BE88

On 6/9/2024 at 7:19 AM, Kinnock said:

In general, Thai men's view of an 'attractive' woman is different to the typical Western males preference.  So Thai men feel that we've gone for the women they rejected.

 

Often, when visiting a shopping mall, when I see a woman I perceive as beautiful - 9 times out of 10, their partner is Western.

 

We tend not to fancy the white-skinned, petite, curve-free, flat-cheekboned, Chinese-Thai girls that Thai men perceive as ideal wives - which is lucky, as they don't fancy us either.

 

I'm not referring exclusively to  the dark skinned, long legged Isaan girls as meeting Western tastes .... as many girls from other regions have very attractive features to Western eyes.  The classic Thai look of large, exotic eyes, high cheekbones, luscious lips, high forehead and long dark hair plus 'dusky maiden' skin tones, ticks all the boxes for us.

 

My wife is from Samut Prakarn, a Bangkok 'commuter belt', and her friends and family told her she should go to Bangkok to find a good falang husband, as she had the looks we like.  To my eyes she's perfection .... slim and leggy but with curves where needed, cappuccino colored skin, large expressive eyes and a stunning smile.  But to Thai men she's not wife material, as she's too sexy looking.  To them she'd be an ideal 'Gik'.

 

Just look at the Lakorn TV serials, the white skinned Chinese-Thai wife being wronged by the overtly sexy Mia Noi.

 

Yes, nice description of your partner's body, but have you checked at the brain level?

12 minutes ago, NoDisplayName said:

 

You could buy an elite visa for 100-150K baht per year and not pay income tax. 
 

 

 

Elite visas are just scams and are not exempt from paying taxes

2 hours ago, Sheryl said:

 

Point 1 - Correct. This is always the way changes to tax code are done. Made effective in a  future tax year (typically the next one but could vary) and tax year filings are done by March of the year after a tax year ends e.g by March.

 

Being in effect for 2025 income assumes (1) it goes through (not certain) and (2) it goes through before end if this year (even less certain)

 

Point 2 - also correct to my understanding  but I would  say "if and  until" . The change regarding remittances is now in effect and applues to remittances after 1 January of this year. If/when global taxation comes into effect it would render the remittance rule obsolete/irrelevant. 

 

People on this thread seem to assume this will happen, and be applicable to non-Thai citizens. Neither of these things is at all certain. It is still just a proposal, and would require change to tax law to be effective.

 

It is certainly wise for people to be alert to the possibility, calculate what, if anything, it would cost them  and develop a contingency plan.  But should not treat this as a done deal.

 

Would also be advisable to start making noise now, where policy makers will see it (e.g. letters to the newspapers) and to try to  engage your Embassy by informing them of your concerns.

 

This proposal was developed with wealthy Thais in mind and good bet no thought was given to the impact on resident expat retirees. But as this poll shows, that impact would be huge and in a way that completely undermines government efforts to attract retirees. Government needs to be made aware....and now, before anything is written and submitted for approval. They could certainly opt to either limit the change to Thai citizens (only fair given that resident expats aren't eligible for government benefits) or to exclude certain classes of foreigners (e.g. retirees).

 

 

 

 

I am sorry to inform you that the rich Thais already have all the loopholes to avoid paying taxes in Thailand, this new directive is to hit the easiest ones who do not have tax lawyers to advise, that is, the Thai middle class and expats where it is easy to do checks because our governments are very keen to communicate all tax information about us

14 minutes ago, sandyf said:

Tell that to the poster that said it was in effect "now"

Too many premature interpretations.

16 hours ago, sandyf said:

Wrong. I have just had a package delivered from India by Thai Post without any additional charges. Value was around $45 USD.

My replay was to your India statement not the PO
🙃

Is it a joke right ?

14 minutes ago, sandyf said:

Wrong. I have just had a package delivered from India by Thai Post without any additional charges. Value was around $45 USD.

You should know Thailand here everything happens wrongly you would not have paid the tax yet because it is complicated to change the rules but not complicated to continue as before🙃

6 minutes ago, freeworld said:

Nope, depends on the intent, circumstances and the govt resorts to fines and penalties before they get to that stage and it has to be a serious amount of money.

 

April 2023

1. Please define provide details of criminal tax fraud offence in your jurisdiction

In general, a criminal tax fraud offence requires an intention to evade tax. Examples of criminal tax fraud offences are as follows:

According to section 37 of the Revenue Code, any person who performs the following acts shall be subject to an imprisonment from three months to seven years and a fine from THB 2,000 to THB 200,000:

i. intentionally notifies false statement or gives false information or answers with a false statement or shows false evidence to evade taxes or request for a tax refund, or

ii. by fault, fraud, scheme, or any other method of similar nature, evades or attempts to evade tax or request for a tax refund.

According to section 37 bis of the Revenue Code, any person intentionally fails to file tax return forms to evade tax shall be subject to an imprisonment of up to one year, or a fine of up to BHT 200,000, or both.

2. What are the typical trigger points that could lead to criminal investigations? Can the application of certain tax penalties trigger criminal proceedings?

An adjustment of tax payable would not automatically trigger criminal proceedings for tax fraud. In order to constitute a tax fraud offence, other elements must also exist, for example, an intention to evade tax.

Thank you for providing more information on the law in Thailand, but in my country this does not happen and therefore in a country like Thailand where this is possible perhaps with false accusations that you have made an untruthful statement it raises all the danger bells for me which is to laugh about in Thailand.

I didn't survive three months in Thai prisons, so the consequences of these new tax rules are becoming very dangerous for us expats.

