Obtaining Refund Of Tax Withheld On Thai Bank Fixed Savings Account

[Pib]

I've seen some posts talking about how to get a refund of the tax withheld from fixed saving accounts, but the posts seem to be a little old and like many posts ended up talking about everything under the sun and not giving enough specifics. So, since it's tax time again, here is my semi short and sweet post on the subject which will hopefully have a few specifics.

Last year I got tired of having to go to my home country embassy each year and pay approx 1600 baht to get an income affidavit to file with my year retirement extension of stay application at Thai Immigration. Plus I figured having a good amount in a Thai bank, at least 800K baht to meet any emergency requirement and earning much higher interest was better than getting very low interest in my home country. And remember, the Thai govt does ensure your deposits up to 50M baht still I think but it will eventually drop off to 1M baht....saw another recent TV post giving the time-frame and amounts insured. But this post is not meant to be on pros and cons of having a significant amount of money in a Thai bank account....just to tell you about my experience so far in apply for the a refund of the taxed interest on my fixed savings account. Fixed accounts pay much higher interest than regular savings accounts.

OK, last year from that fixed account I earned over 27,000 baht at 3.75% interest which was paid at the 11 month maturity point (fixed savings accounts come in various maturity lengths and interest rates)...and about a second later the bank took the required by law 15% tax deduction of a little over 4,000 baht...all reflected in the passbook. So, since I'm retired, don't work, living money comes from home country pensions/savings, I decided would apply for a refund of the 4,000 baht which many other TV posts said wasn't hard....OK, OK, and some posts said was harder than hell...or a farang just can't do it!

I first went to my Thai bank (Bangkok Bank) and asked the teller for a tax document confirming the paid tax as reflected in the passbook...she did this by quickly completing a form which just basically had my name, account number, amount of interest earned, and amount of tax withheld...took her about 2 minutes to complete...hands me two copies and I'm out the door....no charge for the document....other people were there to get the same document as its tax filing time Jan thru Mar.

The Thai wife and I then went to the personal income/revenue tax office here in my khet (district) in Bangkok, asked how do we get the tax refund, a nice customer support lady pulled out a simple one page Form Kor 10, Request of Refund of Tax Payment and helped us complete it. The form is all in Thai...and don't even ask me where a copy might be downloaded...maybe someone else knows....just go to the tax office to get a copy.

The form is a very simple one page form which you basically put your name and address at the top...and at the bottom the amount of refund requested and the reason(s) the refund is due, which were I make no other income in Thailand, do not work in Thailand, I'm retired, etc. Actually, the nice tax lady sent me downstairs to make a copy of my main passport page and my Yellow Book tabien baan which was needed to be filled with the Kor 10 Form along with the one page tax document the bank gave me. I expect a Certificate of Residence, Blue Book, or similar document would substitute for a Yellow Book.

While getting the copies the tax rep helped the wife fill out the Kor 10....when I got back I just printed my full name in English at the top of the form and signed the bottom of the form. The tax representative signed and stamped the form, attached the bank tax doc/form, copy of my main passport page, and copy of my Yellow Book... and then directed us to take the package to another office/counter downstairs. There the tax representative took that package, took a few minutes to do whatever processing she was doing with it (mostly in front of her computer terminal), kept the package, and then handed us a receipt type document which I guess basically said the refund had been applied for.

She said once the refund is finally approved (and gave us no indication there would be any problems) I would get a blue document in the mail (sounds like it would be a refund voucher), bring it back to another office in the building where the refund would be paid...don't know if that will be a check, cash, etc. Both the wife and I failed to ask how long it will take for the blue document to show up in the mail....guess we were just too happy things had went so easy...but I don't think it should take more than a few weeks or maybe a month. Hech, this was no harder than completing your 90 day address reporting paperwork.

I will provide an update as my bank interest tax refund journey continues...but so far it's been an easy journey (knock on wood). And in closing, the tax office was very helpful.

[Phronesis]

Pib

Thanks for the post. I, too, have significant amounts paid this year for interest on fixed term deposits. I am in Phuket. I have already got one letter from Krungsi bank for the interest on one account that matured just prior to Christmas. The girl in the office was both stunning and very helpful. As you report getting the letter is straightforward.

I am now waiting for some other deposits to mature at Kasikorn and Ayuda before I hit the tax office.

Please keep us posted as the the remaining "steps" in getting the cash refund.

