Etaoin Shrdlu

Just now, Jingthing said:

You don’t need to make any payment. I'm sure of that.  

I filled another extension this year as always. 

But I thought you needed to file that before May 17.

I think overseas taxpayers have until June 15th to file for an extension since that's the deadline for filing a return without an extension.

When I used the IRS website, it would not let me file 4868 without making a payment. Perhaps I chose the wrong option somehow, but it worked for a one cent payment. In any event it is worth looking into instead of getting commercial software.

No need for commercial software to get an extension. You can file form 4868 here:

https://www.irs.gov/payments

You will need to make a payment when you file. The minimum is $0.01. One payment option requires a US bank account for an ACH debit. I'm not sure if a foreign credit or debit card would work for the credit/debit card payment option.

I successfully filed 4868 here in April with a payment of $0.01 using the IRS website and the ACH debit option. Received email confirmation within minutes.

TallGuy is correct. Your ties to Thailand will be as important as hers.  I assume you work here in Thailand, in which case your on-going employment should help convince the interviewer that she will return. My wife was asked for my passport, which she did not have with her at the interview. The interviewer clearly wanted to see that I live here and have strong ties to Thailand as well. She was asked what I did for a living, for whom I worked and how long I'd lived here. 

1 hour ago, Yellowtail said:

 

Thanks, one reason I want to get him set up with a Thai brokerage account is so that he learns to invest on his own rather than rely on the investment vehicles the banks are selling. 

 

He'll open his Thai account using his Thai ID, but he does have to file in the US so the sooner he can learn about it, the better. 

It is very good that you are teaching him about saving and investing for his future. But the US tax treatment of non-US mutual funds is absolutely diabolical. Same for whole life insurance policies that serve as wrappers for investments. In either case, even if he wanted to comply with US tax reporting requirements, he would find that the financial information provided by these types of investments makes it impossible to be fully compliant. Staying tax-compliant even if investing solely in individual company shares is difficult due to the record-keeping needed to capture all income and record capital gains and losses properly along with corresponding exchange rates when taxable events occur. In my opinion, he would be much better served by staying with US-based investments only. Much less of a chance of getting into a very serious tax problem.

Since your son is a US citizen, you might wish familiarize him with how the IRS treats certain non-US investments, especially mutual funds and whole life insurance policies, so that you don't set him up for a nasty tax surprise later on. These investment vehicles are really not a good idea for US citizens or green card holders due to these tax issues. Local banks, however, are keen to sell them, although they may possibly refuse to do so if they know that the accountholder is American, as some local mutual funds will not accept Americans as shareholders due to onerous reporting requirement imposed by the US if they were to do so. My apologies if you were already aware of this.

This company is an agent or broker, not an insurance company, and therefore won't appear on the Immigration Bureau's list of approved insurers. I suspect that if you specified that you needed health insurance to satisfy immigration requirements that they would provide you with a quotes from one or more of the TGIA insurers approved by the Immigration Department.  I would not rely upon the representations on their website regarding cost and age limit to necessarily be applicable to coverage that would satisfy Immigration's requirements. You would need to make specific inquiries and provide them with your requirements and underwriting information.

33 minutes ago, Wandr said:

 

Etaoin Shrdlu - is the "refund status" database showing that your return was received? And did you use normal registered mail?

 

 

I tried to find the status of my return using the IRS refund status website. No info is available and the website says to expect a six week delay in processing paper returns. I assume the six week period starts from the day the return is received at the IRS office, which would indicate that perhaps it will be processed by mid-June.

I used standard registered airmail with Thai Post when I sent the return.

Personal accident policies often exclude motorcycle and assault, or offer these covers as extras for an additional premium. PA products sold via banks are usually bare bones policies with these risks excluded. 

I'd suggest you get in touch with an insurance broker and ask for their advice on finding PA cover that includes motorcycle risks.

1 hour ago, 2009 said:

 

Thank you

 

So the only risk here is that it is an IPO?

 

So, the total risk is that the stock could go to zero?

 

I don't have to cover my position (with margin) or anything like that?

 

I don't use margin anyway. I just want to buy the shares

 

 Could it be that I can't sell for 180 days after buying? Is that why extra measures are taken?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is a US SEC requirement that certain types of securities can only be sold to "qualified investors", or QIs, due to the level of risk of the security.  Pre-IPO shares and hedge funds fall into this category as may others.  It is intended to protect the smaller retail investor from assuming risk that is disproportionate to their financial status and investment knowledge. In order to be classified as a QI in the US, an investor needs to have either an annual income for the past two years of USD$200,000, with an expectation that it would continue, or a net worth of more than USD1 million. 

Mailed my return by registered mail on April 16th to the Austin, TX IRS office. The Thai Post track and trace website showed it was accepted on May 1st.  

How long it will take for the IRS to process the return is another matter.

57 minutes ago, ukrules said:

 

Coma caused by 'coronavirus'.......COVID generally doesn't cause a coma directly. Coma is induced for treatment.

Here's a translation of the relevant coverage item that I found on the Dhipaya Takaful (Islamic insurance) website:

6. ** Illness from coma or cerebral mortality and neurological failure or end-stage illness in which a serious illness that doctors have confirmed that there is no cure and / or causes death with cause. Mainly due to infection with the coronavirus
 

I believe this means that the insured would not necessarily have to die in order to collect the death benefit. It could be paid upon certification that the patient has no chance of recovery, such as being in a vegetative state. It also seems to stipulate that the coronavirus infection has to be the main cause of death or the trigger of the end-state condition in order to collect the death benefit. My read is that that this clause pertains only to the death benefit, not the medical expense coverage. You can find the full website here:

http://www.tiptakaful.com/en/insurance/detail/12/dhipaya-covid-19-insurance

I don't think the non-Takaful product would address this issue any differently.

