Robin

I have just transferred a sum to Thailand, that I hope will last me the year, or more with care, by then this might have been resolve and some loophole or exemption available for us retirees.. I found that Kasikorn bank questions every transfer over a set sum, I think 200,000 Baht. I aske my bank manager about paying tax on incoming transfers and she knew of no proposals to do this. When at Immigration, doin 90 day, I also asked if hey were keeping track of farangs staying more than 180 days, to get the to pay tax. The I/O had no idea what i was talking about. if this tx is going to happen, it seems that many relevant people who will be collecting it have not yet been told what is going on, so expect Chaos when it starts, if ever. What might be useful , just in case, is the address of a 'Tax Consultant' who can help filling in the relevant from. My wife does not pay any tax on her earning from rice growing or her beauty shop. She tells me that if I have to pay tax the Tax dept. will come to visit me.. Somehow, I cannot imagine how Thailand can make this work, when the majority of Thais do not pay any taxes, except VAT on puchases.

If the money you bring in ha s not been subject to any tax, i.e. is not taxable at the source, how does the DTA work? For example, I bring in money from the sale of my house in UK, which has a capital gain, but exempt from UK tax as it is my 'principle dwelling' Is that going to be subject to this Thai Tax? That would destroy my retirement in Thailand plans, and probably for others as well

More:... I decided not to wait for end of year but bring some money into Thailand now, so aske my bank in Singapore to transfer money to my account at Kasikorn. 1. Singapore bank questioned why I was moving the money and when I explained the reason told me that their information was that this tax was not going to happen. I went ahead with the transfer and it was held up by Kasikorn until I had telephoned a umber in Bangkok and explained why I wanted to money and agreed to the exchange rate offered by Kasikorn. ( Reasons; Living expenses and medical expenses) not questioned. Yesterday I visited my branch of Kasikorn and spoke with Assistant manager. She had not heard of this proposed tax on incoming transfers, but did tell me that KBank has a policy of questioning any incoming transfer above 200,000 baht. Regardless of the outcome of this tax, for this year at least I now have enough to live on After that I can hopefully, rely on wife's income from beauty shop and growing rice (not taxed, yet!)

What about "Capital" For example: I sell my house in UK and have a good profit, exempt of CGT as it is my 'nominated dwelling' If I then try to bring this capital into Thailand, say to buy a house here, will I be subject to Thai Tax. That would make the whole idea of retirement in Thailand a non-tarter, and perhaps for many others I thought Sreetha was a builder/developer. Wasn't the original idea of Retirement Visas to help sell more property to Retirees?

When will the 180days 'tax resident' qualification start? I will have been in Thailand 200 days on 1/1/ 24, so will I become a tax resident immediately, or will the 180 days start from 1/1/24 ? This could led to a mass exodus on 1 Jan.

Nota good start. Like so many people who do not know what they are doing, he has to blunder about doing anything regardless.. What education has he had? What does he know of economics? He has his position because 1. He can speak English. (Useful for meeting other ASEAN leaders. 2 He does what his masters ell him to do. Pity about his choice of wardrobe.

If Thai parents were made responsible for their child's behaviour, they might, just might make some attempt t o teach them to behave correctly. The trouble is, in Thailand nobody is responsible.

Only pay to Thais who have paid tax in 2023-2024.

Populist? Nothing Taksin did came close to this give away, and nobody will benefit. There are a hundred ways this money can be diverted from its original purpose and into corrupt pockets. Every one will be used to make sure that only Srettha's supporters benefit.

A Thai Savings account is not the place for your capital. You need to find a bank that you can trust and work with, maybe not a Thai bank, and talk to them about Asset management. maybe a bank in Singapore, away from Srettha's grabbing hands, and with English speaking personnel.. I cannot help you with specifics, but you will have to look at what is available. You will almost certainly get a better deal than with Thai Savings Account. if you re mainly concerned at having money to leave to your G/f then you want capital appreciation & lowish risk, not what Thai Savings offer (low interest). Singapore has no inheritance tax for non-residents, but who knows what Srettha is planning. or, Depending on what your g/f wants, you might buy Thai land, in her name and that will be hers when you die.

Don't forget that the 10,000 Baht wallet has to be paid for. Cancelling he sub deal might help.

Driving in the rain, I was horrified how many Thai cars and m/c appeared tp be tarmac coloured. I am also guilty as my car is dark red. Colour choice was a mistake and I will buy a highly visible car next time; Orange or Yellow if available. In Thailand it is important to e as visible as possible, to hell with he aesthetics, I want to e seen

What about capital brought into Thailand before 1/1/24. If teh money is in a bank in Singapore, then how can I prove it is or not income. if I bring in money from UK, that is exempt from Capital Gains Tax in UK, how will it be treated in Thailand?

Depends on who has the contract to maintain the roads

If my reading of the original story is correct, the Thai man admits to twice touching the boy 'on the bottom.' That alone constitutes an assault, whatever his intentions. Further he claims he touched the boy because he thought him (the boy) to be cute. If this is true, then it seems like an admission of sexual assault and gives substance to the boy's story. Without any CCTV evidence or other witnesses, there is nothing more that can be proved. it is a case of "He said, he said" and unlikely to result in prosecution in Thailand.. it only seems very strange that the Thai man appears to have so openly admitted to touching the boy, and that nobody has commented on that. I am frrm UK and I am certain that any man behaving like this towards aa 7 yea old boy would be in serious trouble.

Firt let's ge away from the mistaken idea that just because a person can speak English, thy can teach others to speak English. 'Teaching English as a Foreign language" (TOEFL) is a skill that needs to be learned before you even start teaching. Best thing that Thailand could do would be to recruit and employ qualified teachers and forget the idea that every English speaker living in Thailand is qualified to teach. This is going to cost a lot of money, so mot unlikely to happen.

