3 minutes ago, josephbloggs said:

The beaches and sea water quality in Samet are infinitely better than the mainland.

TBH the same can be said of Koh Larn… Even on Taewan Beach (probably its busiest resort) you can still walk chest deep into the sea & see your toes… 

Philippines blows all of this away though, in the seas down south (Cebu/Bahol etc…) you can pi55 in the water & see it coming out…

5 minutes ago, bignok said:

I suppose if you love tourists go to Samet.

And if you don’t you go to Koh Chang?!? 
 

2 minutes ago, bignok said:

Mae Phim is ok. Better than Samet. Samet is tiny with nothing to do. Chang is 10x better.

Ko Samed is my/our favourite island in Thailand & I’ve been lucky enough to visit a fair few, including Koh Chang 1/2 dozen times… Might have more to do there BUT the beaches are sub-par & I’m being kind here. 

Doesn't matter anyway as the OP asked about Ko Samed which happens to be my/our (GF is from Satun & grew up on family holidays to Koh Lipe which makes Phi Phi look like an also ran) favourite island. 
 

(iIRC) Mae Phim beach is windy, smelly & has nothing there save from a wonderful view of the (Shell?) oil refinery but please share why it’s a better holiday destination for the OP. 

3 hours ago, Chris Daley said:

The Seven Elevens refuse to top up a True Sim Don Meung airport.  I have been doing this for 8 years so I was kind of confused.  I tried to walk to the True Store and some cop stopped me.  I made it to the True Store and it was run by a rural farmer that couldn't speak a word of English.  Way more complicated than I thought it would be.

Can’t you use one of those machines outside most 7-11s (at least in Bangkok) to Top-Up or a site like https://mobiletopup.com/?l=en - used these a few times to Top-Up my AIS SIM, never had a problem.

IMG_5313.heic

17 hours ago, 11Bravo1p said:

I’ve done the online 90 day notification twice at CW.  The first took 10 days to get approved, the second (with all of the same information as the first) took 20 days and was rejected yesterday without any explanation.  I’m leaving CW now after having to pay 2,000 baht for being 4 days late submitting my 90 day notification.  Absolutely no one at CW cared that I had submitted everything online 3 weeks ago or would/could tell me why the online application was rejected.  Very frustrating.  

To be clear were you 4 days late or 11 days? Only there is supposed to be a grace period of 7 days after your 90 day report is due so it would wrong for them to fine you after only 4 days. 

On 10/6/2023 at 2:21 PM, Neeranam said:

Interesting, thanks for posting. 

Not sure what you mean about your wife having money in Kbank joint account. Surely it is both of your money?

My mother gave her house to me a few years back to hopefully avoid Inheritance tax. Not sure how that will pan out, if she dies before me. 

I believe, as a Thai citizen and resident, it makes no difference regarding IHT.

If it does, I want to know.  

Is your mother still living in the house? & if she is, is she paying market rates for rent? 

If the Answer is "Yes" she is still living there & "No" she's not paying market rates for rent then HMRC could see that "Gift" as a "Gift that she still benefits from" so will tax the inheritance as if the house was still part of the estate. 

See https://www.gov.uk/inheritance-tax/gifts

Giving gifts you still benefit from

If you give something away but still benefit from it (a ‘gift with reservation’), it will count towards the value of your estate.

Gifts with reservation include:

• giving your home to a relative but still living there
• giving away a caravan but still using it for free for your holidays
• giving away a valuable painting but still displaying it in your house

Read further guidance on when a gift with reservation counts towards the estate’s value.

@davee58 I don't know how much you "Gift" to your GF but you're entitled to give away up to £3,000 pa (covered in the article linked to above) so that's the 1st 11,000b pm covered, am sure a reasonable argument could be made that any remainder was for costs involved in maintaining the house you do live in when you are in Thailand.

1 hour ago, UKresonant said:

10 hours ago, jacob29 said:

My expectation is that they will tally foreign income earned *while* you are a Thai tax resident, and any future remittance below that threshold will be considered as income. At least it's the only way I can see it working. Which makes it effectively the same as tax on worldwide income (at least not more), where you can get away with less tax if you never in future bring in more money than you earned abroad.

Expand  

It's going to be complicated may have to shuffle and put all the taxed pensions in one account. then ring fence the UK tax free bit in a separate account

It depends on how you define "Tax Free", HMRC doesn't consider the income you earn below your Personal Tax Allowance as "Tax Free", it considers it taxed at 0% (Nil Rate), so technically you have "Payed" the tax required on it.... Same is true with the 1st £1,000 (soon to be reduced to £500) of Dividend Income & £1,000 of Bank Interest.  

So if the Thai Revenue Department views this in the same way then there will be no more Tax to pay on it according to rule 5 on their own website... 

5.   What happens if the rate of tax stipulated in the Revenue Code is different from that of an agreement?  

- Apply the rate which is more beneficial to the taxpayer. 

https://www.rd.go.th/english/23520.html

This could be the reason why the original statement said that nationalities covered by a DTA would have no more Tax to pay.  

