khunjeff

17 hours ago, webfact said:

The hotel’s full name was withheld due to an ongoing fire investigation. Upon receiving the report, firefighting personnel from Pattaya City were dispatched to the scene

They didn't withhold the name of the hotel from the firefighters? How irresponsible! ????

3 hours ago, iaminwa said:

Don't look on Agoda, they are a ripoff, but if you insist realise you will not see the real price until you give over your payment details

You can easily adjust the settings to show the net price instead of the base price.

6 minutes ago, sirineou said:

However, such pension shall be taxable only in the other Contracting State if the individual is a resident of, and a national of, that other State. "

So if the Thai goverment wanted to get at foreign pensions , extensions to stay could be replaced with a residency program.

You missed the part that says "and a national of...".

This clause was written to cover, for example, a Thai who lived and worked in a foreign country long enough to qualify for a pension, and then moved back to Thailand for retirement. It doesn't apply to citizens of that same foreign country who retire in Thailand.

7 hours ago, Northwest87 said:

I understand that some people on this thread have been able to get BOI to accept US military Tricare as a medical plan, but has anyone been able to do the same with an FEHB federal plan (Aetna, Foreign Service/AFSPA, GEHA)?

 

NW

Yes, I think they changed their view on all of those US Government plans at the same time. They didn't accept my FSBP/AFSPA when I applied a year ago, but when my friend applied with exactly the same policy this past April, BoI took it with no problem.

3 hours ago, huangnon said:

So is the taxpayer is shelling out for this ?

It appears that Swiss taxpayers are paying for it as a way of getting carbon credits.

https://www.southpole.com/blog/article-6-and-electric-buses-in-thailand-speed-up-net-zero-transition

This is what I saw on the LTR Facebook page...

12 hours ago, K2938 said:

Well, on Fb somebody asked the BOI about the taxation of money remitted in view of the new tax legislation and they refused to comment, only saying that non-remitted money is tax-free.  So I guess the honest answer is that nobody knows at present

Thanks, that's interesting. Of course, non-remitted overseas income hasn't been taxable for anyone in the past, so the LTR exemption would have been meaningless if that's what was really meant. I guess we'll hear more over the next few months.

14 hours ago, RafPinto said:

Do you know someone who is retired at 50 and is drawing a pension?

I retired with an immediate pension at age 51, and could have done so the day I turned 50 if I had wanted to. So it does happen. (I didn't get my LTR until age 59, but that's only because the program didn't exist before that.)

4 hours ago, rice555 said:

He lied when he filled out the "form" to purchase the gun being a drug addict. 

He did not tik the box on the form, that is the crime.

The facts of what he did aren't in dispute - what his lawyers intend to argue is that a 2022 Supreme Court decision rendered the law under which he's charged unconstitutional. It's not a far-fetched notion, either; multiple cases under that statute have been thrown out by district and appeals courts using precisely that reasoning.

5 minutes ago, Gknrd said:

Kills me,  people can conjure up 25K to put in a Thai bank. But, cannot come up 25K to fund an investment account. And people wonder why people are in such bad financial shape..

The conversation was about getting a Schwab account in order to have a debit card that reimburses ATM fees, not for the purpose of investing in US securities. It wouldn't make much financial sense to tie up 25k USD just to get free ATM usage, even if that money was readily available. (The US version of the Schwab checking account requires you to open a brokerage account as well, but you don't have to fund it.) If someone actually wants to invest in the US market, of course, the math would be completely different.

On 9/18/2023 at 2:24 AM, mrmagyar said:

The commentary in the second related article suggests this is designed to be aimed at Thai's, but it seems LTR visa holders would be caught in the net

I'm not sure why you think that. The tax benefits for LTR holders weren't some kind of loophole - they were formally and legally implemented even before the first visa was issued. Royal Decree no. 743, gazetted on 23 May 2022 and titled  "Decree Issued in Accordance with the Revenue Code Concerning the Reduction of Tax Rates and Exemptions (No. 257)" made the provisions official, and there's no indication that this new decree changes that in any way.

5 hours ago, rabas said:

Go here  https://international.schwab.com/open-account-intro

Click the [open account] button in the upper right.

Go down to [Select country/region] and choose Thailand. Enjoy.

The brokerage account you can open through that link does,  at least for expatriate US citizens, come with the much-loved Schwab debit card that refunds all ATM fees. Unlike the version for US residents, though, it requires that the account be funded with at least $25,000, which makes it of marginal utility for most people.

8 hours ago, Ben Zioner said:

Maybe, but the LTR/WP differs from other visas such as Thailand Elite in that tax exemption is advertised as one of its main benefits.

It's not just advertised as a benefit, it was also legally implemented - Royal Decree no. 743, gazetted on 23 May 2022 ("Decree Issued in Accordance with the Revenue Code Concerning the Reduction of Tax Rates and Exemptions (No. 257") made the exemption official.

"Exceeding the target" is quite different from a "surplus" - they will still need to borrow money to cover the government budget.

12 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Yes, generally they use govt rate, you pay direct which is around 4 baht a unit, apartments usually charge 8 baht but I've seen 10

Apartment buildings, and other landlords with at least five units, have been required to charge no more than the government rate (plus a maximum 25% service fee) for several years now. While some of them may still be trying to gouge tenants, it's hard for them to stay under the radar if people start complaining.

12 hours ago, statman78 said:

As the article states, the new gates will allow for a 33% increase in capacity.  They will need to add more people at check-in, security, baggage handling and immigration.   Hopefully it will be a manageable rate of increase in the number of passengers.

The "33% increase" line isn't at all believable. The new satellite should make the existing concourses less crowded and reduce the need to use bus gates, but at this point will just be spreading out existing flights. There won't be a real possiblity for a meaningful increase in flight capacity until the new runway opens (years late, but now expected for mid-2024).

39 minutes ago, Deserted said:

okay thanks. Let's hope they staff it sufficiently, which is not always the case at swampy.

It's just extra gates (not check-in or security or immigration or baggage claim), so staffing shouldn't be an issue.

1 hour ago, wpcoe said:

(Quoted from article linked in OP.)  That will be a nice improvement.  Glad to see the word "eliminate" instead of "reduce."

I hope that's true, but I think it's optimistic. Airlines don't only use remote stands because no contact gate is available - some use it because it's cheaper, others for enhanced security of the aircraft, and still others because the incoming flight is domestic, and the next one international (or vice versa).

In the last situation, they prefer to just bus pax back and forth rather than having to move the plane between gates (since BKK, unlike some other airports, has no capability to change a gate from domestic to international by moving barriers and doors).

1 hour ago, Deserted said:

Exactly where is it?

Parallel to the D concourse.