The Revenue Department of Thailand intends to impose a personal income tax on the foreign earnings, including those from cryptocurrency trading, of anyone residing in Thailand for more than 180 days.
According to a September 19 Bangkok Post report, the new rule will take effect on January 1, 2024, and the first tax forms, including those for foreign income, will be distributed in 2025.
Previously, only foreign income remitted to Thailand in the year of earning was subject to taxation. The new rule will close this cavity, requiring individuals to declare all income earned abroad, even if it is not used in the local economy. An official from the Ministry of Finance explained this reasoning to the media:
“The principle of tax is that you must pay tax on income you earn from abroad no matter how you earn it and regardless of the tax year in which the money is earned”.
According to other Bangkok Post sources, the policy explicitly targets residents who trade on foreign stock markets via foreign brokerages, cryptocurrency merchants, and Thais with offshore accounts.
In July, Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) mandated that digital asset service providers provide adequate warnings about the lunettes of cryptocurrency trading. Additionally, it has banned all forms of cryptocurrency lending services.
However, with the recent election of a new prime minister, the trend of strict oversight of the cryptocurrency industry may change. Srettha Thavisin, the newly-elected leader of the Thai parliament, participated in a $225 million capital raise for the crypto-friendly investment management firm XSpring Capital and issued its token via XSpring in 2022.