Thanks again for the clear and interesting post.

[JimGant]

Pib, thanx for that report. And for US taxpayers, getting a tax refund from the Thais is the preferable way to avoid double taxation -- as Pib's baht 27,000 in foreign interest needs to be declared on his US income tax filing.

Now, you could file a Form 1116 with your US tax filing to get a tax credit for the 15% withheld by the Thais. However, the following language says 'beware:'

Foreign tax refund. You cannot take a foreign tax credit for income taxes paid to a foreign country if it is reasonably certain the amount would be refunded, credited, rebated, abated, or forgiven if you made a claim.

So, if Pib's claim is denied for any reason, he can then feel free to file for a tax credit on his US taxes (he's not obligated to keep butting heads with Thai bureaucracy -- and he's now NOT reasonably certain about a Thai refund).

Having said this, can anyone report problems in getting this 15% Thai tax refunded? If so, as a US tax payer, I'd use such information as support for not being "reasonably certain" about a refund. And thus keeping the tax credit option open.

But, I'd recommend the Thai tax refund route first. If it proves a bureaucratic morass (imagine that in Thailand), I'd feel comfortable, then, going the tax credit route.

[Pib]

Pib

Thanks for the post. I, too, have significant amounts paid this year for interest on fixed term deposits. I am in Phuket. I have already got one letter from Krungsi bank for the interest on one account that matured just prior to Christmas. The girl in the office was both stunning and very helpful. As you report getting the letter is straightforward.

I am now waiting for some other deposits to mature at Kasikorn and Ayuda before I hit the tax office.

Please keep us posted as the the remaining "steps" in getting the cash refund.

Thanks again for the clear and interesting post.

I sure will....I'm keeping my fingers crossed....knocking on wood (my head).

Also, regarding those deposits you have waiting to mature, it's my understanding (quite possibly misunderstanding) a person would be claiming a tax refund for deposits which matured/were taxed in 2012. And actually, I've read somewhere you can actually claim tax refunds going 3 years back. But hey, maybe it's like a tourist getting a VAT refund...that is, get it shortly after buying the item and leaving the country...no need to wait.

If that's the case since I have a 5 month 3.25% fixed saving account maturing next month/Feb 13 I may apply for a refund then. This was the best fixed acct promotion Bkk Bk had at the time my 11 month 3.75% acct matured so I just rolled the money over; otherwise, the matured 11 month acct had reverted to just earning much lower 3 month fixed acct interest. But hey, maybe in Feb 13 when the 5 month fixed savings acct matures I'll just go to the tax office again and apply for a refund of the freshly matured 5 month acct instead of waiting until Jan-Mar 14.

For some reason, my gut is beginning to tell me a person could apply for the refund immediately after its paid but I really don't know. Maybe someone out there reading this knows the answer as they have done/attempted it before?

[meatboy]

you wont be able to claim any refund for fixed acc.that mature this tax yr.jan1st-31stdec.2013.i just had one mature mon.7th bkkb.get the tax certificate and keep till next year also the pass book dont throw it away.

[Pib]

you wont be able to claim any refund for fixed acc.that mature this tax yr.jan1st-31stdec.2013.i just had one mature mon.7th bkkb.get the tax certificate and keep till next year also the pass book dont throw it away.

Thanks. When I rolled over my 5 month acct in Feb 13 I'll be sure to ask for a tax doc then versus waiting until Jan 14 for the yearly personal tax filing...will save me a trip to the bank.

Since you mentioned passbook and just as FYI/stress the point for others in filing for the refund, in my case a copy of the passbook was "not" needed/wanted at the tax office...all they wanted was the bank-issued tax form (fast & easy to get). But definitely keep the passbook even if the acct was closed/rolled over into another acct as you need to show that passbook to the bank to easily/quickly get the bank-issud tax form.

As mentioned in my OP, only the Kor 10 Refund Request Form, the bank-issued tax form, a copy of my passport main page, and a copy of my Yellow Book main page--only those four pieces of simple paper comprised the refund package. But I would definitely take along the passbook with a copy when filing for the refund as we all know how people going to Thai govt offices for a certain service can sometimes get asked for additional paperwork. But for me, it was only the four pieces of paper I mentioned.

