Topic: Sai Nam Peung School, Soi Sainamtip Sukhumvit 22 Bangkok.

[User]

I recently resigned from Sai Nam Peung School, at the end of semester 1. The school were responsible for paying my tax, which is usually done at the end of each calendar year. The school have now declined to pay any tax on my behalf for the current year sighting my resignation as grounds.

Do I have any recourse in this matter other than to pay the tax myself?


http://www.sainam.th.edu/English.htm

[Topper]

I would have a chat with the people at the Ministry of Labor.  See what advice they give.  Point out where in your contract it says the school will pay taxes and perhaps someone from the MOL will make a phone call to the school.

The MOL has always appeared to be more on the employee's side than the employer.

Might we worth your time!

Topper

[los_teacher]

Presumably they have been deducting taxes out of your monthly pay packet then?

Did you keep you pay slips?

You will need them if you wish to make any kind of case.

Contact MoL first as it is free.  If you get no results you can hire an attorney to make a phone call to the school with the threat of legal action - that could very well solve the problem.  You might also go to the local tax office and report the school there.  In all cases a respectable Thai friend would be useful for the translation.  When dealing with the civil servants stay calm and don't show your frustration or the won't help you at all.

[hero]

I'm not entirely sure on this, but I don't think that schools are really supposed to deduct tax from teachers (or other foreign employees) and that the employee is responsible for paying at the end of the year.  Which means that if the school says they will pay it and then break their promise it could be hard to get them to pay up.

You could always trip down to the tax office and play the downcast and naive foreigner who's been left bewildered by Thai bureaucracy and out of pocket by a school!  My experience of the tax people has been that they are among the most helpful civil servants on offer in Thailand.

[retiredstillteaching]

My experience with the Thai tax people is much the same, ie, they are helpful, friendly and most cooperative. In the same situation, I'd surely consider a trip to the Ministry of Finance with the dumb and befuddled farang act in tow.

When I was in Satun province I had to see the Finance Ministry people in Satun City and cordially was taken to the director's office, where everything was warm and fuzzy.The director and I were taken however to find I'd been individually entered into their computer system more than 300 times! So maybe they're not so competent.

Anyway, the director, who has a certificate from the outstanding Wharton School of Business & Finance at the U of Pennsylvania in the US and who speaks excellent English, cleared matters up, took care of business and then gave me a ride 20km to the locale in Satun where I had my residence and my after school hours and weekends school. Mighty nice of her, I do say.

As for payment of taxes on farang teachers, at one school where I taught "for a long time" the school said they paid the taxes directly for me (and each farang teacher). Each year each farang teacher got a signed statement from the school which itemized the amount of taxes paid, a document a farang teacher needs to have on file when applying for another teaching position in Thailand.

Further, Immigration requires a record of such payment when a farang leaves Thailand on an expired visa...it has to show up on the computer, at least at the airport. (Dunno about leaving by train or bus.)

[Topper]

Hero,

I've had it both ways, in the tax sense. 

I've had the school pay taxes and ensured that I got my tax id card (the little yellow laminated card with your name and address on it) and the tax reciept. 

At one school I had taxes deducted from my pay and at the end of the year they provided the withholding information and were nice enough to provide some assistance in filling out the form. 

[retiredstillteaching]

I never saw a tax form but I never had a problem either in the instance of the school that paid the taxes of farang teachers then provided a signed school statement of such but only upon request. The itemized and signed statement of the school documenting its payment of farang teacher taxes was not presented automatically---one had to request it.

[los_teacher]

Identical system at my school.  I recently requested a copy and had it within an hour.  Looked completely legitimate to me.

[retiredstillteaching]

So user, the best suggestions to date seem to be visit the Ministry of Finance and/or the Ministry of Labour with the dumb farang act well in tow. Whaddayougonnado?

There's still some flexibility in the worst parts of the system. For instance, recently on a Friday I got a new 1 year non immi b visa at the Bureau of Immigration but didn't feel like going to the Ministry of Labour the same day for the Work Permit, as required.

I went to Labour the following Tuesday, got shuffled to a bosslady at her desk because I wuz a couple of days late, gave her the lost and befuddled farang look and got the okay to procede with the WP with the same effective date as the visa.

As has been pointed out above, the Ministries of Finance and Labour are pretty farang friendly.