Transferring large sum ($50MM) out of Thailand to US

[sammieuk1]

My cunning plan is ready and waiting just pm me to save $$$$$$.

[catman20]

On 8/13/2017 at 11:13 PM, KasperC said:

That doesn't seem legal... I am inquiring if it's possible to legally move somehow. The money was legally earned/paid taxes in Thailand... 

if the taxes have been paid and you can prove that i cant see there being a problem. good luck

[shaurene]

 If you have a bank account here in Thailand go and talk with the manager. If you can prove it is genuine clean money it should be possible.It is done all the time by business people and companies.

Google "Transfering large amounts out of Thailand." 

[dotpoom]

Sorry, double whammy.....cannot cancel.

Edited August 16, 2017 by dotpoom

[mr_lob]

9 minutes ago, dotpoom said:

 What is MM?

American confectionary

[dotpoom]

 What does "MM"  mean?

[phantomfiddler]

I once tried to send $20 to America, and the paperwork involved was so intimidating that I gave up the idea ! They like you to bring it in but they don,t like you to take it out.

Edited August 16, 2017 by phantomfiddler

[scorecard]

On 8/14/2017 at 3:01 AM, KasperC said:

Interesting, it was implied to me from some relatives and friends that the government isn't fond of letting that much money out of the country. 

 

Why don't you call the Bank Of Thaland and ask them:

 

- Can that amount be transferred out of Thailand / what is the ceiling?

 

- What facilities exist to do so. Inside Thailand you can transfer funds using the mainstream bank to bank electronic systems, plus there is another electronic system called Banknet which has much reduced fees (not well publicized by the mainstream banks because they lose commission / fees).

 

Mainstream bank to bank (domestic) is close to instantaneous. Banknet (domestic) takes 1 or 2 hours and from my understanding passes through the Bank of Thailand (needs checking).

 

Maybe Banknet is also available across countries (needs checking and I somehow doubt your average Thai bank manager at your local branch is knowledgeable about such subjects and doesn't want to check it because he/she might lose face, therefore the answer you get is a quick NO). Therefore probably better to call the bank HO in Bkk.  

 

Another point, in my long-term experience if you call the same bank twice and ask the same question you can get two different answers, and personally I would be making an assessment whether the person on the line from the bank is really understanding your questions and really is knowledgeable about the subject at hand. 

 

Maybe there are other systems (apart from the standard SWIFT system - local bank to overseas bank), hopefully the Bank of Thailand would have some knowledge of these systems (but no guarantee) and at BOT it's hit or miss whether your speaking to the right department.

 

In fact there are other systems, but whether they are available to the general public is a big question. My pension is transferred from my home country by a government office which can avoid 100% of the charges to get the funds out of xxxxx, and can avoid a large portion of the fees levied by the international banks along the way. But I guess not relevant to the case here.

 

What about the Thai EX/IM bank (Export / Import bank)? Maybe they have alternative transfer systems, worth a call.

 

Some Thai banks have a few International Trade offices scattered across the country, obviously in the right locations for such business, maybe they can offer country to country transfer alternatives.

 

some Thai banks have a full office in several countries across the world. Bangkok bank have full offices in USA and in Singapore. Maybe that offers transfer alternatives.

 

Another point, there is probably a ceiling of how much can be transferred in terms of checking for evidence of money laundering. Above that limit and all Thai banks must, by law,  very quickly notify the Thai money laundering office, which makes some checks then indicate clean and OK for the transaction to proceed, or not clean and transaction frozen.

 

- There is risk in transferring large / very large amounts in one transaction in terms of the various banks along the international journey making mistakes and the funds end up in a wrong account and very likely very difficult to impossible  to recover.

 

This does happen, happened twice to me in transfers from Australia to Thailand across several decades, correspondent bank in New York transposed the account numbers wrongly (twice) and it took months to get it fixed and luckily the persons who actually received the money cooperated to send it back.

 

Note: My bank in Australia after much pushing supplied copies of all the documents which all mentioned that the originating bank in Australia and any bank along the journey could NOT be held responsible for any mistakes of problems.

 

Therefore maybe better to send in several transactions, but of course it all incurs fees. Smaller transactions might also keep it out of sight in term of money laundering checks.

 

- Maybe call the Bank of America or a similar high profile US / international based bank and ask them what transfer facilities they can offer, and ask about the costs and how quick / how slow.