I was kinda funny, when going to the tax office I thought to myself that I wouldn't be surprised if I had to file out a basic, multipage single-filer tax return where I entered a bunch of zero baht entries for income, wages, etc....etc...etc...with only one entry for bank interest earned...and then with the deductions I would end up owing zero taxes and therefore get a full refund of the bank interest. But no, none of that...my mind was just going wild in thinking such...all that was needed was.just one simple Kor 10 tax form with 3 pieces of paper attached. Knock on wood.

[meatboy]

post 498 bank int.rates,applied 3jan for refund[wf.did] korat office very helpful,will post when we recieve the cheque,the nice man even said the chq.would be in my name.so i will have to watch for the post man.the wf.wont be toooooooooooooo happy.

[bdenner]

Thank you for the report, I know your talking specifics but I have a question.

We do things differently for different reasons, in my case I top up the 800K once a year (3 months prior to visa extension) and draw down on it in a normal passport ATM account over the year. Last year I received a total of 6037 Baht in two payments - 22nd Jun and 22 Dec - Roughly the same as the previous year.

At no stage do I see where tax has been taken from this interest. Is it taken behind the scene or is a normal passport account not subject to with holding tax?

[thaimate]

Do it every year ,get a letter from the bank after you get your interest in jan,then take it to the tax office ,my wife usually speaks to the guy who is very helpfull in the Pattaya tax office ,you will need your passport or driving licence.

[Phronesis]

The conundrum for me here in Phuket is trading off the day or so I will lose jumping through the required hoops for a rebate of circa 10KTHB.

Not to mention the stress that is always inherent in visiting a Thai government office.

[Pib]

Thank you for the report, I know your talking specifics but I have a question.

We do things differently for different reasons, in my case I top up the 800K once a year (3 months prior to visa extension) and draw down on it in a normal passport ATM account over the year. Last year I received a total of 6037 Baht in two payments - 22nd Jun and 22 Dec - Roughly the same as the previous year.

At no stage do I see where tax has been taken from this interest. Is it taken behind the scene or is a normal passport account not subject to with holding tax?

Sounds like you have a regular savings account that pays out in Jun and Dec of each year and your earn approx 0.75% interest. On a regular savings account they generally don't withhold tax unless maybe you have a really BIG amount which earns a lot of interest each year. I know my regular saving account or direct deposit savings account, both of which earn the typical/low internet rate of around 0.75% have never had tax withheld on the Jun and Dec interest payments.

However, a fixed saving account operates under different tax rules...the bank applies 15% tax to whatever interest is earned...interest rates which are much higher than a regular savings account. When the tax is withheld a withdrawal-type transaction is reflected in your passbook (i.e, the bank making the tax payment to the govt) and it's coded "TAX". It would be the very next transaction under the actual interest payment which would be coded "INT". So, using simple math, say you earned 100 baht in interest on a fixed account upon maturity...the bank would pay out that 100 baht with a 100 baht "INT" entry in the passbook and right below that would be another entry showing a withdrawal of 15 baht "TAX" entry...when the dust settled you had a net 85 baht added to your account...to get that other 15 baht back you apply for the tax refund like we are talking about in this thread. Cheers.

[Pib]

The conundrum for me here in Phuket is trading off the day or so I will lose jumping through the required hoops for a rebate of circa 10KTHB.

Not to mention the stress that is always inherent in visiting a Thai government office.

I doubt you have to do it in person...you could probably complete & sign the paperwork and have someone take the paperwork to the tax office for you....kinda like letting someone do the 90 day address reporting for you.

[chiangmaibruce]

Pib, good helpful series of posts thanks. There have been quite a number of earlier threads on this topic (such as this one: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/489397-tax-withheld-on-interest/page__hl__withholding) but it's good to get a detailed and up-to-date personal account like yours

[meatboy]

Thank you for the report, I know your talking specifics but I have a question.

We do things differently for different reasons, in my case I top up the 800K once a year (3 months prior to visa extension) and draw down on it in a normal passport ATM account over the year. Last year I received a total of 6037 Baht in two payments - 22nd Jun and 22 Dec - Roughly the same as the previous year.

At no stage do I see where tax has been taken from this interest. Is it taken behind the scene or is a normal passport account not subject to with holding tax?

no tax is deducted on instant access accounts.

[meatboy]

The conundrum for me here in Phuket is trading off the day or so I will lose jumping through the required hoops for a rebate of circa 10KTHB.

Not to mention the stress that is always inherent in visiting a Thai government office.

