Tax rules in Thailand for foreigners

[wildpikey]

Hi all,

I am a UK citizen, but I work overseas contractually (I spend virtually no time In UK and no real ties there.) I spend most of my free time in Thailand where I am married to a Thai.

I have recently been made aware of Thai tax rules that state that if someone spends more than 180 days a year there, then they are classed as resident, and can then be taxed on their earnings either in Thailand or overseas.

Does anyone have any knowledge on this??

Sounds very interesting / scary...

[Colabamumbai]

Untrue. I taught for 6 years in Thailand with proper visa and Work Permits, never taxed one Baht. Now I live on Non O, incorrectly called "Retirement Visa". No taxes payable.

But I did manage a resort that did not pay taxes on my income and was refused an extension of visa for this reason.

[Bunnychow]

What part is untrue ?...180 day rule is true

The tax law as it stands is that once you are in Thailand 180 days or more you are resident for tax purposes...whether you actually pay taxes or not depends on your individual circumstances, but typically its only people who actually work in Thailand end up paying income tax, One suspects the reason the perious poster never paid income tax is simply because he wasnt earning enough to be liable for tax, as there are tax threseholds

If you work overseas, i wouldnt worry about paying tax in Thailand,

Edited June 21, 2016 by Bunnychow

[Litlos]

From Price Waterhouse Coopers 2015 booklet on Thai tax that I cannot copy the text of. https://www.pwc.com/th/en/publications/assets/thai-tax-2015-booklet-en.pdf see page 1 Assessable Income.

Basically direct all foreign income to an account outside of Thailand (Citibank Singapore) and then bring in as required. Up to the Thai tax office to prove when it was earned and Singapore will not help them.

Cheers

[wildpikey]

From Price Waterhouse Coopers 2015 booklet on Thai tax that I cannot copy the text of. https://www.pwc.com/th/en/publications/assets/thai-tax-2015-booklet-en.pdf see page 1 Assessable Income.

Basically direct all foreign income to an account outside of Thailand (Citibank Singapore) and then bring in as required. Up to the Thai tax office to prove when it was earned and Singapore will not help them.

Cheers

Interesting document. Now I am taking it that UK has a tax information exchange agreement with Thailand, but Thailand does not have with Singapore? what about UK and Singapore..?

[Bunnychow]

From Price Waterhouse Coopers 2015 booklet on Thai tax that I cannot copy the text of. https://www.pwc.com/th/en/publications/assets/thai-tax-2015-booklet-en.pdf see page 1 Assessable Income.

Basically direct all foreign income to an account outside of Thailand (Citibank Singapore) and then bring in as required. Up to the Thai tax office to prove when it was earned and Singapore will not help them.

Cheers

Interesting document. Now I am taking it that UK has a tax information exchange agreement with Thailand, but Thailand does not have with Singapore? what about UK and Singapore..?

Singapore will be starting to hand over bulk data to the UK on British citizens holding accounts in Singapore from 2018, there is a whole list of countries who will be involved starting from this year, but Thailand is not on that list and currently hands no data over, unless i suspect there is a court order involved

[wildpikey]

From Price Waterhouse Coopers 2015 booklet on Thai tax that I cannot copy the text of. https://www.pwc.com/th/en/publications/assets/thai-tax-2015-booklet-en.pdf see page 1 Assessable Income.

Basically direct all foreign income to an account outside of Thailand (Citibank Singapore) and then bring in as required. Up to the Thai tax office to prove when it was earned and Singapore will not help them.

Cheers

Interesting document. Now I am taking it that UK has a tax information exchange agreement with Thailand, but Thailand does not have with Singapore? what about UK and Singapore..?

Singapore will be starting to hand over bulk data to the UK on British citizens holding accounts in Singapore from 2018, there is a whole list of countries who will be involved starting from this year, but Thailand is not on that list and currently hands no data over, unless i suspect there is a court order involved

Any chance you could send me a link to a good source of this kind of information please...

[Litlos]

From Price Waterhouse Coopers 2015 booklet on Thai tax that I cannot copy the text of. https://www.pwc.com/th/en/publications/assets/thai-tax-2015-booklet-en.pdf see page 1 Assessable Income.

Basically direct all foreign income to an account outside of Thailand (Citibank Singapore) and then bring in as required. Up to the Thai tax office to prove when it was earned and Singapore will not help them.

Cheers

Interesting document. Now I am taking it that UK has a tax information exchange agreement with Thailand, but Thailand does not have with Singapore? what about UK and Singapore..?

Singapore will be starting to hand over bulk data to the UK on British citizens holding accounts in Singapore from 2018, there is a whole list of countries who will be involved starting from this year, but Thailand is not on that list and currently hands no data over, unless i suspect there is a court order involved

The list I have does not show Singapore as a signatory. Where did you source your information from in case it is more up to date?

