Mike Teavee

Do you have a link which says this only that would be a very large number of records & matching them to an individual would be a nightmare (e.g. my UK Bank doesn't know about my TIN or even my passport number & matching against Name/Date of Birth isn't accurate enough). I had a look at the CRS XML Schema (available here https://www.oecd.org/tax/automatic-exchange/common-reporting-standard/schema-and-user-guide/) & it seems to be about reporting "Closing Balances", the period for which isn't clear, but the minimum standard seems to call for reporting at least once per year so it could just be your Bank reports to Thailand what your closing account balance is at the end of the year (Again, this is only of any use if they can match this information to you as an individual). I believe they have no way of tracking ATM payments but could decide to look at an individual if they bring a lot of money into Thailand or have no visible means of supporting themselves (i.e. they don't bring any money into Thailand). FWIW until things become clearer, I've decided to:- Bring in 235K THB pa which matches my tax free allowances (60K personal allowance, 25K towards Health Insurance & 150K at 0 Tax rate). Give the GF 360K pa (30K pm) to provide "Support" for her so she can now start paying 1/2 towards rent, utilities, groceries etc... Use savings I already have in-country for the rest of my expenses. I'll also be bringing back £8,000 from my next UK Trip which will be used when I need to purchase foreign currency for trips outside of Thailand (all paid for on my UK Credit card)... I can't say this change has made me plan more international trips as I was going to do more anyway but it's certainly giving me a nudge to do so over domestic travel.

“Mr T” was in the A-Team & I believe they made a TV series called “Mr T” in the 80s. I quite like Professor T, easy watching.

Should that be Professor T? https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11981644/ (If not, Professor T Series 3 dropped last week).

Interesting, in the UK we report the gross rental income & then add entries to remove the deductibles but any Income from an ISA (Individual Savings Account, which could be many £1,000s) doesn't go on the Tax return so I'm assuming you would be able to supply a Dividend report from your ISA Provider to show any income received.

Touchpad has gone on my (11 year old) Macbook Pro & was assuming I would need to buy a new Laptop as I have some hefty Excel spreadsheets that I use for my financial planning/tracking so curious as to how you find using the Chromebook to manage your finances. I had one 4-5 years ago & found it great for the vast majority of things (I.e. surfing the Internet) but Sheets is (or at least at that time was) no replacement for Excel have things gotten better? I've just done a quick search & it seems you can now run a limited version of Excel on Android, has anybody tried using this? I guess another option would be to get an Office 365 subscription but like the OP, I begrudge paying a monthly subscription for software especially as I would only be using a small part of it.

Pre-Covid, I used to fly SIN-BKK every other weekend so bought an annual pass with TLM (Thailand Long Stay Management) for 20K which gave me meet & greet service from Plane/Check-In through Fast Track immigration & as I never had check-in luggage it was a real timesaver for me, can't find the service listed on their Website anymore so can only assume they no longer offer it. Before that I had also used "The Limo Pattaya" (IIRC 1,200B) but again, I can't find this service on offer on their Website anymore so can only assume that they've cracked down on companies offering Fast Track Services.

Thanks, I was thinking more about the protection of assets as he mentioned House, Land, Car but you are absolutely right & I remember my brother listing something similar as 1 of the main reasons why he was relieved that he could finally marry his partner (Almost 10 years ago, May 2014, how time flies) .

What protection would it give you over & above what a Will would give you or are you assuming that you will not have to sell the house/Land within 1 year because it's a Same Sex marriage? Genuine question as I've never seen the point in getting married (unless there are kids involved) & am yet to hear an argument to convince me otherwise (A Marriage certificate doesn't prove you love somebody or guarantee you won't leave them & there are other/better ways to protect them when it comes to leaving them your assets). It will be interesting to see how this is implemented from an immigration point of view and whether the unions will be treated the same as Thai Male-2-Foreign Female or Thai Female-2-Foreign Male, hopefully which ever way it goes it will lead to a debate on having more equality in Thai/Foreigner Hetro marriages...

