Started a thread with this, then remembered we had a pinned thread it would also be useful to add to. A lot of this would be relevant to any tax year

Nice to know someone won't complain about dual posts either

Managing your tax costs for the reporting year 2015
Published: 27/10/2015 at 03:26 AM
Newspaper section: Business

As we have entered the final quarter of the year, now is a good time to review your current tax status to make sure you don't miss out on any changes that could help you to minimise your 2015 tax liability. What should you look for?

First, claiming travel expenses in Thailand this year can reduce your taxable income by a maximum of 15,000 baht. But the expense must be for hotel accommodation to a hotel operator under the law governing hotels for domestic tourism or a service fee paid to a tourism business operator and guide under the law governing tourism businesses. Details on the receipt are very important -- they must clearly state your name, the amount spent and date of issue, which needs to be no later than Dec 31.

A double deduction allowance is available until year-end for donations made to an educational or sports projects approved by the Education Ministry. Check with www.rd.go.th to see whether the organisation or school you wish to support is listed and approved.

For those who have made investments in long-term equity funds (LTFs), retirement mutual funds (RMFs) or pension life insurance, check the amount you're entitled to invest in 2015. Current laws allow you to invest up to 15% of your current year's taxable income but to a maximum of 500,000 baht.

You cannot include in your calculation the exempted income derived from capital gains paid from an LTF or RMF. Be sure of your position before you invest in a fund, otherwise you may face a higher tax liability than you expected this year, and it would cost you more to sell such an investment. This is because capital gains from the sale of a non-qualifying investment will not be exempt income.

There are now more savings opportunities through a provident fund. There are two developments in this regard:

1. Decide how much you want to contribute to the fund. A provident fund not only is for long-term savings but also represents savings for your current tax year. And note one important change -- effective Nov 9, an employee can start contributing more than his or her employer's portion to a provident fund. With no such restriction, the amount of an employee's savings should increase due in part to tax savings. Note that the contribution rates remain unchanged -- 2-15% of wages but capped at 500,000 baht per year.

Tips for employees: Ensure you know your average monthly expenses, otherwise it could affect your cash flow management. This is because changes in contribution rates can be made throughout the year, with the number of times specified in the employer's provident fund policy. Check with your human resources department.

2. Consider how you wish to plan for a tax-free payout made by a provident fund if you move to a new company or transfer your fund to a new employer's fund. Since the purpose of a provident fund is long-term savings for retirement, laws grant the employee the right to plan in advance for the tax-free payout.

Before resigning or leaving a company, you must ask the fund manager to maintain your membership in your current fund. Then after your move, you must transfer your portion to your new employer's provident fund as soon as possible. And you should note the following:

By law, the duration of membership in your current fund before transferring to a new fund should not be more than one year, otherwise membership in the prior fund will become invalid. If this happens, only your membership in the new fund will be recognised.

If applying for or enjoying special tax calculation method under Section 48(5) on a one-time payment (severance pay) when leaving an employer but holding and transferring your provident fund portion to a new employer's fund, the year of membership with the ex-employer's fund will automatically become invalid. The new fund manager will start counting your membership status from the date you join the new fund.

Expat tax savings: Finally, an expat who works for an international headquarters (IHQ) can enjoy a flat rate of 15% withholding tax, subject to conditions, for up to 15 years. Compared with the normal progressive personal income tax rates of zero to 35%, the savings could be substantial if the expat is in a high tax bracket. This is a major consideration for a company that absorbs its expat employees' tax liability.

IHQs are the third component of the government's regional operating headquarters (ROH) programme comprising scheme I and scheme II. The expat tax rate is the same for all three schemes, but the validity period is different -- four years for an IHQ, eight years for ROH I and 15 years for ROH II. The period for tax privileges is up to 23 years, depending on the type of entity or business function in which the expat is employed.

Jiraporn Chongkamanont is a director and practice leader at PwC International Assignment Services (Thailand). We welcome your comments at leadingtheway@th.pwc.com

www.bangkokpost.com/business/news/744804/managing-your-tax-costs-for-the-reporting-year-2015

Read more: bigmango.boards.net/thread/2699/managing-costs-reporting-year-2015#ixzz3pmBoD3HG

If an expat does enjoy the 15% tax rate on employment earnings from an ROH then no allowances (personal, spouse, LTFs, etc...) can be offset against that income. If the expat has non-employment income then those allowances can be used against that non-employment income, and for LTFs the 15% maximum deduction is calculated on that non-employment income (ie. not on employment income).

14) English translation of the Thai forms

download.rd.go.th/fileadmin/download/english_form/PIT91_2555_v7eng_020356.pdf

This is useful to use alongside no.11) above the guide to personal income tax 2012

Like the guide though, it is now a little bit out of date. Last revisions I could find were 2012/2555

The main bits out of date in the English translations are on the allowances on Sections B (ข on Thai form) and Section C (ค on Thai form):

Section B (ข on Thai form)
The total is now on line B7 not line 6, as there's an extra line. This total feeds into line Section A line 2

Section C (ค on Thai form):
C14 is no longer the total for Section C. It's now for "Domestic Travel Allowance" = when the government gave people a tax deduction for travelling/holidaying in Thailand. Looks like this may happen for 2016 Songkran as well
C15 (ADDED) is now the allowance for Goods and Service bought in Thailand, e.g. This was the 15k in 2015 the government allowed you to claim between 25 - 31 Dec in 2015 to encourage people to spend more over this period.
C16 (ADDED) now becomes the total, which feeds into line A6 under Section A (ก on Thai form) , instead of originally having the total on C14. Because of the 2 new items added above

16) Useful guide from PWC for International Assigments to Thailand (expats). Give a good summary / overview of things to think about before, during and after as well as key rules

www.bangkokbank.com/BangkokBankThai/Documents/Site%20Documents/Expat%20Articles/Thaitax.pdf

18) There is a useful download page here with lots of info in English

www.rd.go.th/publish/56815.0.html

Latest (2016) PIT guide download "Personal Income Tax Return 2016 (ภ.ง.ด.90 )"

www.rd.go.th/publish/fileadmin/download/english_form/90_Guide_200360.pdf

20) For the National Insurance/ Social Security side of things, the social security office (SSO) website can be quite useful. There's an English version too but it seems "less complete" than the Thai version and may be better using the Thai version with google translate

www.sso.go.th/wpr/home.jsp (Thai)

www.sso.go.th/wpr/home.jsp?lang=en (English)
 
It does have an English version of the Social Security Act though. Doesn't give the amounts, as those regularly get updated, but it does cover the type of things you are entitled to like old age, maternity, sickness etc

www.sso.go.th/wpr/uploads/uploadImages/file/Socialsecurityact.pdf

For someone looking for the benefits (in Thai)

www.sso.go.th/wpr/category.jsp?lang=th&cat=920

this also a summary of the types of benefits. Though again not the amounts

www.sso.go.th/wpr/uploads/uploadImages/file/2016infoG_07.pdf

Under the FAQ section though, you can often find amounts, egs:

- 13,000 on birth of child, 400 baht per month per child

- for old age: 55, 180 months contributions needed (20%?) of your NI calc amount (capped at 15k?) = 3k per month

www.sso.go.th/wpr/category.jsp?lang=th&cat=864

There is a 24 hour contact center though if you call 1506