KhunHeineken

IT IS LAW that you should already be paying non resident tax as an pensioner living in Thailand full time. See above links from an ATO forum. Three staff members inform the posters they will have to pay non resident tax on their pension. See the youtube video from an industry professional I posted. She says the same. The law is already in place for pensioners to pay non resident tax. The below IS THE LAW. Foreign residents If you're a foreign resident for tax purposes you must declare on your tax return any income earned in Australia, including: employment income rental income Australian pensions and annuities capital gains on taxable Australian property. Exceptions to this include: foreign residents earning employment income working on the Pacific Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme working holiday makers who in some circumstances will not need to declare income earned in Australia. As a foreign resident: you have no tax-free threshold you don't pay the Medicare levy – in your Australian tax return, you can claim an exemption from paying the Medicare levy for the number of days in the income year you are a foreign resident you don’t declare any Australian-sourced interest, dividends or royalties you derive while you are a foreign resident, provided the Australian financial institution or company that pays you has already withheld tax the capital gain on your Australian home may need to be included if you are a foreign resident at the time you sign the contract of sale you may meet the definition of a foreign person and need foreign investment approvalExternal Link before purchasing residential land and other Australian assetsExternal Link. If you have a Higher Education Loan Program (HELP), VET Student Loan (VSL) or Australian Apprenticeship Support Loan (AASL) debt, you'll need to declare your worldwide income or lodge a non-lodgment advice. You can do this using our online services through myGov or through a registered Australian tax agent. The study and training loan repayment calculator will help you find out your compulsory repayment or overseas levy amounts. For more information about your study and training loan repayment obligations if you plan to live and work overseas, see Overseas obligations when repaying loans. See 408 Pandemic event visa if you were issued a 408 visa to stay in Australia and continued working during the COVID-19 pandemic. The 408 visa program closed to new applications on 1 February 2024. To work out if you need to lodge, use our Do I need to lodge a tax return? tool. We have all been getting away with it for decades. All the proposed changes will do is allow the government to enforce the law. You think it's a new law that will tax pensioners living overseas, it's not. The proposed changes will be new laws that will enable the government to force pensioners living overseas to pay tax, and others, such as myself, and guys like Paul Hogan, of course. 🙂 This guy also explains it quite well. He's a qualified accountant, based in Bangkok, I believe.

Life is cheap in Thailand.

If an accountant puts the tax law in front of you and says, "You should be paying this tax." Is he wrong? Is he scaremongering? Is he unprofessional? He can be creative with his accounting, but he can't change the law, and advising you to go outside the law, or around the law, thus evade paying tax, is not only unprofessional, but criminal. In the above last few posts I have put links to the ATO Community Forum where three separate people asked ATO staff if they had to pay non resident tax on their pensions if they moved overseas. All three answered yes. The ATO doesn't sell any services. Are those staff members unprofessional? Currently, I am still a resident of Australia for tax purposes, despite living in Thailand full time. I generate an income in Australia. I have maintained a domicile (house) in Australia, still have some utility bills in my name, maintained some memberships and subscriptions to clubs, still own a car, have regular contact with friends and family etc etc. By doing so, I can show an "intention" of returning to Australia to live. Some years ago, the ATO actually went guys like me and lost a lot of cases. The reason why they lost was it is difficult to prove "intent" as it goes to a state of mind, and if you simply stay "I will be moving back to Australia" then the loophole/s in the current 90 year old laws allows you to remain a tax resident of Australia. The guys who have sold up and moved their life savings to Thailand would have a difficult time proving they have the intention of returning to Australia to live. So, how does the ATO catch people who have an income from Australia, and yes, the aged pension is taxable income (the law previously posted) and who live overseas permanently, whether they create the appearance of being domiciled in Australia, or not? The ATO's answer was, a physical presence and time based tax residency model, similar to Thailand, and many other countries. The proposed changes placing the time at 183 day a year. You can't ask for a review and you can't appeal it. Outside Australia 183 days and you are a non resident for tax purposes. I asked this question some time ago. No one answered. I'll ask you. When the proposed changes are passed into legislation, how do you propose to remain a resident of Australia for tax purposes when you live in Thailand full time? The best scenario members could come up with, and I agree, is doing 46 days in Australia every year, as the proposed changes state 45 days to 183 days then moves to meeting 2 out of 4 factor tests, and one is really easy, being an Aussie citizen. The law isn't going to change. It's always been there. What will change in the ATO's ability to enforce the law.

Professionals are still discussing it, and warning their clients. Here's a new one from the first page of a Google search. It's dated 26th November 2025, so less than 2 months old. https://www.aimsaustralia.com.au/australias-new-tax-reality-strict-professional-compliance-meets-proposed-residency-reforms/ "Current Treasury updates suggest these measures, if enacted, would likely not commence until 1July 2026 at the earliest." You do realize expat pensioners are non residents for tax purposes, and should have already been paying non resident tax, don't you? I have posted several links from the ATO and youtube videos about it. So, it's not only what you will be paying, it's what you should already be paying.

So, safe, or not? How many tourist have died on the roads here? I don't think Thailand is a safe tourist destination.

Get the police in the UK to check on his bank account to see if it's being used via ATM's in Thailand.

