Expats working in Thailand and paid into a Thai bank account are not exempt from the country’s FET form requirement. That means you’ll need to move your money out of the Kingdom and then back into it as a foreign currency. This is certainly one of the more annoying quirks about being employed in Thailand. Look, I don’t get it either, but that’s the law.
“If you are an expat in Thailand and want to use the money you have in your account here to purchase property…well…I’m sorry but you are out of luck. You will have to transfer the funds out of Thailand and then back into Thailand, so you get the FET form,” Khun Sirichot Chaiyachot, Co-Founder and Partner at LAFS Legal, points out.
Why does Thailand do this? Mostly, it was an unintended consequence of the Thailand Condominium Act which permitted foreign ownership and the government has never bothered to remedy this.
“The reason Thailand does this is that they want to bring in some investment from overseas,” Khun Sirichot reports.
Some expats have tried to find a workaround. For example, this involves a bank officer in Thailand creating a FET form without a transfer. The method is unsurprisingly not recommended by legal experts.
“You may find bank officers in some areas that will allow foreigners to use local funds to buy property but in my view this isn’t legal. You didn’t transfer the funds into Thailand, and they are issuing something based on their power,” Khun Sirichot states.
Others will simply purchase real estate under their partner’s name in order to avoid transferring the money out and then back into the country. This comes with its own unique set of challenges.
“If you want to buy a condo in your partner’s name, there are a few things you should consider. Firstly, it will be qualified under the Thai quota which means it can only be sold to a Thai buyer. Second, you never know what will happen in the future. Should you break up, you won’t have any way to get it back since it is under their name,” Khun Sirichot says.
Will laws ever be amended so expats buying a condo in Thailand don’t need a FET form? If we’re being honest, no. It would be nice and maybe one day the rule is changed but no changes are on the horizon.
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