6 hours ago, kuzmabruk said:

The information you will give will be to the Thai tax department.  Not your bank.

 

you will submit a tax return with your signature at the bottom.   If you lie you will have committed perjury.   If they audit you.  Good luck.  Perjury is punishable by prison time.  

The mere mention of prison in Thailand makes it much less attractive to expats now

6 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

 

Would they tax me on money I spend using my UK credit card?

Forget this possibility as you would have to indicate all your banking details that you have all over the world

I assume that all expats now hold their breath, relax for another 24 hours and we would have cancelled our visa and perhaps changed it to a visa that is very easy to obtain without bureaucratic complications upon entry and perhaps even upon exit, well it will cost a little more but who love doesn't count.😁

Or maybe not....

""Atkin has fled the country and may be hiding in Thailand. ""

Who think this,  TAT ?

So listen keep working in your hospital as long as you can not everyone is fit to be retired.

49 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

I could provide some suggestions as to specific policies if you provided information on your state of health and prior surgeries/hospitalizations/regular medications. Options for newly enrolling are limited at your age but depending on the aforementioned details, there may be some options.

 

HOWEVER, all are likely to cost about what you were paying when you dropped your prior insurance, if not more. Over the age of 70, even with a 2,000 excess, a decent policy is likely  to cost 4,000+ a year.  It does not  matter whether you personally have had claims, it matters what the average pay out for insured persons your age is. That is how insurance works. (Also, past history of claims is not a very good predictor of the future especially for older people. Quite normal to have no hospitalizations / significant problems up to that age and then to start having them frequently...sooner or later).

 

If you opt to "self insure" make sure you have readily available at  3-5 million baht (1-3 million is willing to use only government hospitals) and a means to replenish it as used. Most people here who say they are "self insured" are in fact uninsured, or under-insured.  Sooner or later this because a major problem.

Not if every month you deposit the money you pay to your insurance in the bank and you have between 3 and 5 million, it is clear that if you start at 70 and then later reach these sums, or simply if you have some previous savings and therefore You say you are self insured which I think is the majority on this forum who claim to be self insured

34 minutes ago, Mike Teavee said:

I think of more concern to a lot of people will be if in simplifying the 17 Non-IMM visa types to 7 types, they merge the Non-Imm O & OA retirement visas forcing non-Imm O holders to get Health Insurance.

 

If they do then let's hope existing holders are Grandfathered in or they offer an alternative for people who cannot get Health Insurance.  

Yes, the good news about immigration is always the same as asking you for more money.

For Thai insurance, no problem for grandparents, they will pay 400,000 THB annually to obtain maybe the max same amount of reimbursements as current Thai insurance offers.

1 hour ago, bamnutsak said:

The smell of desperation is strong this morning.

Where is the money, money ????😁

12 hours ago, george said:

UPDATE:

 

 

 

- Restructuring and reducing the number of Non-Immigrant visa categories from 17 to 7, starting in September 2024.

 

- Adjusting the criteria and conditions for the Long Stay visa for elderly people who wish to spend their retirement in Thailand, starting in September 2024.

 

- Reducing the health insurance requirement for Non-Immigrant visa (O-A) from 3,000,000 baht to pre-COVID-19 levels: 40,000 baht for outpatients and 400,000 baht for inpatients.

 

- Expanding the e-Visa service from 47 to 94 Thai embassies, consulates, and trade and economic offices worldwide by December 2024.

 

Long-term measures:

It will be fully implemented by June 2025.

 

- Developing an Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) system for foreign nationals eligible for visa exemption.

 

- Using technology and innovation to enhance the screening of foreign nationals by integrating data with the Immigration Bureau.

 

Government spokesperson Chai Wacharong stated that while these measures to facilitate tourism will result in a loss of approximately 12.3 billion baht (335.7 million USD) in government revenue annually, the expected return from increased tourism, estimated at 800 billion to 1 trillion baht (21.8 – 27.3 billion USD), led the Cabinet to approve the measures.

 

-- Khao Sot 2024-05-28

Maybe it's just my impression but I'm afraid I won't see any improvement for retired people, what criteria and new conditions for September 2024 ?, actually a worsening but we'll have to wait and see

1 hour ago, hotchilli said:

A so called mercenary aged 22...so called living in Thailand but working as a hired mercenary to fund his stay here?

Not married, not retired he must having been bouncing around for many years doing border runs or time out of Thailand. 

 He is a businessman and don't ask what business.

1 hour ago, Robert Paulson said:

Typical Thai visa post: “my Stella Artois and my Australian grass fed beef has doubled. It’s outrageous idk how the locals can get by”. wtf

Have you noticed that Thais don't drink Stella Artois and they do not eat grass-fed Australian beef.😁

11 minutes ago, Georgealbert said:

You do know the plane was going to Singapore, it was not starting to make a descend into Bangkok. It hit turbulence, that lasted about 10 seconds, so easy to see why other flights never experienced the same problem, there is a lot of sky up there.

 

After the turbulence event, the pilots made a controlled descend of 6000 feet, either to find better weather or on the instruction of ATC after declaring the emergency and asking to divert to BKK.
 

This is nothing like the 737 Max 8 incidents, as that was a flight control system, which has never been fitted on the 777.

 

I suggest avoid alternative truth websites, that start such conspiracy nonsense like this. Post a credible link to you theory.

Where is the link to your statements?

Frankly I don't know, what I do know is that my wife is asking me for more money so I suppose that yes, life has become more 40% expensive, This 40% is my wife's request