Dogmatix

Funding a hand out equivalent to 3% of GDP is just a mere detail. 

It seemed to me that what they were trying to do was give some limited tax concessions to Thai companies issuing tokens as an alternative to issuing shares. In addition to VAT exemption they offered a flat rate of 15% on distributions made to token holders which would be like dividends which are taxed at a 10% flat rate. 
 

Interest is also subjected to a withholding tax of 15% but it is not a flat rate tax in as much as you have to declare interest earned over 20k and it will taxed at your top marginal tax rate, if this is more than 15% with the withholding tax used as a tax credit. There is a different treatment for dividends in respect of which you can choose to accept the 10% withholding tax and leave it at that without having to pay any more than that but you may claim tax back on the basis of getting a tax credit for the withholding tax and the corporate income tax paid by the company using a slightly complicated formula. The idea for distributions of income to holders of company tokens seems to be that they can accept the 15% withholding tax and don’t have declare it and pay more, if their top tax rate is over 15% but can’t claim a credit for tax paid by the company issuer of the token.
 

in the case of onshore crypto traded there is withholding tax of 15% on gains from a 2016 Royal Decree that has never been implemented because the coup government issued the decree without thinking how this law could be implemented. But anyway the idea was that you had to pay more tax, if your top tax rate was over 15%. That means that you have to declare your gains on a PND 91 tax returns and pay tax on them. If it is a gain on crypto overseas, you pay tax on the gain earned after 1 Jan 2024, if you remit it to Thailand but not otherwise. Thailand has no specific capital gains tax. So you have to lump it in with your income and pay tax at up to 35%.

I also get calls from a well spoken Thai woman in English saying she is with Amex and wants to sell me personal accident insurance. Very annoying if Amex has sold my personal data which I believe is the case as they more or less admitted that it once when I called to complain. The calls stopped for a bit but started again and always the same woman. I am polite with her as she is polite. Just tell her I am not interested.

I get calls from a Thai call centre gang who pretend to be cops. They have my full name and address and ID card number as well as phone number. They pretend to be cops and have background noise designed to sound like a police station. I listened to a lot of the spiel the first time. They said I had done an online bank transfer to a certain Thai name on a certain date and they were investigating that person for money laundering and drug dealing. Asked several times, if I knew him and had transferred money to him. I got suspicious and asked him for the “cop’s” name and rank and the name and address of the police station or office he was calling from, so I could look up the fixed line number and call him bank. He started talking in a very threatening way then, so I hung up realizing it must be a scam.

Another one called from a different number a bit later but I hung up after hearing him start his spiel. Then I got about 30 more calls from unknown numbers in quick succession which I blocked without answering. The funny thing is that they always use 06 mobile numbers which I block but they come back with more 06 numbers. 5 months later they still call from time to time. The missus picked up an 06 number on my phone a couple of weeks ago and it was the same sort of voice trying to pronounce my full name. So I told her to hang up. Then another 06 number followed as usual. 
 

Apparently the scam is to scare people into handing over a bank statement to prove they didn’t transfer money to Somchai on that date. Then there will be a loud slurping noise as they suck all the money out of the account.

i found out that Thai cops never call people like that as part of an investigation. They either send a witness summons notice by mail or show up at your house, if they have good evidence. I guess they must have bought a job lot of 06 numbers. I think it is TRUE. Perhaps I miss some genuine calls by not answering them but that’s too bad. They can send a message. 
 

The call centre is probably just over the border in Cambodia or Burma within reach of Thai mobile signals. They are quite scary and obviously bought a large batch of personal data from a corrupt official at a bank or government office. I can understand why Thais fall for it and they are very persistent. It is probably a lucrative business with protection from genuine Thai cops.

On 12/1/2023 at 5:57 PM, freedomnow said:

In Thailand using upbit do you have to pay tax on trading ?

 

Is this changing if no in 2024+

Gains from onshore crypto trading in Thailand are taxable for Thai tax residents (those who spend more than 180 days a calendar year in the LOS) unless your total onshore income is under the threshold which is 150k plus basis allowance of 60k and any other allowances you may have for kids, aged parents, life insurance, being over 65 (190k).  Any income earned offshore after 1 Jan 2024 from any source and remitted to Thailand is also taxable.

No explanation of why Torsak was also transferred. There are no charges or allegations against him.  Sounds like something cooked up with Thaksin.  Big Joke was up in Chiang Mai supposedly providing security for Thaksin, Srettha and some cabinet ministers and no doubt a deal was done.  Torsak is pursuing money laundering charges against Big Joke but Torsak has only 6 months to go before retirement. So two months sitting on the bench will derail the charges against Big Joke who will remain eligible for police chief in October and is young enough to hold the job for 6 years.  A percentage of all he makes over 6 years would be a tidy some not to be sneezed at by Thaksin who needs money to rebuild his political brand and hates spending his own money.

