Digital Nomads, Biz owners in Bangkok

[ekman]

Some service providers can get you a work permit for 1K usd a year.

Or a student visa for 600 usd a year.

I think your information is incorrect. Can you provide more information of these 1k usd work permits?

Cheapest Business visa + work permit i can find is around around $4295/ year + They have to report around 80k THB ($2375) salary / month for you. So top of the "package price" you will be liable to pay around 100k THB ($3000) thai income taxes (before any reductions) + if you are from and still have tax residency from non-taxfriendly country, maybe you need to pay some income tax to your that country too, depending on DTT.

 

[Skenners]

@Skenners, have you already changed tax residency to Thailand at IBKR? I'm curious which documents they want to see. For example one guy on Facebook mentioned he showed to IBKR a bunch of documents that are usually not requested by foreign banks/brokers: 90-day reports, document that he is not tax resident in country of citizenship anymore, rental agreement...etc. But no Thai tax ID was needed.

nah, I'm keeping it Australia for ease of use until I'm fully ready to go offshore. I'm still employed there (for now) so its easier. I'm also not using ibkr and may go with tradeovate instead as I've heard good things and ibkr looks like its pulling bs against internationals.

-Skenners

 

[Skenners]

rut ro guys. Its fine if you're single, but not if you're a couple.

-Skenners

 

[troubled soul]

rut ro guys. Its fine if you're single, but not if you're a couple.

-Skenners

Sooner or later they will shutdown Elite visa.....I find Elite visa stupid.....To just feel VIP paying for this type of amount is just insane...Total Rip off..I do not know who is applying for Elite Visa.....Better to take Investor visa

 

[Skenners]

Sooner or later they will shutdown Elite visa.....I find Elite visa stupid.....To just feel VIP paying for this type of amount is just insane...Total Rip off..I do not know who is applying for Elite Visa.....Better to take Investor visa

hah, -I- took the visa. Not to feel like a VIP, but after calculating the amount of times in 5 years I'd need to leave the country and return again, it works out cheaper for me to have got the elite. I dont have enough money for investment visa, its the only visa I'm capable of getting here (or pretty much anywhere).

They wont shut it down, they'll restrict things to the absolute bare minimum and jack up the prices, but they wont get rid of it. Too many rich people will still pay for it.

-Skenners

 

[JackAlabama]

Sooner or later they will shutdown Elite visa.....I find Elite visa stupid.....To just feel VIP paying for this type of amount is just insane...Total Rip off..I do not know who is applying for Elite Visa.....Better to take Investor visa

I agree to disagree with you here

Not at all.
It is a very good visa option.
You just pay a fee for being left alone, no capital gains nor need to file anything.
No need to manage investments in the country, worry about property rights and capital repatriation, and not having yet another useless company or a cookie box apartment in the sky.

They only shut the cheap options down, as it must be very popular, so they can increase prices.

 

[zzzzzz]

So this was sent to Thai financial institutions on 30.03.2023
"the Thai Cabinet released the Royal Act for the Exchange of Information B.E. 2566 (the “Act”) on 30 March 2023, as an interim measure. This Act sets out the general framework for exchanging information including the details of reporting person(s), reporting information and the submission timeline."
https://kpmg.com/th/en/home/insights/2023/04/th-tax-news-flash-issue-142.html

 

[jafo]

So this was sent to Thai financial institutions on 30.03.2023
"the Thai Cabinet released the Royal Act for the Exchange of Information B.E. 2566 (the “Act”) on 30 March 2023, as an interim measure. This Act sets out the general framework for exchanging information including the details of reporting person(s), reporting information and the submission timeline."
https://kpmg.com/th/en/home/insights/2023/04/th-tax-news-flash-issue-142.html

If a foreigner is in Thailand, what's the point of sending their info to another country where they no longer reside?

 

[Mike Forman]

If a foreigner is in Thailand, what's the point of sending their info to another country where they no longer reside?

If you are Thai resident it won't be reported to the other country. If you are on a tourist visa then they know your financial information.

If you are not residing in your country of citizenship anymore and are not considered a tax resident there anymore, nothing wil happen.

If they still believe you should pay taxes in the country reported this will be another story. In that case it's helpful to verify the DTA.

A friend of mine resides in Thailand and works in Thailand with an employment visa, but has kept his residence in EU. They have started asking questions in that specific country why he is still registered in that EU country and doesn't pay taxes. He also still wires a part of his income to the EU. The DTA such as most DTA's states when he doesn't reside 183 days there he is not a tax resident. Nonetheless now they challenge him that if he wants to claim that he should change his residence.

So make sure you change your residence in your country of citizenship and don't spend too many days there, and there should be no impact.

 

[backpacker]

If a foreigner is in Thailand, what's the point of sending their info to another country where they no longer reside?

The question is if a Thai financial institution understands the difference between tax residency and legal residency:
A person on a tourist visa (note: Thai Elite is nothing more than a tourist visa) has a bank account in with a Thai financial institution. This person holds an Australian passport but is a tax resident of Malaysia.
Normally, the Thai financial institution (by submitting the applicable data through MoF) has to report this person to Malaysia.
Does the Thai financial instituion get that right ?

