What are my best options for transferring money here from my USA home sale to purchase Thai property and avoiding as much hassle and taxes as possible?

I have a Thai wife and am purchasing property just under $100,000. Can I wire it direct from my home sale? Does it become taxable income in the US when it gets transferred? Can it be sent as a gift to family?

I sold a condo in Hawaii and wire transferred the money to a Thai bank without any problem.

When you sell the property in the US you do need to determine if you must pay tax on the capital gain if you made a profit on the sale. There are exceptions based on age, etc. Seek professional tax advice on whether in your particular case it is a taxable event.

If I recall correctly, there was a $250,000 exemption but that information is twelve years old and my gain on the condo sale was less than that.

No taxes on transferring money to Thailand for whatever reason. No connection between transferring money to Thailand and what U.S. tax you may owe for whatever reason like profit on a home sale.

Plenty of info on web about being allowed up to make up $250K cap gain/profit on home sale without owing any tax (up to $500K if married).

If you are referring to a rollover where you defer the tax on the capital gains, then no you can't do that. You would be subject to paying US tax on the capital gains for the sale of the US property. I've done a tax-deferred real estate transaction before and am am pretty sure about this.

can I be the first to say "Don't do it"

rent out your Hawaii place and use that money to pay for Thai place......

you have no rights in Thailand , why would you want to put your money there ?

Not to mention this is the worst possible time to buy property. I think a stock market favorite is appropriate here... "never try to catch a falling knife". Wait a few years until the market bottoms out.

To answer your specific questions - here is the rule on the sale of your personal home -

Individuals can exclude up to $250,000 in profit from the sale of a main home (or $500,000 for a married couple) as long as you have owned the home and lived in the home for a minimum of two years. Those two years do not need to be consecutive. In the 5 years prior to the sale of the house, you need to have lived in the house for at least 24 months in that 5-year period. In other words, the home must have been your principal residence.

As far as sending the proceeds to Thailand, you can simply wire the money to the Thai bank of your choice. I would suggest that you deposit the proceeds into your US bank first, prior to sending it on to Thailand. That amount of money will generate some easy to answer questions from your bank, before they complete the wire/transfer process.

Or open an Account with a USA bank with offices in Thailand ,

or I think Bangkok bank has an office in New York city......

But think about renting it out , you have a fallback position if the S hits the fan !

Or open an Account with a USA bank with offices in Thailand ,

or I think Bangkok bank has an office in New York city......

But think about renting it out , you have a fallback position if the S hits the fan !

Unfortunately you think wrong. Bangkok Bank does have a branch in New York, but it is not a retail bank so you cannot open an account there. You can open a Bangkok Bank here in Thailand and make use of Bangkok Banks' unique ability to transfer funds to Thailand via the New York office, but you must have a Thai Bangkok Bank account

The only US bank that does have a physical presence in Thailand is CitiBank, which is restricted to Bangkok, and depending upon the type of account you have may or may not allow transfer of funds from your US CitiBank account to your Thai CitiBank account

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Or open an Account with a USA bank with offices in Thailand ,

or I think Bangkok bank has an office in New York city......

But think about renting it out , you have a fallback position if the S hits the fan !

CitiBank USA also has a Bangkok branch - but no other branches in Thailand.

Transfer it into Bangkok Bank ... they have a branch in NY ...

Pleas pay close ATTENTION to BKKDREAMINGs comment.That comment is spot on.

keep YOUR house as you will only finance HER house overhere ... rent your house in the US and use that money to RENT here

Be aware that the US requires Thai banks to inform them of your banking in Thailand...you will be required to fill out forms to inform the government how much money you have overseas...also...they are incredulous enough to ask how each transaction went down...what was the price of bath vs USD at the time of the transfer and so on...NO...I am not kidding...

Remember property in Thailand in most case has limited liquidity. Even if you escape the pitfalls along the way if you ever want to sell you might not be able too or take a real haircut.

Just something to be aware of.

Seriously consider not moving that money here. You have rights back in the States, but nothing at all to protect you here.

Well until we know how much the OP sold the original house for, all of these " don't sell, rent" posts are moot. What if the OP sold for 1 million and wants to bring 100K over for a new house and invest the other 900K in various investments in the US? Maybe he wants to buy a house for his Mrs. here and still keep most of his cash in the US. Until we know the story, I don't buy the " don't sell, rent" line. 100K isn't a whole lot of money to many people to invest to help make their family more financially secure.

