Mike Teavee

51 minutes ago, steven100 said:

because the AUD is now 67.45 cents to the USD .... hence the reason for the drop to the Baht. 

 

but it may start to recover some after tomorrow when the US cut .25 basis points off the interest rate. 

 

 

Now 21.78  to the THB ......    very bad price.   

 

Seems to be even money on whether they cut by .50 basis points https://www.reuters.com/markets/rates-bonds/fed-seen-nearly-likely-cut-rates-by-50-bps-25-bps-2024-09-13/ 

... if they do, it will hit the USD but if they don't a 25 point drop is almost certainly priced in already. 

TT Exchange booths are offering 22.50 to 1AUD... https://ttexchange.com/

Edit: Whoops it just dropped to 22.05!

2 hours ago, mikeh said:

I have an email from the US Embassy acknowledging receipt of my passport renewal application.

The reason for rejection of my online 90-day report:  "For first-time requests of a 90-day notification in each country visit, in-person presentation at the immigration office is required." This was not my first time with this retirement extension - I have a copy of the approved online report from March of this year and the exit and reentry stamps from an overseas trip in June of this year. (I tried the online application twice and was rejected twice - on day 15 and day 14 before the reporting date). I'll try it again now just to see.

That is saying your 1st 90 day report after (re)entering Thailand must be done in person/via mail so I'm guessing you've been outside of Thailand since you last did a report online. 

Lots of people (including myself) have experienced the same thing this year despite successfully doing online reports after re-entering Thailand in the past (last year) 

1 hour ago, newnative said:

     I haven't been paying too much attention to this thread lately, since my 90-day online reporting has been working well, so perhaps this discussion is referring to a specific IO branch.  If that is the case, ignore my next comments.   I don't think it is correct that you always have to report in person to do the 90-day after leaving the country. At least, that has not been my experience.   I have traveled out of the country several times in the last couple of years, most recently to China in 2023, and I was still able to do my next 90-day report on-line.   With the China trip, I returned to Thailand Dec. 4, 2023 and I did my  next 90-day report on-line in January 2024.  I use the Jomtien IO branch.  

   

I also use Jomtien IO & had no problems reporting Online when I got back from the UK in May 2023 but things changed (I think earlier this year) so it didn't work when I tried it in August having got back from the UK in May, lots of other guys have reported similar experiences.

On 9/12/2024 at 4:51 PM, Lacessit said:

I guess I will find out in October, when I apply for my next visa extension.

 

I am below tax thresholds in my home country. No tax payable with a DTA.

 

My non-taxable pre-2024 assets are sufficient to finance my living expenses here for the next 6 years.

 

If I need a tax ID, I will get one. I am told the pink Thai ID card is effectively the same.

 

 

There is no chance of it anything changing before October, but if you were worried about it why not get your extension now.  Nothing to lose by doing it early (I usually do mine 44 days early). 

10 hours ago, Will B Good said:

Oh!!!!.....each time I come back I put the "date entered Thailand" as the date I landed on my return.....it gets rejected every time and I get an email saying I have to attend in person.

 

Should I put the date I first entered Thailand on my Non-O?????

You are right in using the date that you last entered Thailand but it will always be rejected as your 1st report on re-entry has to be done in person (or use an Agent to do it for you). 

20 hours ago, GypsyT said:

newnative,

When I was living in Lake Maprachan we never got to Central Bic-C or Jomtien in less than an hour in traffic. One way. Traffic sucks all the time!

HiWay was slower than surface "Porn Rd"....

 

Otherwise you know well Pattaya. You also have better nerves than me.

 

Meet up with friends who live Near Regent School every week & from Wongamat it usually takes 25-35mins each way... E.g. Met at Pa Boon Cafe for lunch yesterday & it took 30mins to get to Wongamat beach at approx. 2:30pm.

33 minutes ago, chiang mai said:

Here, again, you say "before the WP holder leaves the country" ........ why?

 

I can guarantee you that there is some mechanism in place to ensure the TRD receives the taxes that are due, before the expat taxpayer leaves the country and goes home, absolutely guarantee.

 

In the US that is a TCC, in Hong Kong it is an obligation on the employer to notify the Revenue that the employee has been paid untaxed bonus and within an hour of the money having been deposited into the employee's bank account, the bank has handed over 20% to the Revenue in anticipation the employee will file a return and settle matters.

