gejohesch

I think I get your point re. pensions and tax evasion. It would probably be easy for (say) a Thai person having worked in (say) Germany) and receiving a pension there to not declare it to the Thai finances. Is that what you mean? One would then have to be sure that there is poor/insufficient communication between German and Thailand authorities!

Me : “I don't think it's that rare. It would be similar if I was resident in Portugal (past the 10 years "Residente Não Habitual" period), as my pension is from the private sector, paid in my home country, it would become entirely taxable in Portugal.” You: “Are you talking specifically pensions, or income in general? There's a big difference, pensions can't be readily abused for tax evasion. Washing money through a tax haven can.” In the example I was giving (if being “resident non habitual” in Portugal), I was focusing on pension as it's now my only income. The DTA (double tax agreement) between Portugal and my home country specifies that pensions from the private sector will be declared and taxed in Portugal, whereas pensions from the public sector (eg gvt administration, army, civil service and so on) remain to be declared and taxed in my home country. Btw, the DTA applies to whoever receives an income in/from my home country, regardless of his / her nationality. That’s an important point, often ignored, that could be found generally in many other DTA’s. Let’s make it clear with one example : imagine a citizen from Peru having worked in my home country and being now resident in Portugal. As that Peruvian person would receive a pension from my home country, the DTA between my home country and Portugal would apply. Possibly, the DTA between Peru and Portugal would also have to be checked (if there is one). It all depends (again) on how DTA’s are written. Everyone should do his / her homework and check what applies to his / her situation. There could be all sorts of bells and whistles in a DTA! I cannot comment on how pensions can be abused for tax evasion. I have no idea about that!

"There is a bi-lateral agreement between my home country and India, and it stipulates that if I'm resident in India, my pension income (sourced in my home country) becomes taxable in India and not in my home country." I don't think it's that rare. It would be similar if I was resident in Portugal (past the 10 years "Residente Não Habitual" period), as my pension is from the private sector, paid in my home country, it would become entirely taxable in Portugal. The point here is do not think that your own case is going to be the norm for citizens of other countries. Each one has to do his / her home work and check what a bilateral agreement with Thailand exactly says.

If the agreement states simply "income abroad is taxed abroad; income in Thailand is taxed in Thailand", that is not correct. There are indeed agreements that include an offset mechanism, but then that must be explicitly stated.

Yes, that sounds absolutely correct. For info, Thailand has currently 61 double-tax agreements, check the link here : Double Tax Agreements in Thailand, What you need to know. (belaws.com) Thailand may have the ambition to do what they like, but of there is a bilateral agreement between Country X and Thailand covering taxation, that sets the rules between Thailand and country X. Thailand cannot unilaterally change the rules. Renegotiation of up to 61 existing agreements look like a himalayan task to me, especially knowing that usually it would take years (rather than months) to renegotiate. Good luck with that!

"They can also ask to file a tax return, calculate the Thai tax amount and deduct what you pay abroad" Sure, they can ask for a tax return, that would be expected. But if you are citizen of a country that has a bi-lateral agreement with Thailand, and that agreement covers taxation (it would normally do), then Thailand just has to abide by the letter of that agreement, if not Thailand has a dispute not just with you, but with the government of the country of which you are a citizen. Period. Now, such agreements come in various forms and shades and you would have to check what your own situation is. Myself, I know exactly the following (Iwas resident and had been employed in Thailand for a few years, some time ago) : whatever income I get sourced in my home country is taxable in my home country + whatever income I get sourced in Thailand is taxable in Thailand. I went through a number of yearly exercices, so I know. Now, if I become resident in Thailand again and if Thailand want to tax me on whatever income I receive in my home country, Thaianld will pick up a fight with my home country because that would be simply illegal. Years ago, I checked what my tax situation would be if I became resident in India - sthg I contemplated for a while. There is a bi-lateral agreement between my home country and India, and it stipulates that if I'm resident in India, my pension income (sourced in my home country) becomes taxable in India and not in my home country. I write this at length and I'm aware of some repeats, but I wanted to make it clear : Thailand cannot do whatever they like to do wrt taxing citizens of countries with which Thailand has a bi-lateral agreement. Again, and for the last time : check if there is a bi-lateral agreement between your country and Thailand, check what it says wrt taxation, and in case of doubt consult your country diplomatic representation in Thailand, consulate or whatever.