I agree with you that there's not much talent to choose from on either side but my main issue with Cameron was the complete lack of planning for what should happen if people voted for Brexit. No matter how remote he thought the chances of it happening were (& as we all know it did happen) he should have had a plan (or at least a plan for how to put a plan together) for what to do, but it felt like he had nothing & just ran away leaving it to others to pick up his mess. I'm not saying that achieving Brexit is easy, nearly 8 years later there still doesn't seem to be a truly workable solution, but to be in that position & have absolutely no plan for what to do following the referendum is unforgivable.

Come on, it's common knowledge that the rules of entry on Visa Exempt include having proof of onward travel & 20K in cash & that was the 1st link I found, didn't think I'd need to cite an official site but here goes... https://london.thaiembassy.org/en/publicservice/84256-tourist-visa?page=5d6636cd15e39c3bd00072dd&menu=5f4b6eb3f6ae4b236972c562 Proof of adequate finances for the duration of stay in Thailand i.e. traveler’s cheque or cash equivalent to 20,000 Baht per person and 40,000 Baht per family. Proof of onward travel (confirmed air, train, bus or boat tickets) to leave Thailand within 30 days of the arrival date (**otherwise a tourist visa must be obtained). Interestingly the official site suggest Train, Bus & Boat tickets are valid as are Travelers Checks, wouldn't want risk using either myself.

As I posted, it doesn't make sense to me that the airlines would get fined in all cases of somebody being denied entry as people are far more likely to get denied entry for not having sufficient cash on them & they don't check for that, could be insufficient cash falls into reason 3 "Other Reasons" and they don't get fined whereas no onward travel falls into reason 1 "Improper Documentation".... Honestly don't know, just me guessing/assuming.

1st Link I came across when googling for a link... https://www.thaiembassy.com/thailand-visa/thai-visa-exemption-and-bilateral-agreement Tourist Visa Exemption Scheme and Bilateral Agreement Provisions of the tourist visa exemption scheme and bilateral agreement, effective December 31, 2016, allowing passport holders from 64 countries to enter Thailand under this rule, provided they meet the following criteria: Be from an approved country. Be visiting Thailand strictly for tourism. Hold a genuine passport with a valid expiry of over 6 months. Can provide a valid address in Thailand on entry that can be verified. This address can be a hotel or an apartment. Must have a confirmed return ticket exiting Thailand within 30 days. Open tickets do not qualify. Traveling overland by train, bus, etc to Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia (including en route to Singapore), Myanmar, etc is not accepted as proof of exiting Thailand.** Provide proof of funds of at least 10,000 THB for single travelers, or 20,000 THB per family during your stay in Thailand.

Wrong way around, it is an immigration requirement to have proof of onward travel when arriving on a Visa Exempt, however they will usually only check if they're looking for a reason to deny you entry. The Airlines wouldn't care if you had it or not were it not for the fact that they would be fined if you were refused entry & didn't have onward travel arrangements so it's in their interest to check. I don't believe an Airline would be fined if you were denied entry but had onward travel arrangements as if this were the case then they would also be checking that you had the equivalent of 20,000 Baht in cash (probably the most often used excuse for denying people entry) & were not barred from entry into Thailand (Not even sure they could check this).

Chonburi immigration (Jomtien & Sri Racha) changed their rules approx. 6 months ago and for any immigration need (Extension, Re-entry permit, 90 day report, Certificate of Residence etc...) your TM30 needs to be dated after your most recent entry into Thailand (i.e. Your old one is no longer valid) irrespective of what Visa you are on or if you're returning to a place you've lived in for many years. Couple of links for background info... https://legal.co.th/resources/visa-immigration-law/thailand-immigration-law/tm30-making-thai-visa-extension-processing-more-complex/ https://ground.news/article/chonburi-immigration-bureau-tightens-address-reporting Foreigners requiring service at Pattaya-Jomtien immigration (and Sri Racha) must have a TM30 form receipt in their passport dated since their last arrival in Thailand. A recent change in procedure at Pattaya-Jomtien immigration (and Sri Racha) means that all foreigners requiring a service must have a TM30 form receipt in their passport dated since their last arrival in Thailand. This bureaucracy is quite separate from the 90 days reporting for e… And it has been mentioned on a couple of threads on here, e.g....

