Mike Teavee

I was originally in the “No Tax For The Gifter” but what little I’ve read on it from the Tax experts says it’s a complicated area & if audited you’re at the mercy of TRD agreeing it’s a gift with no absolute rules to rely on. They recommend you make the Gift outside of Thailand, document that it’s a Gift & then the receiver of the Gift is remitting income to themselves which they can show is non-assessable.

I’m assuming you’re on a Non-IMM O/OA which can be extended at most Imm offices 45 days before & maybe even longer if you can sway the IO as you’re travelling. An agent can get it done up to 3 months in advance. Edit: Extensions start from the date of expiry of your current permission to stay so will still be due the following November.

I'm pretty sure he was referring to his UK Tax Returns but there are valid reasons why people who are not working in Thailand might file a Tax Return here. E.g. I filed one in 2022 to reclaim withheld tax on interest from my Bank Accounts & I'm on a Non-IMM O "Retirement" visa (also filed a return in the UK but I don't do any work there either). Guys who are Tax Resident & renting out Condos in Thailand should be filing a return if they're renting them out for >5,000pm & should be filing 2 1/2 year returns if they're renting them out for >10,000pm

Last time I returned to Thailand (May) I couldn't find the Fast Track channel but the standard lanes were pretty empty so I went through those... Ended up spending longer walking to find Fast Track than it would have been to just go through the 1st Standard channel & when I got to the 2nd one I found I had to walk all the way back because my luggage was on a belt outside that 1st one 😞. Can't say I'm happy about this as Fast Track access is more important to me than lounge access (I hate queuing) but in the UK (Manchester anyway) arriving Business/First Class travellers don't have Fast Track unless they use the paid for service either so Thailand isn't alone in doing this.

Does your Mrs need to leave Cambodia every 30 days or have you got her a longer term visa as well? [Edit: A quick search of the surrounding countries says Thai's need a Visa for > 30 Days in Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam & Taiwan but get 90 days in Korea].

Correct, there is a band between approx. 42K & 49K per month where you would owe tax in Thailand, any less than this and your TEDA will probably cover it, any more than this and you've probably paid more tax in the UK than would be due in Thailand. Your example of 563,000 THB (approx. 47K pm) is a good example of this, after deducting your allowances of at least 350K (60K personal allowance, 190K for being over 65 & 100K for "Expenses") then the 1st 150K is at 0% tax so you would owe 5% on 63K = 3,150B.

When I lived in Bangkok, I used Asia Visa Tours https://g.co/kgs/8eLEqEV to do my retirement extension but they won't take you on unless you can meet the financial requirements. For people who ask "Why not do it yourself", I find the cost of 6,100 THB (+1,900 Immigration fee) to be worth it to ensure that I get my extension on the 1st attempt. E.g. My last extension in Bangkok I would have been rejected the 1st time as for a short period of time during Covid they were only doing extensions 3 days before they were due & I wanted to do mine 45 days before) & then a 2nd time because I had amalgamated entries in my bank book so needed to get statements - The agent immediately spotted the amalgamated entries & walked me to the bank to get the statements I needed & then had no problems getting me in 44 days before my extension was due. For the sake of what amounts to <17B pd I'll keep using an Agent.

In a nutshell NO its number of days (In Thailand) between 1st Jan & 31st Dec that count

Never heard of a 90 day extension, do you mean a 90 day report? In which case my Agent does it for 100B (Jomtien IO).

When Barclays moved me to Singapore (16 years ago) they told me to just use my parent's address so that's what I've been doing ever since. Spent 6 years working for them there so it's not like they didn't know I wasn't living in the UK. I have a One Account mortgage with RBS/Natwest & I don't know how they know (again I use my parents address) but they do know that I live in Thailand as 2 years ago they asked me for a Thai Tax identification Number, no mention of closing down the account though the Mortgage finishes in March so the account will be closed then anyway.

The amount is not the point, it's the way that you're going about evading Tax that determines whether it's "Aggressive" evasion or not.

Lol & how much will that cost you 😛 Joking aside what you've described would be considered "Aggressive" Tax Evasion & it would only take them to question where you're getting the money from to live in Thailand & you'd be up the creek without the paddle.

That means you'll be exchanging it at one of the FX Booths who record your passport details & report all transactions to the Central Bank so they can see how much you've exchanged / remitted. .

It looks like the International Instant Saver account doesn't pay interest on balances < £10,000 but I can't see any fees mentioned. Can I ask which account you have now & how much the monthly fee is? Like others I'm looking at alternatives should Barclays close my UK account & £2,500 is the lowest minimum balance I've seen (Barclays is £100,000 & HSBC Expat is £50,000) Does anybody have a Barclays International Account? I believe it's £40 pm if you don't have £100,000 with them but I was wondering whether Barclays Stockbroker Accounts could be used to cover this.

Could try the Lloyds International Instant Saver account, doesn't seem to have any minimum deposit https://www.lloydsbank.com/international/products-and-services/saving-accounts/international-instant-saver-account.html

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Sorry, I think I misread your question & thought you were asking about whether it was taxed in the UK. State Pension is taxable in Thailand but if you pay UK tax on income over & above State Pension you should be able to offset the UK Tax owed which for most people will mean <42K THB pm income will probably be covered by their TEDA & >49K THB pm income will probably be covered by the tax already paid in the UK.

Yes it is taxable, however it is the 1st thing that goes onto your "Income Pile" when it comes to calculating your tax so for most people this will all fit into their personal allowance and so it looks like it's tax free. Anybody with a State Pension > £12,570 pa or a large income (Personal Allowance reduces by £1 for every £2 earned above £100,000 until you hit £124,150 where you've effectively got no Personal Allowance) will need to pay tax on their State Pension though from what I've read it seems it's collected via a different route than the Pension itself being taxed at source. https://www.gov.uk/income-tax-rates/income-over-100000#:~:text=Your Personal Allowance goes down,income is above £150%2C000.

Correct, I should have said you need to exit Thailand & return the next day

Problem is I don't think they'll announce that they've nullified it, but will drop it quietly & so leave us all in a state of limbo where technically we still need to follow the change in rules but practically TRD won't be enforcing it.

Zero, the Visa is Multi-Entry so you'll be given 180 days permission to stay each time. The only time you'll need to pay is if you decide to do an extension (1,900B) instead of a Border Bounce.

An old one but for some reason I haven't seen any episodes after Season 1 & so far am really enjoying it... The Killing... https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1637727/ A police investigation, the saga of a grieving family, and a Seattle mayoral campaign all interlock after the body of 17-year-old Rosie Larsen is found in the trunk of a submerged car.

I think you might be referring to this video (I:01:30 in)...

Normally I'd suggest that it might be on your P60 but as your pension provider doesn't withhold your tax then I'm not sure it will be. If you're interested in finding it out you can register on the UK Gov site... https://www.gov.uk/tax-codes

You will have a Tax code somewhere as if you don't you'd be put on an Emergency Tax code & you'd soon know about that! But it's not part of your UTR as that remains the same whereas your Tax Code can change with your circumstances. I'm assuming that your Pension Provider pays your pension gross & then you file a Tax Return and pay HMRC what you owe, if you were to get an NT Tax Code you wouldn't owe HMRC anything BUT you are expected to pay tax on the pension in the country where you are Tax Resident & I'm guessing that because in previous years it was easy to avoid paying any Tax in Thailand, it's difficult to get an NT Code if you live here, maybe it will get easier with this new Tax change.