Mike Teavee

I'm not sure how you would leave the UK by the "Back Door" but even if you could, do you really want to rely on that "Door" still being there & the same tenant staying in your apartment for the 10, 20+ years of retirement? Currently I'll get my State Pension in 9 years & by that time I fully expect there to be no "work arounds" to make it look like I'm still living in the UK (not that I would use one anyway as I'm financially better off being Non-UK Tax Resident), I certainly don't expect there to be in 20 or 30 years so can either accept that my Pension will be frozen or move to somewhere where it's not.

I'm curious about Capital gains. E.g. If I bought £10,000 of shares in 2023 & on the 31/12/2023 they were worth £12,000 but I sold them today for £11,000 then I've made £1,000 Capital Gains as far as the UK is concerned but could I claim to Thailand that I've lost £1,000 as the shares were worth £12,000 on the 1/1/2024 deadline? Similar point with selling my UK property, in the UK I'm liable for gains since 6th April 2015 (& have a valuation at that date) so will pay Tax only on the gains since then, for Thailand could I get a valuation as at 31/12/2023 & claim that as the capital starting point for any gains?

If you switched to the LTR then you must be earning at least $40K pa (assuming you've invested $250K/9Million THB into Thailand, $80K pa if not) which is >120K THB per month & a very healthy budget, especially as you have to have Health Insurance or another $100K locked away somewhere. If you're only spending 65K of that then you're building up a nice nest egg for the future or a few very good holiday each year 🙂

Isn't that just LIFO (Last in First Out) which is what the UK typically uses for any kind of assets.

Not quite true, DTAs prevent double taxation on Income that is covered in the DTA so any income not covered can be taxed in Thailand even if you've already paid Tax on it in your home country.

18KG If you're travelling Business Class 😉 Seriously, thanks for pointing that out as I bought a cheapish (80,000 THB BKK-MAN return) Business Class Ticket with Air France/KLM which only allows you 1 item of checked luggage so now I know that I'll be packing my roll-on (hard case with wheels obviously) as full as I can + adding a few extra bits to my laptop rucksack, all will go nicely into the overhead bin. If it's like the Air France flight coming over there'll be 1 overhead bin per seat, I could have fit twice as much stuff in there, in fact reading the KLM baggage guidelines I'm allowed 2 carry-ons (+ laptop bag) so I might pop out & buy another one 🙂

My parents were on a flight to Bulgaria & Mum smoked so asked for a smoking seat but Dad didn't so asked for a non smoking seat... They ended up sat in Aisle seats opposite each other... Left for Smoking, Right for non-smoking 😛

UK Health & safety guidelines suggest that the maximum weight per item of luggage should not exceed 23KG though most international airlines will allow up to 32KG Current industry recommendations in the IATA Airport Handling Manual include: the maximum weight of any single piece of checked baggage should not exceed 23kg (50lbs), without prior arrangement. Although this limit is widely accepted, some airlines will accept baggage up to 32kg, and some foreign carriers have even heavier weight limits. "heavy" tags/labels must be placed on all pieces of baggage which exceed 23kg with the actual weight shown on the tag/label baggage belt weighing scales at passenger check in points should have an audible or visible warning when any individual bag weight exceeds 23kg. Where heavy bags are identified but not labelled the airline should ensure that systems are in place to ensure weight limits are implemented and heavy bags tagged. Training and work procedures should include provision for team lifting or alternative lifting methods. https://www.hse.gov.uk/airtransport/faqs.htm#:~:text=the maximum weight of any,have even heavier weight limits.

I see what you're saying, enter the UK on your expired UK Passport and then leave on your valid Thai Passport... This Reddit thread seems to suggest that the UK does not have exit border controls save for "Random" checks which it wouldn't surprise me weren't triggered by something like somebody leaving the UK on a Non-UK Passport that they didn't enter with... I don't see what they could do to you for doing so except maybe log the fact that you have left the UK.

As a UK Passport holder yes, the passport is scanned at the check-in desk & you only need to show it again at boarding time to prove that your ticket is your ticket & your not using somebody else's ticket to board the plane.

You would have had to show your passport at the check-in desk who would have scanned it & effectively registered your exit from the UK (presumably if you then don't board the flight the records are updated). No idea whether this would flag up the fact that you left on a Passport that didn't give you the right to be in the UK (By this I mean using a Thai Passport that you didn't use to enter on & so doesn't confer automatic right to be in the UK).

Could you leave the UK on a Thai Passport if you didn't enter using it?

It all comes down to countries that the UK has reciprocal agreements with, the list can be found here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reciprocal-agreements/reciprocal-agreements

The article/thread is about the UK State Pension being frozen in a number of countries including Australia, not that the Australian Pension is frozen anywhere.

[Technically] This is the part where your plan may not be strong as a Gift is usually considered something for which you get no direct benefit from & obviously if you're giving her money to pay your shared household bills then you would be getting a direct benefit from it, if you were just supporting your wife whilst not living there then you'd probably be OK. [Practically] unless you're sending her a significant amount of money each month then I don't think you'd have any problems. If your wife doesn't have any other income then you could send her at least 210K (more with additional allowances) as this would be below her personal taxation threshold. Gifting her up to 20 Million for her to purchase 6 Rai of land should be OK so you could keep your savings prior to 1/1/2024 in reserve & use income received after that instead. FWIW my plan is:- - Remit 210K to the GF (her 60K allowance + 1st 150K tax free) - Remit 235K for me (same 210K as her + an extra 25K for purchasing Health Insurance) - Gift her 100K on her Birthday & Xmas (at worse this will be taxed at 5%) - Use money already in Thailand to cover the rest of the bills. This will keep me going until 2026 when I plan on going for the LTR WP Visa.

