Can My Thai Wife Sell Property In Hua Hin And Send The Money Out Of Thailand.

[egeefay]

We are just bought some property in Hua Hin

I wired the money for the property from my bank in the States to the Thai bank

My Thai wife , in Thailand, used the money to buy the property.

I know there are a lot of restrictions on taking the money back out of Thailand should we decide to sell the property down the road. Most of the restrictions I am aware of govern foreigners buying condos in Thailand.

1. Does anyone know if my wife, who is thai, can sell the property and send the money out of the Thailand. At first we heard that all we had to do was show that the money for the property flowed from a foreign bank into a Thai bank. Now I am hearing that people (foreigners only???) must get a document called a "Tor Thor Saam" (Foreign Currency Exchange Transaction Certificate) from the Thai bank stating specifically that the money came from abroad and is being used to purchase property.

Without it they might have a tough selling their property in Thailand and moving the money back home. Does that also apply to Thais' too?

2. Are Thais allowed to send money to family members abroad in large amounts of , say , $20,000.at a time. We've always sent money into the Thailand...never out.

I'm sure there must be a certain amount that you are allowed to send family members who are living abroad or who are student in foreign universities.

[Dragonman]

We are just bought some property in Hua Hin

I wired the money for the property from my bank in the States to the Thai bank

My Thai wife , in Thailand, used the money to buy the property.

I know there are a lot of restrictions on taking the money back out of Thailand should we decide to sell the property down the road. Most of the restrictions I am aware of govern foreigners buying condos in Thailand.

1. Does anyone know if my wife, who is thai, can sell the property and send the money out of the Thailand. At first we heard that all we had to do was show that the money for the property flowed from a foreign bank into a Thai bank. Now I am hearing that people (foreigners only???) must get a document called a "Tor Thor Saam" (Foreign Currency Exchange Transaction Certificate) from the Thai bank stating specifically that the money came from abroad and is being used to purchase property.

Without it they might have a tough selling their property in Thailand and moving the money back home. Does that also apply to Thais' too?

2. Are Thais allowed to send money to family members abroad in large amounts of , say , $20,000.at a time. We've always sent money into the Thailand...never out.

I'm sure there must be a certain amount that you are allowed to send family members who are living abroad or who are student in foreign universities.

As the property is your wife's and nothing to do with you, she can do what she likes with the money, even if you gave it to her. No real restrictions.

[tuky]

Not doubting you Dragonman, but I would wait for someone with legal knowledge to answer this one. I am sure there is a limit on what you can send/take out of Thailand and it is not very much. Not sure what happens if you go over the limit but I am certain there is a limit. 50K baht perhaps?

[Old Man River]

I cannot answer many of your questions, but I can shed some light on the TT3. This is a Bank of Thailand (BOT) form which is meant to document incoming foreign exchange (FX). The TT4 form is for outgoing FX remittances. The TT3 and TT4 forms are the way the BOT keeps track of incoming and outgoing FX. These forms have nothing to do with whether Thai nationals are involved or not.

The people who advised you that it is important to have the TT3 reflect the purpose of the incoming funds have given you the correct advice. However, the TT3 has nothing to do with whether your wife can or cannot sell her real estate in the future. The BOT is the Central Bank of Thailand and has no interest in the purchases or sales of personal real estate. In this case, their interest is in the proper documentation of flow of funds in and out of Thailand.

Theoretically, should your wife sell the real estate and you wish to remit the funds back out of Thailand, the BOT would match the TT3 with the TT4. In reality, with the volume of incoming and outgoing FX, it is difficult for the BOT to do this, but the bank who you ask to remit the funds will check. Since you say the funds have already arrived, it is in your best interest to get the TT3 amended to show the actual purpose of the TT3 being to purchase real estate. This is possible, but usually the bank who received the funds will not want to do this as it is extra work. If you have a personal officer at your Thai bank, then they can move this forward. If you do not, the area of your Thai bank handling your transaction will be the Remittance Dept. They can liase with the foreign bank's Remittance Dept. to help you get this form amended. Please note that they may not speak very good English, if at all.

The people in the Remittance Dept. can provide you with a world of information, including the answers to the rest of your questions as they have to deal with incoming and outgoing FX and compliance with BOT directives, on a daily basis.