It's a lovers tiff. 🙂

That's the point I have being trying to make to members. Yes, in Australia, as an Australian resident for tax purposes, no tax on the aged pension. No argument from me on that. However, as a non resident for tax purposes, below are the tax brackets. No tax free threshold. No exemptions for pensions / pensioners, and as you correctly point out, the aged pension is taxable. Many just seem to think nothing will change after the proposed changes are passed into legislation, but the reason why they were proposed, and will be passed, is because they collect tax off people that should be paying, who haven't been paying. To be honest, I seriously thought they would add an exemption for pensions, but they didn't. What's that tell you???? Foreign resident tax rates 2020 to 2026Foreign resident tax rates for 2019–20 to 2025–26. Foreign resident tax rates 2025–26 Taxable income Tax on this income 0 – $135,000 30c for each $1 $135,001 – $190,000 $40,500 plus 37c for each $1 over $135,000 $190,001 and over $60,850 plus 45c for each $1 over $190,000

Loophole will close once the proposed changes are passed into legislation. You can expect contact from the ATO. Once again, you are living in the past, as if you were still a resident of Australia for tax purposes. That's fine, I do to. Never paid a cent of non resident tax, yet generate an income in Australia, however, I can see the wide implications of the proposed changes, whereas, you think after they are passed it will still be business as usual. You are a non resident for tax purposes. The pension is deemed taxable income. The proposed changes are designed to enhance enforcement. Change s coming. Yes, you are a small fish, but the legislation will not differentiate between small and big fish. The computer data base will spit out the names of the wealthy, and the not so wealthy. No free passes.

What is your opinion on Wikileaks then? Not social media, but a platform for whistleblowers. It's interesting how an issue is labelled a conspiracy theory, until a whistleblower uploads transcripts, or video footage, or photos etc. 9/11 gave the American government the power of mass surveillance. Conspiracy theorists commented on how the government is tracking, tracing and listening into everyone. Those people were ridiculed. Then along came this guy, Edward Snowden. It's a short video. Is he lying? Is he crazy? Is he telling the truth? Whistleblowers often prove conspiracy theorists correct.

A lot of people died because of those "mistakes." Doesn't say much for MI6 then, does it, unless, off course, the UK government was actually complicit.

Yes, that what a joke. Happy to learn. All Jewish weddings, or just orthodox Jewish weddings? Surely not all of them went on to become Rabbi's. I can understand those who enter the Rabbihood (yes, that word is joke) being exempt from military service, but some, if not many, may have returned to mainstream society. I need some clarification on this one. So here's an orthodox Jew who has studied and chosen a religious path, most likely becoming a Rabbi one day. He's married with children. Those children would be orthodox Jews as well, and will eventually hit 18 years of age, but say one wants to be a teacher, another an engineer etc. In relation to the children, by virtue of identifying as orthodox Jews, do the children have to do national service, when they have no desire to do religious studies? I read the quotes you posted. Question. Many armies, in the past and the present, send a religious leader to army bases. A chaplain, a priest etc. Does the IDF offer religious counciling, or possibly the equivalent of administering "the last rights" as Christians do, to soldiers on or near the battlefield?

I am not a denier. I just keep an open mind. India put a rover on the moon a few years ago. I would like one of these rovers to land near the lunar rover from the Apollo 15 mission one day and remove all doubt for everyone.

That's some great photoshop work. 😂

So, governments all around the world, including mine, lied to their citizens. No possibility it's happened on other occasions???? I remember Bonking Billy stating, "I did not have sexual relations with that women." 😂 What about the JFK assassination? A bullet that can turn corners, really? 😂 What about the Vietnam War? "The Domino Effect." Communism was going to sweep across the world if not stopped in Vietnam. 😂 The list goes on and on. So, at the height of The Cold War, and the space race is on, no possibility the moon landing was BS? I keep an open mind because I know government lie to their people and to the world.

I will have a look at some of that member's posts. Sounds like an interesting character. 🙂

Are you suggesting the war in Gaza has no impact on local Israeli's? I'm sure the families of over 900 dead IDF soldiers would disagree with you.

Sounds like a lot of work for the Thai police. Big investigation this one. Like looking for a needle in a haystack. 😂

The randomness and level of violence in this crime tells me this guy has done it many times before. The police should look into his past, in particular his movements and the locations he has been in, and then look for unsolved cases with a high level of violence on a random victim, basically, a similar MO. He should get a life sentence for this crime, but the families of other unsolved serious crimes this guy may have committed could have a sense of justice also.

This is what Thailand is up against. The youtube video was taken in Phu Quoc, which is Vietnam's equivalent of Thailand's Phuket. You will notice they have built a Guinness World Record cable car to get to a smaller island. Members may be interested in stopping the video at 5.34. You can see the drink menu at a beach side cafe. A local beer is listed at 20,000 VND (Vietnam Dong) The video is 6 years old, but in today's exchange rate for Thai money, that's 23.67 baht. Yes, 23 baht, not a typing error. 🙂 On my last visit to Danang, to visit some expat friends that left Thailand for Vietnam, I paid around 35 baht a Heineken beer in a nice air conditioned bar. You will also see free hammocks and beach chairs, something unheard of in Thailand. 🙂

I wonder if they will ever be able to find the luna roving vehicle and the American flag that was left there. 🙂

Richard, can you tell me where Saddam's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) are hidden. They never found them. 🤣

I don't, and it's in abundance in Thailand. 🙂

If the OP is vacating a house or condo, but leaving the electricity connected, he can buy a cheap timer, and battery charger, and set the timer to turn on for 1 hour every day to charge the car battery in the house. Saves buying a new battery upon return, unless the battery is old and nearing replacement anyway.

One of the best on the market. https://www.wurthusa.com/Chemical-Product/Cleaning-and-Care/Rubber-and-Vinyl/Rubber-Care-10-9oz-286g-/p/0890110000?srsltid=AfmBOoqRMCQE37_AHvsnvEOdgO0CvtLb8BLZ0WhsOQG733VKy70ZnW4L