 

- My feeling is that there must be other than the mainstream systems. I'm sure the worlds giant multinationals transfer large amounts across countries regularly both in terms of bottom line revenues and capital funds for infrastructure expansion etc., etc. And I doubt they are paying large / very large standard fees and commissions, not good business acumen.  

 

Good luck.

Edited August 16, 2017 by scorecard

[dotpoom]

 What does "MM"  mean,

Is it 50 Billion?......or a bunch of sweets as one helpful poster pointed out?

 

[SteveB2]

On 8/14/2017 at 0:21 AM, jpinx said:

At the minimum - You will need the legal paperwork to prove where the money came from.  Presumably it is now in a Thai bank in your named account, so that should not be a big problem, and then you ask that bank what they will need to transfer it to your US account.  Of course the US might want to tax it as well.  Did you check on US tax regulations regarding inheriting abroad?

Precisely...

 

This is well above  the $10,000 mandatory FINCEN reporting level for world wide anti-money laundering prevention  measures - So 'Proof of source' definitely needed.

 

Lets hope your USD50M is not un-sourced cash, else you're going to need a professional to wash it - have you ever thought of opening a go-go bar? 

 

More info here https://www.fincen.gov/ 

[NoBrainer]

So why not just get it into a good Thai bank, in an interest bearing account, with a few high limit credit cards, secured against it, and use it as your own retirement savings.

 

When you old enough to figure out that the US is one of the worst places in the world to live, and decide to pull the plug, you will be well on your way to escaping the nightmare.

 

Then just have to figure out how to get the rest of your assets out from under the Fed's control.

 

I guess you haven't seen the light yet.

[charliebadenhop]

I was under the impression (after being told this by my bank manager) that you cannot simply send money out of Thailand unless you can prove that you first brought the money into Thailand. When I make this statement I am not referring to what an ongoing company might be able to do. I am talking what an individual is able to do. I am also not talking about wanting to send $100 somewhere. 

 

Did I get incorrect info from my bank manager?

[Oztruckie]

Google int money transfers from Thai to U.S.,u will find many big companies outside Thai who can do transfers,and probably much safer with better ex rates.

[scorecard]

9 minutes ago, charliebadenhop said:

I was under the impression (after being told this by my bank manager) that you cannot simply send money out of Thailand unless you can prove that you first brought the money into Thailand. When I make this statement I am not referring to what an ongoing company might be able to do. I am talking what an individual is able to do. I am also not talking about wanting to send $100 somewhere. 

 

Did I get incorrect info from my bank manager?

 

- I suspect this info. is out of date. But is may well be the latest knowledge of many local bank managers.

 

- I doubt that many local bank manager have ever even thought about this subject , and have never acquired any real knowledge about this subject, simply because they have never been asked the question before, .and are not all that interested in getting up to date details on this subject. Plus they generally don't want to call HO because they will lose face. 

 

- It seems (from numerous previous TV threads on the subject of banking, and my own experiences and that of several farang friends) that:

 

- Some Thai banks have never established their own policies about a range of possible banking scenarios / situations.

 

 And further there seems to be quite open flexibility for local bank managers to make their own policies regarding  many banking scenarios.

 

Ultimately the customer never gets clear answers.

 

Perhaps a call to the Bank of Thailand would produce a clear and up to date answer. Perhaps even ask for the BOT website address and what part of the website to open, and ask for the policy item number of similar, and read it for yourself. 

 

Personally I would opt to call the BOT twice and ask for a different but possibly aligned departments, all aimed at trying to speak to different BOT officers and see whether you get a clear and consistent answer.

 

I've done this K Bank, called twice and spoke to different officers (not the subject at hand) and got different answers and exactly the same with BBL.  

[12DrinkMore]

22 minutes ago, charliebadenhop said:

Did I get incorrect info from my bank manager?

 

Yep, try another one.

 

Last month the girls in AYB got all excited about me transferring money out, "no can do, no can do".

 

Transferred to BBL and then BBL made the transfer out. No problem, just the normal forms to fill in. Told them I was going on holiday for a few months.

 

 

[fletchsmile]

21 minutes ago, charliebadenhop said:

I was under the impression (after being told this by my bank manager) that you cannot simply send money out of Thailand unless you can prove that you first brought the money into Thailand. When I make this statement I am not referring to what an ongoing company might be able to do. I am talking what an individual is able to do. I am also not talking about wanting to send $100 somewhere. 

