marvinc

My friend has money in Thailand from selling property he is a UK tax paying British citizen living in the UK but holidaying over there several times per year.

Can someone advise whether tax has to be paid to get his money into the UK. Any advice if this is the case, to get round it would be very useful.

Many thanks

britishbull

He will need the receipts for the taxes he paid when he sold it (1-6 percent depending on what it was, when he bought it and how long he owned it), not sure about the capital gains tax. He will also need the bank receipt for the money coming into the country....

On the other hand, foreigners are allowed to send money out of the country up to 5000 US dollars I think at a time - check upstairs in the Bangkok Bank HQ on Silom, as it does change from time to time. Conceivably he could do a round of the various banks and get the money out that way if he was coming back to the UK and was not worried about the Thais catching him out.

He will have to pay capital gains tax in the UK if he declares it (almost certainly the inflow of money will be reported to the Revenue!). The capital gains tax will have an allowance set against it (7k?), and then another allowance based on how long he has owned it and then taxed at 20 or 40 percent depending on his personal rate of income tax, all applicable to the date of sale not the date of import of the money. If he has to pay capital gains tax in Thailand then this will be offset against what he pays in the UK. The money could be rolled into some classes of investments in the UK which if held for five years would avoid CGT there but these are high risk investments! In theory, even if he does not send the money back he would still be liable for CGT (and indeed should have reported the purchase on his UK tax form) but doubtful if the Revenue would have access to any info in Thailand.

Good time to change money with the exchanger ate at 67-ish to the pound.