Thomas J

1 hour ago, Becker said:

The whistleblower report raised concerns that he tried to leverage nearly $400 million in U.S. aid in exchange for a political favor from Ukraine's leader. That's a FACT. That's exactly what was in the report so your denial of that fact is incomprehensible.

Becker,  Trump did indeed stall the $400 million dollars in military aid to Ukraine however that fact was not brought up during Trump's telephone exchange with the Ukrainian President nor was it even known for 1 month following the call.  Additionally, Trump took actions to get European nations to contribute to Ukranian aid rather than just have the USA pick up the entire bill.  He knew once the USA gave the money Europe would be less likely to contribute.  That also has been documented.  

On 9/28/2019 at 12:53 PM, fletchsmile said:

If you open an account with Interactive brokers, you can buy ETFs from most markets in the world, regardless of your nationality/ location etc. So why restrict to US mutual funds and ETFs and suffer more tax? They also offer mutual funds that cover most markets just not as wide a choice and not US domiciled.

fletchsmile, just so I am clear,  If she opened an account with interactive brokers she could buy lets say an S&P 500 Index Fund just one not domiciled in the USA and not be subject to the 15% withholding tax? 

It appears to me the TM30 is nothing but a make work exercise.  Since it is done all hard copy there is no way it is all being input.  Even if the immigration office is inputting a portion of the data at the time of filing, there is no way that someone who wishes to change addresses would be located using the TM30.  I suppose if and when they get the app to report there would  be some functionality but it seems like a lot of paperwork and effort for very little in tangible benefits. 

7 hours ago, Thailand J said:

OP has a Schwab Singapore account, he already know Schwab for whatever it is.

OP wants to invest in US mutual funds, which are not available to non-US clients. He has to go with ETF's.

Thailand J  

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-charles-schwab-singapore/brokerage-charles-schwab-closing-singapore-office-two-years-after-launch-idUSKCN1VQ0AL

22 hours ago, fletchsmile said:

eg If I buy a low cost domiciled US mutual fund or ETF, then I suffer witholding tax. Depending on whether your broker will process possible reductions based on your circumstances that would result in a 15% to 30% reduction in say dividends returned.

Fletch, her options as a non USA citizen would be to open some account in Norway which is hardly tax efficient or to leave here in Thailand which is precarious.  Though the banking system looks solid now it was only a few years ago that the country had a coup.  When events like that happen, who knows what the consequences to people who have money in the banks and brokerages would be. 

47 minutes ago, hagai said:

Why not stay with Schwab? Just move your account to Charles Schwab International.

Can you explain?  I was under the impression that you had to have a Schwab account at a particular location such as Singapore or Hong Kong?   She is not a U.S. citizen so she could not have a U.S. based account.  I would have thought that Schwab would have suggested that, if that was an easy fix but they mentioned nothing. 

2 minutes ago, timendres said:

Interactive Brokers is my favorite.

Can you tell me what they charge?  At Schwab there was no annual custody fee only a fee per trade and that was cheap.  Only $4.95 per trade. 

17 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Thailand ‘on path to democracy’, says acting US envoy

The U.S and much of the world seem to be enamored that Democracy is the one and only form of effective government.  The reality is that Democracy is nothing more than tyranny of the masses and it causes politicians to pander to voters in order to receive votes.  Winston Churchill stated that the best case against a Democracy is a 5 minute conversation with the average voter.  Coming from the USA I can assure you that a huge number of voters have absolutely no clue about who they are voting for or why.  I am sure that most countries would be better off, if somehow there was a body of educated leaders who genuinely were interested in making their country better rather than the circus I see in most Western Democracies. Certainly Democracies turn into nothing but popularity and familiarity contests rather than a meaningful and thoughtful process that puts the best and brightest into office.  I don't know how such a process could work, but certainly allowing the masses of uneducated, uninformed, and illiterate to put leaders into power is not the panacea that the USA would have you believe.  

I am engaged to a woman who is a dual citizen of Thailand and Norway.  I advised her not to have all of her investments based in Thai firms.  Over the past few months she opened a brokerage account with Charles Schwab in Singapore.  We just transferred the final amounts to the account and we have now been advised that Charles Schwab is closing their Singapore office and it is required to open a new account to transfer her assets to.  Can anyone suggest where she might be able to open a brokerage account that would be similar to Charles Schwab.  She would be investing almost exclusively in U.S. Mutual Funds. 

