Sheryl

Did you apply within the 6 month window?

No. It is not required.

This is completely untrue. It is available to anyone enrolled in SS provided they mske rhe election within 6 months of keaving work and keep up the payments. Many, many board members have continued their SS medical benefit after retirement and almost none of them have petmanent residency. The Thai SS Act makes no distinction based on nationality or visa type. It is readily avaikable in English online. Suggest you read it. Also suggest you call the main SS office regarding the issues with your local office.

Actually it will depend upon the terms of the Double Taxation Agreement between the UK and Thailand, and whether he is taxed on the gain in the UK.

@Neeranam If I recall correctly you are in Hua Hin. I have no specific feedback on this doctor but may be a place to at least start. He has a private clinic in the evenings and is also at Bangkok Hua Hin And Hua Hin Sao Paolo hospitals. https://www.huahinheart.com/en/ Clinic opens at 5 today but will be closed tomorrow . Suggest yo ugo today. Be sure to bring the record of your heart rates and BPS and stress to him that you have trouble standing for more than 15 minutes due to dizziness. Let me know how it goes.,

Drinking very large amounts of plain water without electrolytes can affect your electrolyte balance, in particular may cause low sodium. 4L a day is too much for just about anyone, anyhow. However please see my post in your other thread. You appear to have a cardiac problem.

You appear to gave some kind of hemodynamic instability. Possibly secondary to an arrythmia or other cardiac problem. A drop in BP and rise in heart rste upon standing up is common but should be very brief. Certainly should not last 15 minutes. Nor should you feel faint and nauseus. And, your pulse pressure (difference between top and bottom numbers) is way too low which, if accurate, is also a sign of cardiac problem. You should take these readings to a good cardiologist as soon as possible. Will need an EKG, rhythm strip (like EKG but longer) and likely an echocardiogram. Definitely something is wrong.

Which has now changed per announcement of the Revenue Dept. Several threads running about this https://aseannow.com/topic/1306994-opinion-thailand’s-ambitious-plan-to-tax-incoming-funds-risks-falling-flat-due-to-lack-of-clarity/

To my understanding of the US-Thai tax treaty the issue is which country has the right to tax it, not whether you would owe tax there. In other words if income or interest is taxable in the US and you file taxes accordingly, the fact that your tax liability was 0 would not alter things. The issue is, which country has the right to tax you? Here it gets very complicated since if here in Thailand more than 180 days a year you are considered a dual resident of both Thailand and the US for tax purposes (since the US taxes based on nationality not residence -- this would not be the case in many other countries). The tax treaty has a lengthy section about what determines where you can be taxed in that situation as follows. Good luck deciding what it means for you: "Where by reason of the provisions of paragraph 1, an individual is a resident of both Contracting States, then his status shall be determined as follows: a) he shall be deemed to be a resident of the State in which he has a permanent home available to him; if he has a permanent home available to him in both States, he shall be deemed to be a resident of the State with which his personal and economic relations are closer (center of vital interests); b) if the State in which he has his center of vital interests cannot be determined, or if he does not have a permanent home available to him in either State, he shall be deemed to be a resident of the State in which he has an habitual abode; c) if he has an habitual abode in both States or in neither of them, he shall be deemed to be a resident of the State of which he is a national; d) if he is a national of both States or of neither of them, the competent authorities of the Contracting States shall settle the question by mutual agreement" This as regards interest. Savings would presumably already have been taxed in the US at the time earned?

This is exactly what has just changed effective 1 January.

I can't say re HCM but Phnom Penh is very difficult. Even for people wiht no visa history. Most people seem to prefer Laos (Savannaket or Ventiane).

As previously advised you should get a BP machine. Omron brand (type that wraps around the arm nto wrist) is good. When you say pulse 40 is that counting for a full minute? And after you have been standing for a while (say at least 30 minutes) what does the heart rate stabilize at?

Qualified doctors regularly remove earwax in "civilized" countries and that is what is under discussion here.

This was the link I had posted https://library.siam-legal.com/thai-law/u-s-thai-tax-treaty-pensions-and-social-security-payments-article-20/ covers pensions, SS, annuities https://library.siam-legal.com/thai-law/u-s-thai-tax-treaty-dividends-article-10/ https://library.siam-legal.com/thai-law/u-s-thai-tax-treaty-interest-article-11/ cover dividends and interest respectively. It looks like you could potentially be taxed on same but with limits to avoid double or excess taxation between the 2 countries. I would suggest to try to avoid bringing interest or dividend income into Thailand unless it is to your overall advantage (i.e. lower tax rate than in US)

Unfortunately this is not very accurate (as often happens when using Chat GPT) and seems to be talking in general about what might be in a Tax Treaty rather than the specifics of the actual one between the US and Thailand. Links to which have been previously posted. Of particular importance is the clear exemption of US Social Security and annuities from taxation by Thailand , full stop. Tax treaties really are not that lengthy or hard to read. Suggest everyone review the one specific to themselves.