 

[zzzzzz]

If a foreigner is in Thailand, what's the point of sending their info to another country where they no longer reside?

The point is in sending info of foreigners who have non-resident indicia. If you have no indicia of being non-resident, you're considered resident/local and not subject to CRS reporting.

 

[jafo]

The point is in sending info of foreigners who have non-resident indicia. If you have no indicia of being non-resident, you're considered resident/local and not subject to CRS reporting.

Hmmm... this is good info. Now, here's my issue.
I have European passports due to both my parents. I was born on a "colonized" island. I left when I went to college as a teenager. There were NO TIN#s on the island in the 80s when I left. The island since the early 2000s became "independent." I have never ever lived, registered, or owned anything in any of the European countries where the passports are from.

Even if Thailand or whoever sends back the info to those European countries or even the island, I am nowhere there to be found. What then?

 

[backpacker]

Hmmm... this is good info. Now, here's my issue.
I have European passports due to both my parents. I was born on a "colonized" island. I left when I went to college as a teenager. There were NO TIN#s on the island in the 80s when I left. The island since the early 2000s became "independent." I have never ever lived, registered, or owned anything in any of the European countries where the passports are from.

Even if Thailand or whoever sends back the info to those European countries or even the island, I am nowhere there to be found. What then?

Your passports are irrelevant.
CRS is based on tax residency.
If Thai financial institutions manage to get that right is another question -> see post #190 for a more sophisticated case.

 

[jafo]

Your passports are irrelevant.
CRS is based on tax residency.
If Thai financial institutions manage to get that right is another question -> see post #190 for a more sophisticated case.

So, in my case, it would be an island with zero taxes.
Let's assume the Thai MoF gets it wrong and sends it to Germany. Germany has NO TIN# for me. Germany can't find me in their birth registry and can't find me in their local registry. All they know is this person has a German passport but owns nothing in Germany and has never lived in Germany. Then what?

 

[backpacker]

The point is in sending info of foreigners who have non-resident indicia. If you have no indicia of being non-resident, you're considered resident/local and not subject to CRS reporting.

Actually, in the case of a foreigner, it is always the other way around: A foreigner needs to produce evidence of being a resident; otherwise, he/she will always be considered a non-resident. The financial institution then has to determine the tax residency of its foreign client.

So, in my case, it would be an island with zero taxes.
Let's assume the Thai MoF gets it wrong and sends it to Germany. Germany has NO TIN# for me. Germany can't find me in their birth registry and can't find me in their local registry. All they know is this person has a German passport but owns nothing in Germany and has never lived in Germany. Then what?

The (Thai) MoF will not get it wrong. It is always the (Thai) financial institution that is responsible for submitting correct client data to the (Thai) MoF. So, the base error will always happen at the level of the (Thai) financial institution. That is why the bank client should check and, if necessary, update the data on record.

A MoF just acts as an intermediary. The process in itself is automated; nobody verifies or checks on their side.

Assuming data is sent to the wrong recipient, the recipient is obliged to destroy the data. The recipient should inform the other state about the mistake (which I doubt will ever happen). The recipient cannot forward the data to another state, according to OECD rules.

 

[zzzzzz]

Are there any taxes on crypto in Thailand? Does it matter if you trade on local Thai or foreign crypto exchange?

 

[backpacker]

Are there any taxes on crypto in Thailand? Does it matter if you trade on local Thai or foreign crypto exchange?

Yes.
(This has already been discussed several times).

 

[Mike Forman]

So, in my case, it would be an island with zero taxes.
Let's assume the Thai MoF gets it wrong and sends it to Germany. Germany has NO TIN# for me. Germany can't find me in their birth registry and can't find me in their local registry. All they know is this person has a German passport but owns nothing in Germany and has never lived in Germany. Then what?

You have a German passport so you are a German citizen in this case, ofcourse you can be mapped by German tax authorities unless there are many persons with the same name.

It would be interesting how tax authorities use and analyze the information reported, nonetheless even without a TIN number for sure they can identify someone and use some data mining to filter out the data/persons of interest.

Following link is a good example of what exactly all gets reported since they need to follow a standard xml format.

https://www.ird.govt.nz/-/media/pro...dified=20201122204001&modified=20201122204001

 

[jafo]

You have a German passport so you are a German citizen in this case, ofcourse you can be mapped by German tax authorities unless there are many persons with the same name.

(1) Yes, but is a German passport through Jus Sanguinis enough, even though the country of birth is different, and now independent, has its own citizenship and levies ZERO income taxes?

(2) Think of St. Kitts & Nevis. A child born on St. Kitts & Nevis by a British parent living on St. Kitts & Nevis. The child has British citizenship but has never lived in Britain or gone there. This person obviously has NO UTR #.

Where is the CRS communicated?

If to St. Kitts & Nevis, why? Who cares there? They levy NO taxes anyway. What's the point?

 

[backpacker]

Where is the CRS communicated?

Why so complicated?
Reporting is done by tax residency. Let your FI your country of tax residency, be able to proof it (self-declaration) and good is it.