I doubt you have to do it in person...you could probably complete & sign the paperwork and have someone take the paperwork to the tax office for you....kinda like letting someone do the 90 day address reporting for you.

once you have registered you will have a tax id.no.then if you have a printer and are able to scan the certificates you can do it online,we have got neither so its a short trip to the office.

[cigar7]

Thank you for the report, I know your talking specifics but I have a question.

We do things differently for different reasons, in my case I top up the 800K once a year (3 months prior to visa extension) and draw down on it in a normal passport ATM account over the year. Last year I received a total of 6037 Baht in two payments - 22nd Jun and 22 Dec - Roughly the same as the previous year.

At no stage do I see where tax has been taken from this interest. Is it taken behind the scene or is a normal passport account not subject to with holding tax?

no tax is deducted on instant access accounts.

On my instant access account, tax was deducted. I asked the Kasikorn bank lady and she said if you get more than 10,000 baht interest per year, tax is deducted at the prescribed rate.

[meatboy]

Thank you for the report, I know your talking specifics but I have a question.

We do things differently for different reasons, in my case I top up the 800K once a year (3 months prior to visa extension) and draw down on it in a normal passport ATM account over the year. Last year I received a total of 6037 Baht in two payments - 22nd Jun and 22 Dec - Roughly the same as the previous year.

At no stage do I see where tax has been taken from this interest. Is it taken behind the scene or is a normal passport account not subject to with holding tax?

no tax is deducted on instant access accounts.

On my instant access account, tax was deducted. I asked the Kasikorn bank lady and she said if you get more than 10,000 baht interest per year, tax is deducted at the prescribed rate.

this is the first time i have known someone to have tax deducted on an instant savings acc.bkkb.has never done it to me in the past when i had the funds for our house and land buy.our freinds are with kas.bk.and they dont have tax deducted.but i expect they dont get 10,000bht.pr.year int.get someone to speak to the tax office i have found them quite helpfull and polite.

[Pib]

Thank you for the report, I know your talking specifics but I have a question.

We do things differently for different reasons, in my case I top up the 800K once a year (3 months prior to visa extension) and draw down on it in a normal passport ATM account over the year. Last year I received a total of 6037 Baht in two payments - 22nd Jun and 22 Dec - Roughly the same as the previous year.

At no stage do I see where tax has been taken from this interest. Is it taken behind the scene or is a normal passport account not subject to with holding tax?

no tax is deducted on instant access accounts.

On my instant access account, tax was deducted. I asked the Kasikorn bank lady and she said if you get more than 10,000 baht interest per year, tax is deducted at the prescribed rate.

this is the first time i have known someone to have tax deducted on an instant savings acc.bkkb.has never done it to me in the past when i had the funds for our house and land buy.our freinds are with kas.bk.and they dont have tax deducted.but i expect they dont get 10,000bht.pr.year int.get someone to speak to the tax office i have found them quite helpfull and polite.

First time I've heard a trigger level of 10,000 baht for a regular savings account unless the account owner requested a lower level to help minimize his end of year overall tax bill because he working, has other taxable investments, etc. I've seen a 20,000 baht trigger level mentioned at several places like mentioned at this Thai tax web page. Link. But to earn 20,000 baht interest per year on a regular savings account probably paying around 0.75% interest a person would need approx 2.7M baht in the account. When it reaches the 20,000 baht interest point the bank would withhold 15% tax on the interest earned ...just like they do in a high interest fixed saving account with any balance.

[chiang mai]

Thank you for the report, I know your talking specifics but I have a question.

We do things differently for different reasons, in my case I top up the 800K once a year (3 months prior to visa extension) and draw down on it in a normal passport ATM account over the year. Last year I received a total of 6037 Baht in two payments - 22nd Jun and 22 Dec - Roughly the same as the previous year.

At no stage do I see where tax has been taken from this interest. Is it taken behind the scene or is a normal passport account not subject to with holding tax?

no tax is deducted on instant access accounts.

On my instant access account, tax was deducted. I asked the Kasikorn bank lady and she said if you get more than 10,000 baht interest per year, tax is deducted at the prescribed rate.

The lady in question gave you an incorrect answer, you should ask another person to get the right answer, that's not uncommon here. As far as deduction of tax on instant savings is concerned: none of the banks do this hence I suspect there may be more to the picture than what's been said, I suggest you talk to a manager at a branch in a tourist location to get things sorted out.

