Inheritance tax to come into effect January 2016

[Lite Beer]

Inheritance tax to come into effect January 2016

BANGKOK, 8 August 2015 (NNT) – The Inheritance Tax Act 2015 has been published in the Royal Gazette and will be in effect in January next year.

Deputy PM’s Office Spokesperson Maj Gen Sansern Kaewkamnerd revealed that the objectives of the inheritance tax law were to make wealthy people contribute to society, encourage their offspring to fend for themselves, bridge economic and social gaps and boost the state revenue.

The new law applies to all groups of endowment recipients. If inheritance is worth over 100 million baht and recipients are descendants of endowers, tax of five percent will be collected from the above 100-million baht inherited parts. Grantees who are not descendants of the bequeathers will have to pay tax of 10 percent.

If an owner transfers his or her property worth over 10 million baht to a person unconditionally while he or she is still alive, the receiver will be required to pay tax of five percent, which will be collected from the above 10-million baht inherited parts.

If the receiver is an offspring of the endower and the given property is worth over 20 million baht, the receiver is to pay tax of five percent based on the above 20-million baht mark. Items which are considered to be inheritance include estates, bank deposits, shares or debentures, vehicles and financial assets.

-- NNT 2015-08-08

[SABloke]

Some laws take immediate effect and others take 6 months. Mmmm...I wonder why

[nong38]

Not really going to make the off spring destitute and want to fend for themselves is it.

[Blitzkrieg Bob]

And the HiSo Thais jump in joy for the heads up while making all necessary calls to their lawyers... A six months time frame should be more than enough. Let the party continue!

[Shawn0001]

And the HiSo Thais jump in joy for the heads up while making all necessary calls to their lawyers... A six months time frame should be more than enough. Let the party continue!

Exactly, not that it is a high inheritance tax or with a low threshold anyway!

[EricBerg]

... and soon those taxes for farangs will be tenfold... need to compensate lesser revenues after all.

[wabothai]

Now ladies who fit the shoe, listen carefully, you will be taxed.

[gemguy]

Hmmmmm....with a little bit of imagination ..not much actually...that new law will easily be corrupted by those in a position to corrupt it and profit from it.

Every time I hear about a new law or regulation proposed and or coming into effect I immediately have these visions of how various private people having position and influence and or government officials will, sooner or later ( usually sooner ) realize how they can profit from being interconnected to the administration of the new regulations that involve substantial amounts of money coming and going and needing to be administered and accounted for...by them.......who ever they may be.

Cheers

[PETERTHEEATER]

Who or what determines the value of property? The Land Office?

[thaimelody]

Private schools - taxed

On line trade - taxed

Dead people - taxed

Ironic you can't find a taxi in Bangkok to take you where you want to go

[fish fingers]

loopholes or trust funds will allow the rich to avoid the tax I'm sure.

[watcharacters]

Is it possible that you as "reliable source" on ThaiVisa will report on the results of what silly information you post today when it is all found to be worthless information? PLease confirm that as a yes or no…? You are a posting sourse of information good or not so good...

[SOTIRIOS]

....plenty of time to 'wheel and deal'.....

[BarnicaleBob]

Not really going to make the off spring destitute and want to fend for themselves is it.

No but it could mean the difference between them buying a Rolls Royce or a Bentley with their inherited money. They will just have to settle for the Bentley.

[Time Traveller]

loopholes or trust funds will allow the rich to avoid the tax I'm sure.

So you are suggesting only the poor will be affected by this tax?

[Briggsy]

Let us wait a couple of years until the revenue raised statistics are released. I think the amount will be very small and not in line with what might be expected.

In other countries the value of an estate is public record. I wonder if this is true in Thailand.

[Srikcir]

The delay in implementation of the inheritance tax is appropriate to provide people time to make estate tax planning (aka tax avoidance strategies).

The most important thing is that it is finally after several administrations a law. Once in place it is easy to adjust tax rates, exemptions and/or limits.

Hopefully, the government will have a process to audit taxation and track tax collections to measure its effectiveness. Given that Thailand has one of the lowest tax collection rates in the world, I doubt the inheritance will generate any significant revenues. But it will look nice on PM Prayut's resume.

[jerojero]

Why wasn't this law implemented immediately like the others? Oh sorry, forgot... The Rich, including generals, need time to bequeath everything before January. Amazing Thailand (government).

[SpokaneAl]

Inheritance taxes - nothing but stealing by force by the government in the name of so-called weath redistribution, no matter what country does it.

[Emster23]

Seems it would be very easy to get around, just add sons or daughters name to account, or stocks, or whatever for joint ownership.... am I missing something?

[shaggy851]

Tax them more on a sliding scale not just over a fixed amount, and use the money to better the country, not line your own pockets.

[Briggsy]

Inheritance taxes - nothing but stealing by force by the government in the name of so-called weath redistribution, no matter what country does it.

Please explain why you hold this view on inheritance tax and not income tax, sales taxes, excise duty, duties on insurance premiums, property transfer taxes, local taxes, etc.

[SpokaneAl]

Seems it would be very easy to get around, just add sons or daughters name to account, or stocks, or whatever for joint ownership.... am I missing something?

I can only speak for what happens in the U.S., which assigns a cost basis to the owners of investments etc. This means that when one adds a joint owner, since that joint owner has contributed nothing to the mix, his/her cost basis is zero and potential inheritance taxes could still be due upon the death of the original owner.

[SpokaneAl]

Inheritance taxes - nothing but stealing by force by the government in the name of so-called weath redistribution, no matter what country does it.

Please explain why you hold this view on inheritance tax and not income tax, sales taxes, excise duty, duties on insurance premiums, property transfer taxes, local taxes, etc.

Inheritance tax is levied purely because a person had died, and through his/her lifetime has managed to acquire a nest egg and some assets/investments that were purchased with after tax monies, on which most, if not all those taxes you listed have already been paid. If the investment was made within a retirement account, taxes will still be due.

In the U.S. small farms and businesses are often forced to sell to pay inheritance taxes because the assets are in property and stuff, rather than the necessary cash needed to pay the taxes, even though the deceased owners were hoping to pass those farms/businesses on to their children.

In my opinion, inheritance taxes are nothing more than a way for the government to dip in, once again, and extract their perceived piece of that deceased individual's pie.

And, again, I can only speak of the U.S., a cottage industry has risen to help the wealthier avoid those taxes via complex trust structuring, etc.

I see nothing fair nor right about inheritance taxes.

Thank you for asking.

[Briggsy]

Thank you for explaining.

I actually view inheritance tax as one of the fairer taxes.

But ultimately taxation is heavily dependent on opportunity to collect effectively. That is why governments all over the world love taxes deducted from salaries and sales taxes as the taxes are there is a heavy legal obligation on companies to collect them on behalf of the government before their employees and customers have the chance to default.

The same applies here, an inescapable obligation is placed on the executor of the estate to collect and hand over inheritance tax.

[fgmr]

publishing full details and how it effects us farangs woud be a far more helpful blog on this ThaiVisa site. As currently circulated most of the content is meaningless.

[sammygood]

taxation on money (savings) where tax has already been paid upon is nothing more than theft ...