Has anyone been prosecuted in Thailand for failing to register for tax purposes?

@Roger *******

I believe we are very like minded.

@Roger *******

i think there are some logical assumptions here. Luckily, you and i will be long dead before implementation

@Todd ********

that is yet another way of looking at it and a very valid one as well.

@Roger *******

that is interesting. It nearly says forget about it but then comes back at the end to say watch out.

@Roger *******

Correct, with a little change:

…”Regardless of when it was earned, but after 31-12-2024”…

Note that one of the Thai tax experts in our group (Thailand Tax rules for expats) contests the legitimacy of the entire policy change.

His opinion, however, hasn’t been tested in courts yet and I bet it won’t in the near future.

@Nick ***********

1) How many people stand at a red traffic light and ask you to stop?

2) How many people ask you not to cut them while you hold your steak knife?

3) How many people ask you not to hit little children?

That said, you are legally required to know the law of the country where you live, and abide by the law. It’s really that simple.

Some people get away unpunished when dealing drugs, abusing women or committing tax fraud.

Others get caught.

Today the TRD doesn’t have the means to track your finances and take action. But they have 10 years to install whatever system they want, backwards change bank reporting criteria and whatnot.

Will they do it? I don’t know. To be honest, I don’t care either. I prefer to stay within the boundaries of the tax laws and not worry about being fined or possibly even refused an extension after 9 or 10 years.

I build my future here and pay my dues, limited as they are, while doing everything within the limits of the law to pay as little as possible.

In my case possibly between 1,000 and 2,000 baht per year.

Hopefully some day my income will justify that I must pay millions, but in all honesty I don’t see that ever coming. 🤣

Thailand Tax rules for expats

@Peter *********

the answer to 1, 2 and 3 is everyone unless they like getting run over by a bus, like the sight of their own blood or enjoy seeing little children battered. Your last sentence is quite odd because you must be the only person who is hoping to pay millions of baht in tax.

On a slightly different tack Thai revenue are soon going to work out that it is not cost effective to go through your tax affairs only to find out that you might just owe them 1 to 2 thousand baht.

@Nick ***********

You obviously didn’t read or didn’t care to read my “odd” last sentence. Maybe try to comprehend what I wrote…

“Hopefully someday my income will justify that I must pay millions”.

Now let that sink a bit. You can do it! Show us you can!

Nowhere did I write that I am hoping to pay millions of tax.

Read it, Nick! Come on! Show us you’re capable of reading *and* understanding.

I challenge you!

PS spending one full day per expat on an audit to get 2,000 baht tax + fine + interest is definitely cost effective! Multiply that with 3 mln expats.

AI says average income for civil servants is a bit more than 10 k per month, say 500 baht per day…

They could setup a company to do this for them! 😉

@Peter *********

you are much too clever for me. Your sentence now makes no sense to me at all. But do I care. No!

@Nick ***********

I already thought so. 😉

@Roger *******

If you mean “registering for a TIN” I doubt whether they will ever “prosecute anyone who doesn’t register.

About checking those who didn’t file, I have information straight from a Bangkok TRD official that they plan to start audits during 2025. However, given the fact that 1) the TRD is currently highly understaffed, 2) most TRD employees don’t have a clue about the tax rules for foreigners, I have a very strong feeling that the story might just be a wet dream of said official.

But what is now doesn’t provide any guarantees for tomorrow.

@Kool ******

Yes, it does.

@Frangipani ******

no it doesn’t. It depends on what money you transfer to Thailand. If, for example, you transfer your savings from prior years, then no need to file. You better get some advice so you get it correct.

@Frangipani ******

No it doesn't. Unfortunately many believe it's a "one size fits all" situation, which is so far from reality. Even with 180+ days in the country, certain DTAs can allow a dual tax resident to have sole tax residency in another country. There's so many clauses in the various DTAs which stop certain remittances being non-taxable in Thailand. The only people required to complete a tax return are those with assessable income

@Peter **********

I stand corrected. 180 days and qualify for filing (have assessable income above stated limits). You are right.

The 180 days rule merely defines whether you are tax resident or not. My bad.

@Peter *********

The 180 days is most definitely the starting point for residency, but keep in mind many expats have dual tax residency, and when the rules of the relevant DTA are applied, many would lose their Thai Tax Residency status

@Peter **********

I don’t know whether the Oz DTA protects Australians from having dual tax residencies. To be honest, it would surprise me if that were true. But anything is possible.

Be as it may, I don’t know the ins and outs of the Australian DTA. So I’ll take your word for it. 👍

/edit 10 minutes later: article 4 is interesting and does assure that Australians are tax residents in one country only. I’d love to continue this conversation in our tax group as this may affect all Australian expats.

Thailand Tax rules for expats

(Having read only article 4)

@Peter *********

It's individual circumstances. Most DTAs have similar criteria, but the Australian is the only one I've seen which uses the word "solely".

@Nick ***********

I have savings but I also earn money, I'm a remote worker (and with a visa for remote workers: the DTV). I get my salary deposited every month on my home country bank account (where I must pay taxes for it). I always pay everything here using Thai QR, Alipay+(for as they don't take Thai QR) or credit/debit cards (in that order). My country (South Korea) banks have agreements with Thai banks so we can use our native Korean banks apps to pay here using either Thai QR or Alipay+. We can even use the app to get cash at any SCB ATM, but I don't really need to.

I've heard that not only Korea, but many Asian countries (Japan, China, Singapore, Taiwan maybe even Russia?) also have this kind of agreements. And no, I don't need to remit any money first to use it, I just use the regular QR scan and then the money is deducted real time from my bank account, without extra fees.

Side note: I first moved to Thailand with a DTV. Never lived here before that.

@Elías *******

that is interesting. I have never heard of an arrangement like that before.

@Peter ********

for regular transactions it's not a remittance. For ATM withdrawals, it could be, yes. I only used it to withdraw money once to try if it worked (it did), and it was like for 20K bath only. And my country (where the card is from) doesn't share any type of data with Thailand, either.

@Elías *******

Any credit card transaction is a remittance, as is an ATM withdrawal. The Thai Tax Office only needs to see the transactions, the existence of a CRS agreement doesn't make any difference. The tax liability has more to do with source of the money, your own personal situation, and any DTA Thailand has with your country.