4MyEgo

You hit the nail on the head.

Alcoholism is a disease, a terrible disease, I lost a dear friend back in 2008, he was my oldest brother who was the kind of guy who would take his shirt off for you. He he did try AA a few times, life wasn't kind to him at all, he was a battler, and would be the 1st to cop it from our alcoholic father if any of us did something wrong. I tried a few times to help him out of it, but being busy with work and trying to survive my own, it didn't help as all of his sufferings with his divorce, working in construction and having full custody of his young daughters who ditched him and went to their mum when they were 14 & 16 after everything he did for them made him drink even more. He is at rest now, and having the life he had one has to ask, was it all worth the struggle ? I also have a very close friend who beat alcoholism by listening to me and another m8 who has since past way too early. He saw a specialist who got him signed up and into a program and had to stay for 2 weeks, taking meds, and hasn't had a drink in over a decade. Here today, I see far too many guys drinking themselves to death, sad really, everything in moderation, but it also depends if you have the GENE. Glad to hear you pulled through.

This should have been done years ago as it's been free for the girls for over a decade back in most western countries. We had our 13 year old vaccinated back in the my country last year, her 2nd dose here a few months later after we returned cost us about 15,000 baht, I think.

I just stumbled on these two articles, the 1st in June this year and the 2nd in August, if you haven't already read them, it's interesting to say the least, and looks like we might see the changes come into effect on 1 July 2024. The 1st one is more clearer then the 2nd IMO. https://kpmg.com/xx/en/home/insights/2023/06/flash-alert-2023-126.html https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/tax-compliance/18930-why-a-bright-line-residency-test-must-focus-on-certainty-equity#:~:text=Bright-line test,days in an income year.

I suppose if I return to apply for the age pension, then I will have to let the broker know that I am a resident again for tax purposes 🍻

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, that said, I have been told that I am a hanhome man for the past 17 years coming here, the girls even calling that out to me from the other side of the street, at least I believe they were girls, can't tell all the time. They wouldn't lie to me 🙂

Wife listened to the video on the app in Thai for me, answered the question at each section, passed, then we went to the registry in the morning and did the brake/accelerator test, colour blind test and then press the button test, photo, pay fee and 5 year license provided. I suppose every registry is different, don't forget the Dr's letter.

I think I follow, however, if you have, as you say 10,000 franking credits and you already paid $10,000 to the taxman, wouldn't that be then claimed back on the $10,000 paid in tax already therefore rendering a tax refund and no tax payable in lieu of tax already paid ?

I suppose you could say I got the card of the hard life. Raised with parents not suitable for each other, i.e. they met up in a foreign country after WW11 with nothing looking for a new life, father enjoyed his drink, gave mum a set amount of his wages and kept the rest for himself, mum worked night shifts as a nurse, with as much overtime as possible, suffice to say, we didn't really see our parents as Dad would get home at around 6pm after stopping at the pub on the way home from work, ate dinner then off to bed, and mum would be off to work at 9.30pm for the graveyard shift, she'd be up at 3pm when we would get home from school to clean, cook and put us to bed. What made things difficult was that with parents not suitable to each other was, that we ended up in boys homes for short stints as mum had two nervous break downs, and dad wasn't capable of raising 4 boys on his own and working, so it was a very confusing part in our lives. I also ran away from home a couple of times, but that didn't last very long. School wasn't easy as all I wanted to do was work and make money so that I could have a better life as there was never enough money to go around for the 4 of us boys, so I would pump petrol at the petrol station after school till 9pm. Fast forward a decade after leaving year 10 trying different types of jobs, I did mature entry enrolment and completed two degrees, wasn't the brightest spark, but got on well with the recent high school grades who entered Uni and we sponged off of each others backs to get through, all this was done while I was also working all sorts of jobs, tree lopping, cab driving etc etc, whatever it took. Those pieces of papers opened doors for me and my wages climbed substantially over time as I kept on getting head hunted. My oldest brother (passed) introduced me into property, bought my 1st property when I was 24 with his help, he had a friend in the bank and a mate who supposedly owed me the deposit money, which came from a personal loan approved from another bank.....lol I had a good government job with loads of overtime so was working 13 days a fortnight straight as I needed to have a day off legally and I paid off the personal loan in a year. One property became 2, then 3, then 4, then a failed marriage of 12 years and a daughter, now an adult and she did ok growing up after her mum left me when she was 20 months old. I made sure to be a part of her life as I took on shared care on a 50/50 basis, wasn't easy, but hey, we are all damaged products, some more than others. Never stopped working as it kept my mind clear, even during my forced holidays, I worked with my older brother who went into construction and was changing hail damaged roofs on commercial properties, I knew nothing about changing roofs but he needed the help and was paying me cash and showed me what to do, hard yakka and I almost fell 10 metres to the ground a couple of times, but better than sitting home during holidays after going through the separation. All of my mates had steady hard working old school parents who provided them with easy lives, I was never the jealous type and those mates today are hard working millionaires, their parents, still alive, wouldn't have it any other way, so, you get the cards dealt to you and you just keep playing till you win a hand or two, that is when I met my 2nd wife (Thai) who asked me why I worked so hard when she came back to my country and saw the hours I was putting in, working from home, and I said that is all I know, and she told me that it wasn't healthy, a month later I had a heart attack, she was right, the stress level was insane, that is when she said, enough is enough, you need to live your life and that's what I have been doing for the past 8 years as I took her advice. Moral of the story is, when someone you trust reaches out, take their hand and don't look back, accept the change and challenges that come at you as you move forward, no regrets, life has been a journey, fortunately for me, the fruits that I once sowed, now allow me to pick those fruits today to enjoy my life, or what's left of it. My life reminds me of an old saying, water off a ducks back...

