Recommendation for international accounting firm

[sonnycarrierharrison]

I have some mildly complicated personal and small company tax affairs I would like advice on, involving Thailand, the UK, and the Isle of Man.

My UK accountant has said "I think you'd be best talking to a larger international firm, such as KPMG". I might be Googling wrong, but I can't find a service that looks right for me online. Has anyone used a "larger international firm" to sort out their tax affairs here in Thailand, and could recommend someone they dealt with?

Thanks

[Briggsy]

Your UK accountant (provided he/she is a member of a professional body) is bound by a code of ethics. One of the five fundamental principles is the principle of professional competence. They are obliged not to accept work for which they are not professionally competent. In your case, this would probably be your tax affairs in Thailand.

Their comment on a "larger international firm" may have been more in the line of their obligation to decline than specific advice.

Thailand insulates itself from the outside world on many trade and legal fronts. This includes taxation. They tend to tax little income which originates outside Thailand and try to prevent the movement of income offshore from Thailand. My point here is, tax affairs in Thailand, although seemingly complex at first, often are not too difficult once one has differentiated foreign income from Thai income. Therefore if you try to follow your UK accountant "advice" to the letter and go with an international firm of accountants, you may spend a lot of money to straighten out a fairly simple issue. A Thai qualified tax practioner may well suffice at a fraction of the price.

[sonnycarrierharrison]

I agree the Thai aspects are probably very straight-forward. The IoM ones and UK ones in relation to it are not so much, which is why I also think a company with regional tax offices / expertise will be handy.

[SantiSuk]

Retired PwC partner here. The Bangkok office is a strong one in our network and the tax practice there will be absolutely capable of handling multi-jurisdiction tax affairs - personal and business.

That said, advice is all about getting an adviser who you feel personally comfortable with, so in the absence of me being able to recommend a current practitioner* or anyone else here doing so I would recommend setting up a meeting with two or three firms. Do a one page brief of your status, issues and nature of advice sought and e-mail it to the contacts for Tax services that should be given on their local websites, asking for a free discussion to consider taking them on for advice. Client intro meetings are always free - don't be shy in telling them you are seeing others before deciding and resist going into all the know your client regulatory stuff until you have decided (but expect to show your identity and maybe some company documents that show your representation status - they'll be keen to know you are not a time-waster).

The top international accounting firms are noted here: http://www.accountancyage.com/static/top50-this-year

PwC and, I'm pretty sure KPMG, Deloitte and EY, will all have strong international tax practices here possibly including a UK tax practitioner at director/manager level (the 28 to 35 yo fully experienced/qualified working level below partner), Don't discount the next three firms on the list if they have a Bangkok tax presence.

I'm very surprised that you couldn't get a strong message of international tax capability from KPMG's local website.

*10 years retired and I was a corporate finance adviser, not a tax specialist and based in London, though I did know the PwC Bangkok office and several local and expat partners here back then, because I visited at least once a year running or participating in internal regional training conferences. All excellent customer-serving experienced reliable highly ethical people. Hence number 1 in most parts if the world!

Edited January 15, 2016 by SantiSuk