 

Did I get incorrect info from my bank manager?

That's an incorrect impression. The money doesn't have to have come from outside Thailand to send it out again.

 

What you need to be able to demonstrate is  supporting documents for the source of the funds. Repatriation of earnings to your home country is an obvious one. If you've earned money here working legally in Thailand, then you can send it back no problem by showing supporting documents such as your work permit and tax returns. As you've earned the money here in Thailand, it doesn't come from overseas at all.

 

 

[NicoBKK]

Most company executives while relocating back to their home Countries after a few years in Thailand transfer pretty large sums e.g. some mil THB hence in excess of 100/300k USD- as said, if money are legally earned, payslips available, and the employing company or lawyer can help at the bank (also to translate), the process can take up to a couple of hours but is surely feasible.

 

[charliebadenhop]

Thanks for the clarification.

 

The clearest to me being- You earn money in Thailand and then want to send it overseas. 

[steven100]

Easy .....  a bank transfer.   Oh '  you wanted everyone on TV to see you have 50Mil ..  !!

 

also ....  why do you write 50MM  ??   why the two M's     ??    just curious.

[fletchsmile]

$50MM  (USD) as written in the heading might be difficult for an individual to demonstrate where the funds came from and likely to attract more interest from authorities to make sure everything in the paperwork is in order, and appropriate tax etc paid where necessary in addition to source of the funds. That sort of amount likely requires permission from BOT in addition to satisfying whatever your bank asks for.

 

THB 50MM is a much lower amount although again likely to need BOT permission.

 

A key factor is whether you are Thai or not. Thais have more restrictions on what they can transfer out of the country on large sums. The permissible reasons for transferring out of the country also differ.

 

The bigger commercial banks like Bangkok Bank and Siam Commercial Bank would be more used to handling this type of money for overseas transfers, as would foreign owned banks like Standard Chartered or UOB. Smaller local banks like Tisco for example don't even offer proper overseas transfer services

 

If it's an inheritance then you need supporting documents for that. Likely things like copy of the death certificate/ will / court order etc.

 

First step is to talk to your  bank to explain the background and context and what specific supporting documents they want

 

 

 

 

[scorecard]

3 minutes ago, 12DrinkMore said:

 

Yep, try another one.

 

Last month the girls in AYB got all excited about me transferring money out, "no can do, no can do".

 

Transferred to BBL and then BBL made the transfer out. No problem, just the normal forms to fill in. Told them I was going on holiday for a few months.

 

 

 

Good news.

 

I wonder if the local bank staff  have up to date knowledge, in fact I wonder just how much actual training typical local tellers have.

 

A few years back a professor colleague invited his local bank manager to help with a Q and A in one lesson in an MBA program, the course was 'Personal Banking'. The students 60% Thai and 40% foreign exchange students. It's an all English program, no materials or discussions in Thai. Daytime class.

 

Students quickly fired some interesting questions at the bank manager (who spoke advanced English) who quickly floundered and quickly had to say (to many of the questions) that he didn't now the answer.

 

The professor concerned very quickly announced a coffee break and the bank manager quickly said his good byes to the professor and quickly departed. 

 

After the coffee break (students realized the bank manager had already departed) the students started some open discussion focusing on their shock that a bank manager couldn't answer the questions. The exchange students even more shocked. 

 

I've personally had a similar experience in one masters degree class in a  the philosophy of education course, I invited a senior from the Ed. ministry to do a Q and A session about the Thai Ed. policies aligned to the bigger subject of the philosophy of education.

 

It was quickly obvious she couldn't even begin to answer the students questions. Again the session cut short.  

[Naam]

22 minutes ago, steven100 said:

Easy .....  a bank transfer.   Oh '  you wanted everyone on TV to see you have 50Mil ..  !!

 

also ....  why do you write 50MM  ??   why the two M's     ??    just curious.

the expressions "k" (thousand) "mm" (million) and "bb" (billion) are widespread used internationally.

[thongplay]

50 MM?

 

Is that 50 micro meters or 50 milimeters?

 

Or maybe 50 million million? That is 50,000,000,000,000

 

Please use standard units of measurement if you want people to understand you.

 

Frankly your question is stupid and unaswerable.

 

PS Use Bitcoin.

