Mike Lister

Water

FYI https://surfshark.com/blog/vpn-in-china#:~:text=under government restrictions.-,Are VPNs in China illegal%3F,VPN in the first place.

I'm the exact opposite. I transfer two pensions to Thailand by Direct Deposit, from the pension provider, to my Thai bank account, the bank and the TRD can see the amounts and the source. I also hold a fair amount of legacy cash here in THB so there's no question about my living expenses. They no longer bother sending me tax forms each year, not only because they seem to know I'll file any way but also because they can see there's no tax due. For me, this is an easy process.

To add: I think too many people are trying to be perfectionists about what is intended/required and to emulate the level of details provided by home tax departments, they've forgotten where they are.

I think it is, because the interest on the CD was paid away into a second account and kept clearly separate from the principle. ergo, the value of the CD on the maturity date is the same as the value on the date it was invested.

I agree completely. But I do think that what gets lost on readers some times is that there are implicit assumptions in all these threads that don't need to be repeated with every post. Many members have forgotten what they were or never understood them in the first place. e.g. posters are not experts in Thai tax law; much is not known or understood about what the TRD intends in practise.

I have no reason to believe the TRD will ever do that, there's especially no reason to believe there will someday be an epiphany moment, the clouds will part and this all seeing all knowing announcement will be made that will magically make everything clearer. The Thai tax code has existed for decades, the TRD made only one small rule change to it, their position is very likely to be, what's so difficult to understand! Enough is known at present for people to understand the basics of the tax system but that's probably not enough for the average expat with above overseas earning's, other than basic things like savings or pensions. There will likely be some trial and error in all of this with many people erring on the side of caution, rather than trying to file a complete fully tested return the in the first year. We've already seen ample evidence that people are withholding remittances', until they see first hand experiences reported. That is likely to be the way this proceeds, if it proceeds at all.

The current law doesn't say that! The current tax law requires the taxpayer to assess their income to determine what is tax assessable income and what is not. Merely remitting funds to Thailand is not the sole basis for taxation, the remittance must comprise assessible income. The current law also does not say that tax paid can be deducted against income due. The tax law states that some funds are assessible and some are exempt, the law also says that dual tax agreements (DTA's) will specific which country has the primary taxation rights to certain types of income and is a secondary taxation right exists. I suggest you read the following and come back to us with questions:

An interesting but directly related diversion here which now becomes necessary to avoid confusion by those members not familiar with the terminology. HSBC defines offshore banking as, “An offshore bank account (also known as an overseas or non-resident account) is one you open in a country or region other than where you live”. An article in USA Today below provides a reasonable overview of the subject. Historically, offshore banks were located in territories that provided higher than average secrecy laws, which meant that customers could shield their wealth from the gaze of tax authorities. Times have now moved on hence the account secrecy aspect is no longer what it was, although the concept of offshore banking remains valid and in most cases, legal. There are many sound reasons why people hold offshore bank accounts, tax efficiency, product availability, legal threat shielding, funds seizure and convenience are just some of them. It therefore follows that offshore banks remain popular, legal and widely available, offered by some of the biggest names in banking. The message here is that offshore banks are generally safe, depending on the jurisdiction in which it is located. https://www.usnews.com/banking/articles/what-is-offshore-banking https://internationalservices.hsbc.com/international-banking/what-is-an-offshore-bank-account/. In most cases, offshore bank accounts were never illegal, only the way in which they were used and the failure to report transactions was. Worldwide reporting and information interchanges have ensured better reporting for tax and legal purposes but such systems don't guarantee detection in every instance. Which is why some customers will continue to under report such accounts, in the continued hope of evading tax in their home region. Thai onshore banks offer Foreign Currency Accounts for customers who are not Thai tax resident (as well as for residents) and these have some characteristics of an offshore account in that the tax treatment of those accounts represents and agreement between the bank and the TRD, onshore. It is therefore not true to say that those foreign currency accounts, are offshore accounts.

This post is so sad. It's nothing more than nibbling round the edges, trying to score points and trying desperately to attack anything that I've written but ending up looking childish. Why don't you contribute usefully to the discussion rather than wasting energy attacking anything I say, be constructive for goodness sake.

I've done that too, come across a post by somebody who I really thought wrote something interesting and then found out it was an old me....funny actually.

People under 50 should have jobs and be working and making money in the West. 🙂

There is no basis on which to think the first two points would occur. Honest people with lots of income have an easy out with the tax exempt LT visa. Dishonest people are unlikely to be more to move in to a country where tax laws have been strengthened.

179 is safe, 180 is not.

Thais who evade taxes by maintaining offshore accounts that are unreported.