Myanmar junta demands expats pay income tax on their overseas earnings

[reader]

From Pattaya Mail

By Barry Kenyon

The cash-strapped military government of Myanmar is demanding that its overseas workers remit part of their monthly wages, no matter how meager, to a junta-controlled bank prior to returning home or trying to obtain a new passport. Separately, foreigners of all nationalities residing within Myanmar for 183 days a year, or more, are expected to pay income tax on their worldwide income amounting in most cases to 25 percent.

Around 1.5 million Myanmar nationals work legally in Thailand on labor permits, mostly earning minimum monthly wages of 7,500 baht or US$200. They must now remit 2 percent or 150 baht to the junta government. The Myanmar embassy in Bangkok says that the payments should be made there or in approved banks before the workers try to return, lest they risk losing the right to travel abroad for three years and are refused mew passports.

Better paid, white-collar overseas workers must give up 10 percent of their wages, whilst the select few on salaries of US$14,200 a year are to be taxed at 25 percent. They are expected to pay their remittances regularly into Myanmar banks which are controlled by the military. Myanmar embassies in Singapore and South Korea have also made similar announcements. The Global New Light of Myanmar, a junta mouthpiece, has not commented widely on the income tax demands but claimed the sliding scale of remittances from 2 to 25 percent was fair.

As regards foreigners living permanent residents in Myanmar, there are believed to be around 2,000 in the country. They are mostly working for international organizations or businesses and include small numbers of Chinese, American and European expats. The demand that they pay taxes on their income or assets is not new, but is apparently now being enforced more strongly. Most will be subject to a rate of 25 percent payable annually or monthly to Myanmar banks. The government website says nothing about exceptions or double taxation issues.

The military government, led by senior general Min Aung Hlaing, is believed to be short of money after an incipient civil war which has already ceded swathes of rural territory and at least 30 towns to insurgent forces. China has recently brokered a deal between the junta and its domestic enemies in the areas close to the Chinese border, but there is no sign that the fighting has eased in other areas. Already over a million Myanmar nationals have been forced to flee the violence and many have ended up on the Thai border, particularly in the city of Mae Sot.

[Moses]

"If you are a U.S. citizen or resident alien, the rules for filing income, estate, and gift tax returns and paying estimated tax are generally the same whether you are in the United States or abroad. You are subject to tax on worldwide income from all sources and must report all taxable income and pay taxes according to the Internal Revenue Code."

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/us-citizens-and-resident-aliens-abroad

US "taxation junta" does the same already many years.

[Marc in Calif]

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/7/russia-and-myanmar-start-first-maritime-exercises

Myanmar and Russia have drawn closer since the February 2021 coup, which triggered a violent crisis that has killed nearly 4,200 civilians and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes.

Moscow, itself isolated on the global stage since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, has become a major supplier of weapons and equipment to the Myanmar military.

The first Myanmar-Russia Maritime Security Exercise (MARUMEX) involves ships and aircraft and is being held in seas 85 nautical miles (157 km) west of Myeik from November 7 to 9.

[Moses]

3 hours ago, Marc in Calif said:

Moscow, itself isolated on the global stage since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine

Dreams, dreams...

Your "global" isn't even half global. 17.5% of countries.