Cheers

[Bunnychow]

From Price Waterhouse Coopers 2015 booklet on Thai tax that I cannot copy the text of. https://www.pwc.com/th/en/publications/assets/thai-tax-2015-booklet-en.pdf see page 1 Assessable Income.

Basically direct all foreign income to an account outside of Thailand (Citibank Singapore) and then bring in as required. Up to the Thai tax office to prove when it was earned and Singapore will not help them.

Cheers

Interesting document. Now I am taking it that UK has a tax information exchange agreement with Thailand, but Thailand does not have with Singapore? what about UK and Singapore..?

Singapore will be starting to hand over bulk data to the UK on British citizens holding accounts in Singapore from 2018, there is a whole list of countries who will be involved starting from this year, but Thailand is not on that list and currently hands no data over, unless i suspect there is a court order involved

Any chance you could send me a link to a good source of this kind of information please...

https://www.blevinsfranks.com/News/BlevinsFranks/BlevinsFranksNews?ArticleID=722

[Naam]

From Price Waterhouse Coopers 2015 booklet on Thai tax that I cannot copy the text of. https://www.pwc.com/th/en/publications/assets/thai-tax-2015-booklet-en.pdf see page 1 Assessable Income.

Basically direct all foreign income to an account outside of Thailand (Citibank Singapore) and then bring in as required. Up to the Thai tax office to prove when it was earned and Singapore will not help them.

Cheers

Interesting document. Now I am taking it that UK has a tax information exchange agreement with Thailand, but Thailand does not have with Singapore? what about UK and Singapore..?

Singapore will be starting to hand over bulk data to the UK on British citizens holding accounts in Singapore from 2018, there is a whole list of countries who will be involved starting from this year, but Thailand is not on that list and currently hands no data over, unless i suspect there is a court order involved

Any chance you could send me a link to a good source of this kind of information please...

there is no link because his information is

[BritTim]

In simple terms, if resident in Thailand for tax purposes, you are liable to pay tax on worldwide income, but only if such income is brought into Thailand in the year it is earned. Thus, most people not living hand-to-mouth can find legal ways to avoid tax on overseas income, but should pay tax on income earned in Thailand.

[lkv]

Look I have commented in another thread a couple of months ago about Singapore.

While financial institutions are empowered to collect and retain the CRS information for all non-Singapore tax residents from 1 January 2017, they will only need to transmit to IRAS the information relating to tax residents of jurisdictions with which Singapore has signed a Competent Authority Agreement with, for IRAS to implement AEOI under the CRS accordingly.

So:

1. It applies to accounts declared as UK resident. If the account is declared Thai resident it does not apply.

2. It depends on a further signing of the CAA, which they may or may not sign.

3. Various banks will do their due dilligence differently for tax residency classification, according to indicia. Some won't care.

It's in public consultation stage for Singapore now.

Whoever understands, understands.

As for Thailand, as long as people bring overseas money into Thailand "one year after it's been earned", it's tax free. I'm sure many do.

Edited June 21, 2016 by lkv

[Bunnychow]

From Price Waterhouse Coopers 2015 booklet on Thai tax that I cannot copy the text of. https://www.pwc.com/th/en/publications/assets/thai-tax-2015-booklet-en.pdf see page 1 Assessable Income.

Basically direct all foreign income to an account outside of Thailand (Citibank Singapore) and then bring in as required. Up to the Thai tax office to prove when it was earned and Singapore will not help them.

Cheers

Interesting document. Now I am taking it that UK has a tax information exchange agreement with Thailand, but Thailand does not have with Singapore? what about UK and Singapore..?

Singapore will be starting to hand over bulk data to the UK on British citizens holding accounts in Singapore from 2018, there is a whole list of countries who will be involved starting from this year, but Thailand is not on that list and currently hands no data over, unless i suspect there is a court order involved

Any chance you could send me a link to a good source of this kind of information please...

there is no link because his information is

The link to the info is in post #9 and further i bank in Singapore and have had a letter from the bank as well informing me of the same...so could i suggest your response is....

[Bunnychow]

Look I have commented in another thread a couple of months ago about Singapore.

While financial institutions are empowered to collect and retain the CRS information for all non-Singapore tax residents from 1 January 2017, they will only need to transmit to IRAS the information relating to tax residents of jurisdictions with which Singapore has signed a Competent Authority Agreement with, for IRAS to implement AEOI under the CRS accordingly.

So:

1. It applies to accounts declared as UK resident. If the account is declared Thai resident it does not apply.

2. It depends on a further signing of the CAA, which they may or may not sign.

3. Various banks will do their due dilligence differently for tax residency classification, according to indicia. Some won't care.