Friend of mine changed jobs in Thailand & for some reason when they calculated his final pay check, TRD said he owed 350,000THB which he had to pay within 7 days & wasn't allowed to leave the country until he had paid (He was warned that his passport would be flagged at Immigration). 

He'd calculated that he didn't owe anything but needed to be in Malaysia for corporate training the next week so paid it straight away showing the receipt to the immigration officer on his exit then was able to reclaim it via his next year's Tax Return.

Edit: When I left my Job in Singapore (Twice) I also had to clear any outstanding taxes (My final salary was withheld) before I could leave thecountry

 https://www.simplepay.com.sg/help/payroll-concepts/special-topics/tax-clearance/

22 minutes ago, anrcaccount said:

 

It's laughable you have to try to make up your own guidelines in order to fulfil some inner need for compliance.... Surely you can see the irony here.

 

Rumors of forms being rewritten, making up your own pro rata guidelines... What a joke.

 

 

Completely agree but Tax is often as much about being seen to be doing things "In The Spirit" of the rules as much as following a clearly defined set of rules so what I described about pro-rating the Tax Year is, I believe, common practice when dealing with tax across countries that have different Tax cycles. 

10 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

The best bank I have found is Krungsri aka yellow bank, they give 0.9 interest pa tax paid, on the Mee Tae Dai account, but for that account you need a one year Visa/Extension, but IME have English speaking staff, unlike SCB or BKB. you also can use an ATM card for withdrawals, you can set up Direct debits with them as well, They do charge 50b for more than 2 withdrawals a month,  You say use it to pay bills do you mean bills in Thailand or Overseas ? Edit ; you get a bank book, they have internet banking, and take 20min. Max to get your statement and letter for immigration purposes.

I really like Krungsri BUT if you're using Wise you can only transfer 49,999 THB at a time with them whereas Bangkok Bank, Kasikornbank is 2,000,000 & SCB 1,499,999

 https://wise.com/help/articles/2932335/guide-to-thb-transfers 

Personally I'd get (& have my 800K in) a Bangkok Bank FD account (1.8% interest) plus get a Bangkok Bank savings account & a Krungsri account for everyday use.

Edit: Sorry I've just seen you want access to it from overseas in which case an FD account wouldn't be suitable for you. 

9 minutes ago, sandrew33 said:

Potentially true but many countries will have a law that determines tax residency and once a tax resident you remain resident until you establish tax residency elsewhere.  
 

So jumping from country to country avoids you establishing residency in those new countries but you remain tied to country 1 as tax resident. 

That's not correct as you can be a Tax Resident in 1 country, multiple countries or no countries at all. 

E.g. I am Tax Resident in Thailand, if I spend <180 days in Thailand & bounce around different countries for the remainder of the year never establishing Tax Residency in any of them I won't be a Tax Resident anywhere. 

If you are claiming that I would revert to being Tax Resident in my home country then that's not true either as you need to spend a minimum of 15 days in the UK & given I've been Non-UK Tax Resident for >3 years (18 years) & have a maximum of 1 "Tie" (even that is debatable) in the UK I would need to spend > 182 days there in 1 Tax Year to re-establish my UK Tax Residency. 

43 minutes ago, ernji said:

Re the CRS, not that I'm an expert, but it seems to me that it's linked to where you declare your tax residency on the bank accounts in your "home" countries, along with the country you declare yourself to be resident in with that tax authority. So pick a non participating country (eg Cambodia) and declare yourself to be resident there. That way Thailand should never receive the interchange of data.

It's not just your bank that shares the data, E.g. HMRC (UK Tax Authority) also shares data with Thailand under CRS.  

Just now, VBF said:

Understood - when i worked in the Middle East (yonks ago!) I did similar and was accepted as Non Resident for 5+ years.. I was glad I paid the NI contributions as i now have a full UK State Pension.

 

I'm sure you know that you can still put £20k annually into an ISA. I move money from my "normal" Investments into an ISA wrapper on that basis Having said that, if you're actually non-resident, you may or may not be allowed to open new ISA...that I simply do not know.I fear though that i'm going  for this thread.

You can't add funds to an ISA if you're non-UK Tax Resident. 

https://www.gov.uk/individual-savings-accounts/if-you-move-abroad#:~:text=If you open an Individual,stop being a UK resident. 

