Guest Posted May 8, 2003 Report Share Posted May 8, 2003 OK, so you have a bunch of money and you want to go live in Thailand. Your money is in an American bank or broakage firm gaining interest. You like your money in America coz it feels the most safe that way. Every year, you have to pay taxes to the government on the interest, so every year I go get my taxes done and pay them. I always find it facinating when people have posts on this board of how to make the transition from life in "farang land" to live in Thailand. I think my biggest question is, "how do I get rid of my pimp? (AKA USA governemt). I suppose some people might put money in a swiss bank account, but I was wondering if there are people/farangs in Thailand who continue to pay taxes on thier money in thier home country and how they go about doing it? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samak Posted May 9, 2003 Report Share Posted May 9, 2003 beware! US tax authorities are everywhere and even have their hotline to Swiss Banks. International operating Banks are getting more and more reluctant to put US-citizens' money in their account as they are afraid about actions of US tax authorities on their US branches. citizens of european countries have a bit less problems in this regard; they usually do not have to pay income tax in their home countries when they live abroad, except maybe (in some countries applicable in others not) withholding tax on stock dividends and interestpayments on bank accounts or property tax on real estate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lopburi3 Posted May 9, 2003 Report Share Posted May 9, 2003 Are you asking how to pay? Same as when you live in the USA. Send them a USD check or have them deduct from a US bank account directly. Tax forms are available at the Embassy, online and from many other sources. I use TaxAct myself. It is free if you want to mail return and only costs $9.95 for online filing. Program is downloadable and had my refund in bank on January 31st this year (normally don't make take mistake but new tax laws cut my tax more than I thought). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spirit_of_town_hall Posted May 9, 2003 Report Share Posted May 9, 2003 It seems pretty unfair to pay income tax on income when you are not in the US and the money is not even in the US. How can that be, that is ineffect saying that you have to continue paying them whereever you are. STH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp1 Posted May 9, 2003 Report Share Posted May 9, 2003 I?m not sure how this works in the case of the US, but many countries do have bilateral agreements to avoid double taxation. For example if an employee from country ?A? works in country ?B? he pays tax on his total (world) income in country 'B' only. This rule applies vice versa as well. Exception from the rule are cases in which an employee works less than 180 days per calendar/fiscal year in another country. Then the country of his citizenship can reserve the right to tax him even for income earned/taxed abroad. In this case the tax paid abroad should be deducted from his annual tax due to the authorities in his home country. The agreements to avoid double taxation are not applicable if somebody lives abroad and does not pay any income - or equivalent tax to the finance authorities of his chosen 'new home'. In this case usually tax on dividends,interest etc. are payable in his home country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacko Posted May 9, 2003 Report Share Posted May 9, 2003 I do not believe 'fair' and 'tax' have any inter-relation. Anyhow, there isn't much interest to be had on a US dollar account these days, they are losing money on inflation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 12, 2003 Report Share Posted May 12, 2003 I suppose my question was vauge. I imagine that to live in Thailand and have accounts in USA, you would have to ask the banks and broakage firms if they would mail you your tax info to maybe a post box in Thailand. I suppose from there, you would have to find a resource like H&R Block (in Thailand) or like the online resource a previous poster suggests. I imagine that next to figuring out what to do with all of your stuff, figuring out how to deal with you taxes from your home country has to be some of the biggest thorns when thinking of making the transition to "retirement life" in Thailand :hubba: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lopburi3 Posted May 13, 2003 Report Share Posted May 13, 2003 You could have them mail here to an address in the USA like a relative or even a Mail Box type operation if you had reasons to maintain such. I think you will find most banks do not look kindly on overseas address (or even out of state for some) unless they are set up for expat service (with normal high surcharge). For tax that is filed online you do not even need to file the paperwork you get from banks, so just an email copy would give you the amount and tax numbers needed to fill out an online type return. If all you have is some interest type income and perhaps a pension your tax form is really easy to fill out. The fact they can now take/put money directly out/into your bank account makes it much better and no need to worry about anything getting lost in the mail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ijs5 Posted May 16, 2003 Report Share Posted May 16, 2003 Says spirit_of_town_hall: It seems pretty unfair to pay income tax on income when you are not in the US and the money is not even in the US. How can that be, that is ineffect saying that you have to continue paying them whereever you are. STH I believe that the first USD80k earned outside the US is exempted. Still not very fair, though. The intent seems to be that you pay wherever you are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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