[Old Man River]

We are just bought some property in Hua Hin

I wired the money for the property from my bank in the States to the Thai bank

My Thai wife , in Thailand, used the money to buy the property.

I know there are a lot of restrictions on taking the money back out of Thailand should we decide to sell the property down the road. Most of the restrictions I am aware of govern foreigners buying condos in Thailand.

1. Does anyone know if my wife, who is thai, can sell the property and send the money out of the Thailand. At first we heard that all we had to do was show that the money for the property flowed from a foreign bank into a Thai bank. Now I am hearing that people (foreigners only???) must get a document called a "Tor Thor Saam" (Foreign Currency Exchange Transaction Certificate) from the Thai bank stating specifically that the money came from abroad and is being used to purchase property.

Without it they might have a tough selling their property in Thailand and moving the money back home. Does that also apply to Thais' too?

2. Are Thais allowed to send money to family members abroad in large amounts of , say , $20,000.at a time. We've always sent money into the Thailand...never out.

I'm sure there must be a certain amount that you are allowed to send family members who are living abroad or who are student in foreign universities.

As the property is your wife's and nothing to do with you, she can do what she likes with the money, even if you gave it to her. No real restrictions.

I stand corrected in that I was assuming egeefay would be the remitter out of Thailand, since he arranged for the incoming remittance (i.e. he was the source of the funds). You are, of course, correct that the wife would not be bound by egeefay's BOT documentation and would be the way to go.

On the amount that could be remitted out, subject to the purpose of the outward remittance, I doubt this would come into play. Exchange controls have not been in effect in Thailand for many years. While my experience has been on the corporate side, as long as the purpose matches the documentation, large amounts can legally be remitted out of Thailand. Again, the easiest way to get information on #2 of the questions above is for egeefay to have his wife sit down with the bank and find out what the rules are as they do change periodically. Also, while the Thai bank may not have it, the foreign bank may well have the English translation of the latest BOT rules on outward remittances.

[Dragonman]

Not doubting you Dragonman, but I would wait for someone with legal knowledge to answer this one. I am sure there is a limit on what you can send/take out of Thailand and it is not very much. Not sure what happens if you go over the limit but I am certain there is a limit. 50K baht perhaps?

You are right that there is a limit. The OP is pretty much correct in Point 2. Total for family members with residency $100,000 per annum, $20,000 a time. There are certain other "legal" ways to transfer the money which I shall not go into. Best to ask a financial advisor, as yes I do have legal knowledge, but don't get paid.

[egeefay]

I cannot answer many of your questions, but I can shed some light on the TT3. This is a Bank of Thailand (BOT) form which is meant to document incoming foreign exchange (FX). The TT4 form is for outgoing FX remittances. The TT3 and TT4 forms are the way the BOT keeps track of incoming and outgoing FX. These forms have nothing to do with whether Thai nationals are involved or not.

The people who advised you that it is important to have the TT3 reflect the purpose of the incoming funds have given you the correct advice. However, the TT3 has nothing to do with whether your wife can or cannot sell her real estate in the future. The BOT is the Central Bank of Thailand and has no interest in the purchases or sales of personal real estate. In this case, their interest is in the proper documentation of flow of funds in and out of Thailand.

Theoretically, should your wife sell the real estate and you wish to remit the funds back out of Thailand, the BOT would match the TT3 with the TT4. In reality, with the volume of incoming and outgoing FX, it is difficult for the BOT to do this, but the bank who you ask to remit the funds will check. Since you say the funds have already arrived, it is in your best interest to get the TT3 amended to show the actual purpose of the TT3 being to purchase real estate. This is possible, but usually the bank who received the funds will not want to do this as it is extra work. If you have a personal officer at your Thai bank, then they can move this forward. If you do not, the area of your Thai bank handling your transaction will be the Remittance Dept. They can liase with the foreign bank's Remittance Dept. to help you get this form amended. Please note that they may not speak very good English, if at all.

The people in the Remittance Dept. can provide you with a world of information, including the answers to the rest of your questions as they have to deal with incoming and outgoing FX and compliance with BOT directives, on a daily basis.