Not really, the girls understand how things work, loss of face if I go with a Katoye, yes, and I don't sheet in my wife's village, 20 minutes away as mentioned, and of course some ladies know my Mrs and that I like my side dishes, having seen me with them, that said, one stupid drunk farang said to my wife one night who was eating with the other ladies, you should keep an eye on him, he is a cheeky boy, with her reply being why, he is an adult, he has his condoms, he knows how to use them, that was in front of others, so that made them all aware that she wasn't stupid and knew what was going on, and was ok with it. End of story, like I said, each to their own.

I have a question regarding the $7.5k to pocket you are referring to e.g. lets say one returns to Oz and is a resident and is working for a year, does that $7.5k credit amount reduce the taxable income earned by the whole $7.5k e.g. one earns $60,000, would they then say, ok, but we have $7.5k franking credits and reduce the taxable income to say $52,500 which would give them a tax refund of say $2,437.50 on the tax already paid, or would they get a straight $7.5k back ? If it's similar to negative gearing, i.e. offsetting ones rental losses after interest from banks charged, then it's a claim on the difference and they deduct the expense from the tax paid, but not all of it is claimable, only a portion when calculating the tax rates.

There is no confusion to me about the 183 day rule, albeit there are other tests to ascertain whether you are a resident for tax purposes or not, apart from the 183 day test. Being a non resident for tax purposes suits me as I pay no tax back in Oz, apart from the 10% withholding tax on interest held by the banks, and of course there is no arguing that, as I reside here with the kids go to school here in Thailand. Providing your tax residency is done by an individual basis, most escape it, and a lot fail when they are brought before the ATO. Everyone's circumstances are different so to speak. From my little understanding of the proposed subject is that the 183 days rule will go and be replaced by the 45 day rule every 3 years, meaning, if my interpretation is correct, is that to retain your residency you are required to return for 45 days every 3 years, anyone who doesn't return within that 3 year period will be deemed a non resident, now I might have contradicted myself previously, as it is still not clear to me why they are bringing this about. Are they making it fairer to Ozzies to return every 3 years for 45 days so that they can retain their tax residency status vs a open and shut case, i.e. if your away for 183 days, your deemed a non resident for tax purposes. It's messy in my opinion, but I know that a lot of time has been wasted by the ATO going before courts, not to mention the tax $'s spent to extract $'s from those who fall under the current, I believe 4 point residency rules, which the onus is on the individual to prove. If the new 45 day rule "returning" every 45 days within a 3 years period, then there is no requirement to challenge anything is there ? Unless they change the laws regarding how one's money is invested in Australia, it won't effect me, suffice to say, I intend to remain a non resident for tax purposes, so I would have to keep out of the country for 45 days in those 3 years, easy done as I only return for 10 days maximum. You are aloud to earn an income in Australia through dividend paying shares which are non taxable, legally. What I have to consider is will I return to apply for the Aged Pension, because I would be required to stay in the country for the 2 year jail term and my dividend paying shares will fall under the Deeming Rate as a resident and continue when you exit the country and become a non resident again, because you are obtaining the pension as a resident, messy, yes, but I cannot see a way around Centrelink all of a sudden saying, oh, we now see your a none resident for tax purposes, so we will remove the Deeming Rate as it is part of the assets test for the pension, in other words, you can't have your cake and eat it to, that said, there are offsets to minimise the the amount they take off of your pension, and the last time I worked it out it was about $100 per fortnight is memory serves me correctly, but things change all the time so one has to keep abreast of it. I fall into this category, that said, I am not worried about what Thailand proposes in the future because tax is already paid on my dividends, so if they want to tax me again on what's already been taken out, then I will return to Australia and can easily split my portfolio between my wife and myself to obtain a larger threshold than a single would obtain, e.g. $18,200 up to $36,400 adding her to my portfolio before any tax would be payable, lots to consider if that's the case, however, I believe their proposals would be more on Thai's trying to minimise themselves from paying taxes when working overseas, similar to what Australia does when it collects on it's worldwide web of income earners. We will have to see what the changes bring with them and see where we go from there.