Sounds similar to something that happened to me in a bar in Pattaya that employed Russian go-go dancers.  One of the Russians hassled me for a drink and I had zero interest in her.  So she kicked me in the groin.

22 hours ago, eisfeld said:

 

Exactly, the police summons are optional. So why were the security guards at the estate threatened with arrest for not letting the police onto private property?

 

Also an arrest warrant can only be issued by a court. "Will be issued" is not up to the chief of police. They can request a warrant. They can't issue them.

No reason to suppose a judge would refuse a request from the police chief to issue an warrant for refusing to comply with a police summons.

Big Joke was obviously busy brown nosing Thaksin and cabinet ministers in Chiang Mai over the weekend.  If he can clear this, he is still in the running for police chief in September and is young enough to stay in the job for 6 years. Lucrative deals could be made out of that with Thaksin and others.

1 hour ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

coming soon  money in the bank  for visas quadrupled!!

Probably coming soon anyway.  The last time cash in account/ monthly income for retirement visas was increased was about 20 years ago, if I recall correctly, and the lump sums were increase by several times. The fee for PR was increased from 50k to c180k at the same time.  But the old timers who had been on retirement or marriage visas continuously for a few years before it went up were grandfathered in and still only have to make the old rates, if they are still alive.

12 hours ago, dinsdale said:

I think plenty of people who want dope to stay legalized have to take some of the blame. Smoking dope at a concert? Not a good idea. Basically if you can't puff on a cig then don't puff on a joint. A minority of idiots once again making it bad for the majority. Walking down a street puffing a joint? No. On the beach where there are families around? No. Anywhere that people can object is not a good thing IMHO. Having said this my stance on drug legalization has been constant for decades. Legalize ALL drugs.

I agree the smoking at that concert should not have happened but the move to ban recreational use was planned long before that.  It was just used as a justification.  Without that they would have found something else.

17 hours ago, flyingtlger said:

The entrepreneurs that had the foresight to get a license for medical marijuana as well as recreational use will rake in.

This will weed out (sorry for the pun) the illegal shops and street vendors but the cat's out of the bag. I don't think the government will ever be able to stop people from selling pot completely. It'll be like Tupperware parties.....

The government never managed to stop people selling it completely when it was completely illegal.  So after more than 2 years of legalization with widespread investment in growing and distribution. ...

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Yeah... I can see that happening too.... 

 

my Brother in law tried to run from the BiB at a check point (I think he'd seen the check point up ahead so he did a U-turn 100m before it, so they gave chase) when they caught up with him, he stopped and they gave him a bit of a kicking. 

 

So... As you mention, I too can see the scenario where the Policeman was angry and drew his weapon. 

Perhaps thats when there was a miss-fire (gun not secure, round in chamber no safety on). 

NZ scared for their lives needed to react and subdue the police who they thought was going to shoot them.

 

Plenty of possibilities in this story -  I wonder if we'll get to hear the side of the NZ guys. 

 

Hard to say without video of the start of the incident and the firing of the shot. The cop said he pulled his phone on them and started filming which peed them off and they grabbed his phone. Who knows if he pulled his gun on them immediately or they assaulted him first.  If they were angry and abusive, he may have pulled his gun, feeling threatened by two big farang blokes he knew could overpower him quite easily, as they did.

I couldn't make out what type of gun it was but it looks like a hammer fired pistol, not a striker fired pistol like a Glock which doesn't have a safety. A hammer fired pistol has a safety but a cop would definitely keep a round in chamber.  Most likely it was something like a Sig Sauer or similar double action/single action model.  You would carry this on half cock with a round in the chamber and safety on.  It requires a long pull on the first shot to make it a bit safer but the subsequent shots go off with a shot pull.  If he had a safety, the cop may have flicked it off as he drew it. It may also have been a striker fired Sig Sauer like the huge order the police bought a few years ago which has no safety but requires a long trigger pull on each shot.  Anyway it is quite easy to see how a shot was fired given that cops carry a round in the chamber, as they do in the US and most other countries.  The only country I know of where you are not allowed to carry a pistol with a round in the chamber is Israel.  Even their sky marshalls have to rack the slide before opening fire with their .22 pistols (to reduce risk of damage to the plane).

56 minutes ago, Lopburikid said:

Agree. If they are given the maximum jail sentence for each individual charge. they should get 15 years and one month. 

Unlikely for first offences.  5 years a piece more likely plus fines.

Big Joke threatened to blacklist them.  LOL. Getting out of the LOS is more of an issued than coming back at the moment.  