[thongplay]

1 hour ago, Naam said:

the expressions "k" (thousand) "mm" (million) and "bb" (billion) are widespread used internationally.

Nonesense. I have never seen "MM" before. "MM" and "bb" are not "widespread used internationally".

 

This whole question is rubbish. With that amount of money in his bank why is he coming to an online forum to seek advice?

 

Better he goes to his bank or uses Bitcoin.

 

And the next question will be "What's Bitcoin?".

 

What a moron.

[inThailand]

How many useless posts are there so far from people who actually have no real experience doing such?

[LivinLOS]

My local Kasikorn are clueless on this, repeated questioning via the central main branch which gives me deposit boxes and in writing with the customer service people in bangkok explained this. 

 

If I have Tor Tor 3's which later became the FETF, showing inbound transfers, that amount can then go out without question. For this reason I try to send my money here in 50k chunks so that I do gather FETFs. However as getting originals out of the bank proves very hard work (they often have no idea what they are or why I want them, and then why I wont accept a rough poor quality fax from bangkok) and as I now have them from a combo of different banks, I wonder how Kasikorn will react to a Siam commerical FETF, of how an FETF is considered used if its more or less than one.. What tracking of 'this money' v 'that money' is done ?? So far I have not tested it. 

Anything that doesnt have an FETF will need to have taxes paid / be cleared. If you have a work permit, you can show income saved, that is accepted I am told. But for a chunk like this you will need to show taxes paid. 

 

What most farangs seem to fail to understand is there is an obligation to declare all inbound Thai sourced money, be it rental agreements property sales, etc.. The amounts then tend to fall in a single year, and because its large earnings in that one tax year putting the receiver into the highest tax bracket that year. I have had property flippers tell me how wonderful it was that Thailand didnt have capital gains tax, totally ignorant of the fact they were liable for tax on the gain and in breach of the law to not declare it. 

If inheritance tax comes the same way ?? I kind of doubt it.. I have read theres talk of introducing an inheritance tax, but it was much smaller amounts than income brackets and dont think thats started either. 

 

I would say your choices are to consult a decent legal firm to get the clearances done right first time, and deal with a main bank center in bangkok to get the precise list of what they demand. Or simply send out 2 mil every week or two over the next year. 

Edited August 16, 2017 by LivinLOS

[LivinLOS]

Forgot to mention.. 

 

As I have a bunch of different companies I am involved with, it would be easy for me to invoice 'me' for services done by my company. I asked about this many times and could never get an answer, but if I have an invoice, from a non Thai company, for services done, how can they say you cant pay it ?? 

 

But while no one in any capacity at the banks would touch that question i suspect it comes down to we want 30% tax or a full and total clearance. 

[exppenang]

I'd say Bangkok Bank is a good start - they have a branch in New York. You could probably negotiate a special exchange rate for that sum.
http://www.bangkokbank.com/BangkokBank/InternationalNetwork/InternationalBranches/USA/pages/index.aspx

[fletchsmile]

55 minutes ago, thongplay said:

Nonesense. I have never seen "MM" before. "MM" and "bb" are not "widespread used internationally".

 

.......

Congratulations on being the world's representative and authoritative voice for 7bn people as to what is used internationally or not 

 

As part of your role, you might also want to write to all the google searches, acronym finders, dictionaries etc etc to correct them that as you've personally not seen it, they're talking nonsense 

 

Here's a link to the first 2, to get you started:

 

https://www.google.co.th/search?q=MM+meaning&oq=MM+meaning&gs_l=psy-ab.3..35i39k1j0l3.19217.77919.0.78618.22.19.3.0.0.0.116.1850.13j6.19.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..0.22.1858.6..0i131k1j0i67k1j0i10k1j0i46i67k1j46i67k1j0i20k1.912XrKwnGfg

 

http://www.acronymfinder.com/MM.html

Edited August 16, 2017 by fletchsmile

[Foozool]

On 8/13/2017 at 10:20 PM, KasperC said:

Inheriting around $50MM Baht and would like to move it to the US... Is it possible?

 

On 8/13/2017 at 11:00 PM, KasperC said:

I don't know what that means. Just asking if it's possible/legal way. Even if the amount is unbelievable how do people get more than $50K out a year?

2 very different numbers.

50MB is a big problem. 

$50k is not a big problem, if there is any record for transfer in.

No record, just a few trips.