freeman01

16 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

Why so sympathetic to strange op attitude?

No bank would do what you suggest. In any event the OP has such enormous amount in bank? 

If was half serious would have secondary bank account. Most people have several. 

Seriously just another nonsense thread from stick in the mud type. 

Just wanted to point out that behavior is more important than we might think in Asia, to OP or whoever bump into this later.

I'm pretty certain you can request such a document from most bank exactly for the purpose of not having to disclose a full bank statement. Something similar to a bank certificate.

I would definitely try that if i were paranoid like OP and in need of over 60 days in Thailand ...

I don't agree with you last comment, this thread is full of valuable information that is bound to help someone sooner or later.

9 hours ago, yogavnture said:

i did kind of get angry with the embassy

Never ever get angry at a government workers (or anyone actually...) when in Asia , if you intend to travel there regularly you better understand that and apply it diligently.

Also, at the end of the day getting angry on whatever only impact yourself and your health in a very negative way ...

Requirement to show a bank statement is pretty standard everywhere in the developed world, no surprise they start requesting this in south east asia, nothing to do with people abusing tourist visa, a bank statement is hardly something hard to produce for most of everyone wanting to stay in Thailand ...

Note that If you could get an official paper from your bank stating your name, address and current balance they would likely accept that. Unless of course you behave like an angry old hag in which case they will stick very strictly to their rules and might even invent new ones if they are really pi.ssed.

I used worldremit twice in thailand  before getting a bank account there, very efficient and low fees compared to others.

Limit is around 5k usd i believe and you get the cash at any branch of Government Savings Bank with the confirmation email with instruction in it.

Penang is much more easy, i would try Cambodia also and using an agent.

Maybe try to find an agent in ho chi minh, might be less strict requirements.

If I may, is it a real company or just a shell to get the visa ?

I try to do everything myself as I have an aversion to paying fees ????

I saw a translated tax return available on some blog recently, I will try to use that next year and along with a tiny bit of help from the officer at the revenue dept hopefully this will be enough. Will use an accountant/lawyer as a last resort.

Just in case for those interested, this can be done in Hua Hin as well on a tourist visa.

- Passport copy + copy visa / stamp

- TM6 card

- 2 photos

- Rental contract / hotel bills

- phone number

- 500 THB

I don't want to be annoying but from a strict legal point of view, regarding income and pension, if you spend all year long in Thailand it's very likely you owe tax whether it is remitted or not.

They can't enforce it so everyone can keep this fantasy narrative but I think it's important to be aware of this because in the coming years with Thailand entering CRS treaties things might change.

I could be wrong though, would really like to hear a good tax lawyer on this.

the problem with the banks is the awful rate they give you, on top of the fees you lose a lot at the end.

I would be surprise if the Thai banks behave differently in this regards.

hmpff, I guess this is where crypto comes to the rescue ! www.bitkub.com

Can this be done using Transferwise ?

I don't get it, if you only stay 6 months total whats the issue with SETV and VE ?

The only problem i see is if you want to stay more time with border run and back to back visa, if you stay a few weeks to a month or more between visa its a walk in the park to get in.

For instance for me i drop my passport at an agent in Penang with refundable flight ticket and 10 days refundable hotel booking and bam i got SETV after a few days that you can extend to 30 more days when in Thailand with a simple visit to immigration, total about 4,000THB.

When you cross the border, if you get pulled aside you just have to show flight ticket out, hotel reservation, 20k thb and visa receipt from the embassy. With this no matter how angry the officer looks at you they will let you in. Pretty sure i could do this 3 times a year if no back to back stamps.

15k or 30k USD for an elite visa would be a huge waste of money imho, unless it is to stay all year long, and even then ...

Btw Malaysia is much more than just a Muslim country like some says, very underrated and well worth to visits, very friendly people they all speaks perfect english and the country has better infrastructure than Thailand.

I am kind of a similar situation except not on an Elite visa but I do stay a total of 183 days or more on a tourist visa to be eligible for the tax residency.

First of all, nobody cares what kind of visa you use to stay in a country so don't worry about that.

In most countries you become a tax resident if you stay more than 183 days, more than half a year. If you don't stay anywhere that long, your home country will be able to claim taxes. Overall it's the banking mafia that will define your residency more than anything as you won't be able to open a bank account without proper proof of residence most of everywhere.

For now every time I get asked my address in my home country I give my last address which is the one on my current passport. I can see this becoming an issue if I ever get into some kind of trouble with the authorities but otherwise nobody gives a f really.

It seems a work permit would only be required by the Thai immigration dept if you work with a Thai based company or with Thai people, so any online freelance job or whatever online with a company or people outside of Thailand is fine to do on a tourist visa.

Regarding taxes it's a bit of a grey area however.

As a Territorial taxation country, Thailand only tax on income generated or earn inside Thailand, anything earned outside and not remitted in the country in the current year is not taxed.

