Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are talking about tax in Thailand. This has been a topic that has been on the lips of many expats; I know it is causing a fair bit of consternation in the expat community. To be clear, we are still in a very, this is sort of early days as they say. We are not completely sure exactly how these changes are going to be implemented. As we discussed in other videos going back a couple weeks ago, the Thai Tax Authorities, the Revenue Department here in Thailand has issued basically a memo that states that policy will be changing with regard to accessible income beginning January 1 of 2024. Now as we discussed in that video, effectively what is going to happen is in the past there was a timing element wherein one could buffer against or mitigate Thai Tax liability if they did not bring in money that was accrued in the same calendar year that it was accrued in. So basically you would move money in in a different year, a subsequent year from the year that one accrued given money offshore. That is not going to be the case anymore, and to be clear this just regularizes Thailand; Thailand had this extra benefit. I have noticed people have sort of framed this as if Thailand is sort of comparably better or worse than it was before. Well it was better I would say yeah that sort of "loophole" as people have called it, did provide a benefit to certain types of individuals. Long story short Thailand's overall system looks just like any other country that has various Double Tax Treaties and deals with taxation on a regular basis in an international context. Again, Thailand is not some anomaly. If anything Thailand is just kind of back in the pack with everybody else again. So when you are examining Thailand and you see these videos about tax, understand this is something that was Thailand specific that was a benefit specific to Thailand. That is now changing as of January 1, 2024 but Thailand is no “worse” than any other country in terms of comparable tax regimes. Thailand is just like any place else you can move when it comes to the tax issue. 

Now that said, I have noticed in the ether of the internet, there are a lot of folks out there kind of talking; in my opinion there are a lot of folks that really should stay in their own lane quite frankly, because they don't know what they are talking about honestly, and I like to make it abundantly clear as to where I stand. Yeah, I am a member of the US Tax Court; I myself am not any kind of a Thai Tax expert per se. We make these videos for informational purposes only. We do have an accounting division here in our firm that handle both Thai corporate and Thai individual tax, on behalf of our clients, so we do a fair bit of tax work here in Thailand. And as I said, I am a member the US Tax Court; I advise from time to time regarding tax matters pertaining to the United States as well but this isn't a US tax matter. This is a Thai tax matter so when I hear people that really, okay they may have some credentials albeit sometimes of varying degree let's put it that way, but they may have some sort of credential to talk about another country's tax system but hey it's apples and bowling balls, okay? The Thai System is what it is. That is why I want to be clear, we don't know exactly what is happening. What I do know is, it is big, that's what we do know. This is a pretty major policy change. Now when I first made the videos I did tell people, calm down, don't fret about this greatly. That said it is a major change and it is going to change things moving forward. I especially think it will have an impact on Thai Immigration matters probably not tomorrow, probably not this year or next year but moving forward from 2025, I can absolutely see a scenario where this has an impact on Immigration matters here in the Kingdom. 

Now that said what are we talking about with regard to this video? I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Thai Examiner, that is thaiexaminer.com, the article is titled: Change in the tax law does target expats living in Thailand and extends reporting obligations. That title isn't too far off in my mind. I think if anything, yeah it is stating just kind of the facts. Now again, I told people not to fret because it didn't really have any impact on anybody in 2023. Going into 2024, it may impact tax issues, again reporting requirements; I think there could be implications for Immigration moving out past 2024 as well. That said, quoting directly: Quote: "A new taxation directive issued by the Revenue Department targeting foreign income sources faces a legal challenge and will create more reporting obligations and confusion. The order published on September 15, 2023, altering a 38-year-old interpretation," and bear in mind, so this this was akin to an administrative rule, what we would call an Administrative Rule back in the United States or a regulation. It is issued at the behest of the agency which is tasked with undertaking and enforcing the law, so in this case the Revenue Department. It is their job to enforce Thai Tax Law and then they can issue regulations to that end. So this was an admin. rule that interpreted the law in the past that said: "Look, if you didn't accrue it in the same calendar year as you brought it into Thailand, we aren't going to assess tax liability on that type of money. In the future that is going to change but bear in mind, what this is it is a rule change, not a law change. Quoting further: "is a definite step by the Government to widen the tax base, meaning more significant reporting requirements, at the very least for expats living in Thailand. Kitipong Urapeepattanapong, along with other legal experts, including a Supreme Court Judge is calling on the Thai Government to overhaul the tax system thoroughly to make it competitive with Hong Kong and Singapore." Now that is an interesting one. I think there is good grounds to maybe think about having the Thai tax code look more like Singapore or Hong Kong. I think it would be very good for the business community here in Thailand, for the banking sector, the financial sector etc. 

That said, that is not really the purpose of this video. At the end of the day the purpose of this video is to talk to every one of you folks, especially expats about what this stuff means. What it means is it is big, but it is not going to change things tomorrow. So it's something, it's concerning and again I have seen stuff in the ether of the internet, "don't worry about this tax stuff expats, it's all good!" But don't worry about it; the sky isn't falling. It's not to quote Bill Murray from Ghostbusters, "dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!" no it's not to that level but it is something that is major. This is a major policy change; it has implications for expats; I think it will have implications for Immigration in the future, so it's something to keep an eye on but to just sort of be perpetually panicked or something, no I don't think that there is any point to that. That said, again as the title suggests, don't be flippant about this. At the end of the day, this is a serious change to Thailand's tax rules, albeit a change that is going to occur over the course of the better part of about the next 18 months. So it's probably not something again to just be fretting about constantly here in the moment.