Income Tax Deductions And Refunds ?

[bundoi]

In the for what's worth department.....I asked the department head to help me speak with the admin. We were in the office together by chance. She said something in Thai, and there was a reply. I was told "we have to ask the Director and he's terribly busy" meaning of course, they aren't going to do diddely squat and don't care. More for what's worth...I saw the Director standing at the gate joking around with other Thai teachers. I watched this go on for at least ten min., which is about 9 1/2 longer than it would take him to say "do what the dumb farang wants" or "*&^% him and his tax issues".

It might look that simple Bruce, but....well let's start at the beginning,

have you provided them with a tax code?

have you provided them with enough information for them to obtain the correct tax code for you?

do you know whether they even have a tax code for you or are they applying the default zero-allowances code?

if they haven't got a code it will take a a bit longer than 10 minutes divided by 9.5 sorry to say.

The OP is asking about tax with regards to, at least, his second year of teaching. He is requesting that no monies be deducted for the first two months of 2014, as if he only works 2 months then he is way below the tax threshold.

The tax code should already be in place as he has been having dedcutions taken for the tax year ended 31st December 2013.

I don't see why the Director needs a code to give permission for deductions to be stopped.

The OP said "When a teacher is in limbo, the school not sure if they are going to keep her, him not sure if he's going to stay, how do you professionally ask that the income tax deduction cease for the first two months of 2014?"

The OP is asking effectively to claim a refund 1 year in advance, based on a hypothetical position that he might (or might not) stop working at this school in particular or in Thailand in general. Not in a million years... in principal (sticking my neck out a tad there :-) ).

The Director is not in a position legally to give permission (code or not) to stop deductions as he is not collecting for himself or his school, but for the government tax department.

Otherwise I agree with what you're saying.

PS It's possible that a teacher sees a 2nd teacher apparently paying zero monthly tax; this is what we'd expect if teacher 2's allowances reduce his/her taxable income to below the tax threshold.

[SlyAnimal]

Well sounds like unfortunately things aren't going anywhere in a hurry for you Bruce

You've done what you can, you can bring up the issue with the school admin again, or not, depending on how important it is.

A lot really just depends on what type of working relationship you have with the school. Personally I find that I can get most admin stuff via the school done, but they do it in their own time and occasionally need to be reminded.

If your friend's contract is up for renewal, and they have reason to believe that it might not be a favorable decision, then I'd probably not do too much nudging. As it's maybe best to not look like a pushy foreigner who annoys the admin staff.

But if they think the school thinks favorably of them, then no nudging is required anyway lol

If the teacher loses their job but then picks up a new job in Thailand later this year, then the deducted tax is relevant anyway.

So I'd say the best solution is probably to just sit on your hands and not worry too much.

Also just to add my 2c on the topic of having tax deducted early. As others have stated previously, legally it should be deducted at source (as it's basically PAYE), Thailand is just very relaxed.

But even if you are a company or contractor and file your own tax returns, in some countries you also need to pay provisional tax if you earn over a certain amount. At which point you basically make a prepayment on your tax every few months so that it's spread across the year. This happens in NZ, but I don't know about Thailand. So essentially paying "prepayments" on your tax are simply normal.

Anywho, just my 2c

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[BruceMangosteen]

In summary reply to the last couple contributions...

The Director isn't involved in all this. It was just an excuse to put off and get the farang out of the office.

This so called "code" while as mentioned, may be on the books, plays no role in the deductions. If memory serves, they asked me and the other teachers how much we wanted deducted. It wasn't computed. As Willie Nelson said, "when I owe them money, they have a problem...when they owe me money, I have a problem".

In the event of termination, it will again be like pulling teeth getting the income and tax statement before next year. I'd like to simply get it at the end of February and be completely done with this outfit. But, as you can imagine, it won't be that simple. People will be "terribly busy" and it will be put off and considered a complaint.

Edited January 9, 2014 by ubonjoe
removed off topic comment