That said, from my understanding and according to the law, if you perform an activities that can get classified as work performed on Thailand territory, whether or not the salary is paid oversea and remitted into Thailand, is considered taxable income. Exception in case the income is already taxed in a country that has a double taxation treaty with Thailand.

From my research it seems most people just bury their head in the sand on this by not declaring anything anywhere while working online job in Thailand, earning income and keeping it outside of Thailand. Apparently nobodies ever gets in trouble doing this it seems.

Investment outside of Thailand or management of a foreign company apparently does not qualify as work or as a job and therefore is not taxed as long as the profit is not remitted in the current tax year.

Important f you are involved with crypto, whatever you earned from crypto is considered Thailand income as the blockchain is everywhere they said ... A capital gain tax of 15% is due on crypto trading profit and interest or income earned from crypto would be considered taxable income by the revenue dept not matter what.

1 hour ago, freeman01 said:

given VE entries and how easy you can get 6 months tourist visa

Meant 3 months SETV not 6, cant edit somehow ...

Curious how you got refused your SETV, was it all back to back visa ?

Which embassy ? Which passport and what age range are you ?

Will be requesting SETV a few times next year and that could really help!

2 hours ago, Pravda said:

 

Remember. This is the same guy who thinks bitcoin is a great investment, but can't afford 3000 Euro a year for a hassle free visa to live in Thailand.

Bitcoin that was me.

3,000 a year is not the same as 15,000 upfront for 5 years or 120 something thb a day as mentioned earlier.

As a digital nomad you would want travel around most of the time unlikely to come to thailand more than 2-3 times a year, given VE entries and how easy you can get 6 months tourist visa, an elite visa in this case would be the absolute most terrifyingly stupid way to waste your money.

This thread is golden, somehow after weeks or research on the matter i only found it now ...

Thanks everyone for the very details information, very much appreciated!

A bit of my own experience in case it helps anyone, I went to the revenue dept in Hua Hin to request a Thai tax id with the narrative of having income remitted to Thailand this year but they asked for proof and to come back with a bank statement and also a residence certificate.

As i didnt didnt have anything to show at the time I didnt go further yet, initially I was hoping it would just be a formality as many have stated on this forum but apparently it depends on which office you go... Welcome to Thailand ????

21 minutes ago, Escaflowne said:

I don't think it's an issue as the money only goes from and to French bank accounts. Plus, I cannot be a resident given my visa options.

You become tax resident after spending a total of 183 days in the country regardless of which visa you used to get in.

if you pay taxes in France then no worries because of the double tax treaty between the 2 country, if you don't however then this is something to investigate.

was an extreme example to make my point obviously, just to make people who might not be very knowledgeable financially that those 30,000 USD could be worth more than it seems at first.

Although since you asked, I would bet on bitcoin currently for insane gains long term.

To iterate on my post above, I believe in this case you wouldn't be breaking the immigration laws by doing this freelance job while staying in the country, simply because you do not take anyone's job.

But you would be breaking the Revenue dept laws if not paying taxes for a job performed on Thailand territory as per Thailand territorial taxation system.

If I am not mistaken Thailand will be entering the CRS treaty with european countries and many others in the coming years, when they do they will have access to bank account information in all CRS countries that are owned by Thai tax resident individual and then would be able to asks questions and make you pay in this case.

Interested to have anyone's constructive opinion on this.

1 hour ago, Mike Teavee said:

Small (but important) correction, you'll only be taxed on money earned this year that's brought into the country, so if you are bringing in monies earned in the previous calendar year, they're not liable for Tax.

 

E.G. if on 1st January you brought in all of the money you needed for the year, then doesn't matter how much you earn outside of Thailand during the year, it's not taxable. 

 

Hmm ... this is where this is a bit of a grey area actually.

Since you are actually performing an actual job as a web developer inside the territory of Thailand, you income could very well fall under Thailand tax even without remitting the funds in the country if you stay all year. This as opposed to activities such as investing or managing a company overseas that wouldn't fall under work activity I believe.

I am pretty certain they don't enforce that though, and even if they wanted to it would be very difficult to do, but technically I would be careful stating the opposite with certainty.

Note that the Immigration dept and the Revenue dpt aren't working together systematically but only on rare cases, I believe each have their own set of rules.

2 hours ago, Matzzon said:

I know this will sound insane for you. Have you ever considered that some people can think of 1MB as a very good investment for getting 20 hassle free years in Thailand?

I guess it´s up to each and everyone to decide what is of value in life.

(Note: I agree with you, that it would be much better to make investments with the money)

I am just stating my opinion obiviously. It's not insane at all, as long as you are fully aware of the alternatives before you make your choice.

Believe it or not I am actually considering it myself so I have given it a lot thoughts, but currently I am eyeing at those new bitcoin backed loans that are starting to pop here and there for this.