Debunking New Thai Tax Law Fears

Are there any tax benefits for moving (part of) a EU-based Tech Start-Up business to Thailand? As I understand there is a new SMART Visa program, though I find it all a bit hard to navigate. I am married to a Thai national and work remotely for my own start-up business in the EU (The Netherlands).

Does the USA – Thailand tax treaty give credit for US Federal and State taxes paid? I pay about 12% to federal and 5% to state income taxes.

Jett, this is one of the most comprehensive videos I have seen on Facebook. Judging by the comments below, many on still in the "panic mode" based on misinformation or lack of knowledge about Thailand starting to comply with what is already happening world-wide in other countries. As an American retiree on social security and a government pension, getting a tax number in Thailand and paying no tax is a small inconvenience to enjoy the benefits of living here. Thanks for the great video.

How do you think the revenue department will enforce this law? Will it be a visa renewal requirement to show your taxes have been paid, when the visa has to be renewed?

Dear ,
sure the most interresting video about tax in thailand , basicaly turn to anglosaxons ,
any information about swiss people ?
can we get the spreadsheet we see in the video ?

Excellent

Your comment about UK state pension was not correct. You mentioned being a 'government employee' would not pay tax … that is a different aspect. A normal UK expat bringing in their state pension will be taxed.

My thoughts after watching this video. I doubt whether Thailand has the manpower to manage complex filings from thousands of people across multiple countries. It will take years. I also felt disappointment that the video turned into one giant plug for the tax advisors firm .

Hi Jett, that was a good video opening up into a few things i wanted to know. Im British and fully retired and living in Bkk with my Thai girlfriend .
Thanks for sharing this video.👍🙏🙏🇹🇭🇹🇭🇹🇭

Where and how can you get the information from the government on this?

Just to confirm that nothing has been set in stone yet by the authorities right?

I read an article in the Pattaya Mail last year by Barry Kenyon. (Myths about Thai expats and those income tax changes starting very soon)
Some very good questions and answers in there. 
One of the things he mentioned was:
“Few experts, if any, believe that the Thai Revenue has the staffing or the expertise to deal with more than 300,000 expats who are tax residents because they spend more than 180 days here in a fiscal year. It bears repeating that the registration process will likely be voluntary. The Thai government is looking for the big fish, Thai or foreign, and not the small fry.”

🤔🤔🤔

My reading of the wording of the Australia and Thailand DTA Articles 18 & 19 suggests the statement at 39.20 is misleading. Article 18 states "Subject to the provisions of Article 19, pensions and annuities paid to a resident of one of the Contracting States shall be taxable only in that State." If you are a tax resident of Thailand and receive private pension income in that "state" (does not suggest this income must originate inside Thailand) it's subject to taxation in that state. If you remit such untaxed income into Thailand and you're a tax resident, tax appears to be payable on that income. Hopefully that is not the case but the wording of the DTA suggests otherwise. Comes down to a legal interpretation but this aligns with the intention of the tax free status of the LTR visa. Only a "wealthy pensioner" on an LTR visa is exempted from taxation on their passive income and a private pension is classified as passive income.

The problem is once you go over $10,000 USD they report it to the U.S. Goverment.

Good stuff, Jett!

Thanks for the video. Here are a couple of questions where I think the answer might benefit the majority of the audience… so, if you do follow-up videos, or answers here, that woud be great.
1. Government Pension vs State Retirement Pension (benefit)
Can we have a more general clarification on the meaning of the expression, used throughout the video, of "Government Pension"?
I think we need the distinction between a "Government Pension", paid by a government to someone who has been an employee, eg in civil service, military, police etc VERSUS what in the UK is referred to as "State Pension", which is a benefit provided by the government to people in their late 60's and older.
I think this may apply for countries other than the UK, but I'm not sure.
So far, all I have seen is no distinction between the Thai Revenue treatment of a "State" Pension (benefit) and Private Pensions, in that both are taxable by the Thai Revenue, but you can claim credit for income tax already paid on them in your own country. Is this correct?

2. Country of Origin Income Tax Allowances /Exemptions ("Floors"), Taxable in Thailand
A number of countries have a minimum amount ("floor"), below which no income tax is payable. In the UK, this is approx GBP12,500 (at today's exchange rates, approx THB 550k), whereas Thai income tax starts at THB 150K, but that amount may be bumped up with certain Thai allowances (eg marriage, dependent relatives, etc), but you may well be paying 10-15% in Thai tax, which you can't offset against a "credit" from your own (income-receiving) country, because no tax was paid on it. Could we see a bit more detail on both the Thai allowances and the impact of home country tax exemptions on lower incomes, in future coverage?

I agree, this is the best I've seen on this subject.
But we still won't really know until mid next year after reports have been filed and Thai Tax has responded.
What I love about this video is the alternative plans that were talked about. Suddenly this may be applicable to someone bringing in 700K baht a year as opposed to 10M baht a year.
Cheers, great to have options and I don't mind spending 10 or 20K if it saves me any amount more than that….even better if it saves me 100K plus 🙂

Thanks for this video Jeff….. I’m a retired American living off of social security and my savings in the US…… I should be fine…. Just have to pay an accountant and do some extra paperwork…..

I think we are screwed unless there is something this tax company can help me with. My Thai wife and have planned much of our future life around moving back to Thailand when my wife turns 62 and take her social security early. We moved to the USA years ago and have focused on making enough money to retire back in Thailand. My government pension plus social security as I understand the law with be untaxable in Thailand. From what I just watched, my wife, a Thai national and naturalized American citizen with be subject to taxes on her social security and 401k because she be treated as a Thai national, not protected by tax treaties. This throws a real monkey wrench into our financial planning. I hope this company has some ideas for us.

The old saying the one thing we are all assured off is death and taxes. lol Thanks for the Indepth video.

I'm going to spend 0 days in the country.. After I heard about this tax law I decided to move elsewhere… bye Thailand 🇹🇭