53 minutes ago, damascase said:

Yes, you are supposed to put the number of the re-entry permit in the visa-number field on the tm6. I always tell the IO that I have a re-entry permit, and hand him/her my passport opened at the page with that permit. I do check the stamp in my passport before I leave the area. There is a story circulating here about a guy who got the wrong stamp and only found out when he turned up for his 90 days report - he was fined and deported.

The TM-6 says VISA number.  How is anyone suppose to know you are suppose to put in your re-entry number.  I traveled to Spain a few months ago and put the VISA number on the TM6 just like this time.

2 minutes ago, HampiK said:

Only 1 question you put your Re-Entry number in the Visa field on your TM6 arrival card?

 

Anyway this always should be checked as such mistakes can happens...

There is not a place for Re-Entry on TM6.  There is a place for Visa and I put the O Retirement Visa in the box. 

I traveled to the USA and had a re-entry permit.  I even put on my TM-6 I was entering on an O Retirement Visa.  The Immigration at the airport just stamp it as a 30 day Tourist Visa.  Fortunately, I went to Jomtien Immigration and during filing for TM30 and during the discussion it comes up that I have retirement visa.  The person says, no only 30 day tourist visa.  After examining the passport she agrees that at the airport they just miss the re-entry and the O-Visa.  They straightened out but took me an extra 45 minutes.  I guess next time I will be more careful to tell immigration at the airport to look at O Visa

13 hours ago, plfomylo said:

hello,

Do you know what is the cheapest wine available now ?

any interesting box instead of bottles ?

thanks.

There are some "cheaper" wines but I would not suggest them.  They are practically not drinkable.  I find the Peter Villa wines to be acceptable.  They are $699 Baht for 2 liter. 

Notice the Democrats are ready to impeach Trump for reportedly asking Ukraine to look into the possibility that Joe Biden used influence to gain his son Hunter Biden a $50,000 per month "consulting" fee from a Ukranian oil and gas company.  A field that Hunter Biden has absolutely no experience in.  They don't however suggest that Joe Biden or Hunter Biden be investigated though their clearly is evidence that shows that Joe Biden went with his son to Ukraine and surprise surprise he ends up with the large monthly consulting contract.  So Trump gets lambasted for suggesting something is wrong but the potential wrong doer is completely free from any scrutiny. 

http://sumo.ly/13nNl

23 minutes ago, Brigand said:

OK, some advice would be swell just to clear this up, probably for others too and not only me. I'll keep it short and simple but I have a condo and am married with the wife owning her house plus the company I work for also officially provides an apartment for me on site

I would "think" that given you own the condo you would use that as your residence and avoid the TM30 reporting.  My neighbor here is from Belgium.  He put the home in his Thai GF name but had an attorney draft a 30 year lease from her to him.  That exempts him from the TM30 as it is shown as his permanent residence including on his Thai drivers license. 

Why don't they just get a nice snake for a pet like any responsible Thai. 

1 minute ago, Percy P said:

Have you experienced it. I haven't

No in the USA the constitution says "all men are created equal"  Congress operates on the premise that all men are equal but some are more equal than others.  Things like their pension, health care, travel perks etc. are distinctly separate from the taxpayers who pay for them.  Nancy Pelosi the Speaker of the House travels by military jet just for her then has the gall to stand up and give speeches on the inequality in the USA.  PS she is worth over $200 million. 

No matter what the country or party there is nothing like taking a trip on taxpayer money.

The entire process is ludicrous.  You have to report every 90 days.  Why not let the address you report satisfy the notification of residence.  You take a weekend trip to a resort and you are suppose to file a TM28 to change your address then after you return to your regular place you have to file a TM30.   Just who do they think they are kidding that any of these are being tracked.  Additionally if someone was not filing to conceal their location, do you really think they would file?  This is just BUSY work intended on creating piles of paper for government workers to justify their positions.  

7 hours ago, webfact said:

roductivity in the agricultural sector will continue to decline during the third and fourth quarters of this year due to the flooding caused by tropical storm Podul, according to Rangsit University’s Economic and Business Research Centre - Institute of Economics.

There was a story about an Economic Professor who had accurately predicted the economy 78 times.  When asked his secret he said "Well I predict a lot"  If any of these braniacs really knew what the direction of the economy was they would be raking in millions in the stock market rather than teaching theory in college.  Winston Churchill once said that a politician had the ability to tell what was going to happen next week, next month, and next year and after being elected be able to tell why not of it happened.  The same is true of Economists. 

I had the same problem watching U.S. channels.  I could not even sign up for various sites like CBS.  I finally went to IPTV subscription.  600 baht a month you get 7,000 channels from around the world plus all the movies and catch up recordings of shows from the prior few days.