Income tax in Thailand ?

[gobbledonk]

How many pay income tax in Thailand ? I assume that office/factory workers cant avoid it, but there are so many people who seem to live on the fringe - everything from stallholders to the people who sell you crab lunches on the beach at Hua Hin.The taxman must be a busy boy indeed to keep tabs on this lot.

 

Maybe its all just 'company tax' or somesuch, but I've never seen a country where so many people are in 'cash in hand' jobs where it would come down to your word vs the taxman as to exactly what you earnt in a given year. I know many of them earn barely enough to support themselves, but that has never been an impediment to the taxman here : they will start taxing you on an amount that wouldn't cover the average T360ers yearly bar tab.

[..]

No idea, but I do remember a feature in the BKK Post ten or so years back that embarrassed the shit outta the Thais: Of the top ten taxpayers, more than half were expats working at MNCs. Almost all of the familiar names of the local über-wealthy were missing from the list.

 

Needless to say, they never ran that feature again 5555555555555.

 

Then there's property taxes, or the lack thereof. I was discussing yesterday with a friend in BNE about why the property prices in LoS were so fucked up (i.e., one can rent a B15M condo for B50k/mo). I blame a lot of that on the lack of taxes: you can sit on a property indefinitely, which is not a good thing IMHO.

 

Cheers,

SD

[Specialist]

Actually, SuaDum, no property tax is a very *GOOD* thing. It means that once you buy the property, it is YOURS: you can't be forced out of your home by rising property taxes.

 

Look at what was happening in California, that triggered the passage of Proposition 13, all those years ago.

 

THB50K/mo x 12 mo/yr = THB600K/yr. Bt15M/(Bt600K/yr) = 25 years, before interest is taken into account. I don't have a feel for mortgage interest rates, and I don't know the equations, but that doesn't sound THAT far off. Allowing for depreciation, even on a long lifetime, I suspect it comes out about right: the Thai banks and businesses aren't all that stupid.

 

[..]

I totally disagree. Despite the US GOP mantra, taxes are not evil, but necessary if we want civilization. No property taxes stagnate the property market, allowing a select few to sit on property indefinitely and artificial skew the prices.

 

In other words: why not build another useless shopping mall or hotel? There is no penalty. No customers? Let it sit there empty. It doesn't cost them anything.

 

EDIT: You've clearly never been a landlord: Where else on Earth could I rent a $450k property for $1500/mo? Even if you hold it free and clear and spend $0 on it (both unlikely), that's 4% ROI. Not a good return at all -- you can do better with a long term CD with less risk.

 

Cheers,

SD

[samak]

back to the subject!

the OP should not forget that personal income of less than 150'000 THB a year is exempt of tax!

so many of the mentioned people make after all deductibles less than 150'000 THB - and even if they make a bit more, it is probably not worth for the tax authorities to follow up on that

[ThaiHome]

All those small businesses are considered sole proprietorships. They are allowed an 80% standard deduction on gross receipts, regardless of what the actual expenditure is, and then pay personal income tax on the remaining 20%. They would have to be doing some 750k revenue a year to have to pay tax. There is no doubt that enforcement on the smaller sole proprietorships is very lax.

TH

[Dexi]

Does that mean a farang living on a retirement visa would have no tax liability in LOS if income less than this....?

[Dexi]

sorry,misread the post,thought it was per month...

[..]

No tax liability anyway. Thai income tax only applies to income generated within the Kingdom.

 

Cheers,

SD

[gobbledonk]

All those small businesses are considered sole proprietorships. They are allowed an 80% standard deduction on gross receipts, regardless of what the actual expenditure is, and then pay personal income tax on the remaining 20%. They would have to be doing some 750k revenue a year to have to pay tax. There is no doubt that enforcement on the smaller sole proprietorships is very lax.

TH

 

I think this highlights where I'm coming from - most Western countries have very large and very determined tax collection agencies, and they dont give a damn what the impact is of pursuing someone - their charter is to get the money owed to the State. I accept that the Thai government has to face the possibility of civil unrest if they go after people who are on the borderline, but its ironic that a country which pays its police so little (apparently ..) that they are forced to extort money from its citizens isnt collecting the taxes which might allow the government to pay police and other officials a few more baht each month. I'm sure this is a gross oversimplification, and I doubt that a payrise would stop something which has been a part of Thailand for centuries, but I guess thats showbiz.

Our cops get paid plenty, but we still find piggies with their snouts well and truly in the trough.

 

I'd better get back to devising a solution for peace in the Middle East now that I've solved Thailands financial woes.