23 minutes ago, Mike Lister said:

An overseas tax return is one way to determine income, a year end brokerage investment statement is another..

The challenge for Brits & Aussies are that our Tax Year doesn't line up with the Thai Tax year so we can't produce an "Official" tax return in time for the end of March Thai filing deadline. 

E.g. I normally receive my Consolidated Tax Certificates (confirmation from my broker/bank how much dividend income/interest I received during that Tax Year) in July which is already 3-4 months past the deadline. 

Then there's the problem that this return is "Split Year" according to the Thai Tax year so they would need to accept my (supported with dividend warrants & bank statements) etc.. breakdown of income earned 1st Jan - 5th April from my previous UK Tax return & 6th April - 31st December from the latest return - I can't possibly see how they have the bandwidth to go through all of this so expect they would put the onus on me to have this somehow certified as being true & accurate..

No thanks... I already keep 2 years spends in the bank over here so easier to just have a 6 month holiday somewhere every 2-3 years during which time I'll top up my accounts & bring no more than 235K (my Tax Free allowance + Deductibles) money across in years that I spend > 180 days in Thailand.

On 10/10/2023 at 3:15 PM, VBF said:

In my opinion only (!) if it was, for example, a Nationwide Flex a/c https://www.nationwide.co.uk/current-accounts/flexaccount/ then yes, because it will allow you to set up Direct Debits and / or transfer money to other accounts, including abroad. (Various links emanating from the one I posted refer)

 

However......  it does say you need to be a UK resident - I don't know if HMRC regards you as such, given what you say about your main assets and paying tax.

You would need to check that point carefully.

UK Tax Resident check will tell you whether you're Tax Resident or not... https://www.gov.uk/tax-foreign-income/residence#:~:text=for tax purposes.-,UK tests,days of the tax year

At it's simplest, more than 183 days in the UK = Tax Resident, less than 16 days in the UK = non-tax resident, but in between these it depends on your history/"Home Ties"... 

E.g. I know I can spend at least 40 days in the UK as I've been Non-Tax resident for > 3 years but think if I spend > 90 days I'll be tax resident because I have 2 "Home Ties". 

BUT all that aside, being UK Resident & being UK Tax Resident are not necessarily the same thing, if I was to go to the UK for 91 days and declare myself UK Tax Resident I still wouldn't be UK Resident as I don't live there.  

14 hours ago, CartagenaWarlock said:

First you pay taxes for the amount you bring to Thailand and then deduct the taxes from your source country's taxes. If your source source country does not tax, then of course you only pay Thailand taxes. Let's say you have 100K USD income in the US and bring 24K. You first pay taxes on the 24K, let's say 1K USD in Thailand. You can then deduct your 1,000 USD taxes paid to Thailand from your US tax liabilities. 

See rule 5 on the RD Website... https://www.rd.go.th/english/23520.html

5.   What happens if the rate of tax stipulated in the Revenue Code is different from that of an agreement?  

- Apply the rate which is more beneficial to the taxpayer.  

Which I read as saying if you've paid any Tax on the Income in your home country & Thailand has a DTA which covers that kind of income, then Thailand will not tax you again on it even if the Tax rates in Thailand are higher. 

8 hours ago, JAFO said:

Having no savings or reserves puts any person at risk and to the video posted, It was a good laugh as are many of the You Tube vloggers.  You cannot look at living here entirely on the cost savings. 

I honestly thought the Video was a decent look at how somebody could approach breaking their budget down for a life in Pattaya, anybody who takes it as "Gospel" when it comes to retirement budgets & doesn't tweak it according to their needs should probably think again before retiring anywhere, never mind Thailand. 

I do agree about food costs though, we eat at home a lot & I'm a very fussy eater so we spend approx. 30,000b pm (2 people) on groceries (includes 6-8K for Beer & Wine as eating at home means I don't go out drinking too much), live with my long term partner so 0 cost (save for the odd tip/lady drink) on girls.

I would say that my monthly costs are more like 150K pm but this includes expenses (Investments) in the UK of approx. 30K pm, so 120K on average, this is below what I'd planned/budgeted for (100% due to the fact that I did 1 extra year at work before retiring) so I'm comfortable with it. 

“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six , result happiness.
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery”

I think I could easily live (a Single) life here on 60K, but if I had the choice I would probably carry on working until I could afford another 20-40K.

End of the day it's "Too Each His Own", I know (older) guys who have a much more "Livelier" life than I have on less than 1/2 of what I spend ???? 

1 hour ago, freeworld said:

Looks like the general gist of all these tax threads is many people don't want to pay tax in Thailand but want to live here.

That's one view, maybe another is people have built their lives here based on an understanding of their income/budget & that might now change so understandably they're concerned. 