It's in public consultation stage for Singapore now.

Whoever understands, understands.

As for Thailand, as long as people bring overseas money into Thailand "one year after it's been earned", it's tax free. I'm sure many do.

The Singapore banks will not decide the tax residency of an account holder on basis of a Thai address, thats for the UK tax man to decide, as you know tax residency/liability in the UK is complex thing and is the based of the number of days spent in the UK, plus ties to the UK, therefore one could have a Thai address, but one spends more than the allowed number of days in UK or deemed resident due to UK ties or a combination of both, you could be resident in the UK for tax purposes..do you really think a Singapore Bank will do all this due dilligence ?.. no they will hand over details of anyone who has a British pp Edited June 21, 2016 by Bunnychow

[lkv]

The Singapore banks will not decide the tax residency of an account holder on basis of a Thai address, thats for the UK tax man to decide, as you know tax residency/liability in the UK is complex thing and is the based of the number of days spent in the UK, plus ties to the UK, therefore one could have a Thai address, but one spends more than the allowed number of days in UK or deemed resident due to UK ties or a combination of both, you could be resident in the UK for tax purposes..do you really think a Singapore Bank will do all this due dilligence ?.. no they will hand over details of anyone who has a British pp

Sorry, don't take this the wrong way, but you don't know what you're talking about.

Singapore banks will collect all information of non resident accounts as part of a wider approach. The idea is they have all the information at the beginning, so when a new country participates in AEOI, they will not collect data again.

They will only share to IRAS information on accounts for which SG has signed a CAA with the respective country. So one's account being classified as a tax resident of a non participating jurisdiction, such as Thailand, will not even make it to the SG Gvt, it will stay with the bank. It's called privacy in Singapore.

As to how banks will classify the accounts, that will depend on individual bank's due dilligence. Some may use existing indicia, some may be stricter and ask for more documentation proving that the person actually lives in the non participating jurisdiction ( Thailand).

In case of conflicting indicia, a self assement form will be provided by the account owner, with the understanding that a false declaration will be considered an administrative offence subject to, if discovered, a fine that's yet to be determined.

Edited June 21, 2016 by lkv

[Naam]

The link to the info is in post #9 and further i bank in Singapore and have had a letter from the bank as well informing me of the same...so could i suggest your response is....

neither Singapore nor the bulk of countries listed in the link provided have ratified any treaty. i too bank in Singapore (two different multinational banks).

[dhream]

If you want UK tax advice google GOV.UK

[ubonjoe]

Not visa related. Moved to the business forum for tax info.

[topt]

From Price Waterhouse Coopers 2015 booklet on Thai tax that I cannot copy the text of. https://www.pwc.com/th/en/publications/assets/thai-tax-2015-booklet-en.pdf see page 1 Assessable Income.

Basically direct all foreign income to an account outside of Thailand (Citibank Singapore) and then bring in as required. Up to the Thai tax office to prove when it was earned and Singapore will not help them.

Cheers

Interesting document. Now I am taking it that UK has a tax information exchange agreement with Thailand, but Thailand does not have with Singapore? what about UK and Singapore..?

OP if you work outside the UK and have agreed non residency tax status with the UK it does not matter (to HMRC) where you get paid. Therefore it does not matter if it gets reported - unless you are not non-resident for tax purposes?

Presuming you are ok with HMRC then looking at the Thai tax office, as someone else has mentioned, if your income is being paid directly into a Thai account then at some point you may have an issue.

Again as previously mentioned best to have it paid into an offshore ac and brought in ideally in the year after it was earnt.

You may want to search the banking forum (and possibly Home Country forum) as there have been a number of discussions about this in the not too distant past.

[stament]

If you are non-resident in Thailand but work remotely when you visit there sometimes, what are the tax implications? I am a British citizen currently working in Dubai and when I come for hols I am sometimes required to work remotely. What are the implications for me, (my salary goes into my Dubai account).

Am I allowed to do this, and if so for how many days? I should clarify that I am non-resident in Thailand, I have UAE residency.

Edited June 29, 2016 by stament

[Bunnychow]

If you are non-resident in Thailand but work remotely when you visit there sometimes, what are the tax implications? I am a British citizen currently working in Dubai and when I come for hols I am sometimes required to work remotely. What are the implications for me, (my salary goes into my Dubai account).

Am I allowed to do this, and if so for how many days? I should clarify that I am non-resident in Thailand, I have UAE residency.

If you less than 180 days your non resident for tax in Thailand, however stictly speaking you are working illegally as your suppose to have a WP for Thailand, therefore there are no permissible days, the implications are if you get caught for some reason if possible fines, deportation or even jail...not saying thats what will happen, but these are the possible consequences written in the law for working illegally if caught