With a couple of weeks left to sign up with the Thai Revenue Department (TRD) for cash transmitted from abroad in the calendar year 2024, questions still abound. It all depends whom you ask. Some Thai tax lawyers, for instance, say the tax net includes use of overseas credit cards and transfers via Wise, others argue it’s more complicated than that. Some claim that everyone who was present in Thailand for 180 days plus last year needs to file, an observation hotly disputed by others who stress no need if you didn’t transfer “assessable” income.
Benjamin Hart, a naturalized Thai citizen and managing director of Integrity Legal, in his videos has argued forcefully that typical pensioners living here on pre-taxed income in their home country should not be fooled by foreign “tax-pimps” who have no authority anyway under Thai law. He does caution that those in doubt should consult a native Thai tax consultant, emphasizing that there has been no change in Thai law, merely a revised interpretation by TRD. Other commentators last year went further and predicted that the matter might well be contested in the Thai courts with a likely win for the tax residents under financial threat. However, no such legal challenges have apparently been initiated.
Pinsai Suraswadi, newly appointed director general of TRD, has stated that expats, Thai or foreign, who are tax residents should file paperwork by March 31 with a further week’s leeway for online submissions. He was very candid that the specific amount payable would depend on the nature of such income and the tax treaty with their country of origin. He also conceded that the entire move to involve foreigners and their transmitted income was due to rising public debt, slow economic growth and an ageing population.
Data collected by the Pattaya Mail and feedback provided to Facebook groups strongly suggest that each TRD office is interpreting the rules in its own way. In Bangkok, several expats showed detailed financial paperwork and were told nothing (or just 3,000-4,000 baht) to pay. In Chonburi, some assessments have been made without any paperwork required beyond passport and address confirmation. In Surat Thani, one expat said the officer was interested in double taxation, another being sharply advised to the contrary. Rather like the Destination Thailand Visa in a very different context, officer discretion in embassies, rather than agreed rules, is the order of the day.
One or two TRD offices have suggested to those expats on one-year retirement extensions of stay that 800,000 baht is the sum they should declare on their tax form. The reasoning is that the sum has to be transferred every year to qualify for the annual extension. One expat said that he was informed that half that amount was tax free, because of the built-in allowances in Thai tax codes, and that 5% would be levied on the remaining half: thus a tax bill of 20,000 baht for the year. A growing number of expats are paying authorized companies to negotiate on their behalf with TRD, so avoiding any personal visit to the tax office. Obviously these services are not free.
An earlier report in a Thai Examiner survey suggested that 58% of expats would neither seek a tax identification number nor submit a tax form this time around. Almost all of them were from countries with double taxation treaties which they felt, perhaps over-optimistically, covered them come what may. The current situation is obviously in need of a serious re-look by the Thai government itself. A great deal is at stake.
