Bemjamin Hart, naturalized Thai citizen and managing director of Integrity Legal, claims in a new video that typical expats will not be impacted by the Thai Revenue Department’s recent announcements. His video,“Should I Get a Thai Tax ID Number (TIN)?”, states that the whole subject has been hyped unnecessarily on mainstream and social media.
Mr Hart stresses that Thai financial laws have not changed and states that “most” foreigners who are tax residents are ill-advised to request a TIN number from their local TRD. Although the video does not elaborate on “most”, it appears to include those resident in Thailand for at least 180 days in 2024 who are dependent on pensions pre-taxed in their first country. It is this large, mainly retiree group which has attracted the greatest attention.
The video attacks foreigners, claiming to be tax experts, who give advice when they are not qualified to do so. Mr Hart emphasizes that financial advice is an occupation generally reserved for Thais. He criticizes unnamed individuals attempting to persuade foreigners to register with TRD in order to boost their own client base and fee income. He recommends that those foreigners with personal concerns should contact a Thai professional company for consultation.
Pattaya Mail notes that controlling, auditing and performing or providing accounting services is a profession reserved for Thais except for occasional internal audits or work under international agreements to which Thailand is bound. A further section restricts legal services to Thais except in some aspects of arbitration. The information is provided by the Ministry of Labour. Pattaya Mail has no definitive view of the TRD announcements, but reports the views of agencies and spokespersons because the subject is of great importance to many of our readers.
