I Left Without Paying My Taxes - Any Penalties?

[durianfan]

I left Thailand about a year ago. At my last job, the school decided to change its status from a school to a company. I can only surmise that this was for tax purposes. Anyway, shortly afterwards all the teaching staff got tax statements and we had to go down to the tax office to see how much we "owed" because of this new status change. The average was about 40,000 baht. I (and a few others) was only a few months away from the end of my contract, so I decided not to pay, especially since I was leaving Thailand for other work.

My question is this: Will anything happen when I enter Thailand on Saturday? Will the immigration officer refuse me entry until I pay? My fears are probably unfounded but just want to make sure.

[Mario2008]

That is a tax questions, not a visa question.

Immigration will not deny you entry because of it. Question is if they have the right to detain you if you are not paying taxes for tax evasion or something like that. Can't answer that. They might know more in the business section.

[Soutpeel]

That is a tax questions, not a visa question.

Immigration will not deny you entry because of it. Question is if they have the right to detain you if you are not paying taxes for tax evasion or something like that. Can't answer that. They might know more in the business section.

I think the problem may arise if you come back here to work...and the fact you owe tax may flag the system somewhere

but if not coming to work, then wouldnt be too worried about it....immigration will not be worried...not their department

[marstons]

They certainly will not deny you entry, exit and staying maybe your problem. You owe the goverment money for tax evasion, if that aint an immigration department i dont know what is. And you want to make sure by asking on a forum!!!. What you did was breaking the law and as such under forum rules discussion of such is not permitted. But interesting to see how many Thai tax experts there are. Keep looking over your shoulder, could be in for another tax free stay. Still your in good company with Mr Thaskin on that one.

This activity is subject to both civil and criminal penalties. The civil penalties include fines and interest. The criminal penalties include jail terms of 3 months – 7 years and fines 2,000-200,000 Baht.

Mr. Sanit Rangnoi, Director-General of the Revenue Department, said “Every unit has to intensively investigate those suspicious activities and put heavy penalties on evaders and fraudsters, as well as track new schemes of tax evasion/fraud in order to be fair to the honest taxpayers.

Edited June 29, 2012 by marstons

[falang07]

yeah, honest taxpayers, everyone is

[Soutpeel]

They certainly will not deny you entry, exit and staying maybe your problem. You owe the goverment money for tax evasion, if that aint an immigration department i dont know what is. And you want to make sure by asking on a forum!!!. What you did was breaking the law and as such under forum rules discussion of such is not permitted. But interesting to see how many Thai tax experts there are. Keep looking over your shoulder, could be in for another tax free stay. Still your in good company with Mr Thaskin on that one.

This activity is subject to both civil and criminal penalties. The civil penalties include fines and interest. The criminal penalties include jail terms of 3 months – 7 years and fines 2,000-200,000 Baht.

Mr. Sanit Rangnoi, Director-General of the Revenue Department, said “Every unit has to intensively investigate those suspicious activities and put heavy penalties on evaders and fraudsters, as well as track new schemes of tax evasion/fraud in order to be fair to the honest taxpayers.

You maybe technically correct, but you are also scare mongering..if the OP is here and not working, he will not have a problem exiting the country...tax dept and immigration, two completely separate departments and on is not interested in the business of the other....

If the tax department want to do something meaningful go chase the expats working here without WP's and start collecting tax off them, and maybe while they are at it look at the business dealings of foreigners who are resident in Thailand more than 180 days per year, including the pensioners...

[durianfan]

Thanks for the replies. I'm not coming back to work - just visiting my wife's family and doing a bit of touring around. I actually completely forgot about it...but then became afraid that they would detain me when I go through immigration at the airport until I coughed up the money. Wouldn't be the best start to the holiday.

Edited June 29, 2012 by durianfan

[Time Traveller]

They certainly will not deny you entry, exit and staying maybe your problem. You owe the goverment money for tax evasion, if that aint an immigration department i dont know what is. And you want to make sure by asking on a forum!!!. What you did was breaking the law and as such under forum rules discussion of such is not permitted. But interesting to see how many Thai tax experts there are. Keep looking over your shoulder, could be in for another tax free stay. Still your in good company with Mr Thaskin on that one.

This activity is subject to both civil and criminal penalties. The civil penalties include fines and interest. The criminal penalties include jail terms of 3 months – 7 years and fines 2,000-200,000 Baht.

Mr. Sanit Rangnoi, Director-General of the Revenue Department, said “Every unit has to intensively investigate those suspicious activities and put heavy penalties on evaders and fraudsters, as well as track new schemes of tax evasion/fraud in order to be fair to the honest taxpayers.

You maybe technically correct, but you are also scare mongering..if the OP is here and not working, he will not have a problem exiting the country...tax dept and immigration, two completely separate departments and on is not interested in the business of the other....

If the tax department want to do something meaningful go chase the expats working here without WP's and start collecting tax off them, and maybe while they are at it look at the business dealings of foreigners who are resident in Thailand more than 180 days per year, including the pensioners...

Most people working here are in the tax system (unless the business itself is not registered), even if they don't have work permits and they may not even know it. I don't know why any company would make payments such as salary without evidence to show either tax withheld, or as some expense to which they can claim on their corporate tax liability. Under the table tax free salaries paid would not be a verifiable expense for the company. For example, lets say someone is paid 40k per month...they might think they didn't pay the tax, but usually the company will pay the tax which amounts to about 27 k or 5.5% effective rate. IF they do this then the salary is a legitimate expense and can be used to offset their own tax liability on their profits which is usually around 30%. So the company has a savings anyway. Only when salaries get higher (and the effective tax rate) do companies expect their own workers to pay tax.

Also many Asian countries (such as Korea and China) provides new residents with limited exceptions from tax from offshore sources as it's not in the Revenue departments capability to check and confirm the income from abroad.

A witch hunt against pensioners? That's like saying the Revenue department should hunt down the street beggars for not reporting their income.

Edited June 29, 2012 by Time Traveller