Presnock

well, that is it exactly isn't it.... previous govts spent on frivilous matters, new govt promised the citizens the moon as far as expenses go and then upon moving into the new govt found out the coffers were already empty before they were able to even touch it! My opinion as I am not any kind of financial wizard either. I have done office budgets and they were bad enough but once retired, one payment from the govt every month - taxes and insurance already taken out. The provided with documents for everything from the office paying those funds, fill in a blank 1040, file with agency and viola! within two weeks only, a check from the govt again for overpayment! Other than than here the finances have been fairly simple too and unless some vigorous changes to their tax laws then I am staying relaxed until the final programs are out. I only follow on this forum to lend a little voice support to those that might be affected though they have been supporting a lot already just by living here. Hopefully they have always paid any taxes necessary as it might help them over he hump in whatever does finally shake down from the trees. Good luck to all.

My daughter went to an international school - tuition more expensive than the top local universities here but, it was worth it based on her attitude about learning without me ever having to say anything except "well done young lady, proud of you" as she excelled - speaking, reading, etc 4 different languages as well as great computer skills and high math skills too in case she would ever need them. The school, teachers and administrators were all super supportive and worked well with parents too in keeping kids on track - this during COVID and all except maybe Kindergarten didn't miss any academics as the school had already purchased an online teaching program in case they needed to close the school for pollution - lucky they had that program - very successful in my opinion - CMIS in Chiang Mai of course.

guess I am pretty lucky then as I retired here 20 years ago and so far have never felt the need for an agent when meeting the requirements of the immigration folks. Good luck to all

one note, if the Thai govt decides to go this route and at the same time to drop benefits of DTA and LTR, the DTA treaty signed says that at least 6 months advance notice that one side or the other will cease following the actions of the DTA, so if they want to change everything so that all taxes are covered by all expats, we know for sure it can't happen until next year so while some may leave sooner before the end of this month, the rest of us will have until January. Guess will be a few houses and condos going on sale if that were to happen. But, then again TIT and maybe some of the leaders will wake up shortly or be totally gone out of the picture. Good luck to all.

Yessir, totally agree that some folks might be treated roughly if this comes to pass. It won't really impact me that much unless they start changing a lot of other laws and finance too then I would leave and take my family with me. I can afford luckily to live just about anywhere, even here with some changes but it might come down to the principle of the treatment of expats that have been spending money since their arrival. I know how much I have spent and am spending counting house, international schools, college, cars, etc since my retirement here 20 years ago. I don't it would be fair especially those on the borderline of survival even here and all because of ineffective governement and unwarranted spending. My opinion only of course for whatever it may be worth.

Yes, most of ASEAN were signatories on the OECD agreement of July 2023 and some are going through this same exercise.

Multimillionaires? I think there are a lot fewer than you and the rest of the AN think. I only have a US govt pension so the taxes that could be avoided via the LTR are a moot point anyway because of the DTA with the US. If the Thais decided to wipe out all the treaties that have been worked out between Thailand and those 60 or 61 other countries, they by international law have to advise those countries in advance that they wish to do this. Then if they followed through they would have a difficult time getting any treaty signed with a foreign country for anything unless of course they follow this route and join BRICS in the fall. The LTR on last count hardly has enough expats to help the revenue dept meet their goals anyway. Any mulitmillionaires on an LTR would just cease to be a tax resident here or elsewherever they wanted. In the long run, any changes that are made to the tax laws against expats will IMHO cause a decrease in the funds collected by the Revenue Department as it will probably already show a drop from 2024.

looking at the qualifications for membership in the OECD it appears to me that most of what you wrote above will disqualify them anyway...guess that is why they are thinking about joining BRICS this fall as they hope to snuggle up close to XI and PUTIN who would welcome them with open arms.

Applied already in March 2024 - takes 5-7 years before approved or not - google Thailand applies OECD

TODAY THAI EXAMINER

those are called "agents"

suggest you read other articles too...not just this forum

just remember that is "TAX" resident after 180 days. Good luck

These as we have heard are international treaties between governments and to quit, either side has a time period in which to advise the other that they are quitting this treaty. These treaties were not just thrown together as some countries i.e. the US for one will not allow any other country to tax their government pension nor social security. For any country with a treaty, I doubt that they would carry things that far but...TIT and who knows.

IAW other article I have read says effective 2025 all expats in Thailand have to file for taxes...of course if one doesn't remit anything or has no ASSESSABLE funds then that is a moot point right now. Good luck.

AS mentioned in the article...once the new govt came to power and saw that the coffers were empty and they had just promised everything except the moon for those votes, they decided to expand their tax base including the multitude of expats. easy targets and as most Thais feel, all expats are rich and handsome. best of luck to all....the Thais are only doing what most of those 130 countries a/w OECD are doing and everyone should be paying taxes to some country if they are earning money.

Other countries throughout the world that belong to the OECD and is offices (such as Thailand who has applied for membership) are going through this same tax routine to see how it affects that country and the expats there. I have read on other forums (but forget when and which) that some countries are ignoring pensions altogether - probably due to DTA's or too many different languages. Before one decides to jump ship here, be sure to check possible landing countries to see if it will be better, worse or the same. Best of luck to us all.

well, reading the article in the Thai Examiner, it is a done thing now already and indicates that come 2025, ALL expats unless they have no assessable assets and who remit assessable funds to Thailand will need to obtain a tax id and file their taxes. All the details on assessable income have yet to be published so...we continue waiting. But it seems a done thing already to me already. but no ARIA yet.

This waS IN RESPONS TO those that asked if the US tax folks provided foreign-language assistance. Just because Thailand doesn't, they do allow English as well as Thai and there are numerous official translation agents available. Probably some tax agents will advertise foreign language assistance too.

like the rest of us for definite answers to your questions, you must wait for the final word on the tax programs of Thailand

Fortunately for me, I only have pension income for my 1040's, I only provide the first page without my bank info which they can get anyway and the Thai officials have accepted that with no problem for qualitifications. I am not sure what the RD will require as proof but I do have other documentation that I can provide too without any real problems for me. But the only worry I have is that the banking info provided under the CRS to the Thais will be in Thai controlled hands and that might be risky. Who knows, not me for sure with the new banking procedures. Good luck to us all

The US Internal Revenue Service does offer foreign-language assitance in just about every language to assist filling workers.

Their official international language is English and Thai of course their nationa language and expats will probably have to either talk with the RD folks to complain at first or with tax agents about their own taxes...as usual much will be missed in translation someplace anyway. Glad I am out of it. Good luck to all

well I don't know about anyone else, but when BOA decided that I couldn't bank with them as I had no US address about 5 years ago and also, immigration required me to have a self-only accountr, at BB, in getting the new account I had to provide my US social security number but fortunately, I have a US govt pension only and under the DTA Thailand cannot tax that. I guess though, I will have to provide some documentation supporting this to the RD...we'll see maybe when they get around to letting us know all the details of the final decisions on this program.

Imagine anyone in the local TRD offices trying to interpret all the different language queries other than English/Thai