MikeN

And what about other, privately owned places that are not funded by taxes ? and of course, many Thais don't pay any income tax, my wife has never paid any so does she pay the surcharge ? In fact, I once read that tourists on a 2 week vacation here pay more tax through VAT than most Thais do in a year. VAT on their hotel, all the airport taxes, they eat at restaurants that charge VAT unlike locals eating at their favourite noodle shop. Going on a tour? there will be VAT on that. Buying souvenirs? more VAT.

probably any of the ones that don't directly say "no foreigners", but do require a thai Id number

One thing I don't like about this falang business is that it's khon gaoli, khon yippoon but not khon falang....no honorific. I asked my Thai language teacher why she used "khon" when addressing the Asian students in my class "how do khon yippoon do this or that" but with me, the only white guy, it was how do falang do something. She got really uptight at me just for asking a simple question, so much so that I asked the head teacher to be transferred into a different class.

And Expat Tax Thailand were very clear in one of their webinars that it is only cash holdings ! No stocks or shares, superannuation or anything else, just cash in the bank. I would have to go back and watch it again, but I think that was confirmed by a TRD official in one of their Q&A videos.

Because of the number of exemptions, that's why. In the case of Australians ...got a military pension? Non assessable income, no need to file. Civil servant? ditto. Police pension? ...ditto There are 61 countries with Double Taxation Agreements, most of them different. You think IOs are going to understand the varying details about who will need to file a tax return or not?

^ Ah, ok then, things have changed since last year, but first I've heard of it. probably due to an "improvement" in the online 90 day process, LOL.

I've never had to do it before, but Immigration is telling me that I have to now! Correction to first post, it was 31 Dec I submitted the last TM47, not early Jan, but still a LOT less than 90 days. Receipt and reminder attached:

I just got an automated reminder that my next 90 day report is due on 21 Feb. But I only did one in early January ! Now, 21 Feb is the date my non-o extension expires so has something changed and you have to restart the 90 days with a new extension? Or is this just a glitch? I checked my records and last year I did a TM47 in early jan and again end of March with the visa extension in-between, so if things have changed it's the first I've heard of it. And it would be rather pointless, I could do the TM47 online now and then have to do it again when I go into Ubon immigration for my extension. So the "logical" thing to do is wait until I go into the office and give them extra work. signed, Confused in Ubon 🤔

Who needs 5 star resorts when you have a swag, clear skies and a million stars ? Somewhere along the Cobb Hwy, in central NSW :

They "sent" a hard copy which I never received, then emailed me a reminder as the deadline got close. I got them to email me a copy, then late December I finally received the original paper form....they didn't put Thailand on the address, just Ubon Ratchathani and judging by the postmarks it went to Indonesia ! somebody there must have shown some initiative and googled to find out where Ubon Ratchathani is and corrected the address.

Westpac..."we think you are living overseas, prove otherwise or we freeze your bank account until you supply tax ID, and fill in these FATCA/CRS forms". Also have a backup account with NAB, who haven't said a thing...yet.

Oh lord...I had to get a TIN to keep my Aussie bank happy, all my local revenue office wanted was a copy of my passport data page ! I would have been in and out in 10 minutes or less if they had been able to get the tiny tax card lined up properly in the A3 size printer. As it was they wasted 10 minutes and 3 or 4 cards getting the alignment right.

Getting a bit off topic, but yes I've got a list of all the things she has to do, all the people she has to contact....Aus embassy, ComSuper (pension admin) etc. But she refuses to talk about, her logic is that if you think about bad things they happen, ignore them and it won't. Sorry dear, 2 things are inevitable ..death and taxes! Biggest hassle is that the pension has to be paid into an Australian account, luckily a WISE account is acceptable to comsuper now.

Yes, when I go up the crematorium chimney in a puff of smoke she would get two thirds of my pension (after unravelling miles of red tape). It is still paid as a military pension so as she is a citizen and resident of Thailand that DTA exemption would apply and would have to pay tax here... well, file a tax return at least. I don't think my pension will increase to a taxable level after deductions! And more red tape to make sure it isn't taxed in Australia.

Just as a possible FYI for somebody, I was talking today with an acquaintance of my wife, who happens to be chief clerk of our (very) small local revenue office so biggest fish in a very small pond. She speaks reasonable English and is married to a foreigner so I don't think there were any "lost in translation" errors. She told me that as my military pension is non assessable under the DTA with Australia as long as any other income I bring in is under the 220,000 baht threshold for a married person I don't have to file a tax return here. hopefully she is correct !