Just now, VBF said:

I presume you told HMRC that you live in Thailand because you assumed it would be beneficial to you to show them that you're an expat?  Which I guess it was at the time!

 

Referring to your "aside": They are required by UK Gov to verify from time to time.

I live and pay tax in UK but this year, my tax adviser asked me for similar proof despite the fact that I've been a client for more than 30 years. Apparently the proof has some sort of "shelf life".

At the time I became Non-Tax Resident it was very beneficial to me as I was able to pay Tax on my UK Sourced salary (Working for a UK Bank) at 12% in Singapore instead of >40% in the UK, was also able to pay Voluntary NI contributions at Class2 rates (approx. £155 pa) instead of the 11% or so they take from your salary.

Only real downside for me is I can't add anything to my ISAs but as I don't have to pay any additional tax on dividends or capital gains in my normal Investment account it doesn't really matter to me.

3 hours ago, Unamerican said:

This all sounds highly unlikely!  HMRC in particular are very scrupulous about never asking me about my finances, so they know nothing like this.

Never use an accountant seems to be a good motto.

If you file a Tax Return then obviously HMRC know all about your income (excl. ISAs) as you have to declare it all, Plus you need to tell them where you live & how many days you spent in the UK (If you're non-Tax Resident). 

If you don't file a Tax Return then your Bank will withhold tax on the interest you earn, your estate agent will withhold tax on any rental income etc...  all of which gets reported to HMRC.

Just now, Aussie999 said:

I have done some research, it appears both the UK, and Australia, have a double taxation agreement, with Thailand, so, and income, taxed in your home country, will not be taxed in Thailand.... however, if you earn income, in Thailand, then you pay tax on that income.

It depends on the tax rates... E.g. if you earned $10,000 & were taxed at 10% in AUS you would pay $1,000 however if that income was taxed at 15% in Thailand you would need to pay the additional 5% ($500). 

6 hours ago, ukrules said:

 

This will be a pain in the arse if they proceed with it, it's one of the very few reasons I stayed in Thailand when I first came.

 

For 2024 and 2025 at a minimum I will be a non resident anyway and split my time between Thailand and Cambodia with a little holiday somewhere else to avoid residency in any country, you can do this depending on where you come from - but not if you come from some countries and it depends on how long you've been away from your country of nationality.

 

It might be time to purchase somewhere more permanent down here in Cambodia. I'm going to look into that if they do manage to get this proposed law change through parliament in the next 10 years or so. Being Thailand i wouldn't hold my breath on that.

 

This is where the CRS data could be of use to them, right now they can only tax remitted income making the CRS data completely useless to them as you could earn a couple of million dollars per year, see it in your bank accounts but they can't touch it as it's outside the scope of the current legislation. But with worldwide taxation in place CRS data becomes important. Right now though it's useless to them if they even get it.

If they do move to Worldwide Taxation I'd look to move to an "NT" tax code in the UK and just pay tax here  https://www.riftrefunds.co.uk/advice/tax-codes/nt-tax-code/

To be honest, as I live here & use public services here, it seems fairer to me than me paying Tax in the UK. 

49 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

Do you know what documentation ? Is it a bank statement from home country, a statement from the country you apply in .

If its anything like an OA retire visa, you cant apply in one country and show savings in another.

Lots of reports of guys getting DTVs from places like Laos, Vietnam etc... showing money in the bank in their home country

30 minutes ago, acepredator said:

I left America to go teach English in South Korea. I never worked in America again. I made a <deleted>load of money in Korea, but, much to my regret, none of my earnings went into the American Social Security system.

Asking purely out of curiosity... Are there any options to pay into US Social Security when you're working overseas?

In the UK we can pay into the State Pension at reduced rates (Something like 1/6th) if we're working fulltime overseas.

7 minutes ago, Expat68 said:

I live in Thailand but domiciled in UK having still own property there 

Me also & I file Tax Returns there but are you Tax Resident there?

The simple answer is >183 days yes, <16 days No.

Between that it depends on how many years you’ve been Non-Tax Resident & how many “Family Ties” you have. 

E.G., I’ve been NTR for > 3 years so would need to spend at least 46 days in the UK before I even get to the “Family Ties” qualification part.