0% tax residency

[StuartG]

Thailand will give you tax residency and not tax money earned outside Thailand, provided it is is not remitted to Thailand.
Maintain a separate capital account and only send capital to Thailand.
Also, a delightful and safe place to live with friendly people, great weather, great food, great golf etc and excellent internet (except during thunderstorms)

 

[kekmaw]

Yes, but I have to live there for at least a half year and I don't know if I would like that. I tend to Monaco since renting an apartment and having a bank deposit seems enough to get a residency there. This way I can get around for a time presence requirment since there are no borders across the Schengen area

You don't have to live in Dubai for 6 months a year, that's the best thing about Dubai as your residency.

You lose your residency if you do not visit the UAE within 6 months of leaving but there is nothing that says that you have to live there for 6 months (from their pov at least).

From the day you leave Dubai you will have 6 months until you need to return or your residency visa becomes invalid. So as long as you return within the 6 months for a day, you're good.

Source: This is the solution I personally went for.

There are also benefits like you won't have to deal with the same kind of paperwork and s**t that you would have to deal with while living in the EU.

Also you mentioned banking, there are several banks that have offshore branches in other countries (like Jersey and the UK) that you can open up if you have the funds. The lowest requirement I know is $25k deposited and you can open up a Jersey account.

 

[void]

Thailand will give you tax residency and not tax money earned outside Thailand, provided it is is not remitted to Thailand.
Maintain a separate capital account and only send capital to Thailand.
Also, a delightful and safe place to live with friendly people, great weather, great food, great golf etc and excellent internet (except during thunderstorms)

do you have your own personal experience with Thailand and setup like this?
any up-to-date and trusted resources you could provide a link to?

 

[StuartG]

Yes - personal experience as I have lived there for >10 years!

 

[devnull]

I want to ask, Thailand only taxes income from outside when its brought to Thailand the same calendar year as the income made.

If the income were generated in 2017 for example, it is tax free in 2018

Am i correct? Or are this rule old?

Together with Elite Visa, it seems a great solution to 0% income tax.

 

[Nyep]

Am i correct? Or are this rule old?

Sorta kinda. You are still not allowed to WORK without a work permit in Thailand. Work permits are only given to people working for Thai registered companies. If you ignore that specific labor law, and work in Thailand anyway, then you are still exposed to the tax laws. If you get compensated directly for your work (=salary), then by law you need to pay tax in Thailand regardless of remittance.

Note that none of this is actively being enforced in Thailand at the moment. If you work online then you are relatively safe at the moment, but it can easily change.

Anyway, the excerpt you were referring to is regarding dividends. Dividend income received abroad is only taxed (and requires reporting) if it was remitted to Thailand within the same calendar year in which it was received. So if you do decide to try it out, make sure to structure it so you do not actually "work" and receive a salary. You just receive dividends from a business that you own, but not directly operate, and you never remit in the same calendar year.

 

[JohnLocke]

Sorta kinda. You are still not allowed to WORK without a work permit in Thailand. Work permits are only given to people working for Thai registered companies. If you ignore that specific labor law, and work in Thailand anyway, then you are still exposed to the tax laws. If you get compensated directly for your work (=salary), then by law you need to pay tax in Thailand regardless of remittance.

Note that none of this is actively being enforced in Thailand at the moment. If you work online then you are relatively safe at the moment, but it can easily change.

Anyway, the excerpt you were referring to is regarding dividends. Dividend income received abroad is only taxed (and requires reporting) if it was remitted to Thailand within the same calendar year in which it was received. So if you do decide to try it out, make sure to structure it so you do not actually "work" and receive a salary. You just receive dividends from a business that you own, but not directly operate, and you never remit in the same calendar year.

How complicated is it to setup a company in Thailand and be employed by that company? I'm curious to know.

 

[devnull]

For Thailand company setup, it need to be 3 director/shareholders that must be over 51% owned by Thais, in other words 2 shareholders have to be Thai, that my research so far.

I prefer the Offshore setup in Hong Kong with serviced office addition and use the Thailand Elite Visa, but tell not anyone that you work in Thailand.

 

[Nyep]

How complicated is it to setup a company in Thailand and be employed by that company?

It's not complicated, and the 51% Thai ownership problem can be sorted with some basic lawyer tricks (there will be Thai owners on paper, but they will be powerless in practice), but it is quite unattractive tax wise and bureaucracy wise. It makes no sense unless you actually want to conduct business/own property in Thailand.