"The world wide income tax will never happen" : it certainly cannot be applied to citizens of countries that have a bi-lateral agreement with Thailand to avoid double taxation and tax 1) income in Thailand, in Thailand; 2) income in home country, in home country. In such case, Thailand attempting to tax a foreigner's income in his home country would just be plain illegal. Thailand would have to renegotiate such bi-lateral agreement, and I would not think that would be a quick and easy thing to do (my guess is it would take years).

"Thailand has an incredible record of (complicated and) ever changing rules." Just an additional comment on those few words. It seems to me that "ever changing" thing is a deep syndrome of the Thai psyche. I take 2 examples: 1 - My wife (a lovely Thai woman) - she has a very large and nice house compound with some 150 sq. metres habitable and 1/2 dozen patches around and in between where she grow all sorts of greens. That's really it : "all sorts of greens"! Year X, it's 2 mango trees between house 1 and house 2, Year Y it's cutting those trees out; Year A, it's growing bananas at the back of house 2; Year B it's getting rid of them to plant avocados; Year M, it's growing bamboo between the jackfruit tree and the big tree with beautiful yellow flowers in the court yard, Year N it's cutting the bamboo and replacing with papayas, Year O it's removing the papayas, Year P (now) I just managed to convince her not to cut that big tree with beautiful yellow flowers but phew, that was a short call! --- I'm not telling you about the dozens of modifications by the soi side, you would get sick! 2 - A large Thai organisation I happen to have much contact with a few years ago - They revised their "strategy" just about every single year! Now, anyone knowing about strategy in a big corporation will understand that this is nonsense, by people who have no concept of what strategy is. To make it plain, just imagine you are sending a tanker from say Taipei to Rotterdam; you decide the tanker will sail west through the Indian Ocean, pass Cape Horn, go north along the African coast and so on; Halfway through the journey, just about reaching or passing Cape Horn, you decide now it would be better to sail east, cross the Pacific Ocean, pass through the Magallanes Strait, cross the Atlantic aiming north-east and so on. ----- Get the point? That's how changing strategy too often amounts to.

Unfortunately, I tend to agree. Thailand has an incredible record of complicated and ever changing rules. Thailand should take an example from how Malaysia does it - straight and simple. I traveled to KL a few months ago and was stopped at the immigration because I had not arranged for the ETA. I did not know it was a new requirement, having traveled in and out there multiple times over the years before, and never had any problem as I carry a EU passport. But I could fix it right there by the immigration desk, it took me 5 minutes and I just had to let pass a dozen or so of other travelers in front of me while I was connecting with the relevant website. That shows Malaysia has an easy and straightforward system in place. Thailand, again, should look into it. ...... But, I forgot, it's Thailand, and why should Thailand learn from anyone anywhere outside Thailand????

Hi! No, she has not done any. I managed to convince her that she really is too young for any invasive surgery. So once in a while, it's still just botox for her - and I managed to keep her from doing it once a year. She is 50 now and far from being a "case of urgent intervention". She's just put on a bit of weight, mostly because food is sometimes too rich in the countries where we travel (eg Mexico Turkey, France). But again, she is 50, not a 25 years old young girl, so it's something of a fact of life!

Serbia = better food? I'm intrigued. I mean it, I've never been to Serbia. As for "white women", I remain skeptical, I may be wrong and prejudiced but I sort of tend to think that 1) "white women" can be attractive when young, not so much when aging (no difference maybe with SE Asia women, I agree) - however, SE Asian can be lovely and dedicated for the rest of one's life (if chosen correctly - my experience); 2) "white women" would not come cheap - correct me if I'm wrong. As said, I don't know anything about Serbia.

You just wait until confirmation and details on how it will work. The sting is in the tail!

chaos in progress, that's the Thai way of working (I have years of experience working in a Thai organisation)

As an example of how (I think) the education system is very poor in Thailand, I recall a few years ago when my wife's son (from a previous marriage, Thai husband died in a car accident) prepared for the entrance examination to the navy cadet school. He asked me to help him and we went through pages of questions and tests typical of that entrance examination. There were loads of questions where he had to chose the correct answer out of 3 or 4 possibilities. He used to get stuck with multiple choice questions, when he did not immediately know the answer. I showed him how he could often proceed by elimination, i.e. eliminating the obviously wrong answers. He had never heard of that approach! I noticed a number of times, when debating a particular issues in a Thai professional environment, that if I was called to explain something and my explanation passed over the heads of my colleagues, some of them would automatically think that I was wrong. Really weird : "I don't know about this matter. You are explaining it to me. Sorry, I do not understand. Therefore you are wrong!"