I believe that Sweden is a country where wearing a helmet on a m/c is compulsory or at least customary. Also it is the law in Thailand. Just because the RTP do not enforce he law is not an excuse for not obeying it, particularly when it is common sense t wear a helmet, ( even the cheap Thai helmets give some protection,) Can you sue the RTP for not doing their job, and protecting tourist from their own stupidity? Also, What happened to the levy on all tourists to get a fund to pay for their medical treatment when they were not insured? Lost in various corrupt officials pockets?

There are so many ways that tis scheme can fail, or be subverted, I cannot believe hat these were not thought through first. Big traders with adequate cash flow will be able to convert the digital money to cash at a cost, an d they will profit. Jus what Srettha and his cronies planned in the first place. it is not buying popularity it is being paid to get popularity.

I have just had a telephone conversion with my Bank in Singapore, to organise transferring some money to my Thai account, and the person i spoke to said that she had heard from another Dept. in he bank that the proposed tax law is not going to affect me as a person in Thailand on a Retirement Visa. h had no details but was very sure of what she had heard. Any new like this here. Could it be that Srettha is finally seeing sense? Regardless, I am organising a transfer of some money to Thailand before the proposed tax starts. Better safe than sorry, and who knows what Srettha will dream up next.

Hypothetical case: I am now a UK ta resident, but I decide to sell my house in UK and bring the money to Thailand to buy a property here. I get a big capital gain on selling my UK house, but this is not taxed in UK as it is my "sole dwelling" If I bring this money to Thailand will I have to pay the Thai tax on it? It is not income, but a capital gain.. original money to buy the house was partly from income and partly from savings, paying off a loan to by the house, taken out >30 yr ago All the talk here so far seems to be about Income, but what about transferring cash to Thailand? The only outcome from this that I can see is that Thailand is no longer a retirement possibility. Has this been considered? Who is going to buy all those Condos in Phuket and Hua Hin? Finally, hat about cash transfer? Say I keep my money in a bank in Singapore? and make 2- trips there every year, bringing back a wad of Sin$$ and then change gradually at various money changers in BKK. Who will be keeping track of this?

Another piece of advice; never trust friends or relatives to act a executors, get your non-involved solicitor to do this. People behave very strangely when there is money involved. The more money, the worse they behave. Also I found that to become non-domiciled in UK was not easy, I would have had to cut all ties with UK. I thought that too much effort and continue to pay UK tax on unearned income. Unqualified advice given to me; " Get all your money as far away from the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer as possible" Now we have Srettha to worry about as well.

I looked at this some years ago, and had my accountant investigate the UK law at the time. I had always assumed that inheritance between husband and wife( we were married in UK,) was free from IHT. Not so! If your wife/ Gf is not a UK resident she will have to pay UK IHT on any money you leave to her. probably even more so if you are no legally married in UK. I cannot confirm that the law has not changed, but that was how it was 5 yrs ago. If you have any other family , (from previous relationships) in UK, I can only strongly suggest that you make a UK/Thai Will stating your desires as to inheritance to your g/f. Get it legally written down and notarised . with all your assets defined. Never trust the good will of any family members or friends, make it legal and clear. it is better your g/f gets 70% of something than 100% of nothing. When I did this, i tried to make sure that my wife would be OK even after paying IHT, by making sure she was the owner of all our property in Thailand, and that she had money in our joint Kbank account. Any doubts, then consul a qualified UK tax accountant, I m only telling you what I learned some yea ago.. I am still in touch with my accountant and he ahs not told me of any changes in UK law, but you never know. Now we also have Srettha's new tax laws to worry abut as well

Surely this is going o be the end of Thailand as a retirement destination? Who is going to retire to a country where you cannot bring in money from you home county Sell your house at home, probably pay no tax on that money (as in UK) and then pay 30% tx on that in Thailand. No Thanks!!

AS a UK citizen, receiving a state pension, I can confirm that it is paid into my UK bank, or any bank I specify, gross, and hast to be included on my annual UK Tax Return, where is is assessed as 'unearned income'. This is information from my UK Accountant who prepares my annual Ta x return.. Since many UK retirees do not have any additional income, except their state pension, this could be below the threshold where they have o pay UK income tax, and could appear to be 'non-taxable.' I have no idea what the situation is for pensioners of other nations.

I believe that most if not all Thais also pay tax on interest from bank savings accounts. After asking various Thai friends i also believe that few Thais pay much if any tax. Local shops or sole traders all seem bemused at the thought of having to submit an annual tax return, and I have been told that if I need to pay tax, I ill be asked by thee Revenue Dept. to pay. So, I am waiting to see what happens. I have been living partly in Thailand for the last 10yrs on a Retirement extension, while working oversea as sole trader. Always paid from overseas, often into Thai bank account, and not comments. I always understood that my income from overseas was not subject to Thai Tax. I was a non-resident in UK at that time and only paid tax on unearned income in UK. Noe i have stopped working I was looking forward to retirement nd living on my savings and investments, kept in UK and Singapore.. NOw it sems that Srettha is destroying that dream.. If he really is going through with this idea, that that will be the end of Thailand as a Retirement Destination. He is said to be 'property developer', but this is not going to help him sell many properties to retirees wanting to live in Thailand. If Srettha wants to increase his tx revenue, he should look a collecting all taxes not being paid by Thais, but this would make him un-popular and not help his chances of re-election. As a ( successful?) business man, surely Srettha has picked up some financial common sense?