 15% =20,250bht.you claim the 20,000bht back and pay 5% tax on the 250bht to the tax collector.

if I am wrong please correct me,i have been earning interest over the past 4yrs.in access of 100,000bht.the last one was 120,000 bht.tax withheld 18,000, tax refunded 18,000bht.

[JesseFrank]

I'm not in the mood to have a lengthy discussion about this, you may be right about what you write, but we are talking about 2 different things.

I have a Mae Tai Dai account with Krungsri bank and on the first 20.000 Baht of interest there is no 15% withholding tax calculated by the bank. So is that limit for each calendar year, every 12 months or for the total time the account accumulates interest.

I asked a simple question, which would require a simple answer. I know also I can claim back the withholding tax, but why go to the trouble of claiming back if it can be avoided by managing the account in the right way.

[meatboy]

I'm not in the mood to have a lengthy discussion about this, you may be right about what you write, but we are talking about 2 different things.

I have a Mae Tai Dai account with Krungsri bank and on the first 20.000 Baht of interest there is no 15% withholding tax calculated by the bank. So is that limit for each calendar year, every 12 months or for the total time the account accumulates interest.

I asked a simple question, which would require a simple answer. I know also I can claim back the withholding tax, but why go to the trouble of claiming back if it can be avoided by managing the account in the right way.

I am always in the mood jf.the banks have their own rules most the staff don't understand,and all these savings accs.most you need a good lawyer to explain them to you.

one example back in dec.krungsri were advertising a fixed acc.paying 4% a yr.these accs.suit me just fine.as the fixed term was over 5yrs.i looked into it,i just couldn't understand most of it till I sat down with my lawyer,putting in a lump sum that was ok.but then it said the min.deposit would pay x-amount every month,and the max.would pay x-amount my lawyer saw straight away this is what you call back home an annuity.

as I said if you look back in bank interest rates forum you will see that in dec I posted I and the wife had fixed accs.maturing both paying over 100,000bht interest in one yr.and they told us no tax would be withheld.these were plain and simple fixed term accs.with a lump sum invested.this is the first time after 4yrs and many many fixed terms that the bank did not withhold anytax,

so what type of acc.you have I don't understand only that the tax deducted in any one yr.is under 20,000bht.you can claim back.so once again what ever tax you pay up to 20,000bht.pr.year is recoverable

[ajahnlau]

Update on tax rebate. First thanks to TV members for posting the info. On Feb.4th went to bank for letter stating tax pay't. They quickly printed it out on a form for this. Took it to local tax office and filled out application for tax no. and then filed for return. Took about 45mins. for everything. They said come back in about a mo. but chq came on Fri. Feb.21. Next year will be easier as I have tax no. already.

[Pib]

I'm glad to see more people filing to get their interest tax withholding refunded....it's really an easy and quick process...and the local tax office will walk you through the whole simple process. Or a person can just let the govt keep the withholding...Yinluck does have a lot of rice pledging bills to pay.

Here's a link to a TV thread I started in Jan 13 in getting my refund on the 15% tax withholding applied to the fixed accounts I have...that year was my first time since it was the first time I had used a Fixed Saving Account and had 15% of my interest earned withheld...sent to the govt. And posts are continuing into this year....I got my refund for this year/2014 already...it was just as easy and faster than my first ever filing in Jan 2013.

Remember, a person needs to file between Jan-Mar of each year...otherwise you'll need to wait to the next tax year/pay a small penalty (couple hundred baht)...you can file for 3 years back worth of interest tax withholdings.