Changes to reporting monies transferred to Thailand from Australia

[mydee]

I normally have part of Australian pension transferred from an Australian bank account into my Thai bank account. To do this I use a third party company, Torfx to arrange the transfer. In the past this arrangement has worked well,The transfers were done promptly, I get an excellent exchange rate and no commission is charged by Torfx.

Today I was informed that changes to the law meant that I would need to produce a bank statement from the source bank to Torfx. This meant that the transfer was delayed and I had to download a recent statement and send it to them. Once this is done there is no need to provide a statement for each transaction.

At first glance this requirement doesn't appear terribly onerous until you look at the implications. Firstly, what happens if you use multiple bank account to source your transfer? For example: As Australian banks limit the amount that can be transferred to other institutions or to other people's accounts, you could run into problems and delays if you need to exceed that limit imposed by the bank. Normally I would top up the amount with money transferred from an interest paying account at another bank. What are the reporting requirements in this situation? I suspect that statements from that other institution will have to be supplied to the transferring institution. This legislation could delay the transfer of funds in some circumstances, such as money needed urgently for hospital admiission etc

I have done a little research into the matter and believe the relevant legislation is The Tax Laws Amendment (Implementation of the Common Reporting Standard) Bill 2015. I have looked at the legislation, the explanatory memorandum and Treasurer's Press Release which, in broad terms, seems to authorize and obligate the collection of this information but would appreciate contributions from anyone who knows something about these new requirements.

As the Tresurer's Press release mentions that these requirements are common in OECD countries then posters from countries such as Britain, Ireland and most European countries where these rules apply may be able to assist by relating their experiences.