Taking Money Out Of Thailand

[johndudorn]

Just read about the individual who wanted to bring money into Thailand earlier on one of the forums. My questions is how do you take out funds in excess of ten thousand dollars... Plan on selling some property.

On the US customs web site about reporting funds above the 10k mark it states:

"However, the term “monetary instruments” does not include:

1) Checks or money orders made payable to the order of an

individual or entity which have not been endorsed or which

bear restrictive endorsements;"

If I read this correctly, if I had a check made out to me. I would not be required to report it as I entered the US... Looking for folks that have had experience taking money into US from Thailand and how you handled it? Cashiers check, wire transfer, Western Union etc.

What is my obligation to report to Thai customs and again any help is appreciated...

[mogandave]

So when you get to the US you still have to cash or deposit a check drawn on a Thai bank.

Citibank might work out.

Or maybe you can deposit it in a Bangkok Bank account and draw it out at the New York branch.

[FunFon]

You should actually be more concerned about this side of the border, Thailand's pretty restrictive, have to have all your ducks in a row that the money was brought in originally from outside or earned here legally taxes paid etc and even then only a certain percentage of your earned income is allowed to leave.

Just wire transfer it to the States and declare it, tax rates are so low anyway it's much easier to just play it straight.

[craigt3365]

Let's move this over to the business forum.

Topic Moved.

[johndudorn]

I had expected with all of the ex-pats someone with real experience with moving money back to the US would help... My wife and I are getting older an would like to scale back our properties here.

Is the following correct, sell property, deposit in our SCB account, wire USD to our account in the US? Or the alternative????

How or would the Thai government get involved. All our properties are registered and we have paid all taxes as required.

Thanks for you help in advance!!!

[Firefan]

U need to have proof of source of income on this side. I.e. when you go to the Thai bank to request the transfer to the US they will request the various documents (TT3 of original money wired in(if in foreigner name),purchase and sales documents, tax payment done on sale Etc.) - with those in hand they will execute the wire.

I know little of the US side of the rules. Cheers!

[mogandave]

If you sell a property and realize a profit I think you will have to pay taxes on the gains here and depending on how much the gain was, taxes in the US as well.

Were it me, assuming it is a fair chunk of dough, I would get a good tax lawyer, preferably one that works with Ex-Pats from the US, I would investigate this before I sold the property.

If it’s not that much I would just carry cash. With your wife, you can carry $20K a trip (traveling separately) without declaring. If everything is on the square, there is no real down-side or even
much of a delay at customs if you carry more cash and declare it.

Hope this helps, good
luck.

[55Jay]

When you go to deposit a significant sum at your bank in the states, teller may report it as well.

[RHCP]

U need to have proof of source of income on this side. I.e. when you go to the Thai bank to request the transfer to the US they will request the various documents (TT3 of original money wired in(if in foreigner name),purchase and sales documents, tax payment done on sale Etc.) - with those in hand they will execute the wire.

I know little of the US side of the rules. Cheers!

What's the situation for someone if a profit is made on the sale which therefore exceeds the money brought in?

[johndudorn]

U need to have proof of source of income on this side. I.e. when you go to the Thai bank to request the transfer to the US they will request the various documents (TT3 of original money wired in(if in foreigner name),purchase and sales documents, tax payment done on sale Etc.) - with those in hand they will execute the wire.

I know little of the US side of the rules. Cheers!

We have bought the properties over years and never kept documentation..., Do you think SCB would have records of the wires over the years, as I have been with them for almost all of the time I have been coming here? Purchases were funded by wire transfers from US... We are talking a lot more then 20K if we sold anyone of our properties... I would consider leaving some here but would like to take the bulk back to the states... All of our children live in the states and none have indicated they would come back to live.

In the past I have wired over 60k in one wire never heard anything from customs in Thailand or US when transferring cash to Thailand...

[Firefan]

RHCP; that is where the sales tax documents come in. I.e. they have to reflect the sales price (which naturally will include any profit) and tax should be paid upon same. Therefore it is important that the sale is NOT done "Thai-style" where taxes are paid on a lower value than the real sales price (at least if there are profits involved).

John; you might have to pay SCB a fee to go through archives but they might be able to help. At Bangkok Bank head office Silom they charged me 500 Baht per year for print outs and I then high lighted all wires in over the years, after which they issued a letter confirming same. That (their own!) letter they accepted for wires out up to the same total amount - even though some of them were several years old.

You mention wires IN to Thailand - they will not give you letter automatically. You got to ASK for letters confirming same at the same time you receive the wire.

If you bought in a foreigner name (condo) you would need the TT3 (now called Certificate of foreign currency transaction) in order to get condo in your name - and that would suffice too.

All above has nothing to do with how you handle things in the USA.

Cheers!

[billoutt]

Let's move this over to the business forum.

Topic Moved.

Craigt3365 apparently didn't read/understand the post. NO business is involved. The question is simply about an INDIVIDUAL transferring money.

.

Edited April 17, 2013 by craigt3365
changed font sizes

[craigt3365]

Let's move this over to the business forum.

Topic Moved.

Craigt3365 apparently didn't read/understand the post. NO business is involved. The question is simply about an INDIVIDUAL transferring money.

.

No need to post in bold and large font sizes. Please avoid doing that in the future.

The General forum is for topics that don't belong anywhere else. This one is more related to this forum. Notice the word "Banking" in the title of this sub forum? Better fit, IMHO.

Please, in the future, no more comments about moderation in public. If unhappy about something, contact support at thaivisa.com.

[johndudorn]

RHCP; that is where the sales tax documents come in. I.e. they have to reflect the sales price (which naturally will include any profit) and tax should be paid upon same. Therefore it is important that the sale is NOT done "Thai-style" where taxes are paid on a lower value than the real sales price (at least if there are profits involved).

