One question for the experts.

I have some dividend paying shares in the SET.

The total amount varies between 10,000 Baht and say 50,000 Baht per annum, depending on what I hold.

There is the 10% Tax automatically deducted.

Are there any ways to legally negate this tax?

I'm not a resident, but spend extensive time in Thailand.

Thanks in advance.

(ps ... just for you Mr Naam a seperate topic ... )

good move David, unfortunately i can't answer your question.

short answer is no there is not anyway (for an indevidual shareholder) to avoid this tax . The tax is levied on (and paid by) the corporate entity and on the entiriety of its dividend, not on the indevidual recipient. There are a couple of provisos though (that i can think of for now , there maybe others), 1) certain Thai quoted stocks (basically some smaller issues) are exempt , whole or part, from the charge, you could invest in those 2) (does not sound right for you) but depending on your Thai tax situation there are circumstances in which it may be beneficial to declare (which you are not normally obliged too do) the dividend tax as it can be used as an offset against other tax you maybe liable for.

Edited October 16, 201213 yr by wordchild

The taxation of div income for Thai resident or foreign investors on SET is shown here:

http://www.set.or.th...tax/tax_p1.html

On individual shares on the SET I don't think you can escape the 10%. It might be worth asking your broker though.

I generally prefer investing in mutual funds when it comes to Thai equities. In that case you can elect to have any dividends paid without the 10% witholding tax being deducted, and instead include the income in your year-end tax calc. If you did that instead, your 10k to 50k would be below thresholds where you would start to pay tax. To make the election to receive mutual fund dividends gross ask the entity you bought them from, eg your bank or fund management house.

Edited October 16, 201213 yr by fletchsmile

Warmly appreciating the replies above ...

.

I'm not a taxation specialist, but as the tax is clearly called witholding tax, it should mean that this tax is an advance payment on your personal income tax due to the taxman, based on your yearly taxable personal income.

You do not mention if you have other taxable income, if not this means you can make a year end personal income declaration, and since your income is less then 150,000 Baht, no personal tax is due meaning any witholding taxes paid will be refunded to you.

Now seeing that the tax you pay yeary is only between 1000 and 5,000 Baht, it might be hard to gain anything by a refund if you need to pay an accountant to do the (Thai language) paperwork on your behalf!

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If you live in thailand for more than 180 days in a calendar year you can file a tax return at the end of the year. Include your dividends as your income and the amount of the tax withheld. Don't forget to also include the tax credits listed on your dividend statement also, this only works if you hold shares, it does not work if you hold NVDRs.

Then you can claim back the amount you paid in tax less the amount that is liable as a thai individual tax payer. If you are not a Thai tax resident then you will get taxed at 10% unless the dividends are BOI tax exempt.

Hi David

There have been earlier threads here where members detail the procedure for obtaining a refund of withholding tax. Try a TV forum search on "withholding tax" to identify these threads. One of the two Pattaya Expat clubs also has a page in their web site on this procedure. If no joy then send me a pm and I will dig out the links and post them here

I'm not a taxation specialist, but as the tax is clearly called witholding tax, it should mean that this tax is an advance payment on your personal income tax due to the taxman, based on your yearly taxable personal income.

You do not mention if you have other taxable income, if not this means you can make a year end personal income declaration, and since your income is less then 150,000 Baht, no personal tax is due meaning any witholding taxes paid will be refunded to you.

Now seeing that the tax you pay yeary is only between 1000 and 5,000 Baht, it might be hard to gain anything by a refund if you need to pay an accountant to do the (Thai language) paperwork on your behalf!

Sent from my GT-I9001 using Thaivisa Connect App

Hiring the services of an accountant is the best way to do this