Mike Teavee

For me Sunak’s D-Day “Gaff” & Camoron standing in for him screams that Sunak will be gone soon & we’ll have the village idiot back (That could be DC or BoJo the clown) They’re sure making it hard for you to vote conservative even if you wanted to…

If you have income.., And if you don’t have income it’s not fraud. I feel like a stuck record here but not filing a Tax Return does not mean that you are guilty of Tax evasion in any country.

When did BMW drivers get usurped? Please don’t say they’ve finally found the indicators & nobody warned me! Not going to know how to drive around them (pun intended) anymore.

The fraud part is the evading (not avoiding) tax, the not telling your bank your current address is not fraud unless you are doing so to gain some other financial advantage (e.g. A UK guy might not want it known that they live in Thailand as their State Pension might be frozen) & then it's that which is the Fraud part. One of my UK bank's would close my account (well more accurately move me to an International account) if they knew that I lived in Thailand but as I have a Correspondence Address with them in the UK (touch wood) they're ok with that, their stated reason for closing non-resident accounts is that they cannot offer a full range of services outside of the UK, nothing to do with tax/fraud etc... 3 years back, another of my UK Bank's asked me for a Thai Tax ID Number but I pointed out to them that the interest I got from them was < £2 pa which is reported on my UK Tax return & I wasn't going to jump through all the hoops to get one just so they could tick a box, didn't hear anything back from them - No mention/interest in knowing my Thai Address & I'm now wondering how they knew I lived here as I don't touch the account (It's a mortgage account & for the past 21 years I've kept a balance greater than what I owe so the only activity is them paying me a few pence in interest every month). I did end up getting a TIN, but the 25 years Mortgage is up next March so pointless me sending it to them. I told my Singapore bank (Citibank) that I'd moved to Thailand & they updated my address/phone number, even sent me a new debit card here but they're yet to ask me for any Thai tax ID information as I keep so little money there nowadays it's irrelevant to them.

Tax avoidance is not fraud, Tax Evasion is fraud & you are not evading tax if you fail to file a return because you have no tax due. I've remitted 235,000 THB this year & have allowances of 95K (60k personal allowance + 35K allowance for purchasing health insurance) + the 1st 150K after this is tax free so even if all of the money I remitted was taxable in Thailand I would still owe no tax... BUT, I have remitted over 120K THB of assessable income so I should file a tax return. Hence, I am not evading (or avoiding) tax BUT I could be fined 2,000B for not filing a return.

From today's Sky News... Thailand wants you to move there for work Like the idea of jetting off to live in Thailand? Remote workers will now be able to stay in the country for up to five years on a digital nomad visa. The destination Thailand visa, nicknamed the "digital nomad visa", allows foreigners to stay and work in Thailand for extended periods without worrying about immigration or tax. Those with the multiple-entry visa are given the right to stay for 180 days a year, with an option to extend for another 180 days, for up to five years for the cost of 10,000 baht (£213.75). While the initial fee is £213.75, workers need to leave and re-enter the country every 180 days and pay an additional £212.20 each time. [This is saying that you can "Border Bounce" but it doesn't make sense that you would have to pay again on a Multi-Entry Visa if that was the case so seems to be mixing up re-entry with an extension] Full details on how to apply are still pending, but some information on the requirements have been released. To apply for the visa, you must: Be at least 20; Have enough money to pay for the visa; Prove you have at least £10,687 in your bank account; Provide proof of employment with a registered company. https://news.sky.com/story/money-euro-holidays-interest-rates-mortgages-inflation-taxes-latest-sky-news-blog-13040934?postid=7802068#liveblog-body NB Posted for information only, obviously Sky News is not an official site of the Thai Government.

Yet again your post has absolutely nothing to do with the point I've made 3 times now... Not filing a tax return does not mean you're committing Tax Evasion, it's a very simple point & you would think that somebody who worked in the "International Tax Field" would be capable of understanding it. You would also think that they would understand that the majority of Expats don't deliberately set out to maintain a "Wrong Tax Residence" but are either taxed globally (US Citizens) or are taxed on income arising in their home country (UK Citizens) irrespective of where they are Tax Resident.

Maybe it's because English isn't your 1st language but you seem to have a problem with your interpretation of what people are posting. @Yumthai posted "Again, not updating your bank address is not a crime. I suggest you take advice from a real Lawyer." - which In no way says that they are claiming to be a Lawyer, just advising that you might want to take advice from one... or is it illegal to recommend somebody "take advice from a real Lawyer" in your world?

I am aware but that doesn't change the fact that if you have no tax to pay then you are not evading Tax by not filing a return & can only be penalised 2,000B for not filing the return. E.g. if you only had 210K of assessable income with the rest of your income covered by a DTA there would definitely be no tax to pay BUT you should file a return as you'd be over the 120K THB foreign income limit

https://www.youtube.com/@mariointhailand2705 (Seems to be in German)

Nobody is getting the 60 days yet but when they do there should be no reason why you can't extend it once for 30 days.

It also doesn't make sense for them to allow people to bounce in & out of the country getting 180 days each time & effectively getting a Visa where they can live in Thailand for 5.5 years when they're charging people 900K for the same thing + a few rounds of golf. What makes the most sense is it's a Visa that allows you to spend up to 180 days in Thailand every year for 5 years with the option of extending this for another 180 days in year 6. But This is Thailand & western logic just doesn't apply so who knows which way it will go

That must be referring to the pre-2024 rules as if it weren't then income from Bank Accounts, Dividends, Share sales, even rent from investment properties wouldn't be taxable. However, this post might be of interest to you re UK Property CGT...

