jakow

1 hour ago, Misty said:

 

I carry a small piece of paper with my company's info in my wallet to give to any merchant I've not done business with before so they can copy the info into their format.  Many vendors/merchants have saved our company in their system by its business phone number so they just call it up and print off the official receipt. Others (usually restaurants) will hand copy the info onto their own receipts. 

Man, I could've googled this for hours (more than I already have) and not have gotten this useful of info. Thanks again!

2 hours ago, impulse said:

 

That would be quite a shocker for those of us that use wadded up Walmart receipts and the torn off stubs from greasy spoon diners to document "business expenses" back home.

 

Good info, from both of you.  Thx!

 

Yeah I never realized how lax the US is with business expenses until now 🙂

2 hours ago, Misty said:

 

Hi, I've run a business here for c. 20 years. To credit expenses to our company, our accountant needs a "Tax Invoice/ Receipt" that includes certain information about the company.  Usually this is the full name of the company, if it's the head quarters office or a branch office, the company'sThai tax ID number, and the registered business address.  You can pay for items on Lazada with your personal account, but you would still need the Lazada seller to provide you with the Tax Invoice/Receipt.  If your company's official office is listed at your home address, your accountant may agree to allow a portion of certain expenses to be used as business expenses but you will still need to get a Tax Invoice/Receipt from the provider (ISP, utility, landlord, etc) made out as suggested.  Same goes for a business lunch with clients - you would need a Tax Invoice/Receipt from the restaurant made out to the company with all relevant information.

Thanks @Misty! That's really helpful info. So it sounds like you can't really claim partial personal/business expenses here, e.g. 50% of the internet at the house is used for business purposes and 50% is personal, since (I'm assuming) you couldn't get True to provide a tax invoice for 50% of the bill.

Would this tax invoice/receipt be a template type document that I would print out beforehand and bring along with me when purchasing things, and the merchant would just fill in the blanks? I guess for certain larger expenses we would need to go back to the merchant we purchased from in 2023 and have them fill out the document. Most things are ordered online so that's a bit difficult, however recently we've set up our accounts with the business name so next year we shouldn't have any issues.

I really appreciate the info!

My accountant is saying things about tax write-offs for businesses and I'm hoping someone can confirm if what she's saying is accurate, or if we need to find a new accountant. Basically what she is saying is that you cannot write off anything unless the receipt shows it was purchased for your company. For example, if you buy something for your business on Lazada using your personal account, you cannot write-off that expense for your business. You need need to set up your Lazada account to be a business account so the invoice shows your company name. The company is ran from a home office, so she says we cannot write-off a percent of our internet and electric bills, because the accounts are personal/home accounts and not business accounts. If clients come into town and we take them to lunch for a meeting, and we scan a QR code to pay using our personal banking account, we cannot write that off because it's not from a business banking account and we don't have a bill showing the company name. Is that accurate for how tax write-offs work in Thailand?

2 hours ago, Liquorice said:

Yes they do. 

 

I take it you are under 50 years of age.

Yep, under 50. 

On 4/10/2024 at 8:36 PM, Liquorice said:

With reference to agreed joint custody, who would the children live with?
For an extension based on being the parent of a Thai national, the children must reside with you.

I actually didn't realize the children need to live with me in order to get the guardian extension. We're not sure exactly how the living situation will work, but they would most likely be living with their mother most of the time. This is definitely going to change things. In that case maybe the best option is to save up for an elite visa. That's not a small amount of money though.

Thank you guys for all of the info. I think I'll take a trip to the local immigration office and ask them about all of this.

4 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Have a read of this thread.

https://aseannow.com/topic/1143060-non-o-visa-for-father-of-thai-child-after-divorce/

Thanks, it sounds like at the amphur we would get the Kor Ror 6 stating we have joint custody, and that would be used in obtaining a guardian visa.

The OP in that post has a bit of a different situation though, since he already has a guardian visa before the divorce. Since my yearly extension is based on marriage, I guess I would need to leave the country within 7 days after the divorce and apply for a new Non-O visa. This is all a bit confusing though since everybody's situation varies a bit.

Just now, DrJack54 said:

Trolling post removed.

 

OP, are you currently divorced? 

Thanks @DrJack54. Not currently divorced. We're talking about it and I'd just like to be prepared for what happens as far as my visa is concerned. We have children.

Can anyone help me understand how it works if you're on a marriage extension and get a divorce, and then want to switch to a guardian visa? Do you need to leave the country?

Our builder said that tiles with the highest antislip rating (R-10 or R-11) are difficult to keep clean and keep from staining. We need to choose tiles for around the swimming pool and the patio area. If the most antislip tiles aren’t good, should R-8 or R-9 be ok for wet kids playing around the pool?

1 minute ago, LS24 said:

Thailand authorities have the option to create passports very quickly. You might get lucky if you have all the information first time.

Ok that's good to hear, thanks. We're far from Bangkok but changing our plans and driving tonight so we can have 2 full days to sort this out.

2 minutes ago, norbra said:

If all else fails, Your 2 yo can leave and return on US passport.

On your return sort a new passport.

Do a border hop leave on US passport return on Thai Passport

Thanks, yeah that's what we were thinking we'd have to do if we can't get the emergency passport sorted.

We're in Thailand and traveling to the USA for 1 month. Our 5 year old and 2 year old both have US passports. The 5 year old has a Thai passport, but somehow we completely forgot that we didn't make a Thai passport for our 2 year old and just realized this today. (I know, really dumb.) How big of a problem is this? Our flight is on the 18th in the morning. My wife said we can get an emergency passport for him tomorrow. Is that true, and is it necessary? Thank you for any advice! Can't believe we did this...

