KhunHeineken

Immigration Officer: "Do you have certificate from TRD?" Expat: "No." Immigration Officer: "Must have certificate from TRD to make extension. You go TRD first." Expat: "Ok." All it would take is the order to come down from Bangkok, and another document would be needed at extension time. A lot easy to implement than tourist tax. No real "communication" needed between the departments. Just tell one department a certificate is now needed from the other department. As I have said, they have expats by the b*lls and they know it. No real "ifs and buts" about it. It's a no brainer for the Thai government. The certificate from the TRD will be like the bank document. I would be interested to know how you propose to get around the above?

As I posted before, and another member also. Immigration Officer: "Do you have certificate from the TRD?" Expat: "No." Immigration Officer: "Can not do extension without certificate from TRD. You go see TRD first." Expat: "Ok." Yes, rocket science, computer data bases, and some magic. Just another document needed at extension time. No bank document, no extension. No TRD certificate, no extension. Same Same. The order comes down from Bangkok, and that's it. It would be so simple for them to do it that I will be very surprised if it does not go that way at some stage this year, or in the future.

Don't confuse a "Government Service Pension" with an old aged pension. The government service pension is covered by the DTA, the old aged pension is not.

Tomorrow's headline, "Two Australian Federal Police Officers arrested in Pattaya for working without a work permit."

I agree 100%. I've been saying it since Day 1. It's that obvious, and that easy to implement, the people asking "why would they" should be asking "why wouldn't they?"

Yes, but there are a couple of certainties. 1) Only stay in Thailand 179 days and Thailand's tax policy is not applicable to you. 2) File, declare, pay or no pay some tax, and you are done with it. Just like paying any other bill. Chose one of the above and move on with your life, and don't forget, one of the above means no problem at extension time, which is bound to be a method used for compliance, either this year, or in the future.

The aged pension is not covered by the DTA. The aged pension is assessable in Thailand. If all of the aged pension is remitted to Thailand, it goes over the threshold. Whilst the tax liability on an aged pension in Thailand would not be too much, it's more than what has had to be paid before, which was zero.

There's a few recent youtube videos from law and accounting firms in the other threads about this. They have qualified Thai tax experts saying otherwise. Who should we believe, a low ranked TRD staff member, or the various Thai tax experts? If it all turned pear shaped, do you think the TRD staff member would admit to giving the incorrect advice? If the same guy went to a different province and asked someone in the TRD there the same questions, and got different answers, which version would / should he accept?

No, but possibly no visa extension. Ask yourself this question, "If every foreigner didn't file, what course of action would the Thai government take to force them to file?" Why go around arresting them when they must go to an immigration office?

How did he know they were Australian Federal Police? It could have been a kidnapping. This was a well known case in Pattaya some years ago, but recently, we have seen the Chinese doing it, although they tend to demand a ransom from family back in China. https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/782765/2-arrested-for-pattaya-kidnap-murder-of-aussie-hell-angel

I'm not British, nor am I overly familiar with the UK / Thailand DTA. I believe this is the UK / Thai DTA. Article 19. Governmental Services (1) (a) Remuneration, other than a pension, paid by a Contracting State or a political subdivision or a local authority thereof to any individual in respect of services of a governmental nature rendered to that State or subdivision or local authority thereof shall be taxable only in that State. (b) However, such remuneration shall be taxable only in the other Contracting State if the services are rendered in that State and the recipient is a resident of that other Contracting State who: (i) is a national of that State; or (ii) did not become a resident of that State solely for the purpose of performing the services. (2) (a) Any pension paid by the Contracting State or a political subdivision or a local authority thereof to any individual in respect of services of a governmental nature rendered to that State or subdivision or local authority thereof shall be taxable only in that State. (b) However, such pension shall be taxable only in the other contracting State if the recipient is a national of and a resident of that State. I can understand your Fire Brigade pension being covered by the DTA, Australia's DTA with Thailand is similar. It covers government service pensions, but the old age pension is not a government service pension. Where do your other two pension fit in with the UK / Thailand DTA?

You could always remit a rather large amount in calendar year that you plan on leaving Thailand for 6 months, thus, not a resident for tax purposes. Such an amount might see you through the following tax year, and beyond.

Yes, I am getting over 5% on my 800k left back in Australia, but even at 5%, that 800,000 x 5% = 40,000 baht. Kasikorn Bank is paying 1.5% on a 12 month term deposit. That 800,000 x 1.5% = 12,000 baht. Agents fees vary, but it's reasonably cheap when all you need is the 800k baht bank document, but I get them to throw in re-entry permit and 90 day reporting as well. Can you see why I laugh at people who say their extension ONLY costs them 1,900 baht? What about all the lost interest on the donation to a Thai bank? Also, let's not forget, for any new retirees, that 800k transferred in may be taxed the following year also. They have to gather all the documents, go to immigration, wait in a queue etc, and they think they are saving money. I'm in Pattaya. There are many visa agents in Pattaya. The below link is not my visa agent, but one from the first page of a Google search. https://www.keyvisathailand.com People argue the legality of it, yet, it's widely advertised and been going on for decades.

And privacy gone.

Same as the above post, but for ANZAC Day. I'll just post it here. I-Rovers do a respectful ANZAC Day memorial service with quite a few in attendance.

As an example, have you not heard of the term "company car?" The workers have to buy their own car and pay tax, insurance, registration, and pay for all the servicing. The wealthy have the company pay for all of it, and it can be claimed back, as well as capital depreciation.

It doesn't really matter what you believe though, does it? The facts speak for themselves.

No need to leave permanently, just leave for 6 months of the year.

Well, if I was a millionaire living in the UK, the main reason I would leave is because of the weather.

I understand your argument, but in a recent post I basically mentioned it's hard to find the correct term for foreigners living in Thailand. That 12 month retirement visa / extension is nothing more than basically a 12 month tourist visa.

With Thailand not offering a reasonable pathway to permanent residency / citizenship, that makes it an interesting debate. The Thai's don't give foreigners any "right" to reside in Thailand, only "permission" by way of visa / extension, which could be revoked at any time, or, the criteria changed at any time in which some, or possibly many, can not meet.

Your stats fail to address the wealth divide, which shows an ever widening gap. Here's an older article from my country, Australia. https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/australians-are-the-fourth-richest-people-in-the-world-so-how-is-60-per-cent-of-the-population-living-in/kpwzndngn "Household wealth is distributed unequally, the report found, with the top one per cent of Australians holding 50 times more wealth than the lower 60 per cent of the population." A lot of middle class "workers" would like to pay only 29% tax.

Billionaires have a lot of power. They "donate" to both major political parties for "favors" for whoever wins at election time. Also, they can threaten to pull out of their country, taking their company and vast cash wealth with them, certainly leaving a void. Politicians bang their drum saying how they are tightening up on tax perks for the wealthy, but there's so many perks available to them that if they close one, the wealthy just start using another perk.

I've already pre paid my funeral back in my home country, Australia. I did it to help the kids out, and to stop any possible arguments between them. I've paid GST (same as VAT) on my funeral, and I'm not even dead yet.

Ok. Most of them use the company's plastic card for every day purchases, so they even get to claim the GST / VAT back. Basically, it makes everything around 10% cheaper for them than the average person.