@Andy ***********

Expat retirees are taxed in Thailand unless their income is excluded by a dta! Get that into your thick skull!

@John *******

I am 100% sure my Thai tax liability for 2024 is zero. If you want we can place a good bet.

@Andy ***********

… and then you start to defend your mistake by limiting your generic statement to a single category (which you didn’t in your statement so Pete is totally right when telling you wrong) and you make the next mistake after mistake, merely because you limit your view to a single type of person who probably fits into your limited view of the world… Let me just address the last erroneous statement and then I give up.

“If you have full tax residency in Thailand and nowhere else, of course you must pay tax, that’s the same everywhere in the world.”

First of all you don’t have a clue about “everywhere else in the world” so you’re entitlement to make such a statement is zero and non existent.

Secondly, if you are Thai tax resident and nowhere else, you must only pay tax if you have taxable income. Again an omitted limitation. Your generic statement ignores a large group of people who have close to zero taxable income and who thus may have to pay zero tax.

My advice to you;

1) Please refrain from making statements about taxes when you’re not capable of acknowledging that there are many many different people with equally many different backgrounds which puts them in many many different tax categories.

2) For your personal sake, find help about tax laws. Consult someone who can tell you beyond doubt to which extent you might be taxable or not. Acknowledge your limitations and don’t feel ashamed of not knowing every detail if the laws of a country with an unfamiliar language and an unfamiliar alphabet.

@Andy ***********

Maybe you need to either follow a course how to write what you want to write, or a course how to read what you wrote.

You clearly stated “It’s Thai citizens who are being targeted, not expat retirees, who remain non-taxable.”

There are too many mistakes in this statement. First of all it’s completely irrelevant whom the rules change targets. It might be targeted at polar bears, but as soon as penguins fall under the same criteria the law applies to them too. Whether they are polar bears or not.

1) The law might not target expats, but as soon as they are within the criteria set by the law, which quite likely includes every expat in Thailand, they are within the boundaries of the tax laws.

2) Expats remain non-taxable. It’s a funny thought because this seems to imply that expats were ever no -taxable. Not true. Since the law was created, I believe in previous century, expats are just as taxable as anyone else as soon as they reach the 180-days-in-Thailand limit. There are rules which parts of their income was taxable and there are treaties on a per country basis which reduce the tax load on some nationals. However, if you check the list you would soon find out that there are no DTAs with both the North Pole and Antarctica, meaning that both polar bears as well as penguins will become taxable as soon as they stay here 180 days in a calendar year (provided they declare themselves human beings).

There indeed is (almost) nothing new here. Expat retirees were always taxable but could reduce their ass-essable income by lifting their income transfer over the year end. But this has changed. Since /2024 only savings as per 31 dec 2023 can be taxfree brought to Thailand.

For new expats nothing changed, being that income earned in years before they become taxable resident will not become taxable no matter when it’s brought to Thailand.

That’s all. Do *not* state that “expats remain untaxed” merely because because dta with your particular country happens to protect your particular income from being taxed in Thailand!

There is no such general rule!

@John *******

What is unclear to you? The rules are really very very clear. Which part did you not understand?

@John *********

The biggest problem in the whole thing is that people get some allergic cramps when they think of paying tax and stop thinking rationally.

YouTubers and “Tax lawyers” happily abuse that to scare people and confuse them as much as possible in order to generate clicks and clientele respectively.

Unfortunately some people keep echoing the abuse. People need to calm down. Surely for some of us it means opening up the wallet (that includes me) but the effect will be minimal for most.

Those that will be heavily taxed are likely those whose income deserves to be taxed and I have zero pity for them.

That all said… Like with every generic rule, there will be some who get hurt (financially) more than they should. A very little group of people. I sincerely hope things will work out in a just way for them.

@David *********

none

The confusion is not caused by an RD saying that they “are considering” new rules.

The confusion is caused by people adding such stories about non existent rules into a discussion about current rules merely to prove that everything is a mess. In this case that would be you.

The current rules are quite clear and there little to be confused about. These rules exist for many years already with the only interpretation change that since /2024 “savings” relates to unspent income from years before you become tax resident.

Suddenly everyone starts to panic because they may have to pay tax which they in fact already had to pay since many years except for the few that kept their taxable income foreign until after year end. The whole thing is fairly ridiculous because nothing much has changed.

On top of that, most of us won’t pay a thing or maybe little. I will probably have to pay some 1000 to 2000 baht per year extra in order to live in a country where my money is worth at least three times more than in my home country. How about that for a fantastic deal?

@David *********

Again some story about non-existent rules.

“I am considering of flying to the moon by moving my left pinky.”

The whole “worldwide income” thing is just bs to scare people and confuse them. If the government “is considering” to drive on the right hand side of the road then that doesn’t imply you need to change your steering wheel today or tomorrow.

Everybody still drives left (or something which looks like “left”) and all the fuzz about far away future laws is currently totally irrelevant. I don’t even understand why you mention it to me.

@David *********

Which “tax mess”?

Your question doesn’t include sufficient information. Will you reach the six months threshold (actually 180 days) this year?

Did you transfer your funds this year, or before?

Furthermore, you might be liable for tax filing, but the source of your funds defines whether or not it’s taxable (assessable).

Timing is key and moving to Thailand requires good planning when you want to avoid unnecessary tax charges.

Failing to plan is planning to fail.

/