Will my UK pension be taxed at 30% in Thailand during the retirement visa renewal process?

@Jeff ******

never gonna happen

@Jeff ******

is this just your opinion, or do you know for a fact that’s how the Thai tax office will treat this.

@Deby *************

well they need to find a solution sooner rather than later to potential problems like this.

@Deby *************

denial, they’re living on their bones and know this could finish them!

You can use an agent but I don't like to pay money out unnecessarily.

@Clive ********

Well you have to open a Kasikorn account and I did that with the help of my Thai wife. Then I just used Wise to transfer at least baht a month.

Apart from problem caused by applying for my extension in Chiang Mai and account been in Sukhothai.

But if you have a Chiang Mai account and you apply for your visa in Chiang Mai then it should not be a problem.

@Clive ********

Thailand doesn't care about legitimate pensions. What Thailand will be concerned about are those people here on retirement extensions, but too young to receive pensions in their passport country. Thailand will want to know about the money they are using to live here, as working is restricted on a retirement extension. This is what Thailand cares about tax wise, not legitimate pensions.

@John *********

not if it's a military pension

I'll have to do some accurate numbers now we have some more info, but my back of an envelope figure came out at almost 30% of funds transferred having to be paid in taxes for our situation. I see a spreadsheet coming!

@Clive ********

I just did the maths. Based on the minimum of 65k per month (780,000 per year) required to renew a retirement extension: Thai tax payable on that income would be 70,500 Baht. That's about £1,500 at today's rates. If you paid tax in the UK and it was your only income, you'd have paid £1,060. If you have other income in the UK you could say you paid 20% on the whole amount, which would be £3,455, so your UK tax more than off-sets Thai tax. Of course, if you bring in more than 65k Baht per month your Thai tax bill goes up. But the top rate of tax in Thailand is 35% for more than 5M. The top rate in UK is 45% over £125k (about 5.6M Baht)

So a general rule for UK citizens resident in Thailand is that it could cost us each £440 in Thai income tax. That's £37 a month. Given that Thailand has no Council Tax, we are still quids in. If you think that's too much to live in the Land of Smiles, cry me a river 🤪

@Clive ********

It would be worth talking to an expert, Clive in both UK and Thai tax. Your savings were accumulated from taxed income or taxed capital gains (or were nefarious!) over whatever period. It's probably a finely balanced and detailed calculation to decide what money you draw, from what pot, whether it is assessable when you bring it to Thailand and whether tax already paid in the UK off-sets tax payable on Thailand.

@Cl***

what do you mean by 'draw down'? And are you referring to payments from a private or occupational pension, or the UK state pension?

@Clive ********

This para suggests that UK government or local authority pensions will only be taxed in the UK. But it does not say the same about regular state pension, or pensions from non-public sector jobs. Suggests to me you can escape tax assessment in Thailand on any pension coming from a public sector job, but all other pensions are simply 'income' and is assessable if you bring it to Thailand.

@Clive ********

Clive, I recommend you read the DTC with the UK and Thailand. You can find it here



For others reading this thread, I'll post screen prints of 2 relevant paragraphs in the Treaty with the UK, here and in the linked comment. Article 6 says, in effect, UK income is not taxable in Thailand but any income moved to Thailand is then subject to Thai tax assessment.

Article 19 (2) is complicated. See the next screen print

@John *********

I've never had to do that previously so very unlikely it's going to happen. Thai Revenue is not targetting pensioners, it's targetting wealthy Thai people hiding money overseas. Unlikely they will create extra mountains of paperwork which will bring in virtually zero income. We'll see what happens, but I'm confident the whole thing is a fear campaign being fuelled by "tax advisors" who have joined the visa agent scams operating in Thailand. This is just one example of their shady advertising. I certainly won't be completing any tax returns until I'm requested to do so

@Bernd **********

It's actually 180 days, but most countries have a clause in the DTA which exclude pensions. You need to check your own DTA. But again, it's highly unlikely that retirees will be targeted. There's bigger fish to fry

@Clive ********

that’s correct, I also plan to bring the 65k in using Uk income which includes state pension , this transfer will be visible to tax authorities. When I spoke to them (as I am already tax registered) they explained that when I submit my return, provided I can show evidence of tax paid in UK then this will be offset against any potential liability here. What was not clear is that UK allowances currently cover most of UK pension , so how will they treat that as UK tax paid may be lower than Thai tax due - they told me not to worry - standard Thai response 🤔😊

@Clive ********

that has nothing to do with your question about which method you should use to get your extension though. You ALREADY transferred the money for the monthly payment method. Getting your extension based on that will have nothing to do with your taxes.

@Don ********

no but they might have to report them no one knows now a new prime minister who knows

@Don ********

correct

@Don ********

the banks are the ones who would report the transfers into Thailand, not immigration. The transfers have already happened so there's no reason to not use them for the extension.