Tax Refund Chiang Mai

[chiang mai]

Has anyone encountered problems this year claiming their tax refund;

 

Have you received your cheque and how long did it take?

 

 

[CMBob]

I'm having a bit of a delay compared to last year.  I filed it online last year on a Tuesday and had the refund check delivered by mail 4 days later.  This year, I filed it online again on a Tuesday and I'm still waiting for the refund check (although it's only been 9 days which isn't all that long).   I do have some mild concern that I filled out the all-Thai form correctly but hopefully did so (when I finished, I got a confirmation but I'm not exactly sure what it really means).  We'll see.

To avoid confusion, I filed the online return to receive back the 15% withholding of bank interest on the account I maintain for retirement extension purposes.

[chiang mai]

I filed mine at the tax office a month ago and am still waiting for a cheque, in previous years it's been issued in two or three weeks at most.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

I love receiving blue envelopes in Thailand. :)

 

No idea how long they take.

[KhonKaenKowboy]

I filed in person, and have a receipt.  15 days, still waiting.  It took about three weeks two years ago.

[jimmym40]

Our tax lady at the tax office told up if we have "prompt pay" refund would be within a week.    If not, it would take up to 45 days to receive the check.     Prompt pay  is fairly new and don't know anything about it.    It has to deal with funds from one institution to another...

[Sparkles]

We filed mine at the Hang Dong Amphur Office last year,cheque received within a week.

 

This year different story ,went through the process then received a vaguely worded  letter from Bangkok stating that we should go through the process at the Amphur Office again.

 

Arrived....... asked "why ?" and were told that mine had been randomly selected to be "verified" Seems there is some sort of crackdown on those working in  the system.

 

A very small amount of money is involved

 

That was 10 days ago still waiting.We were offered the "prompt pay" way which I declined,not knowing much about it, maybe a bad decision.

 

Were also  given a phone no on a scrap of paper in case the cheque did not arrive.

 

[jimmym40]

I read up a little about the "prompt pay" .   Apparently it just came in to existence the second week of Jan.    From what I gather, you have to sign up (some bank, don't know which one).     I stopped checking about it because I surmised this system will be charging a fee to do the transfer of funds.      That's about all I know - not interested...

[chiang mai]

10 minutes ago, jimmym40 said:

I read up a little about the "prompt pay" .   Apparently it just came in to existence the second week of Jan.    From what I gather, you have to sign up (some bank, don't know which one).     I stopped checking about it because I surmised this system will be charging a fee to do the transfer of funds.      That's about all I know - not interested...

It's a BACS equivalent, a replacement for BahtNet I think  but not all banks have signed up for it.

[chiang mai]

I went to the Region 2 tax office near Rajavej yesterday and asked if there's a problem, the woman looked at the screen and after a consultation with here friend told me to go and talk to Region 1 because they have some questions for me! It was too late yesterday to mess around with it all so it can wait until Monday and I'll report back here afterwards. I'm certainly OK with them having questions for me, whatever they might be, but I wonder if they were planning to tell me they had questions or were they waiting for me to query non-reciept of the refund cheque, very odd.

[chiang mai]

And the answer is:

 

Chiang Mai Tax Region 2 says that anyone who has registered for PromptPay will get their refund within three days, others must wait until 45 days. AND that's 45 days from the day the tax return was received at the Tax Office where your home account is, not 45 days from the date you filed your taxes return. In my case that means I filed my return on 11th and it was received by the Region 2 office on 25th!!!!!!

[Bill97]

I get mine from the lady that does the tax clearance forms in the office in the old city. 3 days cash in hand.

[chiang mai]

21 minutes ago, Bill97 said:

I get mine from the lady that does the tax clearance forms in the office in the old city. 3 days cash in hand.

That's Region 1.

[CMBob]

As a follow-up, I got a letter from the Revenue Department two days ago saying I had to show up with my "documents" at their office by the 23rd.  So I went to my bank (SCB) yesterday and got the usual interest statement (which verifies the interest earned and amount withheld) and then went out to the Chotana Road Revenue Office this morning.  All they wanted to see was the interest statement so the whole thing took less than 2 minutes.  They said the refund payment (via PromptPay) would be in my account within 2-3 days.  They really didn't need to see the interest statement (the filed return showed the bank's ID number, bank account number, etc., and I'm sure they could have checked online....like they did last year...to verify the amount withheld). But easy in any event.

[mesquite]

What is it?  Refund for taxes paid on bank interest only?

[chiang mai]

Yes.

[NancyL]

It does appear that they're "auditing" any and all refund requests from foreigners this year.  Wasn't the case in previous years.  I wonder how many just decide to abandon their claim?  

 

I know that CM Expats Club decided to do so with their refund.  They hire an accounting hire to file their tax return so that all those who would throw stones will hit a bullet-proof plexiglass wall.  That accounting firm isn't cheap, so when CEC got notice that they had to submit their documents for review in order to obtain their rather small refund, they just decided to tell the Thai gov't to keep it.

[CMBob]

Just now, NancyL said:

 

That accounting firm isn't cheap, so when CEC got notice that they had to submit their documents for review in order to obtain their rather small refund, they just decided to tell the Thai gov't to keep it.

I and one other I know got the mailed notice that the Revenue Department wanted us to show up with unspecified "documents."  As it turned out, however, all they wanted to see was the interest statement from the bank....and it took all of 2-3 minutes to handle that at the Revenue Department. 

[NancyL]

3 minutes ago, CMBob said:

I and one other I know got the mailed notice that the Revenue Department wanted us to show up with unspecified "documents."  As it turned out, however, all they wanted to see was the interest statement from the bank....and it took all of 2-3 minutes to handle that at the Revenue Department. 

Yup, that would be the case for a personal income tax return.  It's stupid really -- you could scan and email those documents to them, like Hubby and I have done for some IRS "inquiries".

 

For CEC, however, the situation is just a bit more complex. They have income from sponsorships and deduct charitable contributions, operating expenses, etc.  Actually, everything is VERY well documented  in their XERO.com accounting system, AND every receipt is scanned into the database.

 

But, the thought was that the Thai accounting firm would have to come along for the Revenue Dept interview and their hourly charge would exceed the amount of the refund.  

 

But, I'm no longer a member of the CEC Board, since the current Board decided to amend the Bylaws of 22 December 2015 to eliminate the position of Immediate Past President from the Board of CEC.  http://www.chiangmaiexpatsclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/CEC-Amended-Bylaws-22-Dec-2015.pdf