I sold my home in California, took the 250,000.00 exemption and kept my money there.....when the yogurt hits the fan here I want to be liquid. Just saying....?

Why does Thai property have limited liquidity? My half Thai daughter has land in her name and I view this as her college education fund...

When the time I right I hope to sell the land 12-14 years from now and use the money to finance her USA college education...

CB

Not to mention this is the worst possible time to buy property. I think a stock market favorite is appropriate here... "never try to catch a falling knife". Wait a few years until the market bottoms out.

People have been saying that for over 10 years now......and the prices just keep going up every year.

There may be a correction coming (especially in the condo market) but overall the prices seem to continuously go up.

Thailand has a way of performing the opposite of what we consider to be common sense.

b

Why does Thai property have limited liquidity? My half Thai daughter has land in her name and I view this as her college education fund...

When the time I right I hope to sell the land 12-14 years from now and use the money to finance her USA college education...

CB

It would be in a trust then- until which time she becomes 18 years old- the land can be transferred into her name.

I am aware of no other way this could be possible.

b

Don't do it !! Don't paint yourself into a corner, you need your property in USA DON'T DO IT !

I just wanted to add if you took a loss on the sale of your home do not forget to deduct this at tax time.

I just wanted to add if you took a loss on the sale of your home do not forget to deduct this at tax time.

You can never take a tax deduction on the capital loss of the sale of a personal residence - no matter how much it hurts.

Edited January 21, 201511 yr by SpokaneAl

Are you ting tong DON'T DO IT. Keep property in a civilised country. I know many fools who did exactly what your planning only to have Mamma, Pappa, brother,sister,uncle,aunty,dog,cat,chickens & buffalo. move in and them move out without any access. Don't end up potless in the land of scams.

If you and your wife decide to purchase property in Thailand please consider:

Select the property.

Inbound funds be sure to give the property details i.e address etc on the fund transfer document.

When done get a letter from the bank confirming the funds are for the purchase of a specific property.

Later if you wish to sell the property you will be able to repatriate the funds out of Thailand equal to the amount you brought in.

Not to mention this is the worst possible time to buy property. I think a stock market favorite is appropriate here... "never try to catch a falling knife". Wait a few years until the market bottoms out.

People have been saying that for over 10 years now......and the prices just keep going up every year.

There may be a correction coming (especially in the condo market) but overall the prices seem to continuously go up.

Thailand has a way of performing the opposite of what we consider to be common sense.

b

Hope and 20 baht gets you an omelet on rice. I hope your plans work out, really I do, but past performance is never an indication of the future. That's mostly luck.

Terrible idea. Why do so many people come to Thailand and make BRUTAL investment decisions. Think with you head and not the one in your pants.

"A fool and his money are easily departed".

If you could gamble with that money in the casino, you could purchase this house. If this is not the gamble, then don't do it. Land on which the house is build is and will never be yours and house at best at 50 %. Marriage is a lottery by itself too, so anything you own with your wife in Thailand. Good luck.

First, are you living in Hawaii and is your Thai wife with you and have a Social Security number? If so, if you sell you are exempt to 250,000 for single and 500,000 for Joint. But of course seek a Accountant for you particular situation.

If selling you can instruct the Title company to transfer the money abroard and to any other of your accounts to any banks desired/

Using the Title company might avoid any problems of the transfer being stop due to security reasons. I had a friend transfer a lump sum of over 100,000 USD it got stopped by the Government. Thereafter, I usually make 30,000 transfers to avoid any problems.

You are going to get if not already, but whatever you buy for your Thai wife is your business and IMHO $100,000 you spend you should think about if things goes bad you can walk away losing the property. Just saying, first you are in a different country with different rules and laws for us and being married in the West is like what? 50% of a chance you will be divorce so guess what it is going to be in Thailand? 50% or less and if you are saying it's is not going to happen to you. WAKE UP AND SPELL THE COFFEE! BECAUSE LOVE IS BLIND!

Another thought as suggested, if you do not need to sell and the Condo is paid off you might want to take a second on the property and see if the rent would cover the loan amount. Interest is low and you can use the write off on the interest?