Transcript of the above video: 

Another one of these videos regarding tax here again in Thailand. I know this is not a topic people want to be talking about. This is more or less one of these videos where I'm hoping to calm people down and assuage them a little bit. There's a lot of hysteria running around out there in the ether of the internet, quite honestly because a lot of people who have no business talking about Thai Tax matters, nor really have any competency to do so or qualification, are running around talking about things especially hyperbolically, that again are nonsensical and it is just causing people to become less informed I would argue, than more informed. That being said, there are some discussions on this that that have some level of reasonableness to them. 

I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Phuket News, that is thephuketnews.com, the article is titled: Step by Step: Thailand's new tax law a double-edged sword for expats. First of all, let's really clarify here. There is no new Thai Tax Law. There has been discussion that we could have it but we have seen discussions in the past of new possible laws that have never come to pass, so it's not a foregone conclusion that we're going to see any major changes to Thailand's Tax Laws. Now, we did see a change via an intra-Revenue Department memorandum that went out roughly about this time last year regarding assessability and how funds and monies would be assessed moving forward from January 1 of 2024, and there has been later discussion, especially in the context of the OECD and Thailand's possible membership - again also not a foregone conclusion - but possible membership in that body, Thailand talking about possibly harmonizing their tax laws and things. Again these things haven't happened. Quite honestly, I'm hoping most of them don't. I'm also hoping people are reasonable and realize that doing these things could actually for lack of a better term 'kill the Golden Goose' if you will as I've discussed in other videos and drive away investment, tourists people that may want to live here. Again, overall I think it's a good idea for maybe especially a lot of these folks in the bureaucracy to maybe just take a breath and realize that they don't have the end all be all perspective over how this could impact the economy in totality. So when making these changes, maybe start to think things through. Meanwhile, it doesn't particularly help that folks are out there saying stuff in the internet that really aren't based on any sort of concrete information or data that we have seen to date. This is a good example, and I am not pointing out this article, I am actually commending this article because it points out this phenomenon and I think it's a good sort of teaching point for lack of a better term.

So just overall in this article and I urge those who are watching this video, they are talking about expats being concerned about the possibility of changing tax laws here in Thailand. Quoting directly: "The situation is further complicated by the possibility of the new law being backdated to January 2024. This retroactive application means that expats who have already brought in funds from overseas to purchase property or for other purposes, could face unexpected tax liabilities. This uncertainty adds another layer of complexity to an already challenging situation and could deter potential investors and retirees from choosing Thailand as their home." Let's be real clear. A retroactive change would be something we would call an 'ex post facto law' for example in the American legal context, which is mentioned in the Constitution as being expressly illegal; you can't change law retroactively. Now again, I recognize we're in Thailand so that's of limited use but I point that out only to provide context and a touchstone if you will conceptually for folks who are trying to understand what's going on here.

Generally speaking, the notion of retroactive laws, especially retroactive tax laws are, I'm not going to say it's completely outside the realm of possibility but I find it highly, highly unlikely for a variety of different reasons, most notably the business community, foreign direct investment, virtually anybody that has any care in the world about how Thailand's Tax System works would be well put off by any sort of retroactive change to the Law, because how could anyone trust what the Thai Tax rules, laws and regulations are moving forward. If they can always just be retroactively changed, then that sort of negates the entire concept of having the law to begin with. Again, as a practical matter, nuances of changes in statutes, changes in regulations can have in certain instances, sort of a retroactive impact. Do I think that's very likely here? No, in fact I think it's highly unlikely. If anything, what we've seen in the past from the Revenue Department for example last year when they changed or they issued the memorandum changing assessability guidelines regarding funds coming into Thailand, that happened well before the change came into place.

So I think it's very prudent to presume, I am not saying it is again outside the realm of possibility we could have some wild thing happen; it's also not technically outside the realm of possibility we could be hit by a meteorite in the next hour, but I think it's highly unlikely much as I think it's highly unlikely we will see any type of retroactive change to the Tax Laws here in the Kingdom of Thailand.