LOL, your a funny guy, if she was to have a guy on the side, it would have to be a farang as she is used to big if you follow my drift 🙂 The above said, with kids and a large house to look after, she doesn't have time to scratch herself and knows where to come when she wants to feel good, and to be honest, if she wanted something on the side, why not, but we are not all the same when it comes to wants/side dishes, are we ?

Agree, I got sucked into my 1st marriage, even remember saying to myself at the alter, W-T-F am I doing here, it was complicated, parents through her out, didn't want me, yiatta, yiatta, and of course she ended up on my door step. This one is a gem, they broke the mould when they made her, and the only way she could stay in my country at the time on her tourist visa was to get married and I knew she was the one, that said, I also knew that if she changed, I could send her back as I also had a prenuptial agreement in place, but things worked out and to be honest, I couldn't be without her. I would say that 10% of us guys are lucky to find the right one. If she could stay in the country at the time, I probably wouldn't have married here as I believe it's all about money, for churches and government's, m8 of mine told me the other day he did his divorce on his own, without lawyers and it cost him $1,000.00 AUS, I said why bother, he said, he wanted to make sure there was no comeback, fair enough I said, but that should be a free service or at best $100 fee for the paper work, but no, it's a business generating $'s for the government corporates.

I believe if people were more accepting of the fact that sex is just that, sex, a feeling of pleasure and be upfront before they get together of how they want things in their life, then perhaps they would know if they're relationships would go forward or be canned on the spot. We have all been programmed, don't do this, don't do that, we can't have people romping around having affairs when they are married, has anyone asked why ? Trust is built on honesty, too many people get together and portray that they will uphold what others want them to uphold because it's the right thing to do, says who and why ? Not going to bible bash, but I have always been secure enough to tell my female partners that I like my side dishes, some have joined me, others have not, I honestly see nothing wrong with it, and as I said in my other reply, I find it healthy, openness or honesty is key and receives either respect or is too much for others to handle due to their own insecurities. I am enjoying my life and have been for decades, if staying "faithful" is what makes one enjoy life, then stay "faithful", each to their own 🙂

I married my wife because I love her and want her to be a part of my life, she takes good care of me, as I do her, she was also told upfront that I like my side dishes to which she replied, why not, you have one life, why not enjoy it, that said, her father had a Mia Noi for many years when she was younger, so her upbringing fitting into my world, she has no complaints about me enjoying my life, nor do I for that matter. Marriage in the eyes of the church is for no boom boom on the side, we didn't get married in a church, it was a registry, I am an atheist, and I don't judge what people do in their marriages, up to them, if they want to pass on the side dishes, then whatever floats their boat, I believe it's healthy, putting restrictions on peoples needs/wants/urges only leads to betrayal, might have something to do with the way the divorce rates have been for decades. I know who I am and I know as a male when I see something that I like, I will try it and have no regrets as I am living my life the way I should be, not the way the church wants me too or someone else who could be construed as being insecure, but hey, each to their own, judging is just another way of showing ones, jealousy, insecurity from being cheated on, or their own upbringing IMO. I make of life what I make of it, not what others want me to make of it, it's a $hit show, so you have to plough through it 🙂

