Karma80

The government doesn't seem to understand that CBDCs compete with the normal monetary system and have many risks, so most countries have not proceeded. There is every chance they will screw the economy with this pursuit of a utopian tax dream or nightmare, whichever side of the fence you sit on.

Go to any place that allows the purchase of land and houses by foreigners and see the impact of Asian money on the local market. Careful of what you wish for. Sims for tourists? Why not. Can't hurt, and anything to increase mobile phone company competition is good.

Is there a country the PM hasn't agreed to take their money co-operate with?

Why. The expansion of the RD directive is regarding remitted monies, not dividends (a passive income which is not Thai sourced), which remain overseas. This is not assessable or included in a Thai tax return. Just as an aside - fun fact - the US is not a CRS signatory.

It was just the uncosted bribe to pay for votes. At worst, it's a way to introduce a CBDC into Thailand, which has some serious implications, especially given the less-than-democratic nature of the governance. Let's not pretend for a moment the intention is humane.

Shock news - one UK bank closes the accounts of a couple of people who are not resident in the UK - just like the terms and conditions of holding an account said all along. You can't expect anyone to have any sympathy for you if you decide to live in Thailand, or elsewhere, and do zero planning for you banking, taxation or other arrangements. There are plenty of banks and fintechs that cater to non residents and expats. The Thai RD directive isn't the sky falling down and you can structure around it quite well in most cases. You were always up for some international tax compliance by moving. Do I wish it was much easier? Yup. But it's not the end of the world.

TAT is already trying to blame the drop in tourism on a war which started a couple of days ago. They will spin any garbage at the moment to avoid the uncomfortable reality that Thailand is not as attractive as it once was. I don't think the Japan Tourism authority is seeing the same thing, as they are dealing with over tourism!

The Thai government talks about a great many things, including the impractical, impossible or just downright illegal from an international legal standpoint. Passing of information from Thai banks about Thai citizens to the Thai RD is one thing, but the passing of detailed transactional and customer information cross border is illegal beyond the scope of ratified agreements between countries. For example CRS.

The senate circus continues to be tone deaf to the mood of the nation and reinforce the public opinion they should go. This isn't a parking ticket - it's drug dealing and money laundering for heavens sake. Laughable. A low bar.

Remind me why I bother to pay my Non-B, work permit, tax, extensions, multiple re-entry, social security and Thai health cover again? Yes, it's only 300 Bhat, but it's just a grubby move and one more small thing to add to the pile of discontent and annoyance at airports.

I don't think this is any way to be talking about the future PM ????

*More frustrated. He didn't exactly start off the people's choice.

I for one hope that the PM actually takes professional advice and realises the implications for the country of a CBDC rollout beyond the obvious of just bribing people with 10,000 THB and the decade long debt that will be the legacy. The people of Thailand should be rightly concerned. The CBDC "digital wallet" is programmed to only let you spend it in a certain way and gives the Thai Central Bank absolute insight into where money gets spent, imbed programable controls, and delete, freeze or otherwise implement social controls without legal process. Feeling dystopian enough for anyone, yet? It's dystopian enough for many countries to have walked back their interest. Of course, if you were a quasi defacto dictatorship or kleptocracy, it would appeal a lot....

A trip to Central in Phuket today and all the entrances have a guard and walk through metal detector. I mean, I don't mind that at all, but I have never feared for gun violence in Thailand.

Not just to raise funds for the payment. The 10,000 THB to each citizen is a CBDC (Central bank digital currency) and will make Thailand one of the first countries in the world to make that legal tender. What better way to get broad acceptance and have people "exploiting a loophole" (aka just following the law for 40 years) pay for it. I think as expats, the concern would be how rapidly the integration of CBDC and banking segments, combined with generally corrupt and/or incompetent governmental levels will move and how it ends up. I personally think the taxation system will become more hostile once it has teeth and data. This instruction to the RD is just part of the broad roadmap and we can always guarantee that there are a bunch of people with their noses in the trough with an interest to make it happen.

3 - 4 years? Add in the political nonsense and let's round it to 10. We'll be knee deep in PM turnover at that point.

Moral of the story - don't bribe people with uncosted promises of 10,000 Baht so you can get elected and hand over a bill for the massive debt that will take a decade or more to pay. But in the longer term, the rapid move to mass introduction of the digital Bhat CBDC should be the bigger concern.

My strategy will be to avoid bringing the money into the country from overseas. I have the latitude of a salary taxed in Thailand already, but the bulk of my other income will stay offshore. My rough numbers are that I won't have an additional tax liability in Thailand if I choose to remit it, as the funds are mostly already taxed elsewhere. But there is no way I am throwing myself in the firing line of Thai RD, and jumping through hoops over the first few years of "misunderstandings" and whatever, or risking moving to LTR until that has gone through the wash in the new paradigm. Someone else can be the crash test dummy. I'm sure there will be legal challenges in the tax court and all sorts of other shenanigans to play out yet. Until then, Thailand looses my income and investment. They won't lose any sleep over it, I am smaller than small fish. But I still can't fathom why to introduce this massive uncertainty for the next couple of years.. As a couple of well off Thai friends said, it's OK, we just won't bring the money here or use other ways.

Anyone living in Thailand can tell you that's selectively fabricated. I wonder how the impact of 10,000 THB to every citizen is going to play out on inflation - my bet is more creative accounting.

It does. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/thailand-tax-treaties

Technically, you are remitting it into Thailand so you would need to declare it. In practice, there is no way to enforce this. So, you will now see people just hitting up the ATM for cash from their overseas account, or using a no international fee credit card from an overseas bank. Completely tax legal? Nope.

He could enhance Thailand's reputation by not dressing up like deckchair for a start.

Releasing 560 Billion Bhat of free money into the system. If only we had some sort of recent reference as to how it might impact the economy as a whole when governments throw huge quantities of money about....

Another day, another flip-flop. Still working out how to actually pay for the bribes election promises magicked up from nothing.

I've seen enough people here in Phuket riding bikes after smoking a joint and a few actually just smoking and riding to agree with this. The cops in Chalong at the circle should just drugs test for a week. I imagine the traffic situation would instantly get better.