Thailand – Belgium question: Declaration for the Belgian tax authorities that your wife does not work or has no income in Thailand
Questioner:
Where can you obtain a statement confirming that your spouse does not work or has no income in Thailand?
The Belgian Federal Public Service Finance sometimes requests this information, especially in cases where the wife is tax dependent on her husband. This can affect the man's pension.
Does anyone have experience with applying for such a statement?
Reaction Lung Addie
Nowadays, the Belgian tax authorities often ask Belgians a standard question about income in Thailand. They even ask for a declaration that the person concerned has no income in Thailand. However, in Thailand, people without income do not have a tax file or TIN (Tax Income Number). Usually you don't get an explanation, because it is difficult for them to confirm something that does not exist.
What you can do is write a polite letter to the tax authorities explaining this situation. You can also suggest that they request confirmation from the Belgian embassy in Bangkok, who are aware of this. In all cases where I have given this advice, it was accepted by the Belgian tax authorities without any problems. They will only delve deeper into this matter in case of serious doubts.
Other Belgians may have obtained such a statement. In that case, I ask them to report WHERE and HOW they received this. However, limit yourself to this topic.
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I resolved this with a written statement from the "village mayor - Poejabaan) and two witnesses.
Translate that document written in Thai via an app and that turned out to be accepted without question.
If you do not work, as you say, you do not have a TIN and you will not receive a statement from the Thai tax authorities.
Dear Addy,
I don't think our tax authorities will contact the embassy themselves to request some kind of confirmation. They won't concern themselves with that.
Perhaps it would be interesting for someone who is well known in the embassy to take the initiative to raise this well-known problem with the ambassador. Then perhaps a definitive solution could be found for all those people without a tax ID.
Now it's time to mop with the tap open, this problem has come up many times and everyone is on their own to solve it. For many people this is a nightmare because, as you know, the tax authorities can often be difficult in this regard.
Writing a friendly letter can be a solution, but you are always dependent on the arbitrariness of FPS
Have a nice day.
Indeed, I also wonder how you can obtain something from a certain agency that does not exist.
Which authority can confirm that your wife has no income?
“You can also suggest that they request confirmation from the Belgian embassy in Bangkok, who are aware of this.”
How is this possible? Can the embassy – the consul – indeed confirm that a Thai woman/man in a marriage has no income in Thailand?
In addition, there are of course all the Belgians who never register on the consular population registers.
Or is this about the “declaration of honor” dating from the Middle Ages?
Dear Walter,
no, the embassy cannot and will not confirm that someone has no income in Thailand. The embassy can only confirm that what someone writes regarding the fact that a person not working in Thailand does not have a Tax File on TIN number is correct.
You can compare it with a 'declaration of honour',
And as I wrote: it was accepted by the tax authorities in ALL cases.
As previously read in the responses: There are town halls that, with the necessary witnesses, are prepared to provide a statement that the person mentioned is not working. But these are exceptions. One can always try.
I think that the tax authorities in Belgium now know that 50% or more of the income in Thailand is earned in the gray economy. These are not declared and therefore that person does not have a file with a TIN number in Thailand.
Over the years I have met quite a few Thai colleagues who, among other things, are active in providing informal loans at exorbitant prices. Another popular activity is illegal lottery based on the numbers of the legal lottery, but the digital lottery may now have put an end to that.
What is the value for the tax authorities in Belgium to know, with confirmation from the consul, that someone does not have a TIN number? Is it useful that every Belgian in Thailand presents the consul with a statement "what someone writes regarding the fact that a non-working person in Thailand does not have a Tax file on[=or ?] TIN number is correct"
Maybe someone here can confirm how the TIN number is obtained in Thailand. Isn't that derived from the number on the identity card or house registration? I fear that everyone has a TIN number, but only when there is a tax return in Thailand does the person have a file with his/her TIN number.
I solved it as follows.
Obtained proof from the regional district office that my wife has no income. Located in the Ampur where you normally get married.
They ask for 2 witnesses with ID card and blue house book.
Have this Thai statement translated by a recognized translation agency. In pattaya in soi post office.
Have these two documents legalized in central festival on the fourth floor next to the passport department.
Forward all this to the Belgian tax authorities.
We easily obtained this statement at the town hall in Sattahip. Had it translated into English and made a Dutch translation myself and attached it.
Dear Johnny,
You write statement obtained easily.
Could you please share this Thai statement with us?
Or possibly with the Belgian specialist Lung Addy.
Would be very helpful for people who also need an explanation.
Show your sample statement at the local town hall
the person concerned.
Have a nice day.
I think I have forwarded everything, but who knows, I might still have a copy on my PC.
As I wrote in my original response, this question from the tax authorities has become a standard question.
However, the tax authorities do not make a fuss about this. This is clearly evident from the fact that they also accept such a statement from the town hall.
The statement from the town hall declares that someone is not working, nothing more, nothing less. But this statement does not at all determine that this person has no income. Strictly speaking, not working does not mean that you have no income. And the town hall in Thailand has no insight into this.
Yet it is accepted by the Belgian tax authorities, so they really don't make it difficult.
There are also other criteria on which the tax authorities base their calculations.