KhunHeineken

Many reasons, ranging from no reasonable pathway to permanent residency and / or citizenship, to foreign ownership of property laws here, to an unstable government etc etc etc etc. A simple rule of investing is diversification. Not putting all your eggs in one basket, so to speak. Selling up in the west, and moving one's life savings to Thailand is unwise, in my opinion, particularly as you don't even have a "right" to live in Thailand.

I never said you needed to liquidate. I said you have invested in Thailand, so now you need to defend the position you took when you invested. Here are your words: "I have a wife and son in Thailand, and even if I did not, any investment I might have here could be liquidated in the event I wanted to leave." Simply pointing out, who is going to be the market to "liquidate" to? It would have to be a fire sale and you will take on losses. With a wife and son in Thailand, clearly, you are already heavily invested.

So, by volunteering to remain a tax resident of the UK, you would be looking at utilizing the UK's DTA with Thailand in order to not have the same money taxed twice. Is this correct? If so, wouldn't the goal be to not have the money taxed at all, either in the UK and / or Thailand?

I agree. Have you ever known the Thai government to care about the lower to middle class Thai's, the workers? In relation to the construction industry, it uses a lot of migrant laborers, particularly Burmese. Why would the Thai government care about them?

Most on this forum have a long and established connection to Thailand. Just in the way you changed your plans in 2009, you may want to consider adjusting your plans for Thailand. Thailand is not stable, so one can never "future proof" themselves here. One example of this is Thailand offers no reasonable pathway to permanent residency and / or citizenship, so you will never have a "right" to live in Thailand, just a visa giving you permission to live in Thailand, which can be revoke, either individually or collectively, or the requirements change, or the duration changed etc etc. I could go on and on, another example being foreign ownership of land here etc etc, and now foreigners face tax issues here. Times are changing, and the ground is shifting beneath the feet of foreigners in Thailand. It's certainly lousy timing, through no fault of your own, for executing your plan/s for Thailand. I would be renting for a while, at least 18 months, to see how all this plays out. As for setting up a business here, I would also be postponing because if the business targets foreigners, there may be exodus, or many expats reduce their stay here by 6 months a year, so there will be less demand. If you look at the poll on this thread, the majority are leaving Thailand for 6 months a year, with some leaving for good and just holidaying in Thailand. These tax/s may be a game changer for many, yourself included. For others, they may have little to no impact. At this stage, we just don't know what the Thai government is going to do. I wouldn't be making major personal financial decisions involving Thailand until everyone knows where they stand in regards to these tax/s, and even then, the Thai government can vary them, so once again, it's goes back to stability here. I know it's not the news you want hear, but in my opinion, going ahead with your plan/s is now considerably more financially risky than in previous years.

Interesting that you are looking to bring money into Thailand, when so many are considering getting money out of Thailand. Same old story as many western countries. A country can't tax you if you have nothing left in the country to tax. In this case, remitted funds, and possibly more in the future, is a real tax concern. As for the construction industry, well, there was already a big oversupply. I've always thought those using dodgy Thai nominees to own property would eventually get stung here. I never anticipated that it may be tax law that sees many unable to continue living in their property here, or possibly have to pay more for the privilege of doing so. We will see how it all plays out early 2025, but in my opinion, people should be preparing for the worse case scenario, the best case scenario, and everything in between.

Once again, you are viewing it like it will be implemented to the letter of the law, which everyone knows will be chaos. That's why I put forward a scenario about how it MAY actually work, which is nothing more than a rip off for a document from the TRD for the majority of foreigners. I completely agree with one of your other posts on enforcement. A policy without enforcement is no policy at all, so the Thai's must have something up their sleeve. Time will tell.

There are multiple threads running where the same subject is discussed. As I posted previously, we all maybe reading too much into this and it just might be about a foreigner paying 300, 500, or 1000 baht for a document from the TRD which must be produced at extension time. Maybe they won't care about what was savings, what was assessable etc etc and blah blah blah. Just pay us for this document, just like the Certificate of Residence, which should be free, but most pay 300 baht for. For high net worth Thai's, they can apply the law and rake in some good tax, if they want to. For high net worth Thai's, the TRD get the money, which basically goes into consolidated revenue. For foreigners, including pensioners, the "fee" for the TRD document goes straight into someone's pocket at the TRD, which goes all the way up the ladder, just like "agents" fees for immigration. It's been happening for decades for immigration. Maybe the TRD want their snout in the trough now also. Anything is possible, but we all agree it's a mess of a policy, and unworkable, but there's MONEY involved so the Thai's will make sure something, somehow, gets some money out of it, even if it's only 300 baht per foreigner.