[mania]

The Thai wife and I then went to the personal income/revenue tax office here in my khet (district) in Bangkok, asked how do we get the tax refund, a nice customer support lady pulled out a simple one page Form Kor 10, Request of refund of Tax Payment and helped us complete it. The form is all in Thai...and don't even ask me where a copy might be downloaded...maybe someone else knows....just go to the tax office to get a copy.

Here it is, but you need to fill it & then print you cannot save it filled in

http://www.thaifranchisecenter.com/download_file/files/11-k10161050_130351.pdf

[Pib]

The Thai wife and I then went to the personal income/revenue tax office here in my khet (district) in Bangkok, asked how do we get the tax refund, a nice customer support lady pulled out a simple one page Form Kor 10, Request of refund of Tax Payment and helped us complete it. The form is all in Thai...and don't even ask me where a copy might be downloaded...maybe someone else knows....just go to the tax office to get a copy.

Here it is, but you need to fill it & then print you cannot save it filled inhttp://www.thaifranc...1050_130351.pdf

Yeap, that's the form. Just as FYI, per my original 7 Jan post I mentioned the tax office representative said I would get a blue document in the mail once the tax refund is approved...as of today/31 Jan no mail has arrived from the tax offce. If nothing arrives by late next week (approx the 30 day point) I'll have my Thai wife call the number(s) the representative gave us to follow-up on the refund status.

[Mike45]

Im earning interest this year because of the money i transferred here for the house we are building. I showed the Kor10 form to the lady at my bank and it was her opinion that I had to be 60 years old or older to use it.

I also have a concern because I am not retired with a visa. I only visit with my family several times a year. I don't have a resident certificate, blue book or yellow book yet. I intend to try to get a yellow book later this year when the house is built.

Do you think 60 matters? Or the other things?

[Pib]

Im earning interest this year because of the money i transferred here for the house we are building. I showed the Kor10 form to the lady at my bank and it was her opinion that I had to be 60 years old or older to use it.

I also have a concern because I am not retired with a visa. I only visit with my family several times a year. I don't have a resident certificate, blue book or yellow book yet. I intend to try to get a yellow book later this year when the house is built.

Do you think 60 matters? Or the other things?

Sounds like a clueless representative at the bank....banks have plenty of them. Age don't make a difference.

[Pib]

Yeap, that's the form. Just as FYI, per my original 7 Jan post I mentioned the tax office representative said I would get a blue document in the mail once the tax refund is approved...as of today/31 Jan no mail has arrived from the tax offce. If nothing arrives by late next week (approx the 30 day point) I'll have my Thai wife call the number(s) the representative gave us to follow-up on the refund status.

I didn't make that call last week, but today the Thai wife and I visited the nearby tax office to check on the refund status since the Kor 10 form was filed on 7 Jan with the office. The tax office said I'm still good-to-go to get a refund it's just the office has just recently decided on some refund processing changes (they had mentioned this when we filed that they were still deciding exactly how refunds would be issued by the office this year) and also they got "some machine" fixed they needed to process tax documents....don't know if that machine is a optical scanning machine, check issuing machine, etc....but the tax rep said they just got it fixed yesterday after being broke "for a while." The rep showed us a stack of submitted Kor 10's, which mine was part of, that they would do the final processing/check issuing on very soon. Keep in mind this is one of the Bangkok area tax offices that serves many, many tax filers; maybe, a tax office in the province/small town is faster (or not).

Anyway, in an earlier post I mentioned they had said before that once the refund is fully processed/approved I would get a blue document in the mail saying I could come get the refund at the tax office....sounds like I would present the blue document and they would issue the payment/cash at the office. The rep said they had decided to mail checks instead and I should get a check in approx two weeks. Two weeks in Thai time could be a month; so, I won't count my chickens before they hatch...but after today's visit to the tax office and having no reason to doubt what the helpful & nice tax lady rep told and showed us, I'm hopeful the refund will show-up in my mailbox in approx two weeks.

[mania]

Two weeks in Thai time could be a month; so, I won't count my chickens before they hatch...but after today's visit to the tax office and having no reason to doubt what the helpful & nice tax lady rep told and showed us, I'm hopeful the refund will show-up in my mailbox in approx two weeks.