Yes indeed, hit and run says it all, i.e. why I won't ride in Thailand, as much as I love riding since I was a kid, maturing into the bigger bike riders where you go to a place so unmatched in a car. Hit and run drivers, pot holes, weak laws and virtually impossible to get private health cover unless your prepared to pay a ransom all adds up for why I value my life a little more as I mature. Rest up and get well real soon now. Hope they catch the bastard, but even so, what are they going to slap him with a 500 baht fine and maybe get your bike repaired/replaced. Lesson learned ?

Have car will travel, 20 minutes, that said, lots of lady's for the taking, but no bar with bar girls.

I live in a village, and it's up to me to find a suitable bar where farangs mix, which I have done, so 3 nights a week, I am out for a couple of hours having some drinks, playing pool and socialising. At the end of the day, it's up to the farang, sit home can make you go crazy, after all, who wants to be with Mrs Wife and the kids 24/7....LOL

I know scores that have survived, and I know scores that haven't back in the western world, same same, only difference, one is western, one is Asian, at the end of the day, they are all of the opposite sex aren't they. You really have a strange imagination, a woman who lies only lies if she need to lie, that said, hundreds of other guys in her former life, that is so funny.

The same could be asked of western women friends, happy marriages have nothing to do with stigma that is portrayed of bargirls in my opinion, women are women and men are men, rarely do they get on, especially when there are cultural differences and of course when some are not educated enough to understand there is only so much a Koala can bear, meaning if a farang is stupid enough to throw his money around to build a house, buy a car etc, he is leaving himself wide open for trouble, i.e. unless he has enough to say, if he invested 10-20% maximum, then he did all right if the married went pare shaped. Western marriages cost way more than that when they go south, 50-60-70% if kids involved, so bargirls aren't doing as well as the western women yet, i.e. I guess it all depends on how stupid the farang is with his money (power) as I call it.

The 183 day rule has been around since I was born, that said, the new proposed amendments from my understanding is that they propose if you in the country for 45 days, you are a resident for tax purposes and if you are out of country for 3 years, you are a non resident. If I am correct and the proposal goes through, they will be getting a lot of expats who go back and stay for over 45 days, as it will take them 3 years to reclaim their non-residency status Vs the current rules which is 183 days. They will never stick it to me because when I do go back, it's for a brief 10 days every 2-3 years. Interesting times ahead for some, that said, if I do decide to go back to get the aged pension, I will have to stay for 2 years and they will get me then, however, I will look at restructuring things so that it works in my favour until the 3 years is up and my non residency status is reapplied. It's all a game and you have to be focused on WTF is always going on to win.

Learn to grow up and accept things for what they are, it's no skin off your big nose so move along, as I know dozens of expat farangs happily married and in love with their prostitutes/hookers as you call them, self included. You sound very insecure and naïve and trying to make out that your a stud.....lol

Yes, this happened to me with my last marriage extension, I too was confused and as someone has mentioned above, the 90 days has nothing to do with the extension, so carry on, they will give you a new 90 day extension when you pick up your stamp in your passport. The above said, my extension is due on the 2nd December and my marriage extension is due on the 31st January, when I apply for the 90 days online it will only go up to the 31st January and I won't be getting another one until I pick up my stamp, usually around 1 March, so I will be without my usual 90 day reporting paper till then, but in the event of any dramas, anyone can contact my immigration office and they will sort it.

You know, I rarely find myself arguing with people on this forum to get my point across, and I am 110% certain that the same doesn't apply to you because you are ignorant and have blinkers on. Read and reap, this is current and one of many rules regarding residency, so do me and others a favour and STFU instead of trying to prove your point which has no relevance. https://www.ato.gov.au/Individuals/Coming-to-Australia-or-going-overseas/Residency-tests/Residency---the-183-day-test/