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SGD

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Posts posted by SGD

  1. 9 hours ago, Trvlr55 said:

    ...

    If Thailand is being smart, in creating this program, it would be to better clarify these grey areas; the countries local businesses will generate more income, and the government will get more taxes and revenue indirectly. This category of Visa, is what everyone has been asking for; people who come over, and not just for the bars, and nightly entertainment so abundant, but people who blend in to the local society because they are going to be there for some time, but not a permanent resident.

    However, you need to understand that what would be collected in tax in any western country is simply not collected in Thailand because of a hidden cash economy, tax avoidance and bribes.

     

    Heck, they cannot even raise the VAT level back to the normal 10% since 1997 or whenever it was discounted to 7% and so many never pay that anyway.

     

    Income tax is a joke.

     

    So the clever Thais (sic) think taxing a few digital nomads will fill their coffers. It won't and they know that but it takes the light off their other tax free activities.

  2. 9 hours ago, Mitkof Island said:

    As I was just mentioning a few days ago before my post was locked. Covid insurance will still be required for all those already vaccinated. C.O.E. = Thailand Pass new name same games. Anyone who believed the PM a few days ago is a fool.

    Covid insurance is a scam, dreamt up to feed an industry lobby the same as ASQ was and is a scam, dreamt up to feed the hotel lobby.

    However, in a digital age, it is not beyond the realms of technology to have a country insist on any visitor having general medical insurance for worthwhile amounts (say $10m) instead of some meaningless $100k number.

    However, in the long term, I see this as all falling on the airlines and outbound immigration. They already check your passport, visa, entry rules, etc. so adding a covidbollocks jab requirement or some other <deleted> to that list is a marginal addition. Insurance companies would (quite simply) agree to meet an international standard for minimum medical care coverage.

     

    However, the notion that Thailand could manage 40m applications via their embassies is beyond comprehension. Neither could Somchai at immigration as they already stamp their lovely meaningless pieces of paper and waste your time. Add a further burden to that and they would go absent in even greater numbers.

    • Like 2
  3. On 8/31/2021 at 7:42 AM, aussienam said:

    Aw come on. You know the usual saying "Farang rich". And that is topped off with virtue signaling wealthy 'show-off' farangs who actually condone it too.  

    I mean, it's only 16 x times more expensive for a farang!   

    It's just another subtle way of extortion.  No plastic bags used this way though.  

    Ah yes, the "more Thai than the Thais" apologists.

     

  4. 9 hours ago, Agusts said:

    Fine print at the end , 1000 baht fine for not wearing a mask first time, I can imagine certain folks in position of power rubbing their hands on nice little earner from say a farang family of 5 wondering the streets not aware of the fine....! Add that to your Covid test cost calculation.... ????

     

     

    No, the real hand wringing will come from the "variable" 2nd and third fines.

    What's the bet they are magically 10,000 and 20,000 and no tickets ?

     

    But how would they know it wasn't your first offence ?

     

    More BiB theft and bribery.

  5. 5 minutes ago, Rael007 said:

    Looking out for how things will be later this year or even next year, but as far as right now is concerned, speaking from personal experience:  

     

    I have a great condo in a desired area of Bangkok.  It's in excellent condition and currently unoccupied though fully furnished.  I've owned it for five years and I'm now trying to sell it for a VERY reasonable price.  It is being marketed on many different websites and I've enlisted several agents.  Yet, there has been zero - that's ZERO - interest.  (which is more or less what I expected in the current climate).

     

    So if this is a "golden opportunity" for those looking to get nice condos in nice areas for good deals - I've yet to experience that.   I think this is a lot of PR spin.  Like, "Come to the Fyre Festival; it's going to be the greatest music festival ever!"

     

    Sorry to give you the wake up call but if it was priced well, it would have generated interest and would probably have sold.

    If your neighbours have theirs advertised for 150k per sqm it doesn't mean yours is worth 150k per sqm because theirs is simply overpriced. The price to move it in this market is perhaps 50k per sqm but you would think that stupidly undervalued. Yet that is the market price.

    You may get more in the future and you will if the baht FX rates improve but contrast this. I have a near 100sqm condo in central London which is worth perhaps £1m. That makes it about £10k per sqm. You have your Bt200k per sqm condo in Bangkok which you think is worth £5k per sqm.

    In which universe is London only worth twice the price of Bangkok ?

    • Like 1
  6. 19 hours ago, golfpro47 said:

    I have lived in Thailand 25 Years and Cambodia was my bolt hole when I needed a change , I visited many many times,usually for 1-2 weeks and always enjoyed my time there,the biggest mistake I made was moving over to Phnom Penh Full  time.Looking  for what I call a decent Condo/Apartment to Rent the ones I viewed were in the 450 600US,I had looked at what Barang were calling good Condos at 300-350US and they were shocking couldn’t believe how some Barang were living. I settled on a playyyce just over 2klms from the City Center,a brand new Building Furnished,they were looking for 650US I offered to pay 550US 6Months in advance and got it for that.