I filled mine out a day or so after I posted the Kor 10 form

http://www.thaivisa....t/#entry6070774

Check came today so less than two weeks total in ChiangMai from drop off/filed to check received

[Pib]

That's good news. Goes to show how different tax offices can operate at different speeds. Hopefully my check will be in the mail soon and show-up in approx 2 weeks. Will be nice to pocket "all" the interest earned on a high interest fixed acct.

[Pib]

Yeap, that's the form. Just as FYI, per my original 7 Jan post I mentioned the tax office representative said I would get a blue document in the mail once the tax refund is approved...as of today/31 Jan no mail has arrived from the tax offce. If nothing arrives by late next week (approx the 30 day point) I'll have my Thai wife call the number(s) the representative gave us to follow-up on the refund status.

I didn't make that call last week, but today the Thai wife and I visited the nearby tax office to check on the refund status since the Kor 10 form was filed on 7 Jan with the office. The tax office said I'm still good-to-go to get a refund it's just the office has just recently decided on some refund processing changes (they had mentioned this when we filed that they were still deciding exactly how refunds would be issued by the office this year) and also they got "some machine" fixed they needed to process tax documents....don't know if that machine is a optical scanning machine, check issuing machine, etc....but the tax rep said they just got it fixed yesterday after being broke "for a while." The rep showed us a stack of submitted Kor 10's, which mine was part of, that they would do the final processing/check issuing on very soon. Keep in mind this is one of the Bangkok area tax offices that serves many, many tax filers; maybe, a tax office in the province/small town is faster (or not).

Anyway, in an earlier post I mentioned they had said before that once the refund is fully processed/approved I would get a blue document in the mail saying I could come get the refund at the tax office....sounds like I would present the blue document and they would issue the payment/cash at the office. The rep said they had decided to mail checks instead and I should get a check in approx two weeks. Two weeks in Thai time could be a month; so, I won't count my chickens before they hatch...but after today's visit to the tax office and having no reason to doubt what the helpful & nice tax lady rep told and showed us, I'm hopeful the refund will show-up in my mailbox in approx two weeks.

Update: Success....Got the refund...Cash in hand. Today I signed for a blue envelope delivered by the postman...inside was not a check but a blue Kor 20 computer-generated form by the tax office basically saying the interest refund was approved...come to the tax office to pickup your money. OK, I jump in the car and drive to the tax office which is only about 10 minutes away. I go into the office, hand them the Kor 20 received in the mail, they have me sign the back of the form and provide a copy of my main passport page and the page showing my current extension of stay/visa, and then they paid the 4000 plus baht refund in cash. I'm out the door...done. So, I filed on 7 Jan 13 and got a cash refund on 22 Feb 13....around 6 weeks.

Both the Thai wife and I was surprised a check was not in the envelope because as mentioned in our earlier 13 Feb follow-up visit to the tax office we were told there had been be a delay due to "some machine" being broke but just fixed and they had just decided to sent checks instead of doing "get the blue doc in the mail and come back to the tax office for the cash refund thing." Guess my local tax office changed their mind again on the payment process...but for me going to the tax office to receive the cash refund versus getting the check cashed at a bank is probably better...no bank waiting time for the check to clear and/or a possible check cashing fee...however, I would be happy with either refund method. As mentioned it took around 6 weeks to get the refund in my case, but I'm thinking normally it takes less (like other posters have experienced), but this year my local tax office (a very busy office here in Bangkok which is probably slower due to workload than smaller offices) apparently had some equipment and policy issues which slowed them down.

In closing, paperwork submission-wise, as described in my posts #1 and #6, it was a very easy process. And on my initial visit to the tax office on 7 Jan to file for the refund, the follow-up visit on 13 Feb, and today's/22 Feb visit, the revenue office folks were very helpful and courteous. Yeap, getting all the interest paid out on high interest fixed savings accounts is nice...plus, the money is immediately/instantly available if needed although you would lose most of the interest by withdrawing the money before the maturity date, and Thai immigration accepts fixed savings account (or at least Bangkok Immigration does) just like a low interest regular saving account to meet the "money in a Thai bank account" income requirement if using that route vs the expensive embassy letter to get your extension of stay. Also, if the fixed (or regular) savings account is in your name only for immigration/visa purposes you can designate a beneficiary to receive the funds in case of your death versus your spouse/family having to go the court/probate route...it costs 30 baht at Bangkok Bank (for some kind of special stamp) to have the beneficiary provision added to your account when first opening the account/getting the new passbook. If doing it later on after you got the passbook there would be another 100 baht charge for the passbook replacement required when adding the beneficiary. There is some special info that goes on the passbook to identify the beneficiary....it's can be seen on the passbook last page under the bank's black light which also shows your signature, passport/ID number, account number again, etc. Next year's refund filing should be a lot easier as I know exactly what to do, where to go, and approx processing time....I have earned my "Been There, Done That Badge" for getting bank interest withholding tax refunded.

