kawaiimomo Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 (edited) Hi there, I am about to start working in a Thai company. I was previously been working in Europe with around 2300 euros per month salary and paying 19% taxes (already seem quite high to me). Now I will be getting 50000 THB per month but I have no idea about the taxes here. I meet some expat who told he was paying 30% taxes here, so my low salary is going to be converted to peanuts... So, what are the taxes in Thailand for foreigners working here? Is there any table with equivalene between salary range and percentage to pay? Edited June 1, 2012 by kawaiimomo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satcommlee Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 (edited) He may have been paying 30% Tax but over a certain threshold. Your salary of 50K per month will be taxed mostly at 10% and partly at 5% and 20%. See this link for an idea - http://www.thailand-...in/tax/solve.pl Expect to pay 4000 - 5000 a month in income tax. Edited June 1, 2012 by Satcommlee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CDB Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 And in the first year you are taxed pro rata on your full year Thailand earnings. So you'll actually pay much less tax than mentioned above. However many Thai accountants will deduct tax from your salary as if you started on January 1 -- in which case you can apply directly for a tax refund and the Thai revenue department will cut you a check. Also, until your work permit is issued you can only be taxed at the withholding tax rate of 3%. In summary you'll pay much much less tax than in Europe, especially if you don't earn so much. Note that many online tax calculators are out of date, and over-calculate the amount of tax you'll pay -- and they do not take account of you starting in the middle of a year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wayned Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 Your taxable income for one year at 50000 baht/month while only claiming yourself will be about 360000 baht or at 10% 36000 baht taxes. Monthly deductions should be around 3000 baht, 36000 dived by 12. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soutpeel Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 And in the first year you are taxed pro rata on your full year Thailand earnings. So you'll actually pay much less tax than mentioned above. However many Thai accountants will deduct tax from your salary as if you started on January 1 -- in which case you can apply directly for a tax refund and the Thai revenue department will cut you a check. Also, until your work permit is issued you can only be taxed at the withholding tax rate of 3%. In summary you'll pay much much less tax than in Europe, especially if you don't earn so much. Note that many online tax calculators are out of date, and over-calculate the amount of tax you'll pay -- and they do not take account of you starting in the middle of a year. Actually you shouldnt be taxed at 3% while waiting for your WP...you shouldnt be working without a WP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NHJ Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 the amount is 3083 baht per month of tax on salary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucidLucifer Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 There is a table showing tax rates here: http://www.rd.go.th/publish/6045.0.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucidLucifer Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 He may have been paying 30% Tax but over a certain threshold. Your salary of 50K per month will be taxed mostly at 10% and partly at 5% and 20%. See this link for an idea - http://www.thailand-...in/tax/solve.pl Expect to pay 4000 - 5000 a month in income tax. I'm not sure of the accuracy of the calculator on this link. The Thai Revenue Depts own website seems to contradict what the calculator shows. From the Revenue Dept: Taxable income Rate 0 - 150,000 Exempt 150,001 - 500,000 10% From the calculator: 50,001 - 100,000 5% 100,001 - 500,000 10% Can anyone confirm which is correct? I would hope it would be the revenue depts, but who knows when they lasted updated their website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianCR Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 Are you forgetting that regardless of salary paid, tax is paid on a minimum amount of required earning depending on your nationality? For example you may earn 50,000 per month but if you are from the UK you are automatically taxed as if your monthly income is 55,000 as that is the minimum salary that the labour department says you must earn in order to be granted a work permit. This rule does not apply to teachers working here and the base figure can change depending where you are from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tywais Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 Can anyone confirm which is correct? I would hope it would be the revenue depts, but who knows when they lasted updated their website. The tax tables on the Revenue Department are correct and what I use every year for my calculations, including this last March which is the deadline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NanLaew Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 (edited) And in the first year you are taxed pro rata on your full year Thailand earnings. So you'll actually pay much less tax than mentioned above. However many Thai accountants will deduct tax from your salary as if you started on January 1 -- in which case you can apply directly for a tax refund and the Thai revenue department will cut you a check. Also, until your work permit is issued you can only be taxed at the withholding tax rate of 3%. In summary you'll pay much much less tax than in Europe, especially if you don't earn so much. Note that many online tax calculators are out of date, and over-calculate the amount of tax you'll pay -- and they do not take account of you starting in the middle of a year. Actually you shouldnt be taxed at 3% while waiting for your WP...you shouldnt be working without a WP The DMF takes up to six weeks to approve the application, then it languishes for a month with Immigration while they do their checks and approvals before it goes to the Labour Department for final approval and issuing. That's about twelve weeks on a 'hot-start' project (the only kind I ever get!) so nice to know that 3% applies for starters. My legal counsel stated that as long as there's an auditable and verifiable WP application in progress, then it is not illegal to commence paid work in Thailand while the WP is being processed. Edited June 2, 2012 by NanLaew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelSong Posted June 3, 2012 Share Posted June 3, 2012 Just curious, in which country in Europe did you pay only 19 % taxes ? Greece maybe ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucidLucifer Posted June 3, 2012 Share Posted June 3, 2012 Just curious, in which country in Europe did you pay only 19 % taxes ? Greece maybe ? If it was in Greece, he must have the only chap in the country that was paying taxes.....well done OP... