My understanding is that any funds credited to your Thai Bank account from overseas will be aggregated through the tax year and will be deemed to be 'income' for the purposes of assessing liability to taxation in Thailand.. however any tax already paid in your home country and duly evidenced will be off-set from such a liability.. assuming a double taxation agreement exists between said countries.. so in instances where the tax rate is higher in your home country there will be no further tax to pay in Thailand.. if the reverse is true then you could end up paying some tax here.. but this all goes away if you don't bring funds into Thailand but retain your deposits overseas instead.. since you have no visible income within Thailand.. at least that's my understanding of the situation.. and if I'm correct and all the expats stop moving money into Thai banks.. you can bet the Thai authorities will quickly review this tax law.. since it would not serve economic growth.. the real target was never the retired expat community or those of us married to Thai's.. i think it was intended to catch mobile workers who earn their income predominantly outside of Thailand.. people who are technically tax resident here but get paid by an overseas entity into an overseas bank.. they may take advantage of this to avoid paying tax in either country.. and Thailand no longer wants to accommodate them on a tax free basis!
Be careful.. Uk banks are having a purge on under used accounts held by expats.. in some instances forcing account closures.. so it's probably better to keep your Uk accounts registered to a Uk address.. simply update your address using a close relative's residence (with their permission of course) and maintain this as your 'home address' for all Uk purposes.. don't inform your bank you will be out of country permanently or you'll open a huge can of worms.. besides there is no compulsion to do so provided you have a valid address on file with them so mail does not get returned to them.. and change all correspondence preferences to email where feasible.. you will also need to maintain a contactable Uk phone number.. which could possibly mean using the relatives land line.. although imo it's better to retain a Uk mobile number to have access to bank sms features for such things as internet banking and authorisation codes.. this can be easily achieved by moving your Uk mobile number to a service like Expatfone.. which will give you free calls from Thailand to Uk numbers as well as sms capability and access to voicemail for a fixed monthly fee.. this effectively shields your location when you are outside the Uk.. and can be very useful for many Uk business relationships.. selected 'people' can then call you on a Uk number instead of dialing an international number.. perhaps useful in situations where an organisation cannot (or will not) use alternative comms like Line, Signal, Telegram, Viber, or WhatsApp that offer free VoIP.. it's worth remembering that you will need to show Uk presence to renew your Uk driving licence too.. which will otherwise expire.. and this can be done online provided you have a Uk address.. with documents going to your safe address.. ie. your son / daughter / sibling's home.. and since your DL contains your Uk home address it becomes an valid proof of identity and proof of address for all Uk relationships.. including updating of your address with your bank!
Have you tried turning your overseas sim off.. ie. disabling it.. so the handset can only function with the Thai e-sim.. that way you are forcing the phone to ignore the overseas sim altogether.. and secondly have you toggled the settings to make the Thai e-sim the primary sim.. i have an option on my Samsung / Android phone that allows me to set preferred sim for voice calls, texts etc.. which enables the Thai sim to be recognised as the main sim.. maybe worth trying
Uk centric comment but likely to apply to many other countries.. firstly, people need to understand there is a difference between domicile and residency.. anybody born in the Uk for instance will be Uk domiciled for their entire lifetime.. meaning you are entitled to a Uk passport and will remain a Uk citizen forever.. unless of course you take action to renounce your citizenship.. eg. upon applying for citizenship in another country that does not allow dual nationality.. but your domicile entitles you to live in said country without having to apply for 'permission'.. irrespective of how long you may have resided outside your home country.. residency however is where you choose to live (or have been allowed to live) your life on a day to day basis.. and is determined by an individuals choice.. you can't choose your domicile you are born with it.. and you can never change it.. but you can choose your residency.. which many people connect solely with their tax status.. since most countries have tax rules related to time spent in said country that determines your tax position there.. but one's real residency is the address you nominate as your permanent home.. in whichever country that may be.. and whilst living longer in one country (eg. working