I'm all for easy travel & this is great news for me personally if it comes off as I plan on taking the GF for a trip to the UK next year, but I can't stand Cam-a-moron. No idea how he was let back into the government never mind Foreign Secretary (Though it wouldn't surprise me if he's prime minister once Sunak gets the push). Life is the farce which everyone has to perform

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For some reason Bangkok Bank doesn't recognise the barcode on a (legit) PEA bill as being valid (worked fine with MEA in Bangkok) so I used to check the amount on the PEA app & transfer the money to GF for her to pay it from her account.... Pain in the ass. Nowadays I just click on Pay PEA (Have it as a favourite on my home screen) on the Kasikornbank app (K+) & it automatically fills in the amount... Simples.

Never married & have no kids so have a similar dilemma. Spent my 20's with 1 years salary worth of debt on credit cards but managed to turn it around to own a house outright by the age of 35 & have been a committed saver every since 58 now & struggle with the idea of spending 100% of the passive income I get, never mind spending what I have saved (even the "Pot of Money" saved to pay for my living expenses so I could retire at 53) but am thinking that once my pensions start (2 years time) I'll feel more comfortable in having a guaranteed income coming in again & so start to spend more of the passive income... BUT knowing me, having more income coming in will mean investing (saving) more! What else do you do with the income once you have enough to give you a good (not rich by any means) lifestyle? At this time, I can't see me selling any of my assets without re-investing the proceeds but am hoping that age will gradually change my thinking & I'll start to wind these down whilst I still have time to enjoy the money.

And sometimes you felt like your hand was going to drop off due to your blood being cut off at the wrist 😛

I love logic type puzzles so Cracking The Cryptic, Bremster & Sudoku Sleuth give me a couple of hours worth of challenges each day.... Helps keep the old Grey Matter ticking over. Also follow a couple of exercise channels notably https://www.youtube.com/@HT-Physio which helps keep the rest of me ticking over.

You can gift your wife up to 20Million per year & I believe that there’s no inheritance Tax on anything you leave to your wife. https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/thailand/individual/other-taxes#:~:text=The inheritance tax rate is,are exempt from the tax.

True, but I want to bring over at least $250,000 to Invest (Buy a Condo) so I can get the LTR "Wealthy Pensioner" Visa, my pension (coupled with rental/investment income) may take me over the $80,000 PA threshold but I'm assuming it won't, plus I'd have to wait 2 years from my pensions kicking in (2026). Either way if I can get the LTR then it seems my future Tax "Problems" will have gone away assuming current regulations don't change. Another option is the 25% lump sum will give me the $250K but, the UK Government is making it so difficult for small landlords (I only have the house that I bought to live in) that I'm leaning towards selling up anyway.

I would like to say yes on the basis that when they become Tax Resident the following year they would have no cause to complete a Tax Return for the previous year that they were non-resident. BUT, just in case, my current "Plan" is to sell my UK house, take the 25% Tax Free lump sum from my pension & remit it all to Thailand in a year where I'm Non-Tax Resident (2026) 🙂 When I think about this "Plan" I'm always reminded of Hotblack Desiato (Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy) who spent 1 year dead to avoid taxes, wouldn't quite go that far but am happy to spend 6 months on holiday in various places if it saves me a lot of money in Tax.

Oh I agree with you but just can’t see an elected government discriminating against its own people by banning them from casinos even if it is for their own good (which smacks of Nanny State). Given a choice between dropping the idea or banning Thais I think they’d choose the former. I guess one answer is education & deterrents, unfortunately I don’t see this as being enough to prevent the things you described in your post for some people 😔

I use an agent & its 8K (800K in the bank all year round) + 4K for the Multi-Rentry so an extra 6,300B. Worth it to me for the convenience, others may prefer to do it themselves, nothing foolish/smart about either option, it all comes down to how you value your time Vs your money. if I was worried about what amounts to 525B PM then I’d be having 2nd thoughts about living here. As always, to each his own…