[Mike45]

Funny I was just at my local Bangkok bank and asked about opening a new fixed term account. Mine is due to mature on the 24th.

I asked specifically if I could name my wife as beneficiary and was told beneficiaries were not possible. She told me to go to a lawyer and have him make out some paper.

I also asked about how not to lose the interest if I had to withdraw some of the money. I was told to make separate deposits and only withdraw the deposit I needed and I would only lose the interest on that deposit but not on the rest of the money. Example would be 4 deposits of 200,000 baht. But if I made one deposit of say 800,000 baht and needed to withdraw 200,000 I would have to remove it all and forfeit all the interest.

Is the type of stamp or visa you have in passport relevant to getting your tax back? I only visit and get stamped in and have no visa.

[Pib]

I had the beneficiary added at the Chaeng Wattana Bangkok Bank branch where Bangkok Immigration is also located along with a ton of other govt offices in that huge complex. The Chaeng Wattana Bangkok Bank branch have a couple of reps who speak good English which can really help in the communication process....that branch is also super helpful...on a scale from 1 to 10 with 1 being unhelpful and a 10 being super helpful I would rate them a 10 based on my dealings with them for about 18 months now. The Bangkok Bank rep did say they would get the stamp issued from some office on the six floor of that complex...they initially wanted the wife or I to run upstairs to get the stamp...probably some govt office...we gave a lost-in-space stare...the rep then said she would handle getting the stamp as apparently it was something needed to complete their internal paperwork....the wife and I then signed some beneficiary paperwork and they prepared the specially annotated new passbook. The account/passbook is still only in my name, but the wife was added as the beneficiary.

Yea, regarding those separate deposits being basically standalone deposits on the account that is my understanding also. But one thing for sure, when you switch to a different fixed saving promotion after your current fixed deposit has matured, you get a new account number and passbook. So, I'm assuming any beneficiary on the old account would not automatically be rolled over to the new account...as new accounts are like starting from scratch...and all the associated paperwork based on my experience because I'm now on my third fixed saving account...first a 11 month promotion...then a 5 month promotion...and now a 7 month promotion....I always sign-up for for the one paying the highest interest but not longer than a year....and the promotion seem to vary from sometimes being longer term types...sometimes mid term type...sometimes shorter term types....but there always seem to be one or two fixed saving account promotions that clearly standout as the best when looking for a fixed saving account.

Sorry, I can't answer the question about do you and do you not have to have a long term visa/extension of stay to get a refund? It may be more of being able to prove residence in Thailand more than anything else...of course this would normally mean a person has a long term visa. But like I said, I don't really know...I'm in Thailand year round on a retirement extension of stay/visa.

[Pib]

Funny I was just at my local Bangkok bank and asked about opening a new fixed term account. Mine is due to mature on the 24th.

I asked specifically if I could name my wife as beneficiary and was told beneficiaries were not possible. She told me to go to a lawyer and have him make out some paper.

I also asked about how not to lose the interest if I had to withdraw some of the money. I was told to make separate deposits and only withdraw the deposit I needed and I would only lose the interest on that deposit but not on the rest of the money. Example would be 4 deposits of 200,000 baht. But if I made one deposit of say 800,000 baht and needed to withdraw 200,000 I would have to remove it all and forfeit all the interest.

Is the type of stamp or visa you have in passport relevant to getting your tax back? I only visit and get stamped in and have no visa.

Yea, regarding how to avoid losing all/most of the interest if a person must withdraw some money before the deposit matures, making separate deposits in the same account would give a person more flexibility in case they must withdraw some money for whatever reason. At this Bangkok Bank link under the the "Do You Know" paragraph talks about it a little That may be how I do it when my current 7 month fixed savings deposit of over 800K baht matures; instead of just rolling "all" of it over into a new promotion I would just initially roll over a smaller amount and then over a couple of days/weeks/etc (before the promotion ends), add more deposits in approx 200K chunks or whatever the minimum deposit amount is.