Yes, I think this is far from finalized. It seems a common tactic of the Thai government to make announcements as a sort of trial balloon to see what reaction it gets ahead of actually doing something. Doesn't mean this won't happen in some form but what exactly is far from set in stone at this point. If/when the tax code is amended it will be necessary to (1) carefully read the revised text (not possible now as nto yet written let alone ratified yet) and (2) carefully read the Tax Agreement between your country and Thailand as applicable. I think in most cases any change will not be applicable to funds being transferred in by retirees, for 2 reasons: (1) often of a type exempt under tax treaties (e.g. pensions) and (2) often would not qualify as income (e.g. long term savings). What they are aiming at is a loophole whereby Thai residents can avoid tax on recently earned or passive income by remitting it to Thailand after the year in which it was earned. Not pension income and equivalent, nor transfer of foreigners' savings that were accumulated in many cases before even moving to Thailand. The problem of course will be to find a wording which makes all that clear with no confusion. Another concern will be ensuring (assuming a change is enacted) that provincial tax offices understand it. As we all know, the Thai government often does not do a very good job of clearly communicating guidance to the field and different offices often have different interpretations. Might be wise for those who do so, to reconsider filing for refund of bank interest until the dust settles as that would bring you to the Provincial Tax authorities' attention. I actually stopped doing this a year ago because 2 years running it led to me being called in for questioning and having to provide extensive documentation of incoming transfers and answer a lot of intrusive questions. I prevailed (and luckily had saved credit advices to show money came in from abroad) but it was such a hassle I decided not worth it for a few hundred baht. A new directive about income from foreign sources, if issued, would much increase the odds of such scrutiny. It would also likely be prudent to carefully read through the Tax treaty between your home country and Thailand to see if the money you are bringing in is exempt and, if it is not, consider the implications; if so, consider how clear the paper trail would be to show this. For example, I currently have my US Social Security directly deposited to my bank in Thailand and that is the only money I bring in, and the credit advices clearly identify SSA as the originator of the funds. So I'm good. But in the past, before ISS started direct deposits to Thailand, I was having savings transferred the origin of which would be hard to isolate as there were multiple sources of funds coming into the same US bank accounts over time. I have always filed US tax returns on all income, including that earned abroad (3rd country, not Thailand) so would always have been protected from double taxation, but establishing that might have been complicated, and might even have necessitated filing both Thai and US tax returns and claiming tax credit on one of them. A headache I would naturally prefer to avoid.

Please continue the discussion here https://aseannow.com/topic/1306896-thai-government-to-tax-all-income-from-abroad-for-tax-residents-starting-2024/ So that we can keep all comments on this important matter in one place.

In most cases probably not. 61 countries have Tax Treaties with Thailand wehich (1) protect against double taxation and (2) in many cases explicitly exempt pensions and the like from being taxed by Thailand. That aside, I doubt that pension payments and the like would be considered "income". It is pretty clear that the law is aimed at actual income, not pensions, annuities or for that matter savings from many years ago that were already taxed at time earned. There are some retirees here who are bringing in money from things like property rentals, interest on investments etc which would be classed as income. In that circumstance they might have to pay tax on it in either Thailand or their home country, but not (assuming a tax treaty) both. Please see lengthy discussions in this thread https://aseannow.com/topic/1306896-thai-government-to-tax-all-income-from-abroad-for-tax-residents-starting-2024/

Yes, there is a tax treaty between US and Thailand and also 60 other countries. This has been extensively discussed in this thread: https://aseannow.com/topic/1306896-thai-government-to-tax-all-income-from-abroad-for-tax-residents-starting-2024/ The treaty not only protects against double taxation on earned income but also explicitly states that Social Security and similar retirement income can only be taxed by the US.

unhelpful posts in violation of forum community standards have been removed.

Yes, there will be some cases where income is legally taxable. Most retirement income (government pensions etc) will not be. Practically speaking, if transferring in savings (as opposed to having income directly remitted) I think it will be more trouble than it is worth for the Thai tax authorities to try to figure out if it was taxable by the other country and they are unlikely to bother in the case of retirees. You should closely read the Tax Agreement between your home country and Thailand. Also note that there are several months to go before this comes into effect and it will pertain only to funds brought in after that date. So for those who always leave 800k in a bank account for visa purposes and have that amount here already it won't matter where it originally came from. But it would be prudent to ensure that new funds coming in are from an exempt source as specified in Tax Agreement.

He is the one I would recommend. (Prof. Niyom).

Have you seen Pof. Niyom at Bumrungrad?

No. Please read the Tax Agreement between the 2 countries. Such income can only be taxed in US. Doesn't matter if US rules mean you owe 0. Thailand still cannot tax such income.

As previously posted. under the Tax Agreement between the US and Thailand, US Social Security is exempt from Thai taxation.