Condo purchase - funds already in Thailand

[JaiLai]

How exactly is this achieved to buy condo in foreign name but funds already in Thai bank account?

 

Thanks

[Peterw42]

If the money originally came from outside Thailand, talk to your bank for a letter or FET

 

Unless you have a bank letter or FET showing proof of the money coming in to Thailand, the money will need to be sent out of Thailand and back in.

 

 

Edited September 2, 2017 by Peterw42

[JaiLai]

If the money originally came from outside Thailand, talk to your bank for a letter or FET
 
Unless you have a bank letter or FET showing proof of the money coming in to Thailand, the money will need to be sent out of Thailand and back in.
 
 

Would payslips from overseas that correspond to the deposits be ok? I have them over many years and all old bank books.

Thanks

[xylophone]

48 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

If the money originally came from outside Thailand, talk to your bank for a letter or FET

 

Unless you have a bank letter or FET showing proof of the money coming in to Thailand, the money will need to be sent out of Thailand and back in.

 

 

I had documentation from my bank showing that I had transferred money into the kingdom, including a statement and a letter and another particular form showing that the money came from my bank overseas and was deposited in SCB here.

 

When I went to transfer the money back to my home country a few years later they asked for proof of where it came from, so I gave them all of this documentation and they said that it wasn't enough because I needed documentation from the actual "clearing bank" into which the money was first deposited from overseas.

 

Of course I was very angry because I considered the documentation they gave me to be enough, but they wouldn't let me transfer it without the documentation mentioned above, which was impossible to find because it was some years later and the clearing bank was UOB which had no records of this whatsoever.

 

So a cautionary tale, make sure that the documentation you have from the bank will suffice if you have to prove from whence the money came, especially if you want to transfer it overseas at a later date.

[dotpoom]

On 02/09/2017 at 10:08 AM, Peterw42 said:

If the money originally came from outside Thailand, talk to your bank for a letter or FET

 

Unless you have a bank letter or FET showing proof of the money coming in to Thailand, the money will need to be sent out of Thailand and back in.

 

 

True....I did that in about 20 mins. while waiting in a bank. They simply changed the money into dollars and back into Thai Bt. again.

   Also the average Estate Agent can be a great help.

[Minnehaha]

On 9/2/2017 at 11:02 AM, xylophone said:

I had documentation from my bank showing that I had transferred money into the kingdom, including a statement and a letter and another particular form showing that the money came from my bank overseas and was deposited in SCB here.

 

When I went to transfer the money back to my home country a few years later they asked for proof of where it came from, so I gave them all of this documentation and they said that it wasn't enough because I needed documentation from the actual "clearing bank" into which the money was first deposited from overseas.

 

Of course I was very angry because I considered the documentation they gave me to be enough, but they wouldn't let me transfer it without the documentation mentioned above, which was impossible to find because it was some years later and the clearing bank was UOB which had no records of this whatsoever.

 

So a cautionary tale, make sure that the documentation you have from the bank will suffice if you have to prove from whence the money came, especially if you want to transfer it overseas at a later date.

Banks here require the FEC or foreign exchange certificate with indication funds were imported at and cleared by said bank For Use To Purchase Condo. 

At later date the bank.. any bank..  will need that documentation for repatriation because it will be batches by Bank of Thailand as it controls forex.  The BOT is more strict these days than in past years.  And Banks are much more strict as a result.  Furthermore if American banks here are not happy to provide service because they are expected to do FATCA which is very expensive for them.  

In summary,  if you don't have the certificates in your hand you can go to the bank that cleared funds but they are sometimes difficult to deal with.  But they will do.  In my experience they will paper trail for you...  particularly if you can find the contact person you dealt with at that time.  The bank can issue a letter stating the details which then becomes the FEC.  

[phantomfiddler]

What I did a couple of times was to take my Thai Baht along to the "Bank" on Soi Roongland, exchange them for U.S. dollars, then go to your own bank and deposit the dollars saying that you brought them in to buy a condo. They then  immediately issued me with a Tor Tor-3 which at that time was the only document needed, though I believe the letter from the bank is now  required.

[seancbk]

What if the money is earned by your own company in Thailand?  

Would I be right in thinking that case the company would just purchase the property as an asset of the business and then set it up that as a director/shareholder you would live in the company owned property.

Seems that paying yourself a huge salary in Thailand and then not being able to purchase property with the money, because you've not brought it in from overseas is a bit of a problem.  

Actually there are probably tax implications that can be avoided by not paying yourself a large salary and instead providing yourself with company accommodation.



 

[xylophone]

3 hours ago, Minnehaha said:

Banks here require the FEC or foreign exchange certificate with indication funds were imported at and cleared by said bank For Use To Purchase Condo. 

At later date the bank.. any bank..  will need that documentation for repatriation because it will be batches by Bank of Thailand as it controls forex.  The BOT is more strict these days than in past years.  And Banks are much more strict as a result.  Furthermore if American banks here are not happy to provide service because they are expected to do FATCA which is very expensive for them.  

In summary,  if you don't have the certificates in your hand you can go to the bank that cleared funds but they are sometimes difficult to deal with.  But they will do.  In my experience they will paper trail for you...  particularly if you can find the contact person you dealt with at that time.  The bank can issue a letter stating the details which then becomes the FEC.  

