All foreigners clocking up 180 days residence here, or more, during the calendar year 2024 should obtain a tax identification number from the Thai Revenue Department. They should also fill in the requisite tax form and submit it in the first three months of 2025, according to Thomas Carden the Bangkok-based founder and director of American International Tax Advisors. He accepted that the majority of expats would need the help of a tax professional to complete the bureaucracy.
Mr Carden emphasized that only overseas income actually transmitted to Thailand was relevant. “Issues such as pre-taxed pensions, non-assessable income and double taxation treaties are all important,” but our advice is to register even if you don’t believe you have anything to pay,” he told 100-plus members of the Pattaya City Expat Club. “If you don’t register, then you risk audit at a later date, maybe years away, and have to prove your immunity. If you delay, the financial penalty screws can become tighter and tighter.”
He admitted that the TRD head office in Bangkok had failed to keep the provincial offices up to date. “That’s why expats turning up at local revenue offices have often been told to go away even if accompanied by their wife or a Thai speaker.” He added that there was bound to be initial administrative chaos, but the safest course of action was to register via a professional tax company. “Most pensioner expats living on savings and pensions will have nothing, or little, to pay and supporting bank or tax documentation is not required when submitting the form.”
Answering questions, Mr Carden said that taxing foreign residents was common to many countries these days, not just Thailand. He told one British audience member that it was best to register even though the guy had not remitted any income to Thailand in 2024 and would be unlikely to do so in 2025 either. “Registration doesn’t mean you have to pay,” Mr Carden repeated. In a brighter piece of news, he stated that TRD was not, for now anyway, investigating credit or debit card transactions.
As regards the suggestion that Thailand could move from a residence-based tax system to one based on world-wide income, Mr Carten said this would require parliamentary permission and was speculative at the present time. In conclusion, he said that personal income tax was “coming down the pipe” and that dislike or nausea would not turn off the pressure. The general advice was to keep cool but not to ignore the elephant in the expat room. One audience member at the end of the meeting wondered whether Thais receiving overseas income were aware of the contentious issue. It applies equally to them.
