Thailand Provident Fund Contributions

[kyb789]

I am hoping some experienced ThaiVisa members can answer a question. I have been looking everywhere for some solid answers. This is my understaniding below of U.S. tax laws. Please advise me if this is not correct.

Thailand Provident Fund Contributions

(1) Provident Fund contributions made by a U.S. citizen into a company retirement fund while working for a Thailand employer are NOT tax deferred under U.S. law treaty with Thailand. This fund is not recognized and therefore the employee contributions must be declared every year as taxable income on a U.S. tax return. This is regarding contributions through automatic deductions from the Thai employer company paycheck.

(2) If the Thailand employer has a contribution matching program, the company matching portion is not considered income for U.S. taxation purposes until the employee (U.S. citizen) withdraws that money from the fund.

(3) Capital gains from the provident fund are not taxable until that money is sold from the fund and distributed.

U.S IRA Contributions

(1) Since the Thailand Provident Fund is not a recognized retirement program in the U.S., a U.S. citizen can therefore make IRA contributions up to the maximum allowable limit.

Thanks in advance. Your experience and advise is greatly appreciated.