     I didn’t find the food to bad(except the street food)plenty of Euro Restaurants prices decent,but really missed Thai Food.

    what surprises me are that most of the comments by people who have lived there  or have visited regularly is they nearly all say cheap beer,cheap and ready available drugs,I often wonder what kind of life they lead when they are the first 2 things they mention.

    After about 6Months I was getting bored,relief was my Work as I was Working all around Asia,so at about 9-10 Months I decided I had had enough and moved back to Thailand.

    Most of my friends I had there have also departed,some to Thailand,Vietnam and some back to Europe, I am told by people I still know there that they are also considering leaving,they are fed up with the usual things,dirty,attitude,Crime more prevalent and far to many Chinese now with there bad attitude,and of course getting more expensive.

    Did I enjoy my long stay there no,did I enjoy my frequent visits prior to moving there most definitely,but my experience living there and the stories I am being told, I am glad I left when I did, I made a big mistake moving there and as such I have never been back.

     

    Most guys reach for a beer with one hand and a girl with the other and they can apologise for anything and live in squalor if those needs are met.

     

    I see guys living in Pattaya in rooms that girls today would be ashamed to live in. Cheap is good, cheap trumps all other questions.

    • Like 1
  7. Not often this question is sensibly asked and less so sensibly answered.

     

    I am not tied to Thailand but I have never lived in Cambodia or Vietnam and haven't even been to Laos.

     

    I have no desire for malls, no need for golf, eating local is fine though I do like spicy and I am content without 5* luxury. Medical is an issue but insurance and a couple of Plan Bs cover most of that.

     

    Sadly, I cannot roll back the clock to the Thailand I fell in love with. The people have changed and the landscape pillaged for profit. I see that happening everywhere and nowhere is immune.

     

    I study this argument with interest as I want to go to these places for a month or two but as I still have business in Europe then I am constrained by the amount of time I can get away in one trip and that is what, more than anything, makes me return to Thailand as I can relax on day one.

     

    With so little time, were I to make plans say to go to Cambodia, then if I didn't want to stay there, I would have lost so much of my precious holiday getting back to Thailand and if I stayed there, then I would probably regret not going to Thailand - oh for days past when you could border hop at will ????

     

    Yet I am aware that I could see myself asking the same question in 5 years time and regretting not going.

     

    However, as I move toward retirement, I do want a real relationship again. That seems to preclude Laos but not Cambodia and presumably not the Philippines, which is also on the "spend a month or two there" list.

    • Like 2
  8. If I may ask a tag on question which I think has some relevance.

    If I bring in 5m and get a FET and purchase a condo and then sell it for 10m but I wish to buy a new condo at 10m, is this an issue with my original FET only being for 5m and there being a period of time between the first purchase and the second purchase.

     

    It would seem illogical to have to bring in another 5m (or to send the second 5m or even the whole 10m on a holiday outside Thailand) but hey, TIT ????

  9. You are only part way to the holy grail of answers.

     

    Thailand treats income earned more than 12 months ago as capital and not income. This is key to the wider picture because of the dual taxation treaty, which also works when there is no tax to pay in the UK and hence, no tax to pay in Thailand.

     

    You need to consider the issue of first VAT, then corporation tax and finally personal taxes on dividends over certain levels, which would give rise to personal taxation in the UK were they paid in the UK.

     

    The whole answer is complex and needs careful understanding because the actual answer is very much dependent upon the sums involved, the time period you are thinking about and whether funds not taken out of a company can be better used than paying dividends and thus accruing tax liabilities.

    If the numbers are small, you can self educate. If the numbers are more than £50k and less than £100/250k per year then you can get a mix of self education and professional advice. If over £100/250k then get advice.

  10. The ownership versus rent debate is well known but all those crowing about rent saved and profits made are kindly forgetting that those who chose to rent (as opposed to those forced to rent) have kept their capital liquid and presumably invested and not hidden under he bed.

    Chances are that dividend income and capital growth of said retained capital are higher than the rent saved and theoretical profit to be made from turning an illiquid Pattaya property back into money.

    I am on the fence. I own and have rented but were I looking now for a single property to live in, it would have to be realistically priced (as some are) or I would take a long lease (2/3 years) on a heavily discounted luxury place.

    Any purchase would have to made with a quasi yield to redemption basis of it not having any residual value and the enjoyment of the purchase being the sole reason for doing so.

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