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CDB Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 As for the minimum taxation amount of 50 K (depending on nationality), this doesn't apply under three scenarios * You are a teacher * Your employeer has BOI privileges (quite common) * You don't work a full tax year in your first year here I've owned companies which have hired hundreds of foreigners here, so I can verify this, Regarding starting work without a work permit, I agree with the poster who explained that if your submit the work permit application when the employee starts and your company has a track record of complying with labor law, there wil be no legal hassles and the employee will pay 3% tax. It can take 2-3 months to get process a work permit even when everything is in order. Technically, this may be breaking the law, but BOI/Immigration assure that if you have submitted the application there is not a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NHJ Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 work permit are usually delivered within two weeks not two months, in 2008 mine came up after 10 days (surat province) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kawaiimomo Posted June 4, 2012 Author Share Posted June 4, 2012 Hey, thanks so much for your replies! However you are mentioning some 10% but the table in the Thai Revenue website shows 10% up to 500k; 50k per month is 600k per year, so am I right assuming I will be paying 20%? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kawaiimomo Posted June 4, 2012 Author Share Posted June 4, 2012 Just curious, in which country in Europe did you pay only 19 % taxes ? Greece maybe ? Quite similar, Spain ^^ And having a 35k euros per year and paying 19% seems a lot to me, specially with the shitty infrastructures and services we got there (the only worth one is the health service). I am aware of the much higher income taxes in many European countries but the salaries and quality of life have no comparison with Spain ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CDB Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 Absolutely not true about work permits in 2 weeks. It can be possible, if for example: * This is a replacement for an existing position, not a new position * multinational company * high salary and taxes * Good immigration connections. But 2-3 months remains accurate as an average. Things that can cause it to be this long include * New position, in which case the company has to justify why it can't hire a Thai person * Immigration require clarification as to the relevancy of the foreigner's qualfications * Additional documents required from abroad * Applicants visa is about to expire so he needs to exit and reentry (common if hired locally) * and many others... There are many reasons why even a well prepared BOI sponsored company can take 2-3 months. After five years, my company has dropped the average turnaround to 6 weeks, but 2 weeks is highly exceptional Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NHJ Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 in my case it was a new company(mine at 49%) and new work permit, immigration is not involved to issue a work permit nor checking the ability of the foreigner's qualification, the labour department is the only judge when it comes to issue a work permit based on the document submitted. immigration is the second judge only if you ask for an extension of stay. btw 2 weeks is the standard time to get a work permit in surat province, the only thing that changed over the years is now they don't renew your work permit in 30 minutes as before but instead in a week(office is on the mainland and staff visits samui once a week) and since 2012 requires one employee for wich you pay social security(can hire an employee only for the purpose of renewal and fire him/her right after that) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucidLucifer Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 An alternative tax calculator can he found here: http://www.tiscoasset.com/en/Tax_Calculator.jsp The difference between this one and the first is small(ish) but significant amount. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soutpeel Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 And in the first year you are taxed pro rata on your full year Thailand earnings. So you'll actually pay much less tax than mentioned above. However many Thai accountants will deduct tax from your salary as if you started on January 1 -- in which case you can apply directly for a tax refund and the Thai revenue department will cut you a check. Also, until your work permit is issued you can only be taxed at the withholding tax rate of 3%. In summary you'll pay much much less tax than in Europe, especially if you don't earn so much. Note that many online tax calculators are out of date, and over-calculate the amount of tax you'll pay -- and they do not take account of you starting in the middle of a year. Actually you shouldnt be taxed at 3% while waiting for your WP...you shouldnt be working without a WP The DMF takes up to six weeks to approve the application, then it languishes for a month with Immigration while they do their checks and approvals before it goes to the Labour Department for final approval and issuing. That's about twelve weeks on a 'hot-start' project (the only kind I ever get!) so nice to know that 3% applies for starters. My legal counsel stated that as long as there's an auditable and verifiable WP application in progress, then it is not illegal to commence paid work in Thailand while the WP is being processed. You are 100% correct but I was under the impression that once you were "under consideration" with your WP you were paying your PAYE on your salary....not withholding tax...it may be just terminology but PAYE and withholding tax are not quite the same thing, the withholding tax is a pre-defined percentage of tax, while PAYE is a sliding scale based on your actual salary, so if someones salary was THB 1.0 million/m, you would not only be paying 3%....if you understand what I mean... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NanLaew Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 work permit are usually delivered within two weeks not two months, in 2008 mine came up after 10 days (surat province) Four years ago in Surat, there weren't too many foreigners applying for a WP so you got one fast. Well done! In Bangkok presently, there's hundreds more foreigners applying for new WP's as well as existing ones getting canceled, extended, re-validated, re-ssued or whatever so it does sometimes take 2-3 months from application to issuing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happysanook Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 is it true the first 150k isn't taxed? ( see "jybkk's" post at http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/531622-personal-income-tax-caculation-in-thailand/ ) .... for example if i made 300k, would i figure taxes at 300-150-60-30=60*.1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tywais Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 is it true the first 150k isn't taxed? ( see "jybkk's" post at http://www.thaivisa....on-in-thailand/ ) .... Correct. From the Revenue Department Site 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaysg Posted June 30, 2012 Share Posted June 30, 2012 Anyone knows of any Certified Public Accountants who have good credentials in Thailand? (non-Big 4) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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