Expat Tax: Frequently Asked Questions
Thank you for visiting our Thailand Expat Tax FAQ page. We answer questions received from expats, anonymised for privacy, to help others navigate the new tax rules.
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If you meet the criteria of a Thai tax resident (180 days or more in a calendar year) and you transfer (remit) the your superannuation pension to Thailand, then this is classed as assessable income. This means that if the amount of assessable income remitted to Thailand in a calendar year is over THB220,000 as a married joint filing with a non-working spouse, or THB120,000 for single filing then you will have to file a Thai tax return. You can use the Thai allowances and deductions available..
You may find our webinar on the Thailand-Australia Double Tax Treaty useful; you can watch it here.
Superannuation is classed as pension income. I have a video explainer video for the Australian / Thai Double Taxation agreement. Here is the video https://youtu.be/y1chBfp8_XE
If you withdraw and remit (transfer to Thailand) AUD6,000 per month, then AUD72k (1.7m THB) is assessable income.
You can deduct off your allowances and deductions, then you will follow the Thai tax tables.
Under domestic Thai personal income tax rules for Thai tax residents (180 days or more in Thailand) you are liable to pay income tax on any pensions remitted to Thailand. You can use any tax already paid as a credit, but as you mentioned this doesn’t help with Superanuation pensions.
Anything remitted to Thailand is taxed as assessable income. It is not on the capital gains, it is a pension, therefore the pension amount you transfer to Thailand is assessable income in Thailand. You get your Thai allowances and deductions and can also deduct up to THB100,000 off the pension before using the tax tables.
This depends on the type of pension that you have. If this is a government pension or civil service pension there are exclusions for tax under the double taxation agreement. If it is a Superannuation, annuity or age pension, then these are assessable income sources if remitted to Thailand if you are a Thai tax resident (180 days or more in Thailand in a calendar year)
You may find our webinar on the Thailand-Australia Double Tax Treaty useful; you can watch it here.