Tax residency in Thailand and taxing overseas income

[Big Boy]

Me too, but that was the extreme. Even 500,000฿ per annum is going to eventually raise a few eyebrows if the revenue dept. do their job.

[StevePIraq]

If the sum/s you transfer to her are withdrawn. Then she gives it to someone else, there is nothing wrong with that.
I know we could debate legal implications for ever, but the Swiss embassy has already advised this is OK.
The Swiss embassy also advised him of the following.
If you have no income to declare, for example because you are living off past savings, you are under no obligation to obtain a tax number.

[Big Boy]

Some Expat foreign residents face a base tax bill of up to ฿71k a year and must file by March 2025
Foreigners in Thailand must file tax asset returns for 2024 by March 2025. The new regime could mean a minimum of ฿71,000 tax for some retired expats. Tax treaties certainly should offer relief, so expats are urged to seek advice and understand the specific treaties related to their country of origin.

Foreigners in Thailand will be expected to file tax asset returns for the year 2024 by the end of March 2025. This comes with Thai tax authorities moving to widen the kingdom’s tax base as the country seeks structural economic changes to address its growing aged population. The new taxation regime could mean a minimum of ฿71,000 tax for some retired expats living in Thailand. This is based on the base income level stipulated by the Immigration Bureau. However, if an appropriate tax treaty is in place, it can help the taxpayer. For instance, a provision meaning that pension fund income is only taxed in the country where it is based.

Certainly, the tax will be due unless the remitted income from abroad is already taxed at source and the foreigner’s home country has a tax treaty with the kingdom.

Foreigners are being encouraged to seek tax advice and, in particular, to study the particular tax treaty between their country of origin and Thailand.

Thailand’s Revenue Department is still moving forward with its implementation of broader tax reporting requirements for foreigners resident in the kingdom.

Makes interesting reading...

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news- ... arch-2025/

[404cameljockey]

Just a comment.

https://www.rd.go.th/english/6045.html

The last category of assessable income is:

8. income from business, commerce, agriculture, industry, transport or any other activity not specified earlier.

In the UK this ridiculously vague catch all wording would be construed by courts against the person seeking to rely on it (ie the Thai Revenue Service).
But no doubt as TIT....

[404cameljockey]

After making it law that all foreigners living in Thailand must have health insurance, they only make a tax allowance for life insurance. Nice....

[hhinner]

After making it law that all foreigners living in Thailand must have health insurance, they only make a tax allowance for life insurance. Nice....

When did the health insurance law happen?

[404cameljockey]

After making it law that all foreigners living in Thailand must have health insurance, they only make a tax allowance for life insurance. Nice....

When did the health insurance law happen?

I'm exaggerating slightly, it's required for O/A visa extension. Not for all foreigners. Sorry.

[magsandbilly]

We do not have pensions coming from uk into Thailand. We have the required funds for our visa sitting in Thai bank accounts. We are not uk pension age. We have retired from working. We live off our savings in our uk bank account.

This may sound silly but Could someone clarify for me if bringing in some of our savings to pay for our living expenses in Thailand is classed as ‘income’. If the money is in a uk bank and transferred to Thailand as and when we need funds, would it be classed as ‘income’ and do we pay tax on the amount transferred into our Thai bank account?

I suppose I am looking for clarification on what is classified as ‘income’ because all the information is referring to pensions coming in and we don’t have any pension.
Thanks

[Dannie Boy]

With the best intentions, any advice you get on the Forum is unlikely to be authoritative - that can only come from the Thai Tax authorities, or a Thai tax advisor, so you might be better waiting and see if further clarification is forthcoming.


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[Robinhood]

We do not have pensions coming from uk into Thailand. We have the required funds for our visa sitting in Thai bank accounts. We are not uk pension age. We have retired from working. We live off our savings in our uk bank account.

This may sound silly but Could someone clarify for me if bringing in some of our savings to pay for our living expenses in Thailand is classed as ‘income’. If the money is in a uk bank and transferred to Thailand as and when we need funds, would it be classed as ‘income’ and do we pay tax on the amount transferred into our Thai bank account?

I suppose I am looking for clarification on what is classified as ‘income’ because all the information is referring to pensions coming in and we don’t have any pension.
Thanks

You are asking the million dollar question, but as Dannie Boy has said, you are probably better to slow down a bit.

You mention The UK, so if you are from The UK, you can have a little bit of comfort in that there is a tax agreement between The UK and Thailand.

If push came to shove, can you make a reasonable case that the income you have sent to Thailand is from Tax Paid UK income? Do you already fill in HMRC self assessment forms annually?

If you do, I image it would be difficult to argue that your income has not already been taxed?

[Big Boy]

Does the income not have to be taxed in-year to be exempt?

[Robinhood]

Does the income not have to be taxed in-year to be exempt?

I'm not sure.

However,

Self assessment is done up to 9 months after the income received. And so if you have , lets say 100,000 pounds in the bank (built up over several years), and you send 2,000 pounds to Thailand. Does anybody know from which year the pounds sent were from?

Also, all UK Taxpayers legitimately receive a tax allowance. So, even if they don't actually pay any tax, income below the tax threshold may be considered as having already been assessed for tax.

I am definitely no tax expert, so if another more qualified poster wants to correct anything, that's all good.

[Dannie Boy]

I doubt that many/any of us are Thai tax experts so unless anything is published before hand, we’ll have to wait until next year to see what crawls out of the woodwork.


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[magsandbilly]

We were told by HMRC we no longer need to file tax returns to HMRC.

[STEVE G]

I'm also no tax professional but something has just occurred to me in that for anyone with a wife/partner who is not working, it seems that there should be some scope for transferring half your income to them so that they can claim their exemption allowance as well.
If that is allowed, it would mean that if you were living off 600,000bt a year, you could get exemption on two times 150,000 and only pay 5% on the other 300,000 which seems quite reasonable.