1 minute ago, lopburi3 said:

Yes.

Thank you! Just needed to confirm. We're still surprised.

9 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

That is the normal visa for USA travel - duration of visits will be determined on entry but normally few months not an issue.

Actually, I just want to confirm. After we visit the USA for 1 month like we have planned and returned to Thailand, we're able to use this visa again at a later time to travel to the USA, right?

7 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

That is the normal visa for USA travel - duration of visits will be determined on entry but normally few months not an issue.

Wow, that's great news! I assumed this would be a single entry tourist visa like they have in Thailand.

21 minutes ago, bamnutsak said:

 

Thanks for the follow-up.

 

In your OP you mentioned your children accompanying you and your wife. Did that work out as well?

 

What information/documentation did you have to provide to support the urgent nature of the visa application?

My children are dual US-Thai citizens with US passports, so that's no issue. It was just the wife who needed a visa.

For the emergency appointment application, we uploaded a photo of my dad's birth certificate and my birth certificate to prove relation, a letter from the funeral director with their contact information and the date of the funeral, and also a letter from my mother (this was not required) saying how much my wife has helped through this whole process and how she should be at the funeral.

Also, when we were dealing with the death and remains, the US embassy was extremely helpful. My wife was in contact with a Thai woman at the embassy through the whole process. She would not assist in any way with the visa process though.

EDIT: Also, I should add that we did not book our airline tickets yet and that wasn't an issue. We booked our tickets after she was approved.

Is this really a 10 year multiple entry tourist visa?! We weren't expecting that at all...

I just want to follow-up here so it can help other people or set the record straight for others who said this is not possible. Due to the death of my father (my wife's father-in-law, no blood relation) she was able to get an expedited visa appointment the next day and was approved for her visa at the end of the interview. It arrived in the mail about 2 weeks later, but I believe if it wasn't Christmas and New Years it would've been faster.

The US embassy has an emergency visa application process. You book an appointment through the normal route, then in the portal area there's a link to apply for an expedited/emergency appointment. It explains on this page what information you need to provide. After applying you wait for the email letting you know if you were approved. We were approved, so we then booked an emergency visa appointment for the very next day. She was approved and we just got her 10 year "M" B1B2 visa. I think (hope) this is a 10 year multiple entry visa, but I'm going to start another post to confirm.

So it definitely is possible to get a visa very quickly to the USA, at least in our case.

17 hours ago, Guavaman said:

First, insurance payments are exempt from Thai income tax.

 

Section 42 The assessable income of the following categories shall be exempt for the purpose of income tax calculation:

(13) Compensation against wrongful acts, amount derived from insurance or from funeral assistance scheme.

 

Secondly, Under the new RD Order 162, income received prior to 2024 may be remitted tax-exempt forever.

 

Tax flash news: Further guidance from the Revenue Department on Foreign Sourced Income

https://www.mazars.co.th/Home/Insights/Doing-Business-in-Thailand/Tax/Further-guidance-on-Foreign-Sourced-Income

Further guidance on Foreign Sourced Income

On 20 November 2023, the Revenue Department issued Departmental Instruction no. Paw.162 ("DI Paw. 162"), which provides further guidance that the interpretation under the Departmental Instruction Paw.161/2566 ("DI Paw.161") shall not apply to any foreign-sourced income earned by Thai tax residents before 1 January 2024.

By virtue of this DI Paw. 162, Thai tax residents will not be required to include their foreign-sourced income earned before 1 January 2024 in their personal income tax returns, even if such income will be brought into Thailand from 1 January 2024 onwards. 

 

The challenge is in documenting the source of funds and the history of transfers and remittances.

 

@Guavaman THANK YOU!! That's great news. It's not a huge amount, but my family definitely needs it right now with the costs of airplane tickets for the funeral, so getting the full amount is extremely helpful. The USA death certificate should be issued by the embassy in the next few days, but the insurance claim almost certainly won't be processed until after the new year, so I'm not sure if the second part would apply here. But, it clearly stating in Section 42 that insurance income is exempt is a huge relief. I'm not sure why none of my google searches found anything related to that. Again, thank you so much!

Does anyone know if money from my father's life insurance policy (from the USA) would be taxed if sent to Thailand? He passed away in 2023 and the money would not be taxed in the USA.

57 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Excellent suggestions from @lopburi3 and @KhunLA

Trust me coming from an old bloke (me) ...I have made it clear to my family in Oz that I want zero fuss and the most easy option for family.

Cremation in Thailand and remains remain here.

 

In Thailand you can deal with Temple and imo even repatriation of remains is optional. 

It would be the same for me. Hell, I wouldn't mind if they just dumped me in the nearest bin and got on with it. However my dad had only visited twice before and only moved here two months ago to try out retirement in Thailand. I'm still waiting for family to wake up to break the news and then I can see what they think, but I'm almost certain they'll want to hold a ceremony stateside. I'm in favor of just sending the cremated remains, but I'm not going to make that decision on my own.

19 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

You might want to contact US Embassy as they can provide information on such matters and would have to release body.  If he lived here perhaps would prefer to remain. 

https://th.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/death-of-a-u-s-citizen/

Thanks. I'll be contacting them tomorrow morning. He actually moved here only two months ago, so he'd definitely prefer to be sent back to his birthplace.

4 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

Believe you should consider cremation here with normal short service and have wife attend here and then transport ash to USA for further service if indicated for other family members.  Should be much less costly and allow all to attend services.

Thank you. That's a good idea.