For the avoidance of doubt, I'm fully Tax compliant in my home country (which is where all my income comes from) & plan to be so in Thailand.

1 minute ago, Neeranam said:

I never thought about that but assume it will be frozen. Then again, I could argue that I'm not living abroad. They could argue that I get nothing, as I am a foreigner! 

No, if you're entitled to UK State Pension you'll get it, "Foreigner" or not ???? 

If you are (or at least were originally) a Brit, I do think it will be frozen though as they will just look at where you're living...  rather than your "Nationality" 

On 10/6/2023 at 3:49 PM, jvs said:

i would expect a lot of confused emojis here but none for some reason?

People are strange.(now i will have to play the Doors tonight!)

TBH I didn't get it (at all) so maybe somebody could explain

1 hour ago, Neeranam said:

The advantages of being a citizen far outweigh having to pay tax on any foreign income.  AFAIK, I'll not have to pay Inheritance tax, for example.

When I get my pension in 9 years from the UK, that will be taxed in the UK anyway. 

As discussed previously, if that's your only income in the UK it will be taxed at 0% up to £12,570 (currently) & according to Rule 5  https://www.rd.go.th/english/23520.html you won't need to pay any additional tax in Thailand on it.

It will be interesting to see if you get a "Frozen" pension (i.e. your pension will stay the same as at the date you claim it & you won't get annual increases), I'm assuming you will (as us Brits who are not Thai Citizens get/can expect) but I don't know if you are/were British and if the same rules apply to you.

20 hours ago, thecyclist said:

I wouldn't say that reading and writing is absolutely essential. It certainly helps, but you can manage without, at least I did. Get a girlfriend that can't speak English, so you are forced to speak it all day, and you will be able to learn it fast. That is the most natural approach of all. 

Lol, my GF (has a degree in IT so speaks English very well) is the absolute worse teacher of Thai that I've ever met & if she isn't deliberately sabotaging me from learning Thai she's doing a very good job of it.

She's from Satun (Way down South) so whilst she can speak & understand "Central Bangkok" Thai, she tends to speak the Southern dialect... E.g. instead of "Nit Noi" (a little bit) she will say "Nit Neiow" (obviously phonetic), when we visit her family they give me blank stares when I say "Nit Noi".   

Still laugh at the time on Koh Samui when the Thai Restaurant owner asked me to translate for her ???? 

14 hours ago, Dene16 said:

Anyway there was simply no children there. Also you could see that around 35/40% of the units where empty which at the time made me think at the time it was expanding at too great a pace.

The Maldives (Laguna Beach Resort 3), whilst being a very nice condo resort with awesome pools, isn't exactly in a prime area (I described it as the "4rse end of nowhere" when I did 5 days there) so it's going to be quiet at the best of times, visiting off season you're going to find it very quiet. 

2 hours ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

But then again read  below from the tax  depts Thai website , the UK tax is  zero they should  apply that rate  according to them   as thats the better rate. I for one will certainly bring in no more than 150k and live of my Wifes  income if they start this stupidity   .https://www.rd.go.th/english/23520.html

 

 

5.   What happens if the rate of tax stipulated in the Revenue Code is different from that of an agreement?  

- Apply the rate which is more beneficial to the taxpayer.  

Thanks, that's a hugely important piece of information as it would seem to mean that any income covered by the Double Taxation Agreement/Treaty that has been tax assessed/paid in your home country would not incur any additional Tax in Thailand.

1 hour ago, freeworld said:

The allowances really need to be factored into consideration

 

The taxable income is not the 12500 example.

 

TAXABLE INCOME = Assessable Income - deductions - allowances

I agree but allowances (Both in Thailand & the UK) depend on personal circumstances so I deliberately left them out to try to answer the question about how you could be liable to Tax on your Private Pension in Thailand, despite it already being assessed for Tax in the UK, as simply as possible.

If I was to do it for me personally, I'm eligible to 60K Single Person Allowance & 25K Health Insurance allowance = 85K, so tax on the 560Kb could be..

   - First 235K (150K + 85K) taxed at 0% = 0

   - Next 150K taxed at 5% = 7,500b

   - Remaining 175K taxed at 10% = 17,500b

 Total = 25,000b Tax

14 minutes ago, Dogmatix said:

I resumed filing after a few years between jobs and there was no question about the missing years. There is no obligation to file if you have no incone. Filing to reclaim tax on interest and dividends is optional. If they do ask, tell them you had no assessable income or file late returns claiming tax refunds which might offset late fines..

Thanks for this, I filed my 1st Tax Return this year to reclaim withheld tax on interest from the Bank in 2021/2022 & it was such a hassle (+ still haven't received the money 5 months after the status was updated to "Successfully submitted (Receipt issued)" ) that I wasn't planning on doing it again (I only did it this year as I had to get a TIN for my UK Bank) so it's good to know that it's optional if I'm not receiving any income in Thailand (I'm living on Savings I brought over in 2020/2021).