Bangel72

One of the key personal view aspects is that they've paid their dues and earned that pension in most cases. Some random chatgp numbers, these will be way off and no doubt everyone here can pick massive holes in this as not an economist, its purely food for thought but this looks like its a 13% differential in favor of the government encouraging "average" pensioners to stay in the UK. How does this compare to frozen pension differentials? Pension Credit: £5 billion Pensioner Housing Benefit: £6 billion Winter Fuel Payments: £2 billion NHS - tough one to measure but England say 153 billion for 24/25 and Older adults (65+) generally account for 40-50% of NHS expenditure. 12.6 million pensioners so lets say a round extra cost of 6k per pensioner in the UK. However then you have the recirculation value, non-uk that money is lost to other countries but in UK the pension is re-circulated. Taking account of pure costs NHS etc then its still roughly a 13% extra value impact to government of being in UK and spending that pension. Blame chatgp for random numbers.

I'm wondering if this is the clause she is aiming for? She may have a legal claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependents) Act 1975 if she can prove that: She was financially dependent on him before his death. She lived with him as a partner for at least 2 years immediately before his death. *This one I think the sons ruled out. Can of worms though if she was successful.

As a layman its hard to see what the legal case is here. If not legally married, Thailand not recognising common law partner if that's the argument or if its a straight forward debt on the estate that would need to be legally recorded otherwise its likely classed as a gift the same as the house he paid for here? Even without a will, fairly sure UK law divides between the kids. Potentially lawyer chancing their arm? Interesting that its even been accepted as a claim by a court, article maybe missing some aspect. The kids right to estate in thailand and any bank accounts here that may have been drained would be interesting? Interesting none the less, as likely impacts many people in similar situations from both sides of the fence.

This I think is a key question with huge impact. If tax free threshold in Thailand in 60k and you remit 500k which was tax free in home country would 440k be taxed even with double taxation in place? Retiring in Thailand would be hit hard if that's the case.

Has anyone done there 2024 tax returns yet? The following on the face of it seems reasonably straight forward. https://www.rd.go.th/fileadmin/user_upload/lorkhor/newspr/2024/FOREIGNERS_PAY_TAX2024.pdf However what counts as evidence for both the idea that money brought into thailand was all earned before 1st Jan 2024 or taxed abroad under a double tax treaty may prove problematic. Worth getting bank statements from foreign accounts from end of 2023 and if I never bring in more than that ever I wonder if that would suffice. Edit - there may be people who have not declared non-resident in there own country even though in Thailand for over 180 days - they may be forced to do that now. How that impacts tax free allowance in foreign country or now if that could be taxed in thailand might be an interesting part. Most people do not seem to be the targets of this initiative but may get caught in the crossfire due to lack of documentation and evidence rather than legitimately liable to pay tax in Thailand.

A couple of questions regarding the police book updates. Currently registered in the back of beyond, 5 year period. Last couple of times its gone like this. No we cannot do that here, go to immigration. After a lot of thai back and forth, connecting them with someone from chaeng wattana they confirm they can do it but need big boss to sign it, we'll call you when he is next in office. Basically it got done but a couple of days process and discussion to achieve that. Recently moved elsewhere and no longer in contact with house owner of blue book and cannot contact them. Now living in long term hotel situation with long contract. A couple of challenges I see, if anyone has been through something similar I'd appreciate some thoughts. It would be a painful journey to go back and try and explain I have moved at the police station particularly without the Thai house owner and blue book being available even before the communication and general reluctance situation. Any suggestions on this, do it through a lawyer perhaps without needing to go in person? In new location, do long term hotels have blue books, has anyone been added to one? I don't know anyone in the area yet to be added to a "friends" blue book so unsure of options, though again likely a legal company may have a stash of blue book properties but at a cost. Can the first step be skipped even if is not the recommended approach and just go and register at new location? Are there any other options than blue book or is that a must? Has anyone done it via the lawyers blue book stash approach? Any real experience in this would be appreciated?

I was having some beers in banter with a few new guys in thailand recently and this sort came up in the discussion under the any advice you can offer topics. Beer banter consensus seemed to be either accept it and get on with the job at hand or pay them to go away in exchange for a lesson learned and a funny story. Its generally okay to ask here in the same way you might ask if they are expecting compensation which some other cultures are less okay with. Its that simple, coming to thailand with phobia's and potential aggression when someone different triggers your phobia, your coming to the wrong place. Yes they should have been up front from the start, perhaps desperation lead them to take that risk, perhaps its the hustle and there is no doubt they are putting themselves at risk in doing so.

COD aside. If there were rules that all online payments go to a holding account pending satisfaction so they can be reversed easily this may reduce a lot of fraud. Needs involvement of banks and likely could create problems however so increased cost needs to go somewhere but maybe worth it to get rid of the base scams going around.

The owners being charged with the dogs crimes would be a good starting point. That's a risk good dog owners would likely accept as they would look to train their dog well, it may also put off casual ownership.

Ha ha, being called out for fallacy of arguments on thaivisa. I applaud the call out, I suspect you will be very busy though, its about 80% of responses and I'm just blending in.

Despite having a number of vices including smoking I am not entirely against a total ban, it is though a bit nanny state approach protecting people from themselves or isolating them from society. The future path and direction though could be a concern. Consider a few similar potentially harmful vices, caffeine, sugar, fatty foods, alcohol, loud music, hey might as well throw religion in there so lets say we ban them all. Without vices is it really beneficial to society, keeping people calm, people finding a release in some way doing some things they enjoy and give them a level of pleasure, to take that all away, a lot of the things that make us who we are, would we be in a worse state, perhaps with people seeking other vices to fill the gaps. I would never want my kid to start smoking for example so I can see why some countries are using that as a future ban based on age. However if we go down the complete ban route then we'd need to be okay with all those other ones going shortly after and at this point its not something I'd be keen on being part of.

A lot of people seem to underestimate the value of banter, to laugh, joke and be happy in the company of other idiots who also like being happy. Beneath a lot of the miserable old gits there is usually wit, laughter and humor, yes sometimes even in the face of tough times and adversity. People usually have done a good innings and deserve to be happy, let them be. So you have beach, sun, cheap beer and some entertainment if you can be bothered alongside the banter and humor to keep you just that bit happier. There's definitely worse places.

Interesting I wonder if she had any connection to the space. We have a gated house entrance, its often blocked by school mums, this is illegal as it blocks a houses exit so we use cones now and again, police just look at me like crazy farang with his cones. The cones are only required though because the law on parking is not followed. Very different to initial posted case, but bit of side info. Would you cone if it was your house?

Far too much misinformation going around on this and law abiding citizens getting dragged in, particularly with mob mentality. Camera's are everywhere, one video of 20 people looting a sausage roll each from Greggs yesterday with high chance of criminal record and maybe jail time if they had any room, for a snack. Accessorial liability is also something to be aware of, pick up a brick and whether you throw it or not if the guy beside you does, he could drag you down with him. Prior London riots, months of painstakingly going through footage and prosecuting pretty much everyone seems to be a common view of what happened. If you have kids out on the street there, at least tell not to be stupid and stay aware of and within the law.

Is that how you take your coffee in the morning? Maybe lets just get a wee blow torch under that spoonful of sugar to go with it.