Captial Gains Tax

[awarrumbungle]

I was reading an article in the BKK Post and I'm sure it said that there was no CGT on sharemarket (stockmarket) trades in Thailand. Is that correct?

Is this how Toxin is avoiding the tax from his sale?

[OldAsiaHand]

The exemption extends only to the sale of securities through the SET. That was the reason that the sale of the Shin stake was completed through the exchange rather than privately.

The tax exemption that was triggered by doing that is exactly the same exemption that you or I or anyone else is entitled to when we sell stock through the SET. I'm no fan of the PM, but all this sanctimonious rubbish about him being involved in tax evasion is idiotic. And most if not all of it is coming from people who take advantage of the same exemption all the time themselves and know it perfectly well.

[sleepyjohn]

I was reading an article in the BKK Post and I'm sure it said that there was no CGT on sharemarket (stockmarket) trades in Thailand. Is that correct?

Is this how Toxin is avoiding the tax from his sale?

I also don't agree with CGT on share sale profits.

If one should pay tax on this the fair thing would be for the tax department to pay up back when shares sell at a loss. Fat chance.

Cheap total dealing costs also keep a market efficiently priced.

I for one don't buy Canadian stock because of their 15% tax on dividends, why should I contribute personal tax to a country I don't live in? I'm already paying indirectly in the form of company tax which portion I consider a reasonable tax. The 15% is a liberty and keeps some possible investment capital out of Canada. Som nam naa. The same would apply to Thailand.

[awarrumbungle]

I also don't agree with CGT on share sale profits.

If one should pay tax on this the fair thing would be for the tax department to pay up back when shares sell at a loss. Fat chance.

I do believe in Aus that if you make a loss you can claim it as a capital loss. The loss will offset any gains or other tax you bring about.

I am quite amazed that trading is tax free. Is there any sort of tax at all when trading? What is there reasoning behind it?

Maybe if the taxation system here was more organised there wouldn't be so much corruption.

[OldAsiaHand]

....Maybe if the taxation system here was more organised there wouldn't be so much corruption.

I really don't see the logic in that at all.

The Thai government provides a capital gains tax exemption to encourage the trading of securities through the SET. That's a legitimate determination of public policy. The Thai stock market is thin enough as it is. If the tax exemption were removed, it is altogether possible that the volume through the SET would drop so low it would cease functioning as an effective capital market.

What has a tax exemption available to one and all got to do with the widely tolerated practice of public officials using their offices to line their own pockets?

[steveromagnino]

I do believe in Aus that if you make a loss you can claim it as a capital loss. The loss will offset any gains or other tax you bring about.

I am quite amazed that trading is tax free. Is there any sort of tax at all when trading? What is there reasoning behind it?

Maybe if the taxation system here was more organised there wouldn't be so much corruption.

Well Australia is a country AFAIK with capital gains tax. Thailand is not.

New Zealand you can play it both ways, and I suspect Thailand probably is the same; if you are in the business of buying and selling shares, then you are taxed on the gains. If you are in the business of investing or similar, then you are not subject to that.

Regarding tax on dividends, this is fairly common AFAIK, and at least in NZ you can get the resident's withholding tax on dividends refunded if you are there, otherwise you pay tax on the divvies AFAIK.

Capital gains tax sucks, and reduces liquidity while also encouraging people to do other moves to get around it. The Ample Rich transaction though looks to be a massive tax free gift and for gifts there should be a gift giving tax enforced above certain amounts each year to prevent the sort of transactions we've been seeing with Shin from what I can see (which is not much).

[awarrumbungle]

Sorry OldAsia - I did leave a step out of my logic (it may not be seamless but here it goes). It's more of a hypothesis anyway.

If there was more money coming into gov't through taxation (Trading usually, in Australia anyway, brings a lot of tax $ in). With the extra money, salaries could be higher and corruption wouldn't be necessary for a comfortable life.

Police officers are a good example of this. Their salaries aren't great so they supplement it.

The flaw of course is that greed is greed, enough is never enough.

Steveromagino - I was referring to sleepyjohn's post. He said that a taxation department should also pay out for losses if they accept tax from profits.

No CGT - sounds to me like another way to make the rich richer. Policies for the rich not the poor.

Trickle Down doesn't exist.

[Web_Director]

Actually there is a capital gain tax in Thailand. We are taxed on our dividends distributed from companies and etc. However, some type of income such as gains derived from trading stock in SET is exempt from personal income tax in Thailand (please be noted that it's only for personal income tax, not for corporate income tax)