My GF used to earn a similar amount (more with commission but <the 210K pa where tax may be due) working at a Central Mall & I doubt she or any of her co-workers would have any idea how to go about filing a Tax Return so I've always assumed that the Company either filed their (Nil) returns or would file a return if they did earn > 210K.

I believe 12,000 includes the passport fee (12,500 for the "Jumbo" passport). their fee is 5,000B if you pay for the passport yourself.

I used to do it a couple of times per month to go visit mates & always took the bus from Pattaya Nua to Ekkamai (got off at Udom Suk) & then the BTS... IIRC It's <140 THB each way, cheap as chips 🙂 Have also done a few day trips to visit my dentist in Sathorn, but now my mates have moved & I've switched dentists, 6K is a small price to pay to not have to do 2 trips just to go to VFS.

I got my TIN 2 years ago at the Chonburi Tax Office in Naklua & at 1st they were reluctant to give me one solely on the basis of reclaiming withheld interest but I'd already briefed the GF to explain to them that we were buying a condo in my name & needed a TIN to pay property tax... they seemed a bit confused about this but gave me one anyway. NB. I got mine because the UK Bank who I have a mortgage one was insisting I got one, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered.

If you live in Bangkok then yes, but if you don't then the additional 6,000 THB agency fees are probably worth it to save the expense/hassle of 2 trips to Bangkok.

Will be looking to renew my Passport in July and am looking for an agent but was planning on avoiding Key Visa as I have concerns that their service may not be as good since Darren died, I take it you did your passport towards the end of 2023 so can confirm the service is still good there? Other agencies I've been considering are www.mythaivisa.com & https://thaivisa-express.com/uk-passport-application-thailand/

I regularly ask myself the same question (NB it's more like 4.5 meals a day, I eat 3 times per day and she'll eat 1.5 times) & the 30K does include things like toiletries & house cleaning products etc... But >80% of it is food. As I said I don't eat Chicken or Fish which tend to be much cheaper here, so a typical meal for me at home will probably cost 2-300B in ingredients, multiply that by say 4 & add in mineral water, coffee, milk etc... & you're looking at approx. 1000B per day. To give a simple example, 6 times a week we use the Condo gym after which she'll cook me a Thai Omelette which I'd guesstimate costs 25B for 4 eggs, 75B for 200g of minced pork, 5B for 1/2 chopped onion, 25B for 30g of cheese = 130B, add on some salad & some beans cooked in a Korean sauce (to give it a bit of a kick) & you're looking at closer to 200B before you add in the 2-3lt of mineral water, 2 coffees & 1 protein shake. NB I don't post this to "Brag" in anyway this is simply what I spend on groceries in Thailand & is why I probably couldn't live on the smaller budgets being mentioned here - Survive Yes, but I would probably turn vegetarian before I'd eat Chicken, Fish or the cheap Thai meats, but that's just me. As always to each his own, there's no right or wrong answers on this we all just live to our means & prioritise what's important to us (E.g. I'd rather eat well than go out drinking but that's just me).

We eat >95% of our meals at home (GF is an excellent cook) & my grocery bill is approx. 30,000 THB PM (No alcohol included) for the 2 of us, mainly due to my foibles when it comes to eating (I don't eat Chicken or Fish which are cheap here & will only eat high quality meat so no Thai beef & only eat lean pork which is approx. 360 THB per KG) + my love of Cheese, Butter & Korean/Japanese spices doesn't help, but also because she loves Chicken, Fish & Seafood so will often cook 2 completely different meals. NB. I don't dispute that you can eat out or at home very cheaply in Thailand but it's not something that I would want to do, & would rather give up other things (e.g. rent a cheaper condo, socialise, go on holiday less etc...) before I went down that road & turned vegetarian (Cos I still wouldn't eating Chicken, Fish or cheap Thai meats).

There's a maximum of 3 years that you can extend your tourist visa (not even a visa, just the 30 day stamp you get on arrival) so you would need to add in the costs of a trip outside of the Philippines. Plus it seems like some immigration offices are cracking down on people (ab)using tourist "Visas" to live in the country & have scrapped the 6 month extensions so you can now only get 2 months which means the extension costs for the 1st year could be... - 29 days free - 30 day extension = 3,030 - 60 day extension = 9,700 PHP - 60 day extension = 9,700 PHP - 60 day extension = 9,700 PHP - 60 day extension = 9,700 PHP - 60 day extension = 9,700 PHP = 51,350 PHP or approx. $900 USD

There's been a lot of talk in the news about same sex Civil Partnerships/Marriages (and about time to), but can a Hetro couple enter into a Civil Union/Partnership in Thailand? Long story short I've never believed in marriage unless children are involved but reading the T&Cs of my pension it seems survivor benefits are only guaranteed if they go to my Wife or Civil Partner otherwise it's at the discretion of the Trustees & I wouldn't want to rely on their "Generosity". Does anybody know if Civil Union/Partnerships between a man & a woman are legal in Thailand and if so has anybody been through the process and could share some information on how to go about doing it. Thanks MTV