 

[devnull]

Just came an idea into my mind: With an malteste company, you could apply for 6/7 tax refund on the corporate tax upon tax due date and the money will be transferred to the bank account outside of Malta, it may could be private thailand bank account... it means, it generates a proof that this money were tax for past years and the refunded money acts as tax-free private income for residence in Thailand

 

[RedSquirrel]

If you move to Cyprus, won't you be forced to pay social security contributions which are extremely high (15% of income for self-employed)? A sort of secondary tax. Or am I wrong?

http://www.mlsi.gov.cy/mlsi/sid/sidv2.nsf/0/CFC7F0DD3FCB4E94C2257A170036EE4D/$file/Social Insurance in Cyprus.pdf

 

[Tax Cow]

Just came an idea into my mind: With an malteste company...

Malta needs to be booted from the offshore business. Their sneaky ways laying tax traps and over-complicating simple matters is a disgrace. Existing legal bloat and compliance is cumbersome enough but they keep adding to it. And even when you bank elsewhere, you can't ignore the undeniable fact that the title of being the worst financial services center in the EU belongs to Malta.

If you bought (or intend to buy) the Maltese passport, they will be your friend, if not, you will need to keep an eye on that snake. It will strike when you least expect it.

To pay 0 to 5% tax, there are better options elsewhere in Europe. For long term-term stability and clarity, avoid Malta. Not residents looking to structure their passive investment funds or active trading companies can structure via Ireland, Gibraltar, IoM/Guernsey/Jersey, Cyrpus or Luxembourg. There may be other options not mentioned.

 

[devnull]

Thanks. Looks like Thailand+Cyprus company setup is ok also, while Thailand residency + HK company setup is also bit the same, but Cyprus would be easier alot.

To be honest, for personal income anything in the world, Seychelles or Belize are preferable, where the bookholding, public records hidden and reporting are not required and then cash out via ATM or TransferWise via billing to myself first. But surely HK, Cyprus or other location for business purposes.

during my research, i learned, for residing in thailand, its best to use tax double treaty with other resident country. So Thailand is not an tax heaven. The list of country who have an tax treaty with Thailand:

Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Laos, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mauritius, Myanmar, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

For those who want to know about Thailand tax system, i do not want to say wrong.

 

[GrumpyMess]

There’s a a myth among the “work online” community, which, by the way, avoids the work permit issue because the current law simply doesn’t legislate for it, that Thailand is a grey tax zone; meaning one can work inside Thailand and not pay tax in their home country, or Thailand for that matter.

This isn’t true. Everyone has a tax liability in Thailand. So if you're a digital nomad in Thailand, working as a web developer, blogger, web cam stripper or whatever, you should be aware that if you aren’t paying tax in your home country, you will need to pay tax in Thailand.

 

[devnull]

Its why you need an non-dom residence in other country such as Cyprus and do the tax/reports there, if you really want to be in Thailand also. There is an option with BOI company formation in Thailand with 100% foreign ownership, and exempt from taxes for 8 years.

 

[Tax Cow]

A little off topic. Did you pick Thailand for the girls?

25 Other countries have no-questions-asked, no restrictions what-so-ever policy for getting that tax exemption on foreign income. Yet you discuss Thailand. I suspect a man is not thinking with his head alone if you know what I mean.

Happy new year!

 

[devnull]

Actually no, Thailand have in general one of the low living cost countries, which is easy to save money on rent, food, etc. Bangkok is also very modern city too.

Happy new year.

 

[GrumpyMess]

25 Other countries have no-questions-asked, no restrictions what-so-ever policy for getting that tax exemption on foreign income.

What are these countries?

Happy new year

 

[devnull]

Malta needs to be booted from the offshore business. Their sneaky ways laying tax traps and over-complicating simple matters is a disgrace. Existing legal bloat and compliance is cumbersome enough but they keep adding to it. And even when you bank elsewhere, you can't ignore the undeniable fact that the title of being the worst financial services center in the EU belongs to Malta.

To pay 0 to 5% tax, there are better options elsewhere in Europe. For long term-term stability and clarity, avoid Malta. Not residents looking to structure their passive investment funds or active trading companies can structure via Ireland, Gibraltar, IoM/Guernsey/Jersey, Cyrpus or Luxembourg. There may be other options not mentioned.

Well, Malta can really be a 0% Tax country, due to his remittance system. You can have multiple companies outside of Malta and just need only one Malta company that pays your salary. When residing in Malta, you can get paid diviends from offshore company outside Malta to your private bank account directly, that is located outside of Malta, there will be no tax for it. If you send it to Malta, it will need to get taxed. Just pay mininum 5000€ tax per year in Malta, for example income tax from salary. I think its not bad idea, so why avoid Malta? And if you need cash money, you can widthdraw it outside of Malta for 0% Tax.

 

[Tax Cow]

What are these countries?

Happy new year

Light Blue - no extra conditions for individual residents declaring foreign income and paying 0% tax.