Etaoin Shrdlu

Even if a court in the UK were to grant jurisdiction, you would have to re-litigate in Thailand, so there is no point in pursuing this in the UK if that was your intent.

As Digibeth has stated above, there is no small claims court in Thailand, so again, your best move is to contact the Office of the Insurance Commission and file a complaint.

I have a couple of questions:

Where were you when you purchased the insurance policy?

What address did you use on the proposal form?

Did you pay the premium with funds wired from the UK or with funds already in Thailand?

What does the policy say about governing law and jurisdiction?

Have you sought legal counsel in the UK? If so, what did they say about a court in the UK agreeing to have jurisdiction over this matter?

Depending upon your situation, you may have difficulty getting a court in the UK to accept your case due to jurisdictional issues. Your best remedy might be to lodge a complaint with the Office of the Insurance Commissioner here in Thailand.

2 hours ago, Chongalulu said:

They might ask it from the person they are targeting but Thai RD would would have little joy in a fishing trip across the gammiit of card suppliers in U.K. Perhaps if there was some high profile serious specific crime investigation might they obtain cooperation from the U.K. authorities,but to a foreign tax authority of Thailand’s standing,I doubt.

I think existing information exchange agreements, often contained in dual taxation agreements, would compel the UK tax authorities to provide relevant information if an investigation rose to the level of Thai authorities formally asking for it. I don't think UK authorities would refuse to cooperate based upon how some people may regard Thailand, but they could decline to cooperate if proper procedures were not adhered to.

I agree that a formal request for information exchange is unlikely in the case of Thai tax authorities investigating a pensioner over minor tax affairs. My guess is that the RD would simply present a bill for amounts they believe are due, with the presumption that any overseas credit card use constituted the inward remittance of untaxed funds and place the burden on the taxpayer to prove otherwise. Credit card transaction details can likely be obtained from the Bank of Thailand since they involve foreign exchange. 

Again, what the RD chooses to do and what they technically can do are often different things. In order for someone to decide on how compliant they wish to be, I think they would need to know both what actual practice is going to be as well as what the worst case scenario is. I don't think we know yet what practice will be under the new interpretation of the rules.

6 minutes ago, Phulublub said:

IMV this is exactly the kind of "clever trick" that tax authorities the world over - including Thailand - are keen to stop.

 

Given that many expats will have DTA's in effect to mitigate some or all of their income, most will already have paid tax on assessable income and that there are reasonably generous exemptions here, the vast majority will have no tax liability here in any case and a lot of hot air, angst and suggestions of illegal activity is being generated that is pretty pointless.

 

PH

I agree. I think tax authorities are aware of this issue.

Those that have the most potential to be affected are those who manage to escape taxation in their home countries due to residency or domicile status and then also manage to escape Thai taxation by threading the needle timing-wise under the old rules. Of course some pensions may be excluded by treaty and there are generous deductions under the Thai tax regime, but for those with significant remittances of untaxed money, this could be an issue.

8 minutes ago, Danderman123 said:

Oops, you lost the plot.

 

Let's say I pay for something in Thailand with a US credit card. In reality, I'm not paying anything, the foreign credit card company is paying, and is in effect loaning me the money. When I pay my foreign credit card company back with funds from my foreign bank, I am not remiting money into Thailand.

 

 

In the scenario you mention, you're extinguishing a debt that has been imported into Thailand with money that has not been taxed by Thailand. This could cause the payment of the debt outside Thailand with money that hasn't been taxed by Thailand to be classified as assessable income. Same as in the UK: https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/residence-domicile-and-remittance-basis/rdrm33520. 

I think it is possible that the RD could take the same or a similar position. This is just too easy a loophole for the RD to ignore. Perhaps not with expats' credit cards, but on a larger scale with corporates and wealthy individuals. Problem is that we'd all be swept up by this whether intentionally or not.

1 minute ago, scottiejohn said:

He was/is the OP!!

Yes, I know.

40 minutes ago, CartagenaWarlock said:

 

Did you read the post? You were just posting like most posters who jumps in on any thread without reading it. I understand that most members here lack reading comprehension, but that is not an excuse. 

Why spoil a perfectly good reply by reading and comprehending the original post first?  No fun in that! 

I owned a condo in the Thonglor area for many years. I was able to sell it within a few weeks of putting it on the market with a real estate agent. The building was close to thirty years old at the time of sale, so it wasn't new. A Thai bought it.

I have now lived in a house in a mooban in in Bangkok for over twenty years. There are always several houses in the mooban with for sale signs visible, often with real estate agents' names and logos on them. Some of the houses have had the signs on them for years. Occasionally one will be sold, but it seems to take a long time.

If I were looking to purchase a residence that I wanted to sell at some later date without too much of a delay, I would choose a condo in a popular building near a BTS or MRT station. I think houses are harder to shift for a number of reasons.

7 hours ago, ChipButty said:

Even Tel Aviv is not 99% Jewish I couldn't imagine any neighbourhood in the world being 99% 

 Kiryas Joel in New York comes close.

Did you grow up in Radnor?

12 minutes ago, CartagenaWarlock said:

Can you please post step-by-step instructions on how to do it, including the URL as a starting point. Thanks. 

I was visiting the US when I went into a Chase branch and opened the account.

I know this isn't helpful if you aren't planning on going to the US, but it is better than not being able to open an account under any circumstances with only a Thai address.

Before I opened the Chase account I did look into trying to open an account in the US without traveling there. If I remember correctly, TD Bank would open an account without me having to be physically present. This could be initiated over the phone using one of their toll-free numbers.

6 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Not sure what you're talking about. I think Interactive Brokers does IRAs which you can open from abroad. What do you mean by ported? I'm talking about a U.S. based bank specializing in expat customers.

Yes I'm aware you can't buy mutual funds living abroad for IRA by you can by stocks, bonds, and ETFs.

By ported, I meant establishing an IRA account with, or rolling an IRA account over into, a financial institution outside the US.

10 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

Also think about why most people become expats.  It's not because they have too much money to live in the USA. 

 

Obviously, there are exceptions.  But I suspect the ones with the dosh have figured out banking overseas.

 

Some types of accounts can't be ported outside the US, such as IRA and 401k accounts. Really wealthy people probably don't rely so much on these accounts, but for middle-class Americans they are anchors to the US financial system. Then there are the US tax laws, particularly regarding ownership of some foreign financial products. 

1 minute ago, Jingthing said:

Yeah but you found a custom solution. They could change their policy tomorrow. I'm talking about making things much easier for ALL expats and digital nomads.

That's true, but that would also be the case for a bank that specialized in catering to expats. Nobody is safe while the legislature is in session.

Besides the issues raised by the Patriot Act and KYC requirements, licensing and regulatory issues in the expats' countries of residence may still be a deterrent. And as unlikely as it may seem, banks are also afraid of being sued by an account holder in a foreign country under laws and regulations they are not aware of.

Yet some banks will still work with expats. I was able to open a checking account with Chase using only my Thai address and mobile phone number along with a copy of a bank statement with my Thai address on it. Their mobile app works just fine on my phone with a Thai SIM and I can perform internet banking on my computer.

1 hour ago, Dolf said:

Never had a female pilot. I would be worried as women can't read maps. Might end up in the wrong city.

Women pilots are fine. No need to parallel park aircraft.