Obviously didn't happen in my situation, although when I asked the bank, when the money was transferred, if that was all of the paperwork I needed (i.e. the stuff they gave me regarding the incoming funds, my bank in NZ, the certificate from their bank regarding incoming funds et cetera) they said it was as – obviously it wasn't!

 

And four years later the UOB had no idea what I was talking about and had no means of checking for me and my bank was most uncooperative when I was trying to transfer the money home – – that was until I found a great personal banker who showed me a way round it using a government bond as I've already mentioned in a previous post.

 

As others have said, ensure that you have the CORRECT PAPERWORK..........and insist on it because even the folks in the bank weren't sure exactly what that entailed. 

 

 

[Minnehaha]

1 hour ago, xylophone said:

Obviously didn't happen in my situation, although when I asked the bank, when the money was transferred, if that was all of the paperwork I needed (i.e. the stuff they gave me regarding the incoming funds, my bank in NZ, the certificate from their bank regarding incoming funds et cetera) they said it was as – obviously it wasn't!

 

And four years later the UOB had no idea what I was talking about and had no means of checking for me and my bank was most uncooperative when I was trying to transfer the money home – – that was until I found a great personal banker who showed me a way round it using a government bond as I've already mentioned in a previous post.

 

As others have said, ensure that you have the CORRECT PAPERWORK..........and insist on it because even the folks in the bank weren't sure exactly what that entailed. 

 

 

Excellent advice.  

[chickenrunCM]

16 hours ago, seancbk said:

What if the money is earned by your own company in Thailand?  

Would I be right in thinking that case the company would just purchase the property as an asset of the business and then set it up that as a director/shareholder you would live in the company owned property.

Seems that paying yourself a huge salary in Thailand and then not being able to purchase property with the money, because you've not brought it in from overseas is a bit of a problem.  

Actually there are probably tax implications that can be avoided by not paying yourself a large salary and instead providing yourself with company accommodation.



 

of course you can buy a condo if you earnt and taxed the money in Thailand

[seancbk]

5 hours ago, chickenrunCM said:

of course you can buy a condo if you earnt and taxed the money in Thailand

 

Then why has everything I've read over the past 9 years indicated that as a farang you have to show the money was brought in from outside Thailand?

 

 

[Nook225]

Okay, consider the following case:

A foreigner legally married a Thai national; Thai wife dies, leaving 4 condos, 2 of which (50%) are to be inherited by the foreign widower. So The foreign widower does not indeed purchase the property but the actual title deed transfer will occur according to the law, because he is a firs degree heir. The foreigner never ever worked in his life so does not have FEC as doesn't have any money (was 100% supported by wife). 

How the process of transfer would look like? What does the law say?

Image what kind of transactional costs (consulting costs to find the way out) the poor guy will incure as noone here seems to know anything deeper than retirement visa for old western sponsors...

[murraynz]

last week i had a problem with bkk bank---i wanted to transfer 6,600,000 back to my own country---iwas buying a second condo---had set up a thai company to purchase....the thai owner cancelled the sale-no explanation...

anyhow--my money was transferred direct to realestate agents account-then they refunded in full back to my bkk accont  i had a clear paper trail showing all this-i had ALL the correct documents showing how the funds were transferred in-for purchase of condo...the woman at the bank was being difficult--ive now worked out a simpler  way to do it--expect to have no problem.

note-other than this--i have always found my bkk bank branch at pattaya- to be very helpful .

advise to any body else intending to purchase condo----make sure that yo have a very clear paper trail---possibly, the least transfers the better.

[seancbk]

On 9/7/2017 at 3:25 PM, Nook225 said:

Okay, consider the following case:

A foreigner legally married a Thai national; Thai wife dies, leaving 4 condos, 2 of which (50%) are to be inherited by the foreign widower. So The foreign widower does not indeed purchase the property but the actual title deed transfer will occur according to the law, because he is a firs degree heir. The foreigner never ever worked in his life so does not have FEC as doesn't have any money (was 100% supported by wife). 

How the process of transfer would look like? What does the law say?

Image what kind of transactional costs (consulting costs to find the way out) the poor guy will incure as noone here seems to know anything deeper than retirement visa for old western sponsors...

 

There will always be unusual cases, unfortunately the laws here are created in such a broad manner it's almost as if the Thai's never considered there might be different situations.

 

 

 

[Nook225]

21 hours ago, seancbk said:

There will always be unusual cases, unfortunately the laws here are created in such a broad manner it's almost as if the Thai's never considered there might be different situations.

I guess the laws are quite straightforward as have been all copied from US; but the root of troubles might be a mental capacity of people who supposed to apply it. 

In Pattaya city, there are as many lawers as real estate agencies and beer bars. However, it is wise to trust these lawyers if you wanna do no more that a visa just because they do not know anything whatsoever. I've tried many, if its something deeper than a company registration or visa - you gonna suffer.

Going to different branches of the same bank with some unusual thing or for a mere consultation - you gonna hear diametrically opposit things.

Edited September 10, 2017 by Nook225

[Free4ert]

6 hours ago, Nook225 said:

Going to different branches of the same bank with some unusual thing or for a mere consultation - you gonna hear diametrically opposit things.

Absolutely true