Some theoricians state that the IQ is a fixed, absolute measure for a given individual. I don't think that's correct. I think most of the people around the world have pretty much the same intellectual potential to start with, regardless of country and ethnic considerations. I think that the IQ depends then to a large extent on the environment and the education system. So, what about Thailand? With several years of experience, both in big city and in the countryside, both with Thai colleagues at work and with my wife's family and surrounding villagers, I notice that 99% of the people have very little intellectual curiosity, have a very little attention span, never read anything apart of media garbage, etc etc. Thais seem to live in a mega bubble of their own. I know I may sound politically incorrect in saying so, but my impression is that they suffer of some massive brainwashing. Too much quick instant satisfaction (the "sanuk" culture). Too much religion also (a clear case of "the people's opium"). I don't pretend to fully understand the Thais, they are so different to any other people I know...

I have just gone there today. I saw a few paintings indeed, but that rather looked like stuff printed in series, and not really what I'm looking for. I understand everything has got its right price, and that equally applies to paintings. Even an unknown average artist will not sell anything for a few 100 bahts, but rather a few 1000's. Fine! I'm willing to put the price. Which brings me to Chatuchak (someone mentioned). I will keep looking around in Khon Kaen, on the occasion I pass there, but I am sure Chatuchak will have a lot more choice than anywhere else. Maybe one day passing through Bangkok, I will stop over for 1 or 2 days and check around Chatuchak. I wonder if I would buy for a sufficient amount, maybe the stuff could be sent (at a fee) to our house near Khin Kaen?

Interesting. You mean Baan&Beyond, obviously, on the main road between the Ton Tan market and Central, coming from the south, next to BigC?

Can be a good idea. Thanks!

Just a shame it's a bit far and I'm not driving to BKK anymore...

Is that in Khon Kaen? It's often difficult to find places with google map, spelling issues etc....

Sounds interesting, thanks!

OK, thanks! I see one DoHome big shop right outside KK, on the road direction Udon Thani. Can have a look one of these days!

As the title says, where can I buy paintings for decoration in Khon Kaen ? I mean the type of paintings one puts up on the wall to make the house look nicer and more interesting. If I google this up, I get quite a few returns, but as I live outside Khon Kaen and do not like so much driving endlessly around the city, I would prefer to go on someone's recommendations. Would anyone know? Thanks!

OK, thanks a lot, sounds like the bottom line advice! Indeed, they are not painted so the colour has to be declared "silver". Little or no corrosion, as you say, fits well with my observation concerning the old leftovers. So, tarpaulin on a frame of some sort + air circulation!

I'm replying to you, but this also is for all the others who have kindly commented on my initial post. First, I will keep the steel tubes, indeed closed sections, for some 10-12 months before using them for the new roof. Not longer. That would be doing the work in January next year. The reason I'm now delaying the work is that I'm leaving Thailand in a few days, and I absolutely do not want to have any work done on the house in my absence, even by a team of guys we have used a few times before and who do good work - certainly compared with a few others who disappointed me. I'm back for a good length of time between August and October. The job could be done them but I thought I would rather wait until January because of the risk of heavy rains. Right now, the tubes are neatly lined up, on cement blocks to keep them off the ground. I could space them up a bit more from each other to facilitate air ventilation. The idea of a tarpaulin cover but, again, with some ventilation space around, is easy to implement. I do not have enough space in the car port for the tubes. But, btw, I have had left over tubes from a previous roofing job (our second house just next door). It's exactly the same sort of steel as our new stock - they are white (or silver?), definitely not black - maybe that's the galvanised type (not sure...). The point is that the car port is not totally closed, it lets a lot of rain come in, and those old steel left overs (2 or 3 years) have not shown any sign of corrosion whatsoever. So I thought that leaving our new stock with no special treatment for 1 year would not be such an issue.