Sorry I don't know if you replied to the wrong post but my point was that you are not necessarily committing Tax Evasion just because you don't file a return. E.g. I'm not filing a Tax Return as I am only remitting 235K which is covered by my 60K personal allowance + 25K for Health Insurance + 150k at zero rate tax so I have no tax to pay. I should file a tax return but am not planning to do so... Not committing Tax Evasion but I could be liable for a 2,000 THB fine for not filing a return - Which they can take it out of the > 5K in withheld interest from my Thai Bank account if they make me file a tax return. Has nothing to do with how much you income you have, it's all about how much assessable income you remit. E.g. A US guy living on a $5,000 pm military pension could remit all of this (> 2Million THB pa) with no tax need to even file as they are not remitting any assessable income.

Originally I thought of just bouncing around (2 months visiting family in UK & 1 month im Europe, Bali, Vietnam, Malaysia) but I quite like the idea of using the End/Start of Tax year to do a longer stay somewhere like Philippines or Cambodia (for ease of Visa) but ideally I’d like Penang or Vietnam.

The videos I've seen from Expat Tax say that the gain is from the date you acquired the Asset, but I think in the case of property, as you'd be showing a UK CGT Tax Return (Needs to be completed within 60 days of selling the property so would normally be a separate return) effectively the value will be calculated as at April 2015.

Seems to be the US's way of making sure the recipient is still alive & it's not somebody else cashing in on the Social Security In the UK they mail out "Life Certificates" every couple of years https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-if-you-retire-abroad/report-a-change-in-your-circumstances as a way of doing the same thing.

That's where your Country's DTA with Thailand would come in to prevent/reduce you being taxed on the same income twice.

I plan on applying for the LTR in 2026 (when my pensions start) on the assumption that it would get a similar waiver for the Global Tax change as they did for the changes to the Remittance rules. If the LTR holders don't get this then I'll effectively revert to < 180 days in Thailand but will stagger it so that some years I can spend longer than 180 consecutive days here... E.g. if this were to come in next year I might spend... Jan 2025 -June 2025 In Thailand July 2025- June 2026 out of Thailand July 2026 - June 2027 in Thailand (last 179 days of 2026 + first 179 days of 2027) July 2027- June 2028 out of Thailand July 2028 - June 2029 in Thailand (last 179 days of 2028 + first 179 days of 2029) This is an extreme example, I would probably do more like 8/9 & 3/4 month tranches but the point is I'd time it to take advantage of the fact that I can stay in Thailand longer than 180 days as long as I stagger it across calendar years

You would only commit tax evasion if you had taxable income that you failed to declare, not filing a return is not necessarily Tax Evasion & (I believe) carries a penalty of 2,000B if caught.

Tax Returns are done on an "Honesty but check" basis, i.e. they rely on you being Honest, filing a return if you need to file a return & that return being accurate, but they will carry out targeted & random audits to check that people are filing/being honest - It's these audits that "Herd" the people who need to be herded to TRD. If they were to move to a system where everybody has to file a return, you'd end up with people who don't need to file a return having to file one to get a piece of paper for immigration & I don't believe that TRD could cope with the number of returns they would need to process or the number of Expats turning up at their offices with questions. And then there is Immigration trying to cope with the number of Expats who turn up for their extensions & didn't know that they had to File as they had nothing to File (TRD's own rules state you don't need to File unless you have >120K of remitted assessable income & there are a lot of people who don't have this E.g. US Guys living solely on US SS). And then there are the Expats on Non-IMM O/OAs who don't spend 180 days in Thailand. This would be a Fluster Cluck bigger than any Thailand has ever done before... So expect it to come to an IO near you soon! (Joke, there's no way that they'll be able to implement this without a serious overall of the TRD & Immigration systems/processes, won't happen this decade).

OT but a head's up Sheryl, seems the US is forcing Thai Banks to restrict US CItizens accounts that are receiving US Government cheques from being able to make withdrawals at ATMs... I saw somebody post that they were experiencing this in a Bangkok Bank thread a couple of days back but this video explains that it's a directive from the US

TBH That's the only part that we're 100% sure of as the Revenue Department issued an update after their 1st notice confirming everything that was "Savings" prior to 1.1.24 was not assessable income so remitting it does not need to be reported. What I'm less sure about is whether sending USD to a Foreign currency account in Thailand is considered as having remitted the money at that point or later on when/if you convert it to THB... Logically the money has been brought into Thailand & I'm sure that I read somewhere that the banks consider it converted at the rate when it's brought in but quick searches don't come back with anything concrete.

That's been my interpretation thus far hence I'm waiting for things to fully confirmed before bringing over Capital/Rental income but Sherrings have clearly stated that's the case on their site & in personal correspondence with @alphasonso it's looking "Hopeful" that their application of that article will be more positive for us.

Yes, anything that you already had as at end of 2023 can be remitted anytime you like with no tax implications, just be sure to keep records in case you’re ever asked for them. I don’t think you can use a Foreign Currency account for your retirement extension but @DrJack54might be able to confirm.