income tax ?

[Chas]

Here is an interesting tax conundrum as well as a plea for help from anyone better informed than I have been able to become after quite a while googling.

I worked here for the past 7 years and recently stopped doing so and moved into a retirement visa. I think that the university took care of income tax stuff as I remember getting a check once and signing a few things from time to time . . .all in Thai . . .which I was led to understand had to do with my Thai income tax ( but it was that kind of place so who really knows?)

Now they have produced what seems to be the equivalent of a W2 form ( US tax report of income received and taxes withheld) somehow ( again it is THAT kind of place) this was given to a friend who somehow gave it to her mother who somehow calculated my taxes and sent it back in duplicate all filled out via the friend with directions for me to pay 2000 baht to the Krung Thai bank before March 31st!

Now, it was certainly kind of my friend's mother to do this, but she doesnt know me or my financial situation or possible deductions , insurance payments, my age ( over 65 is another deduction I see on one website) etc. . .so I think it is calculated wrong and I am just not about to donate 2000 baht to the Thai government without making damn sure that I have to do so.

I THINK that they check this kind of thing come visa time and I could get into trouble if I just ignore the whole business? ( Though I just applied for and got a reentry permit without any sort of check being made on whether or not I owed Thai taxes.

So I am open to suggestions here.

I have found a couple of websites which seem to tell one how to do this ( and it looks so simple compared to the one inch thick US tax book I get every year) but it seems contradictory and weird to me so far and I keep getting the numbers to come out several different ways every time I run it.

Does anyone do this here in Hua Hin? ( But I am not going to pay 2000 baht to a preparer either!)

Does anyone have an easy to understand website to recommend?

Has anyone done this him/herself and can give me a few suggestions as to how to proceed?

[buksida]

I would take a Thai with you and go along to the local tax office here in Hua Hin, don't know the exact address but its along the railway road heading south of the station (unless they've moved it).

You should have a green form called a por ngor dor 91 which has all your details and deductions on it. If you don't the tax office will have a copy.

It could turn out that they owe you money, happened to me when I switched work permits last time, the previous employer paid too much tax for me so they gave me some back!

[Chas]

Thanks Buksi
I am still roaming around online to see what is out there.
I may also ask my friends mother to redo it with the correct info. That might work.

[buksida]

Just as a heads up I've been in to pay my annual punishment to the Thai government who give me nothing in return apart from a yellow slip of paper that lets me extend my privileged blue book so as I can pay them some more next year.

They're now asking for the same million signed copies of everything that you need to do for visa extensions so it looks like they're tightening in that department also - especially where farangs are concerned. They've never done this in previous years.

[Chas]

Thanks Buksi, but where did you go into anyway? Is it still along the railway road?
I have no blue booklet ( on a retirement visa) and in fact I have nothing except a statement from Stamford giving my income for the year 2550 and two copies of a form P.N.D. 90 all in Thai and filled out incorrectly.

Now, I did go online and find (and print out) an English version of the form so I can follow the Thai form just fine. However, I am actually entitled to a nice refund when it is done according to my actual circumstances.

Have you or anyone every gotten money back from the Thai govt? ( They took out too much from my paycheck) And what is that like? ( an actual Check? cash? two years in the making? forget it? check is in the mail???)

The only directions I have are to go to Krungthai bank and pay what I owe, but can I go to Krungthai bank and get my refund??? ( I laugh as I ask the question because it just cant be that simple in the land of endless paperwork.)

So my plan is to fill out the form the way I think it should be filled out and take it into the Income Tax office next week along with duplicate copies of every document I have.. .and the Thai spouse. . .and see what happens.

[JD]

I've just been sent 4,900 Baht refund for over payment of personal tax last year. My accountant has filed for the same refund on the previous four years as my circumstances were the same during that period.

I also managed to get a VAT refund last year for 42,000 VAT overpayment. I also have put in a claim for overpayment for the previous four years.

The VAT refund I had to battle for. It seems if you are a Thai that sells unprepared or unprocessed food, there is no VAT element to pay for in your sale, but they insisted on me paying VAT for all food sales. It took three years to argue my point with them, but they finally gave in last year and refunded the difference I had overpaid, now I have asked for the previous four years to be taken into account as well.

Dealing with the Revenue here is as frustrating as it is in the UK. But here you have to pay the demand put in front of you or you may have trouble with your visa application. Once they have your money, it becomes hard work to get it back. But stick to your guns and keep at it. Providing you keep correct paperwork for your earnings and have paid all your 'dues' with them, they have to give back any overpayment when the time comes or explain why your figures differs to theirs.

[buksida]

Yes, I've had a rebate from them, albeit a small one. As JD says its not easy getting money back and you need those magic forms from them to renew your work visa so they know farangs are a sure thing when it comes to paying tax ... shame they can't apply the same enthusiasm to their own countrymen.

[Chas]

Thanks so much Buksi and JD!
I was encouraged by your posts to take the bull by the horns.
I went down to the Income Tax office today. . .alone. ( Thai spouse is working)

It is a bit of a way past the railway station heading south on the left. It looks like a government office but there is nothing at all in English to tell you what goes on there. Luckily, a retired Thai gentleman saw me looking puzzled ( I was about to try to compare the Thai writing on the forms I had to the Thai writing on the signage. .a laborious process!) and he asked what I wanted and directed me to the correct office. I walked in and sat down. Again nothing at all in English and I saw no other farangs while I was there.

To make a very happy story short, they were just wonderful! Turns out that I had filled out the wrong form ( 90 instead of 91) and the sweet lady helping me just grabbed the correct one and filled it all out FOR me as she computed my tax. She also managed to get me a substantial amount over what I had thought I qualified for in the process. ( I can not imagine anything remotely like this happening in the US, where I would have been immediately given the forms back to do over again for starters.)

I apologized for my lack of fluency in Thai but she had enough English to carry on with what she had to do and between us we were fine. Check should arrive in a month or so. I have 2 receipts and had to pay them 12 baht for the stamp. I had copied my passport pages in advance so that was all there was to it.
Total time, about 30 minutes. Everyone smiled and everyone was very professional and efficient. (Now, why can't the police manage that?)

So there you have it. A pleasant and rewarding experience in a Thai government office ( Tomorrow I try again to renew my driver's license. I expect to have to pay a hefty bribe to get that done, if it is even possible.)

On that note, does anyone have any friends in the Cha Am police department or connections to any police officers there? I would appreciate being able to get this simple piece of paper without waving a 1000 baht bill around and getting the usual run around.

[Farang]

Chas, why are you renewing your DL in Cha-Am police station? Why not
in Pranburi DMV, where they do give good, polite and efficient service?

[Chas]

Farang, although I did not need a police statement of where I lived to get my original license, I now need one to get the renewal.

I dont know why, but I suspect that the clerk in the DMV wanted a bribe. I had tried doing the DL renewal on my own a couple of weeks ago and was disappointed. Wasted trip.

That is probably why I rejoiced SO much at my success with the tax folks yesterday.

I need a piece of paper from the police in the town where I live saying that I live there. ( Plus doctors cert & passport copies)

Could have gotten the police statement in Hua Hin Police station for 1000 baht, so the smiling policeman there told us, even though I actually live in Cha Am. (Thats how seriously they take these things.)

Farang, do you know anyone at the Pranburi DMV? I have not tried there and I wonder if I might have better success. Where is the DMV in Pranburi? I have been going to the one just north of Cha Am.

[dtaai-maai]

So there you have it. A pleasant and rewarding experience in a Thai government office

Blimey, that's two positive stories about Thai officialdom I've read today!