JBChiangRai

My experience with Thai lawyers is that in most cases they don't know the law and thus far, in all cases, they cannot be trusted. I hope your lawyer did not use the word "mortgage" (in Thai obviously). I am not wrong btw, my business builds entire housing estates. There are ways to own land & houses legally, but "intention" is the issue. If your intention is to circumvent the land ownership law then it's not legal. If company ownership comes as a benefit to an unrelated intention, then it may be legal. Putting it another way, if you create a company to buy land, then it's illegal. If your company's intention is something else, and by way of delivering that something else it has to own land, that is different. Incidentally, you don't own the house because your building contracts, building permits, payments etc are in your name. You also have to have a contract with the land owner agreeing that you can build and will own the house. The concept in law, is that the land owner owns everything built on the land unless it is specified contractually. In any event, I think you need legal advice and I would take it from a different lawyer.

Da Nang is pretty horrible, some of Hoi An is very nice, particularly An Bang. I have been there 5 times in the last 8 months and I have already booked for next year. I wouldn't stay anywhere else in Hoi An btw.

There are a few issues here. First, what is the value of your land? and how big is the mortgage? If she has significant equity in your land/house, the bank may insist it is sold and your loan would repaid to you and the bank would take what was left over. Assuming they were to pursue her for the debt. The other issue is "intention". If your intention in constructing this kind of arrangement was so you could circumvent the law and own the land/house then the whole agreement is illegal and your risk is to lose everything. If they start to look at her closely, they will want to see some repayments from her to you, I think you need some legal advice. There is another reason why I think you need legal advice, to offer a mortgage you have to have a licence, I hope your agreement couches it in words that mean you didn't need a licence.

Are you saying that is the only thing they translated to English, or is it their policy to translate everything?

how many of those trucks were EV’s? Nonsense, anyone intelligent would see it for what it is, a puff piece.

Allow me to correct my spelling. Or are the dilettantes cheering?

Or are the dilatant's cheering?

ExpatOilWorker and his YT guru when he discovered ICE engines are losing market share. (incidentally, that video is years old).

Is it available for the Seal?

Actually, I can tell you what these slight modifications are. They are what we in the software industry call "Vapourware".

Agreed, my special occasion is the 1st January each year, the gift being for all costs related to their education in the coming year. I might give them additional gifts on their graduation, birthdays and other occasions, though these would need careful thought as it's not as clear a case.

I agree most gifts should be made on a special occasion as you describe. The Thai tax code specifically lists a different situation and that is a gift under moral obligation. There is no expected timing on that. I have brought my daughters from 5 & 8 years old, clearly I have a moral obligation to educate them.

Interesting! The Seal has an LFP battery for it's 12v circuit, it should last many years.

Come on Transam, you know damn well they have only slight modifications. You don't seem able to tell us they are "significant" or can you? What are the modifications that make this anything other than a puff piece?

It comes from Income.

I agree, gifting has to be extremely carefully set up and generally to a wife or girlfriend it's unlikely to be safe.

In my case, I am using gifting and it is not a "stunt". I have 2 adopted Thai daughters (orphans) at a distant university where I have bought them a house and cars. I have gifted an annual sum to each of them to cover their university fees and day to day living expenses. I cannot gain any benefit from it, the gift is entirely for them and it is under the 10M baht limit. Would you call that a "stunt" ?

Indeed it will, but it is and it will continue to lose market share as the market share of EV's continues to increase.

Could you clarify "stunts"?

I posted this elsewhere, but I will repeat it here as it is important. My opinion on this whole fiasco, is that September's announcement aimed at Thai people should have just slid under the radar. A minor change that would probably impact foreigners in a minor way or not at all has been picked up the expat community and trumpeted from the rooftops as doom & gloom and because of all that "noise" it now faces the risk of becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. The change was simple and to earned income being transferred in a year subsequent to when it was earned. My accountant told me years ago that they would close this avenue. Expats started noisily shouting "What about me, What about me?" What everyone failed to notice was that we have always been liable to Thai Income Tax on earned income brought here in the same year. They have never enforced it, now because of all this noise they may in the future. Thai governmental style is to float something in the media and quietly watch the reaction. You've seen it recently with Cannabis legislation. If the public hate it, then they issue a statement saying it's not going ahead. All the noise from Expat's has been incredibly damaging. Absolutely the worst thing that could happen now is hundreds or thousands of expats start filling in tax returns. You want to make the whole expat community an easy mark? Then go ahead. If you want this to disappear, then keep quiet and do nothing and wait for clarification addressed specifically to us. It's important that any kind of public feedback you give furthers the cause of this disappearing. DO NOT publicly say you will fill in a tax return. When I received the questionnaire from Thai Privilege Company, I told them unequivocally that I would leave Thailand if they taxed me transferring funds from the UK. Feedback is important - don't make this a self-fulfilling prophecy!

My opinion on this whole fiasco, is that September's announcement aimed at Thai people should have just slid under the radar. A minor change that would probably impact foreigners in a minor way or not at all has been picked up the expat community and trumpeted from the rooftops as doom & gloom and because of all that "noise" it now faces the risk of becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. The change was simple and to earned income being transferred in a year subsequent to when it was earned. My accountant told me years ago that they would close this avenue. Expats started noisily shouting "What about me, What about me?" What everyone failed to notice was that we have always been liable to Thai Income Tax on earned income brought here in the same year. They have never enforced it, now because of all this noise they may in the future. Thai governmental style is to float something in the media and quietly watch the reaction. You've seen it recently with Cannabis legislation. If the public hate it, then they issue a statement saying it's not going ahead. All the noise from Expat's has been incredibly damaging. Absolutely the worst thing that could happen now is hundreds or thousands of expats start filling in tax returns. You want to make the whole expat community an easy mark? Then go ahead. If you want this to disappear, then keep quiet and do nothing and wait for clarification addressed specifically to us. It's important that any kind of public feedback you give furthers the cause of this disappearing. DO NOT publicly say you will fill in a tax return. When I received the questionnaire from Thai Privilege Company I told them unequivocally that I would leave Thailand if they taxed me transferring funds from the UK. Feedback is important - don't make this a self-fulfilling prophecy!

Even your own irrelevant statistics show a burgeoning EV market share. I think you have a problem with personal trucks, I don't think there is a single EV offering.

And I would urge Japan to prioritise BEV's for sustainability and to fulfill customer demand. I would caution Japan that customers want BEV's not ICE in any form and they are over-relying on legacy solutions with ridiculous numbers of moving parts and gross inefficiencies. Thailand has already advanced past being a hub for ancient technology and has embraced the future and it's clear from increasing market share they made the correct decision. I would further advise those in Japan to stop spreading disinformation regarding impractical new ICE engines, or mythical solid-state batteries, and other nonsensical information designed to do nothing more than slow BEV adoption by spreading fear or promising milk & honey in the future that clearly is a step back from the clear technological advantage and customer satisfaction of BEV's. In summary "Don't fight the customer".

You're right, I am not aware of any of them addressed to foreigners living here regarding overseas income.

Not it isn't. The lady head of the tax office talked about wanting to tax worldwide income (for Thais). I'm not aware of any other official statements addressed towards us. This whole thing has been blown out of all proportion by those with a stake in any potential fees. There may be some clarification coming but until then nothing has changed for transferring income earned this year.