April International Insurance

[Jack Mountain]

Hi, anyone been to the tax office recently in Pattaya? Yes? Where is it? I searched this site but it comes with 2 locations (Na Klua and Jomtiem) which both can be true ofcourse but i want to prevent that one of them is the previous location.

TIA

[JakeBKK]

The region 2 tax office is next to tonys gym in jomtien. You`will find signs in English and Thai. Dress nicely. Be prepared to speak Thai. Good luck.

Edited January 23, 2014 by JakeBKK

[Woody1]

What type of tax?

[JakeBKK]

What type of tax?

revenue department i'd guess

[Woody1]

There are an abundance of tax types, that's why I asked the question.

The OP hasn't replied to my earlier question, that's why I haven't guessed.

Now JakeBKK, presuming your guess, which is pretty vague, as most taxes would fall under, "revenue" is correct, we'd need to know exactly what type of tax is being referred to.

[WitawatWatawit]

While the above points are being argued - the easiest way to find the tax office in Jomtien is to head along Thappraya Rd towards Jom. At the lights where Thappraya curves to the right heading to the beach, go straight ahead instead onto 2nd road. Go about 50m past the lights and turn left (look for the tax office sign - and the sign for Tony's gym). There is a very helpful middle-aged woman in the tax office who speaks good English.

[Jack Mountain]

What type of tax?

Refund interest tax.

[Guderian]

What type of tax?

Refund interest tax.

I use the one in Jomtien.

[i claudius]

there is the main one at naklua next to the banglamung police station on sukhumvit ,they speak english and are helpfull ,but if its your first time ,take a thai speaker . quick and efficient

[bender92]

What type of tax?

Refund interest tax.

Do you have your tax ID # yet? I got mine with copies of retirement 'visa', proof of residency, one of my bangbooks with tax taken out.

After that I went to my bank and got forms filled in showing tax paid. I did 3 years at once - 2011, 12, 13. Need copies of each bankbook and all pages showing the tax. And copy of passport again.

[Woody1]

Guderian, my friend, please post a few of the details regarding where you went, and how you got along with the service / process!

Always nice to hear from real people who have done something / anything, rather than than the keyboard warriors!

Hope it went well for you Mate!

[Guderian]

Guderian, my friend, please post a few of the details regarding where you went, and how you got along with the service / process!

Always nice to hear from real people who have done something / anything, rather than than the keyboard warriors!

Hope it went well for you Mate!

Once you get to the Jomtien office you just walk into the large room at ground level. I was lucky when I first went there as it was very quiet so I got served straight away and people were very helpful. On a busy day it will probably seem a bit more chaotic and even intimidating, but don't be put off. You will have the tax forms from your bank so just show them to somebody and they will point you to the right desk, or give you a ticket for it if it's busy. The guy I was directed to took the forms from the bank off me with my yellow card tax ID and he completed the refund form for me, all very painless. Again, YMMV.

If you aren't in the tax system yet then you'll need to get a yellow card first. That's done at a different counter in the same room. You'll need the usual identification and copies of your passport, and possibly proof of your address, I can't honestly remember. Immigration have got me programmed like Pavlov's dog with this stuff so I just take everything they can possibly want whenever I visit Thai officialdom.

Once you have got the refund form completed it's given a final check by a different person and they issue you with a receipt. It's very important to make sure that you get and keep this receipt. After that a cheque should arrive in the post from Bangkok in around 6 weeks. Last year it didn't come, so I went back to the tax office to find out what was wrong. I was directed to the fourth floor and everyone was very friendly there. The lady dealing with my claim said that the banks sometimes made mistakes filling out the forms (sounds unlikely as they are computer generated) so she needed to see copies of my passbook to verify my claim. Off I went to get them and when I returned 30 minutes later she checked them against the claim form and told me it was all in order and I would get the cheque in 6 weeks. Two days later an official letter arrived at my house from the tax office saying (in Thai of course) that they wanted copies of my passbook. Doh! It seems that the Thai post office is even slower than the tax office.

Anyway, around 3 or 4 weeks later the cheque did indeed arrive and I was 8000 Baht richer. None of this is remotely as sinister or scary as a visit to a British tax office. I was able to just take a lift to the fourth floor office (which I could identify as it had something like 'TAX REFUNDS' written on the glass in English) and walk straight in. It was the summer school holidays and some of the people working there had brought their children with them, to keep an eye on them I suppose. I can't imagine any of that in a standard HMRC torture chamber tax office.

I got the 2013 tax forms from my bank this week so next week I'll drop by the Jomtien office again and hand it all over, with copies of my passbook pages this time. I bank with SCB and their branch on Beach Road near Walking Street knew exactly what I needed, but I also have an account with the branch by Soi Wat Bun in Jomtien and the girl there was adamant that as my account had been closed and a new one opened late in 2013 (paying a better rate) she couldn't make a tax form. You might have to raise your voice a bit, but don't accept any of this nonsense, if you paid tax in 2013 then you can get a form saying so and claim it back as long as your income arising in Thailand is less than the tax-free amount (150K Baht I think). I was also told when I was asking about doing this that you could make a back-claim for up to 3 years, but I didn't have any success with that, only the one year. Still, it's better than nothing and again YMMV. SCB aren't always the most helpful bank in the Kingdom.

Good luck with it anyway, like many of these bureaucratic things it can seem a bit OTT at first but once you've done it one time and know the procedure it's not really any major trouble after that.

Edited January 25, 2014 by Guderian