Thanks for your informative reply. Upon viewing the responses to my question I immediately telephoned my wife in Thailand. I asked her to call the Siam Commercial Bank in Hua Hin . That's where we wired our money from the US. I was a little concerned because we should have requested the TT3 at the time we took the money out to pay for the property in Hua Hin. And it is true that if you don't go by the book in Thailand you can often be out of luck.

Fortunately, the Assistant VP Branch Manager at the bank was very helpful. My wife explained that she had overlooked requesting a TT3 at the time we bought the property. He said no problem. He asked my wife to come back down to Hua Hin and meet with him this Friday to take care of the TT3 document.

Thanks to all the good advice. Had my wife returned to the states without filling out the proper documentation now, we might have had a lot of headaches down the road should we decide to sell the property and try and take the money out of Thailand

[dr_Pat_Pong]

I cannot answer many of your questions, but I can shed some light on the TT3. This is a Bank of Thailand (BOT) form which is meant to document incoming foreign exchange (FX). The TT4 form is for outgoing FX remittances. The TT3 and TT4 forms are the way the BOT keeps track of incoming and outgoing FX. These forms have nothing to do with whether Thai nationals are involved or not.

The people who advised you that it is important to have the TT3 reflect the purpose of the incoming funds have given you the correct advice. However, the TT3 has nothing to do with whether your wife can or cannot sell her real estate in the future. The BOT is the Central Bank of Thailand and has no interest in the purchases or sales of personal real estate. In this case, their interest is in the proper documentation of flow of funds in and out of Thailand.

Theoretically, should your wife sell the real estate and you wish to remit the funds back out of Thailand, the BOT would match the TT3 with the TT4. In reality, with the volume of incoming and outgoing FX, it is difficult for the BOT to do this, but the bank who you ask to remit the funds will check. Since you say the funds have already arrived, it is in your best interest to get the TT3 amended to show the actual purpose of the TT3 being to purchase real estate. This is possible, but usually the bank who received the funds will not want to do this as it is extra work. If you have a personal officer at your Thai bank, then they can move this forward. If you do not, the area of your Thai bank handling your transaction will be the Remittance Dept. They can liase with the foreign bank's Remittance Dept. to help you get this form amended. Please note that they may not speak very good English, if at all.

The people in the Remittance Dept. can provide you with a world of information, including the answers to the rest of your questions as they have to deal with incoming and outgoing FX and compliance with BOT directives, on a daily basis.

Thanks for your informative reply. Upon viewing the responses to my question I immediately telephoned my wife in Thailand. I asked her to call the Siam Commercial Bank in Hua Hin . That's where we wired our money from the US. I was a little concerned because we should have requested the TT3 at the time we took the money out to pay for the property in Hua Hin. And it is true that if you don't go by the book in Thailand you can often be out of luck.

Fortunately, the Assistant VP Branch Manager at the bank was very helpful. My wife explained that she had overlooked requesting a TT3 at the time we bought the property. He said no problem. He asked my wife to come back down to Hua Hin and meet with him this Friday to take care of the TT3 document.

Thanks to all the good advice. Had my wife returned to the states without filling out the proper documentation now, we might have had a lot of headaches down the road should we decide to sell the property and try and take the money out of Thailand

Take a nice gift

[Dragonman]

Sorry, I may have had too much SangSom and coke last night, but I am confused by this thread. Could anyone enlighten me?

Why should a Foreign Currency Transfer Form in the name of the husband, where the money is then gifted to the wife, be any good for returning said money to US, on sale of the property? It is now the wife's, and as presumably she now resides in the States, she is able to transfer her own assets or inheritance, up to $1 million back to the States

[egeefay]

Sorry, I may have had too much SangSom and coke last night, but I am confused by this thread. Could anyone enlighten me?

Why should a Foreign Currency Transfer Form in the name of the husband, where the money is then gifted to the wife, be any good for returning said money to US, on sale of the property? It is now the wife's, and as presumably she now resides in the States, she is able to transfer her own assets or inheritance, up to $1 million back to the States

It sounds like what you are saying that as long as the assets are in my Thai wife's name (she is a US citizen but does have her Thai identity card) she can send up to 1 million dollars back to the US with the blessings of the Thai government.

