Thai tax Forms in English

[jbaldwin]

I have no income in Thailand other than Interest and dividends.

 

Every year I claim back the tax deducted from the interest and dividends.  In previous years I have just taken the tax certificates to the Tax office (the one in Jomtien) and very helpful staff have completed the required tax form for me.  However, this time i was just told that they could not complete the forms for me and gave me the 2559 (2016) form 90 to complete.

 

My question is does anyone know where I could find an English version of the form.  I found translation of the 2014 version of the form on the revenue department website but there have been some changes.

 

Alternatively does anyone use an accountant/lawyer to make this type of tax refund claim on there behalf?  If so could they recommend someone and let me know how many they pay.

[allane]

www.rd.go.th

[jbaldwin]

4 hours ago, allane said:

www.rd.go.th

Thanks.  That is where i found an English translation of an out of date version but i cannot a translation for the 2559 form.

[allane]

Income tax for 2559 (2016) was due Mach 31,2017. Income tax for 2560 (2017) is not due until March 31, 2018. The date on the forms is the taxation year, not the filing year. The website referred to is current.

[topt]

Since starting to claim for a refund on interest claimed I have never filled in the form 90 (it may have been done for me when I made my original claim and they created a tax id no but I cannot remember) and it was only sent to me the last 3 years. This year when I claimed in February the lady filled in a form and then said this was the last time they would do for me so told me to take a picture of the form so I could fill in myself next time  all be it not sure where you get this form from?

 

in case it helps here is the form -

 

 

The form 90 has always arrived after I have claimed and when I have gone back to query it, depending who I speak to, they direct me to the 4th floor to ask or tell me just to ignore it. This also happened this year.

 

However this year I had not received my cheque after 3 months so went to query. Again directed to 4th floor where I was given a form in Thai and English with a list of questions. Basically I had to reply no to most and where I originally put yes it was intimated that it would be better to put no otherwise there would be more delays (and I guess maybe more form filling etc). The point to this ramble is that if I had not gone and followed up it seems unlikely they would have contacted me and I would not have received my refund. Cheque arrived about 2 weeks later.  

[skatewash]

The English language PIT 90 Form can be found here for the latest tax year (2016):

 

http://www.rd.go.th/publish/fileadmin/download/english_form/PIT90_160360.pdf

Edited June 3, 2017 by skatewash
Added the tax year.

[skatewash]

Something that may be of interest to the OP.  I, too, used to file annual tax forms to reclaim my withheld interest from my Thai fixed term deposit accounts.  All fixed term deposit accounts are required to withhold 15% of the interest, which can be reclaimed by filing a tax return for that year.

However, from reading Thai Visa (a post from Pib, I believe) I found out about Mee Tae Dai savings accounts at Krungsri Bank.  They are not classed as fixed term deposit accounts because you can withdraw funds at any time without incurring a loss of accrued interest which is calculated daily.  Plus they pay interest above that for a typical savings account, although admittedly below the best fixed term accounts available.

Here are the benefits to me from such an account:

 

1) Because it is not a fixed term deposit it does not have mandatory interest withholding.  This means I don't have to file a Personal Income Tax (PIT) 90 form to reclaim my withheld interest every year because none is withheld in the first place.

 

2) Because it is not a fixed term deposit I don't have to worry about doing anything when the fixed term is over.  When I had fixed term deposits at Bangkok Bank they would automatically change my interest rate at the end of the term from the high promotional rate I signed up for into the low 3 month rate.  I would have to keep track of when the term ended so I could visit the bank and sign up for another fixed term deposit with whatever higher promotional rate was available at the time.  This necessitated a trip to the bank to close the existing fixed deposit account and open a new fixed deposit account which involved a fair bit of paperwork (application).  Also, due to its FATCA compliance policies Bangkok Bank required me to fill in the paperwork for FATCA every time I opened a new account, including requiring me to bring in my US Social Security Card to confirm I was using the proper one.  Plus I would then have to report on multiple accounts when I do my FBAR report every year.  Life is easier without having to do all of this.  My money sits in the Mee Tae Dai account and generates interest without me having to do anything at all (except include this one account in my annual FBAR and declare the interest on my US taxes).

 

3) I use it for my annual retirement extension of stay.  I don't have to worry about fixed term deposits maturing and new accounts being created.  I know as long as I maintain in excess of 800,000 Baht for the three months prior to my application to meet the seasoning requirement I will not have any worries.  My account number has never changed.  Life is easier.

4) you can lose accumulated interest from a fixed term deposit if you withdraw money before the term is completed.  In other words, accrued interest is not calculated on a daily basis in a typical fixed term deposit.  You get the accumulated interest on money you withdraw from a Mee Tae Dai account up to the day of the withdrawal.

OK, there must be some drawbacks to the Mee Tae Dai account then.  There are:

 

1) the interest rate is variable rather than fixed.  It was 1.3% when I first opened the account but has sunk lower since then as interest rates have generally trended lower than they were in the past.  I know I could get a higher interest rate in a fixed term deposit there or in some other bank, but it's not worth it to me to chase the few extra dollars in interest if it means having to open new accounts (which may or not be a problem), keep track of term limits, obtain interest withholding statements from the bank and file a Thai PIT 90 tax return every year to reclaim my withheld interest.  

 

2) there are restrictions placed on the number of free withdrawals that can be made per month.  The first two are free, subsequent withdrawals during the month are charged a 50 Baht fee.  However, this account is not my day-to-day savings account, it's my retirement extension account so this is not a problem in practice.

3) It takes Krungsri Bank the next day to issue me my bank letter to immigration for my retirement extension, while Bangkok Bank (which in my case was a larger branch) could do the letter while I waited.

Edited June 3, 2017 by skatewash
Typos.

[skatewash]

One other thought.  As someone has already pointed out the filing deadline for 2016 was the end of March 2017.  You can, however, still file (I believe you can file for up to three years late) but you will have to pay some nominal penalty fee to do so.

And a final thought.  Keep a copy of the return you file for 2016 and if your situation remains the same (just interest and dividends) you will be able to fill-out the 2017 form on the basis of your previous year form.  There's little change from year to year at least for a simple return only dealing with earned interest and dividends.

[topt]

4 hours ago, skatewash said:

The English language PIT 90 Form can be found here for the latest tax year (2016):

 

http://www.rd.go.th/publish/fileadmin/download/english_form/PIT90_160360.pdf

I understand that if you work here you may have to complete one of these forms but do people actually complete them if they are just reclaiming tax on withheld interest in savings accounts?  If so I must have been very fortunate and hope it stays that way

[skatewash]

2 minutes ago, topt said:

I understand that if you work here you may have to complete one of these forms but do people actually complete them if they are just reclaiming tax on withheld interest in savings accounts?  If so I must have been very fortunate and hope it stays that way

Yeah, I had seen online that people going to some tax offices were able to file an abbreviated form for the sole purpose of reclaiming their withheld interest.  But other offices required the filer to file a regular Personal Income Tax form 90.    The staff at my tax office were quite accommodating and actually filed in my first PIT 90 based on information from my bank interest documents.  Then they gave me a copy of the form and the number of entries they had to make was quite small (just interest income to report) so was able to use that copy as a template for subsequent years.

I never worked up the courage to file online, so would hand in my tax return at the office.  I actually looked forward to going to the tax office, which is a feeling I never had going to any government office in my home country.  Of course, now that I no longer have the interest income withheld at the source I don't need to file the return anymore.

[andrewgentry]

Try searching at PDFfiller, for example - https://thailand-online-visa-application.pdffiller.com/