Etaoin Shrdlu

27 minutes ago, Dan O said:

Im not sure that payment of debt is considered income in any country. I may be wrong but that is a gross overstretch to make a claim like that. 

In the US, the IRS considers debt forgiveness as being income to the debtor and is taxable. This is an issue when President Biden proposes relief for student loans.

I could see how the RD could consider repayment of a loan that was remitted into Thailand but repaid with funds outside Thailand in a similar vein, or at least examine the provenance of the funds used in the repayment.

11 minutes ago, Yumthai said:

I think that Thai RD, unlike IRS, has no means nor power to enforce anything out of Thailand borders. Could you bring any case of Thai law being enforced abroad?

 

My comment is about the RD's ability to obtain relevant financial information under existing international tax agreements. Enforcement, if any, would be undertaken within Thailand under Thai laws.  

I think that enforcement of a Thai court judgement would require the re-litigation of the issue in the second country's court. This would be impractical with the exception of very large judgements. But I am not a lawyer and have to defer on this to those with legal training and insight into this issue.

29 minutes ago, Mike Lister said:

I think the taxable event occurs when the cardholder transacts against the card in Thailand and that nothing else matters.

That may very well be the case. 

5 hours ago, eisfeld said:

 

But then that could be avoided by traveling outside of Thailand at the time the debt is settled. It makes more sense to count the items value as assessable income because it was at that time for sure for the benefit of someone in Thailand.

The funds were remitted into Thailand so perhaps the only way to reverse the debt obligation without creating a potentially taxable event would be to send after-tax funds from Thailand to the person or institution that lent the money.

46 minutes ago, eisfeld said:

 

I think there can be a reasonable argument made that the funds used for the purchase were a loan if it's a credit card. The loan then is repaid outside Thailand. So if really going by the letter of the law then the credit card transaction is not counted towards assessable income. And there is no income transferred to Thailand.

 

What should be counted as assessable income is the value of the item. The user from Thailands point of view got the item from the credit card company. The amount of tax due will be the same.

 

 

In the end it might be just semantics but maybe there's some edgecases where this plays a role.

 

In fact, if interpreted this way then it doesn't even matter if the recent changes were made or not. It would apply the same already before.

Remitting money that is borrowed abroad may not count as income when remitted, but payments to repay the loan could be considered income even if the payments don't cross a border since they accrue to the benefit the debtor located in Thailand. 

Option 2 is likely to be considered the same as Option 1 by the RD.

1 minute ago, Eric Loh said:

How about billionaires should not be above the law and not run their office like his corporation. 

That, too.

Trump is finding out the hard way why billionaires with political enemies and legal vulnerabilities don't run for high political office themselves, but instead have cleaner-handed frontmen run.

14 minutes ago, Tropicalevo said:

Our pest control folk use both.

We've also had both applied.

My understanding is that the spray is for roaches and ants and the bait is for the termites.

I'm not sure how effective spraying would be when it comes to termites. Their nests are underground and they construct tunnels to reach houses.

I think best practice is to use treated baits.

My preference would be to use US-based advisors for anything to do with US taxes, investments, and estate planning.  I would not engage any individual or firm domiciled outside the US legal system for advice in these areas.

There are firms in the US that specialize in helping expats with these issues. Here's one: https://creativeplanning.com/international/ 

Although this is marketed as a pre-paid card for use while traveling, it will work within Thailand as well, both online and at merchants that accept Visa: https://www.scb.co.th/en/personal-banking/cards/prepaid-cards/planet-scb-card.html

If the pre-paid card balance isn't sufficient to cover a submitted transaction, the transaction will be rejected, keeping your bank account safe from being drained if the card number is hacked or compromised. Safer than using a debit card, especially for online purchases.

1 hour ago, Yagoda said:

Spoken like a guy with 88 in its signature. Rather telling, yes?

Trump's initials = 4:20

Same thing happened to blacksmiths, tack makers and stablehands early in the last century. 

The lines for Thai passport holders at Suvarnabhumi have used automated gates for many years now, but there is usually one manned desk on exit and several on entry. 

I think most of the aftermarket head units available here with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay have only 7 inch screens. 

If you want a really large screen, you will likely have to go with a tablet and a windshield/dash suction or vent mount.

I have tried using Waze as an alternative to Google Maps on my iPhone and it does have some features that Google Maps does not, but I've gone back to Google Maps.

We had to replace our license plates for this reason.

We took the car to the DLT with the blue registration book and registered to get the replacement plates. We were contacted a few weeks later to come back to the DLT to get the replacement plates. We went back  with the car and removed and turned in the faded plates and were given the new ones to affix to the car.

I don't think there was a charge for this because the fading was due to defective paint and not damage to the plate.

49 minutes ago, AcuDoc said:

What if I had direct deposit my social security check into BB NY and just use an atm card from that account to withdraw baht when in Thailand for my living expenses... I am not depositing or transferring money into Thailand...

Bangkok Bank's New York office isn't licensed for retail banking. You won't be able to set up an account with Bangkok Bank's New York office.

You can open an account at a Bangkok Bank branch here in Thailand and set it up so that your SS payments are routed via the NY office directly to your account here. Or, better yet, simply have the funds sent directly by the SSA to your account here in Thailand. It then would not need to be a Bangkok Bank account as this can be set up with any Thai retail bank.

1 hour ago, Captain Monday said:

 

I'm sure that fact has cured any remaining antisemitism that once existed among the Emirati population

 

Now I have met people who had worked at Emirates and I told them the story about the application. There have been a lot of American expat pilots for years in the Gulf and supposedly even one of the chief pilots there, which is an elite management position, was a Jewish American guy and "everyone knew".

 

So basically it was OK, if living as a closet case.  Do you understand how odious that sounded?

Since Emiratis are Arabs, and therefore semites themselves, it would be strange for them to be anti-semitic.

But in my time in the UAE I did hear Emiratis make anti-Jewish statements, so, yes, I understand the extent of their anti-Jewish sentiment and I find it deplorable. Many also have contempt for atheists.

4 minutes ago, Captain Monday said:

20 plus years ago I filled out the online pilot application for Emirates based in the so called "tolerant" UAE.

 

In the personal detail section there was a drop down to select one's religion. I don't remember if it had none or atheism, probably not

but the drop down included every religion I have ever heard of from Buddhism to Christianity to literally  Zoroastrianism.

 

Every Single Religion, except one. 

Dubai now officially has a synagogue.

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

The Saudis spent a lot of effort removing any traces of female skin ( apart from faces ) from magazines ( with black marker pen ) and not allowing any reference to Christianity in music, so you can imagine my delight when a popular western singer's album ( on tape ) was found to have a song about Crusaders giving the locals a hiding. They obviously missed that one.

The female form, ads for booze, articles about Israel, articles about Saudi, and more, caused the censor to pull out the black pen. Sometimes the International Herald Tribune would have entire pages missing or simply wouldn't show up at all.

Is it the Nariphol tree?

She would need to be a US citizen or green card holder in order to claim spousal or survivor's benefits under your SS record.