Presnock

Yes seems that theUK govt favors the foreigners more than their own natives based on forum inputs.

Especially with the current education system...the elite send their kids to schools elsewhere and then they do favors for others in power positions, so that they can take care of their children too.

DTA for all in Thai and English anyway for US can be easily found - just google that....or better yet you can go to the Thai Revenue dept website - they carry English too for DTA's and also royal exemption such as that for the LTR for anyone interested. Best to read the DTA prior to making any real changes to life here. Good luck

I believe that folks that earn a minimum income should pay taxes to either their native country or to the country in which they reside. It is basically called a fari share - now I don't set the limits but I have paid my income tax for over 60 years. governments unless they control a money making enterprize - i.e. oil wells, gold mines, diamonds, etc and then in turn provide services for their citizens and workers. I realize too that paying taxes here, is not fair as expats have no real rights whatsoever and some of us have contributed many millions of baht regularly without getting any services from the government. From what I see the past year to date, many senior Thai officials consider expats as a "milk cow" so to speak and are expressing possible means to extract more money from us. Eventually, that milk will run dry as we move on to more favorable locations, and in many cases may just return to our native lands so that we can get some services provide from the government. Are all taxes everywhere fair? I don't know. I do see that the Philippines recognizes what the expats bring with them and have not so far tried to milk them. I lived there for 6 years and loved it - just not the storms, floods, earthquakes, volcanoes erupting and local food is not great for me while I also know western foods are available - but I prefer Thai food. I also am glad the US DTA offers some protection from local taxes for me. If people have to pay additional - that I don't think is fair either. But even on this forum we read regularly about how many years some expats have lived here without paying any income tax anywhere and some are planning or have made plans to avoid paying any tax here or elsewhere. That I don't believe in either. Eventually, immigration and revenue from around the world will come up with strategies to cover every possible way of avoiding taxes. My opinion and it may take a long time but since 138 countries signed that OECD agreement, the thoughts about non paying folks is readily apparent to me. Best of luck to everyone, whatever you decide to do.

and then the armed guys step in for a while to get their fair share, then it starts all over...been living here at times since the early 1970's....very little has changed in politics

In BKK a 10-foot Cobra - told the mooban guards and they said not to worry, a boa constrictor - they went to see it and it immediately rose up to at least 5 foot tall and its hood spread out - they almost died on the spot trying to get some distance. At home in CM - walking 3:00 AM to avoid traffic, came upon a 3-4 meter Burmese Python - had to help the guards capture it so they could take it to the mountains to be released. When the snake opened it mouth to try to escape capture, I realized quickly that it could swallow my head easily. I stopped walking at 3:00 AM after that morning.

Hang around "georgiageorgia" will have a session with ya!

exactly the the target of the changes in taxation around the world. I too live here and have for more years than you and have spent millions yearly but I also have paid taxes every year to my home country, but I just want to stay here without all the changes - right now I don't see any change for me but TIT and their greed and disdain for expats.

That analogy is an oxymoron right?

I ADDED THE US GOVT PENSION which is also exempt IAW the DTA except for Thai nationals that receive such pensions

A foreigner arguing with a Thai bureaucrat - GOOD LUCK with that!

same with US govt offices and international phone calls.

US social security is tax exempt per the DTA for all recipients - the other US govt pension recipient who is a Thai national would not be exempt as a US citizen receiving a US govt pension. Artical 21 of DTA

Yeah why so many rich folks go to the US as usually the people with power provide a candidate for higher office that will provide the rich and powerful with bigger tax breaks and give them more power!

Yessir! TIT and if one does meet the requirements to be a tax resident then taxes will be due and yeah, the DIR GEN of the revenue dept could declare that LTR holders are not tax exempt too on money remitted and in the next tax scheme here, who knows what other requirements they might levy on expats which they all see as "easy" targets. After all, they consider those of us from the west to be rich anyway though in most cases that is a joke!

not only having a visa cancelled due to tax evasion charges (if proven) one could also have a hefty fine plus prison time added and then explulsion from this country. Not a pleasant thought for sure.

Yeah, I too worry about the financial future - already with AI I guess that is what we call it, puts everything in a big library so to speak - even now we see stories of how folks have been robbed by people accessing their data in some sites - now we are going to be required to do that globally - and I hardly trust my own banks with my data and even less trust for foreign bankers - especially in this country. SCARY - but you have that business take care of your tax finances - you have to pay for that too right? I am sure it can't be too cheap but I really don't know. I also realize that the local tax agencies have big signs advertizing for new agents to handle all the expats - in various languages and will probably be including translations for many clients with a "small" fee added. Best of luck to all of us and hope the parliament doesn't approve of these new schemes being hatched to fleece the expats. just like the khaosod story on maybe the govt should have special taxes on condos for foreigners.

don't you understand why this is happening in so many places? you have to be kidding - it began with so may people making money but not paying taxes on their income to any country so in July 2023, the OECD reached an agreement to which 138 countries signed, designed to get people to pay taxes to some country - immediately I note on this forum alone, so many people have already come up with plans to avoid still paying taxes though they do look legal based on current country's tax-resident requirements. If many people are still found to be avoiding the payment of taxes, then those laws too may change. Just saying. have a good day.

Well I would be pissed if that comes to pass - but under the DTA I still won't have to pay on my US govt pension. But at least that visa is good for 10 years, no 90 day reports etc so I am still glad I got it.

after reading that my feelings for Thais have definitely changed. It was bad enough with the higher costs for farangs to visit parks, etc, then the tax scheme and a possible even greater scheme - but this takes the cake. Seems everyone with any power or connection to power here is coming up with more and more ways to soak the expats here.

In the article on another news item about this possible new scheme - this year so far the condo market is in recession! Guess foreigners are not buying them anymore.

More paperwork! extra copies! another forest needed for more paper and extra storage facilities for all the paperwork!

sounds illegal to me...evading taxes owed though I am not a tax or legal expert.

drinking plus smoking dope! gonna cost him dearly! plus the injuries to all costs too!

I haven't paid any Thai income tax ever and really don't plan on it due to DTA and LTR but being TIT, who knows if the current scheme will continue once all the problems start with the Tha Revenue Dept come 2025 and tax form times for remittances nor if the other even more popular scheme could even pass the parliament if they even floor the bill. Now is not the time to panic as some folks seem to be doing and in probably most cases none of this will really affect most of the expats. Unless the revenue dept does change the current laws on obtaining a tax ID and filing with no assessable income then I foresee nothing to do at all for me as I have to file my US taxes which I do along with the FBAR both done in January every year. No complaints from me there nor here really as I still just love life in Thailand.