How so? I'm not paranoid. I'm just stating how money can be sent, but without the actual cash money ever leaving a country. I posted a link showing how it works. You then went on to give examples of exactly what I posted, except for the use of Western Union. Isn't that what I said, a hawala system? You are saying "wow" and I am "paranoid" and then agreeing with me about how many send the cash money back to Thailand. Strange. The thing is, you still believe none of any of this will happen due to labor and education issues. As another member said, they will basically pay a small salary to a Thai to collect more than their salary in tax, which makes it profitable. I have never suggested the policy / system will work correctly, or efficiently. Quite the opposite, actually. What I have suggested is they will go ahead with the policy in some way shape or form because it will make MONEY, and that's what it's all about, MONEY. TIT.

Once again, I am not a Brit, so happy to learn, but I read on this website about "pension locks" or "pension freezes" for Brit's living overseas. Wouldn't that mean the government knows you are outside of the UK, thus lock / freeze the pension? I won't go into the whole Brexit / Schengen area thing, but I would have thought flights out to non Schengen countries would see immigration recording a Brit leaving the UK / Europe. Also, if they don't record departures, as you say, they certainly must record arrivals, so how can one "arrive" when they have never "departed?" I would be interested in where / how you renew your Brit passport, given that you never "departed."

I'm aware of the other ways. Legal, and otherwise. Do you need the grief?

Yes, Vietnam is my choice as well. Most probably Danang.

I'm not a Brit. So happy to learn from you. So, you can live in Thailand for say 10 years, and tell your bank / government, or both, that you are still a tax resident of the UK, despite immigration records showing you have not been back to the UK in 10 years. Is this correct?

I am well aware of the occupations reserved for Thai's only. A lot of those occupations are 300 baht minimum wage jobs. I would hardly call such a thing an "investment" that makes "good money."

That's great for your kids, when you pass, but what about using the proceeds in Thailand? Either some of the sale money, or the interest earned? It becomes remitted funds.

Looks like just a flat fee income tax deduction.

Many use the hawala banking system. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/hawala.asp Widely used in many South East Asian countries, also western countries with illegal immigrants. You really need to stop looking at effort and manpower and infrastructure reasons as to why this will not come in. There's money involved, the Thai's will get something in place to get that money flowing.

So do I, but how does using a VPN get around immigration records that show you are not in the country?

And if what you tell your bank doesn't match up with immigration records???????? You just made a false declaration. Those days are coming to an end.

I mentioned in a few other posts, for many, maybe it's like the Certificate of Residence. It's supposed to be free, but you pay 300 baht for it. If you have to pay tax, then you pay tax, but if you don't have to pay tax, I would not be surprised if you have to pay 300, 500, or 1000 baht for a document from the TRD for your annual extension. Of course, there will be no receipt issued for that payment. I'm sure you know what I mean. So, they make money from the taxed, and money from the untaxed. This is small money for each foreigner, even a pensioner, but a nice backhander for the TRD, in the same way immigration get the backhanders for the Certificate of Residence, and through agents for people who don't have the 800k. . Is it little wonder the TRD want to put their snout in the trough in the same way? Maybe we are all reading too much into it, and that's all the system will be. Pay X amount for the TRD document in order to get your extension. For high net worth Thai's, they may actually apply the law.

The proceeds from the sale of the UK property earns interest. That interest is "income" and you are living overseas. I wish you well on your search. There's a short list of countries that many are considering for either a permanent move, or a 6 months of the year relocation.

If it becomes a loophole for many, they will surely close it.

So, you believe they will walk away from all that money, and lose "face." I disagree with you, and have given my reasons, but I really do hope you are right.

If it all goes ahead, the property market here will tank, and those who either can't afford the tax bill to stay, or want to sell up and leave in order to pay the tax bill will not be able to liquidate without a fire sale and accepting heavily losses.

Interesting theory. We all hope it just goes away, but do you really think it will? There's a lot of money at stake.