I was not aware of this.

Of course, there are wealthy Thais moving to the United States all the time so it makes sense that there must be some mechanism for them to transfer money to the US to buy houses and cars and start businesses.

The land we bought was in my Thai wife's name. I have no legal claims to the property. So if what you are saying is correct, perhaps we did not need a TT3 document

[donx]

I think what Dragonman is saying is that the only reason for getting a TT3 document is when a non-Thai citizen is buying a condo (or perhaps other business investment asset). Since your wife who is a Thai citizen bought the property (which you as a non-citizen are banned from directly owning), the TT3 is unnecessary.

[Dragonman]

I think what Dragonman is saying is that the only reason for getting a TT3 document is when a non-Thai citizen is buying a condo (or perhaps other business investment asset). Since your wife who is a Thai citizen bought the property (which you as a non-citizen are banned from directly owning), the TT3 is unnecessary.

Yes as long as there is a clear paper trail and money is tranferred from the thai citizen's named bank account to her named account in US. This avoids Money Laundering laws. It is only the case where she is a resident of the US, but has assets or inheritance from Thailand.

[Old Man River]

Donx, the TT3 has absolutely nothing to do with foreigners wishing to make investments in Thailand. It is a Bank of Thailand (BOT) form which does nothing more than to document the inflow of FX from abroad. All received FX over a certain amount (I can't remember the threshold) requires the receiving bank to document the incoming foreign exchange with a TT3. This document is ultimately sent to the BOT and becomes a matter of record. If the receiving bank doesn't know the purpose of the remittance, they put in miscellaneous.

While Dragonman is correct as it relates to current laws on remittance, I so no reason why, since a friendly banker has been located, egeefay's wife shouldn't get it amended to reflect its orginal purpose. The intended purpose of the funds is the only thing that gets amended. Why take the chance that an unfriendly government comes in down the line and changes the laws and makes simple remittances more difficult, as they used to be. The only cost in it, as Dr. Pat Pong alluded to, is about THB 500 for a bottle of red wine to be given as a gift at the beginning of SongKran. In addition, if eqeefay's wife is going to be using SCB in the future, it is a good way to develop a banking relationship.

[Dragonman]

Donx, the TT3 has absolutely nothing to do with foreigners wishing to make investments in Thailand. It is a Bank of Thailand (BOT) form which does nothing more than to document the inflow of FX from abroad. All received FX over a certain amount (I can't remember the threshold) requires the receiving bank to document the incoming foreign exchange with a TT3. This document is ultimately sent to the BOT and becomes a matter of record. If the receiving bank doesn't know the purpose of the remittance, they put in miscellaneous.

While Dragonman is correct as it relates to current laws on remittance, I so no reason why, since a friendly banker has been located, egeefay's wife shouldn't get it amended to reflect its orginal purpose. The intended purpose of the funds is the only thing that gets amended. Why take the chance that an unfriendly government comes in down the line and changes the laws and makes simple remittances more difficult, as they used to be. The only cost in it, as Dr. Pat Pong alluded to, is about THB 500 for a bottle of red wine to be given as a gift at the beginning of SongKran. In addition, if eqeefay's wife is going to be using SCB in the future, it is a good way to develop a banking relationship.

Really, under Land Laws, it should be registered as a "gift", not as money to purchase a property. Presumably the OP has already signed at the Land Office to state such.

[Old Man River]

Good point.

Yes, documents should be consistent to avoid issues in the future, although the BOT and Land office, as you know, would never communicate with one another. It just would make things easier for the OP, should there be a problem for any reason in the future, to be able to put down in front of the remitting bank documents that agree with each other.

[Dragonman]

Good point.

Yes, documents should be consistent to avoid issues in the future, although the BOT and Land office, as you know, would never communicate with one another. It just would make things easier for the OP, should there be a problem for any reason in the future, to be able to put down in front of the remitting bank documents that agree with each other.

I agree! BoT and other banks don't communicate half the time No harm in getting as much paperwork as possible even if you don't need to use it eventually. Lack of someone putting something on paper is the biggest problem in Thailand. Perhaps to do with the laws on verbal contracts