there) may make you tax resident.. it doesn't automatically mean you are necessarily resident there.. and when it comes to banking you are within your rights to nominate a Uk address that is a family property (eg. owned by another family member) that you deem to be your home when in the Uk.. provided you have your relative's agreement of course.. and the govt or your bank cannot prevent you from using this address for all communication / correspondence purposes.. and in reality would never know you spend most of your time overseas.. unless you choose to tell them or try and register an overseas address on your account.. which is not recommended.. because as many people have already found out.. globalist companies like banks will then persecute you.. better to humour them by maintaining your Uk presence.. which extends to having at least one Uk telephone number on record with them.. such as an active mobile number that you can retrieve messages from.. which is easy enough with services such as 'expatfone' available for this very purpose.. in the end banks don't care until you give them a reason to dig into your affairs.. and outside of some quirky rules (such as the Aussie govt superannuation criteria) most govts don't either.. so you do what works best for you.. there is no illegality involved in maintaining an address in your home country provided it can be verified (eg. by a relative) when needed.. and one of the easiest ways to do this is to have your Uk driving license registered to it.. since you will then carry Uk ID that contains your Uk address.. should you need to evidence your address to any other Uk institution!
Marvin Gunther My understanding is that the assessment for tax in Thailand will be based upon income you receive in Thailand.. not income earned in Thailand.. and they will consider any deposit to your Thai bank account from overseas as 'income' irrespective of the fact you could be transferring money to Thailand from savings that you accumulated prior to the introduction of the new foreigner tax regime.. ie. from savings held prior to 1 Jan 2024.. so whether you are flipping a current month paycheck (or pension) just received into your overseas bank account to your Thai Bank account.. or whether you are moving funds you may have had on deposit overseas for the last 10-years.. once it hits your Thai Bank account the Thai tax authorities will deem it as income in the current tax year.. however if your home country has a double taxation agreement with Thailand.. and the tax assessment in Thailand is lower than the tax you have already been charged in your home country (on a current year basis).. then you will have nothing to worry about.. you simply produce proof of the home country tax charge to avoid any further taxation in Thailand.. on the other hand people who are in receipt of regular remittances to their Thai bank from overseas.. and with no tax charge in the current tax year in their home country.. could see the aggregate of all said remittances assessed for tax in Thailand.. that said the new tax regime is still being rolled out and may be subject to change once the authorities here begin to grasp the complexities of the system they are trying to introduce.. i believe their intention was to try and 'catch' people of working age who are employed by overseas companies and receive their income into overseas bank accounts.. these people may live in Thailand for more than 6 months of the year and could potentially avoid paying tax on their income in their home country as a result.. but also escape paying tax in Thailand since they were not previously on the tax radar here.. but it is likely to also catch retirees who live here comfortably on fairly modest pensions.. and the introduction of such a tax liability could severely disrupt their retirement plans.. with a reduction in disposable income directly also affecting the Thai family/s they may support.. so i remain hopeful that the foreigner tax legislation will be reviewed and amended before anyone has to actually submit a tax return.. and that is still some way off since this is the first year of operation.. and the first return will be based upon income received up to 31 Dec 2024.. though for those with Thai spouses.. it might be a good idea to remit incoming funds into their bank account initially.. since that would avoid scrutiny.. at least until things become clearer anyway.. just a thought ;)
I dont pay any fees to do an international transfer from my Uk bank account.. and i pay a 500bht handling fee to my Thai Bank upon receipt of the transfer.. the exchange rate is always reasonable imo.. so i don't go looking for a 'slightly better rate' with an fx company.. i prefer the feeling of security i get from knowing that my money is going directly from the Uk bank to the Thailand bank.. and having only 2 parties involved in the transaction minimises potential delays.. as well as giving me the strongest regulatory protection at both ends of the transaction.. whereas introducing a third party company brings in another regulatory regime that could be weaker.. just my personal preference for what it's worth.