If you are in Bangkok: www.thailandchiropractor.com

29 minutes ago, pixelaoffy said:

Where to get insurance of  covid 100k $ in Thailand 

I don't think it is available on a stand-alone basis, but many insurers do not exclude Covid from their annual medical insurance policies and will upon request provide the necessary certificate to get the COE. That is how I plan to evidence cover. 

I want to accompany my son to the US in August when he starts university and return after about ten days, so I called the Thai embassy in Washington, DC to ask about the COE's Covid insurance requirement for those with PR.  When I explained how it was not possible to obtain insurance with unlimited validity to match a PR's stay, I was advised to "upload whatever you have and let the visa section review it and if there is a problem call me back".  I am not sure whether this response meant "don't bother me" or "there shouldn't be an issue". The person with whom I spoke seemed bored and impatient, so perhaps the former.  Earlier emails to the embassy have gone unanswered.

My wife's friend from high school who is a senior officer in the Immigration Department upcountry says this isn't a serious issue, but admitted it was something for the MFA/embassy and not the Immigration Department to advise on.  I will have my wife call the embassy after a day or two and see if she gets a better response. I really don't want to leave Thailand with this unresolved. Has no-one else on TV with PR obtained a COE from the embassy or a consulate in the US using commercial insurance to evidence Covid cover?

I was tempted to use this method to purchase something with my credit card once. When I found that the outstanding balance of the 0% interest 10-month loan would count against my card's line of credit, I decided it was not worth it and just paid cash. I'm fairly sure it requires an actual credit card with a line of credit greater than the cost of the purchase.

4 minutes ago, EricTh said:

 

Sorry, it's all in Thai. I can't read upper intermediate Thai.

I suppose after obtaining suitable new coverage you could cancel the Dhipaya policy to avoid any potential issues of having duplicate insurance. The downside is that you might not get much (any?) return premium for cancelling.

On 4/15/2020 at 6:59 PM, EricTh said:

 

Dear Roojai

 

Is it possible to buy COVID insurance from more than one company?

 

I bought the lowest premium COVID under Dhipaya last month but I regretted later it might not be enough. I should have bought a higher premium insurance.

 

If someone get the coronavirus and he has two insurance coverage from different companies, which insurance company can the infected person claim the money from?

 

 

 

 

 

 

You will have to check the policy wording to make sure, but in general it should be possible to collect the death and permanent disability benefit from more than one insurer. This tends to be true for life insurance and personal accident policies which have stated benefits that are not tied to indemnification of expenses incurred.

The portions of two Covid policies that reimburse for medical expenses will not pay twice because one can only be indemnified for these expenses once. Having two or more policies may also present issues if both policies provide indemnity for medical expenses. They may each want to pay 50% according to their policy's terms, conditions and exclusions. In theory, you could have one policy pay half of your medical expenses incurred and the other one not pay its half due to an exclusion or a waiting period.

It is unlikely that the limits for medical expenses provided by two policies could be stacked to provide a higher limit. Accomplishing this would require a specific request by you and a level of understanding and willingness on the part of both insurers to modify the two policies. I think it is unlikely you would be able to obtain this on a mass-market small premium cover such as this. 

Again, you would need to read the actual policy's terms and conditions and possibly ask the insurers if their policies are not sufficiently clear.

If you are going to be the policy owner, you may wish to do some research and find out how the IRS treats non-US whole life policies. These are the ones that have a cash value and provide investment returns or interest in addition to the insurance component. I don't think Thai life insurers would be able to provide you with the type of information that you would need in order to comply with US tax reporting requirements. The alternative to whole life is term life and I don't think that term life policies carry any reporting requirements. I think Thai life insurers push their whole life policies over term policies.

14 minutes ago, Tracyb said:

Where does one find the correct exchange rate to use for FBAR reporting?

The exchange rate published on FiscalData.Treasury.gov for December 31, 2020 is the one to use.

1 hour ago, pixelaoffy said:

Been no black out since last year . Not needed since crowd restrictions 

You're correct that the market-based blackouts appear to be lifted, but there are still national blackouts in place due to nationally televised games. Having a foreign IP solves this as well.

On 4/13/2021 at 3:57 PM, pixelaoffy said:

Nope 

That's correct. Being overseas actually removes any blackout restriction that might apply if your IP address were identifiable as being in-market somewhere in the US. One of the few instances where being abroad is actually beneficial when it comes to streaming services.

1 hour ago, federicoP said:

Many thanks, but I understand that the coverage for the hospital treatment is limited to 100,000 baht, that is not so high and probably not sufficient in a private hospital.
Is my understanding correct ?

The link on the Roojai website that claims to lead to policy wording only links to a very incomplete summary of some of the terms, so it is not possible to determine exactly what it covers. Having said that, it appears to be a personal accident or dreaded disease policy that will pay a lump sum if one's Covid-19 infection leads to death or another specific type of permanent disability.  Coverage for medical expenses for the treatment of Covid-19 symptoms is limited to baht 50,000 or 100,000 depending upon the plan selected. It is not clear from the information presented whether the policy would cover costs incurred for medically unnecessary hospitalization currently required by public health policy if one tests positive for Covid-19. 

Try Fotofile in MBK.  Since they have lots of used gear for sale, I assume much of it comes in the form of trade-ins on new equipment. 

https://fotofile.co.th/index.php/