Surprising no firearms offences so far but that might come later. There are charged with theft, presumably the gun.  Would think they could be charged with illegal possession of a firearm in a public place and discharging a firearm in a public place. They might also be charged with threatening a cop with a firearm, although it looks as if they took his gun to avoid being shot, not to shot him.

It goes to show the benefit of a back up gun in an ankle holster like many American cops carry, also he wouldn't have been able to get to one while in a head lock. 

Hard to say what motivated them.  The cop said they offered a bribe.  Was it the opposite that he demanded  bribe?  Anyway they were charged with driving without licences and therefore were a menace to others on the roads, particularly if speeding.  Why not just pay a fine or a bribe and enjoy the rest of their holiday?  They will probably have a few years in a nasty Thai prison to contemplate that.

On 3/15/2024 at 10:30 AM, Walker88 said:

Ironically, perhaps, these "tax reductions" are going to result in the increase in prices of higher priced wines, because their actual value was never declared accurately.

 

From the article:

 

"All importers are now required to re-register every label with the excise department, and this time around, the customs and excise will determine the wine value."

 

The tax always had the greatest impact on cheap wines, like those sold at 7-11 or Wine Connection. Even moderately priced wines were under declared, as was the # of bottles imported (thus spreading even the modest tax across a greater number of bottles). The under declaration started at pretty low levels, at maybe 1500 baht wholesale.

 

I have found wines at Bangkok restaurants offered at a lower price than I can buy retail at a wine shop in the US (example, Fattoria le Pupille Saffredi)...and the wines at the restaurants are not *Chinese copies, but the real thing. With this tax 'reduction', mixed with Customs doing a simply online check as to what, for example, a 2016 Sassicaia actually costs, prices for better quality wines may well rise. The reductions are more likely to be seen at places like Wine Connection or big retail department stores like Makro or Big-C.

 

*Chinese firms produce lots of fakes. I used to see these in shops in Yangon. Sometimes they don't quite get the labels right. It could be a minor error, such as leaving out a letter, or it could be really bad, such as Shat-oh Raffeet Rofschigh (just joking, but some are truly bad, as is the wine)

I always got the impression that the low priced bottles were massively under declared too.  Some low priced bottled must have been declared for a dollar or two each, given that the import duties, excise tax, municipal tax and VAT have to be applied to the landed cost and VAT is applied to the landed cost plus all the other taxes.  I remember looking at an Australian wine import business someone put up for sale.  Part and parcel of the deal was an Australia wine export company which was essential for buying wines in Australia and exporting them somehow at a massive loss in order to keep Thai taxes down. The wine producers are not willing to do this. So importers have to have their own price fixing operations in the exporting countries. 

This looks like a huge opportunity for the Customs and Excise Departments to call in millions in bribes as the importers will have to double up on the bribes they have already paid registering all their labels.  Since the =FDA is involved in the registrations, they will also clean up.

On 2/29/2024 at 1:18 PM, JimGant said:

I have to agree with Mike on this one, but mainly as it impacts Thai citizens/fat cats, rather than we expats. Heretofore, the fat cat could just wait until a later year to bring in his foreign earnings to escape taxation. But that loophole appears to be closed. Certainly the powers-that-be aren't now going to allow fat cats to take extended vacations that negate their tax residency -- to use that year to remit all their overseas income..... But, wait -- maybe there's some interpretation that says, if no tax return is required to be filed for a year in which you weren't a tax resident, then no taxes on remittances received in that tax year. Yeah, doesn't pass the sniff test -- but maybe a deliberate "out" to accommodate the fat cats, who certainly would of had a say in all of this.

 

But, who cares -- no extended vacations on my horizon. Plus, Yanks aren't affected by any of this (yes, I know -- you Old World folks get tired of hearing this).

The tax residency rules are pretty black and white in Thailand 180 days out in a tax year and you're out of the net whether Thai or not.  I recall Thaksin's daughter, who is now in line to be PM, when she was studying in the UK was used as a vehicle to remit a huge family profit on something but it was challenged purely on the grounds that they had slipped up and she was out of the country a couple of days less than 180. 

On 3/7/2024 at 12:46 PM, Smokey and the Bandit said:

I thought cannabis was legal in Thailand? Or did you  mean Singapore?

He would have been arrested for smuggling out out of Thailand but in Singapore he would have been hanged.

3 hours ago, JGon said:

Another one... soon the media will keep pushing this narrative and we "farangs" will be stereotype for a few bad apples (if this isn't already happening).

Seems to be just Swiss thus far.

Currently licensed herbal practitioners are allowed to write prescriptions for extracts over 0.2% THC.  It seems logical that they will also be allowed to write prescriptions for the raw plant which is not illegal,