John; you might have to pay SCB a fee to go through archives but they might be able to help. At Bangkok Bank head office Silom they charged me 500 Baht per year for print outs and I then high lighted all wires in over the years, after which they issued a letter confirming same. That (their own!) letter they accepted for wires out up to the same total amount - even though some of them were several years old.

You mention wires IN to Thailand - they will not give you letter automatically. You got to ASK for letters confirming same at the same time you receive the wire.

If you bought in a foreigner name (condo) you would need the TT3 (now called Certificate of foreign currency transaction) in order to get condo in your name - and that would suffice too.

All above has nothing to do with how you handle things in the USA.

Cheers!

We bought all the properties in wife's name.... I will research SCB policy on getting copies of past transaction.... Most properties purchased in last ten years... Prior to building our own place we were both working so built homes for children first, and stayed with them when visiting...

[Arkady]

RHCP; that is where the sales tax documents come in. I.e. they have to reflect the sales price (which naturally will include any profit) and tax should be paid upon same. Therefore it is important that the sale is NOT done "Thai-style" where taxes are paid on a lower value than the real sales price (at least if there are profits involved).

John; you might have to pay SCB a fee to go through archives but they might be able to help. At Bangkok Bank head office Silom they charged me 500 Baht per year for print outs and I then high lighted all wires in over the years, after which they issued a letter confirming same. That (their own!) letter they accepted for wires out up to the same total amount - even though some of them were several years old.

You mention wires IN to Thailand - they will not give you letter automatically. You got to ASK for letters confirming same at the same time you receive the wire.

If you bought in a foreigner name (condo) you would need the TT3 (now called Certificate of foreign currency transaction) in order to get condo in your name - and that would suffice too.

All above has nothing to do with how you handle things in the USA.

Cheers!

We bought all the properties in wife's name.... I will research SCB policy on getting copies of past transaction.... Most properties purchased in last ten years... Prior to building our own place we were both working so built homes for children first, and stayed with them when visiting...

If you bought the properties in your wife's name, it is a case of a Thai national wanting to remit money overseas and she will need to justify it based on an investment overseas or needing to support children studying overseas etc. The rules about remitting proceeds from sales of property only apply to foreigners who brought in funds to buy condos in their own names with proper documentation on the inward remittance stating that it was purchase a condo at such and such address. There are black market money changers in Bkk's China Town who can help you get dollars cash or even remit for you through the informal money market, if you are willing to trust them. Someone with dollars overseas who wants baht in Thailand without documentation will be found for you to facilitate the transaction but you will probably have to give them the baht first and no legal recourse, since you entered into an illegal transaction.

The Land Dept will deduct withholding tax according to their complex formula at the time of sale but she should also declare the profit to the Revenue Dept in annual PNG 90 tax filing, so they can assess whether her tax rate should be higher, depending on her total annual income. If she has no other income then there probably won't be any excess tax to pay but it is still a criminal offence not to declare the profit and there is inflation indexing of capital gains in Thailand. They are simply treated as income in the year they are realised.

Edited April 17, 2013 by Arkady

[johndudorn]

RHCP; that is where the sales tax documents come in. I.e. they have to reflect the sales price (which naturally will include any profit) and tax should be paid upon same. Therefore it is important that the sale is NOT done "Thai-style" where taxes are paid on a lower value than the real sales price (at least if there are profits involved).

John; you might have to pay SCB a fee to go through archives but they might be able to help. At Bangkok Bank head office Silom they charged me 500 Baht per year for print outs and I then high lighted all wires in over the years, after which they issued a letter confirming same. That (their own!) letter they accepted for wires out up to the same total amount - even though some of them were several years old.

You mention wires IN to Thailand - they will not give you letter automatically. You got to ASK for letters confirming same at the same time you receive the wire.

If you bought in a foreigner name (condo) you would need the TT3 (now called Certificate of foreign currency transaction) in order to get condo in your name - and that would suffice too.

All above has nothing to do with how you handle things in the USA.

Cheers!

We bought all the properties in wife's name.... I will research SCB policy on getting copies of past transaction.... Most properties purchased in last ten years... Prior to building our own place we were both working so built homes for children first, and stayed with them when visiting...

If you bought the properties in your wife's name, it is a case of a Thai national wanting to remit money overseas and she will need to justify it based on an investment overseas or needing to support children studying overseas etc. The rules about remitting proceeds from sales of property only apply to foreigners who brought in funds to buy condos in their own names with proper documentation on the inward remittance stating that it was purchase a condo at such and such address. There are black market money changers in Bkk's China Town who can help you get dollars cash or even remit for you through the informal money market, if you are willing to trust them. Someone with dollars overseas who wants baht in Thailand without documentation will be found for you to facilitate the transaction but you will probably have to give them the baht first and no legal recourse, since you entered into an illegal transaction.

The Land Dept will deduct withholding tax according to their complex formula at the time of sale but she should also declare the profit to the Revenue Dept in annual PNG 90 tax filing, so they can assess whether her tax rate should be higher, depending on her total annual income. If she has no other income then there probably won't be any excess tax to pay but it is still a criminal offence not to declare the profit and there is inflation indexing of capital gains in Thailand. They are simply treated as income in the year they are realised.

Not sure how this figures in, she has never had an income in Thailand... We have been married almost 40 years, she basically has lived outside of Thailand all that time. Mostly in the US and is a US citizen... All monies came from our accounts in the US... We do plan to leave some property to the kids when we pass with the idea they would sell property and split with brother/sister in the states, is inheritance handled differently? I have read there is no inheritance tax in Thailand... Edited April 17, 2013 by johndudorn

[mogandave]

The revenue department here is relentless, the "standard deduction" is virtually nothing and the tax rates are high.

Get a good attorney.