NoDisplayName

For the beer and whiskey!

Ad hominem examples include attacking someone's character instead of their argument, such as saying, "You can't trust his opinion on climate change because he's not a scientist," or "Why should we listen to her about health when she smokes?" These attacks divert attention from the actual issue being discussed.

You don't understand. Mohammad wants to stay home. But NATO regime-changed his government, blowed up the factory where he worked, destroyed the infrastructure in his city. He has no choice but to look for jobs elsewhere. If we stop bombing, maybe he can stay home where he prefers.

Just imagine, Ukraine gave up ethnic cleansing, implemented the Minsk agreements, instead of bombing kindergartens and shopping malls. Just hypothetical, of course, but Crimea could still be in Ukraine and the Russians could still be paying the lease on Sevastopol.

From someone who left his homeland by choice, not because NATO bombed my regime into submission and installed a collection of mostly peaceful moderate headchoppers in its place.

No problem, you still have old-fashion vaccine technology to choose from. You can Chinese Sinopharm or Russian Sputnik. Safe and effective.

Or....................maybe it's time to stop bombing Mohammad's home, destroying Mohammed's infrastructure, and regime-changing Mohammed's government, and then maybe Mohammed can stay home.

Okay, you caught me! It's over 179 days in Thailand, over 183 days in the US.

I'm no expert, so I'ma say not necessarily. I think it has to do with the lock in period. Fixed accounts are short-term, 6 months to a year, term deposits then would be longer duration, over a year? Might also have different penalties. Fixed accounts only lose interest accrued if withdraw early. I think term deposits charge a penalty fee for early withdrawal, so you lose some of the original capital. May also have different interest schedules. Fixed might be semi-annual, term might be annual or at end of contract. But........I'm not an expert.

Why post from this source, other than for the entertainment value?

The TRD folks were looking for ways to expand the tax base. And sure, they can grab more from the middle class by closing some loopholes. They can grab more from the overseas workers picking berries in Finland. They likely didn't imagine the other potential victims. The wealthy just got caught in the same net as the real targets. Same as how expats might get caught. We aren't the target, just as rich Thais are not. The difference is that wealthy Thais have options. They are either in other parts of government, or have leverage they can utilize to affect change. Follow this to its natural conclusion, and you could justify the belief that global taxation will never be implemented either.

Okay, so they re-interpreted the legislation, instituting new rules, without working through all the potential consequences. Surprised?

I don't really care, it's not that important. It was in the W8-BEN filing, so may or may not be required when claiming DTA benefits. It is required, according to some posters here, when filing in their home countries to claim taxation in Thailand and not at home. May be similar for Thais wanting to get the 15% DTA withholding rather than the standard 30%. I'd posit US financial institutions require a TIN for non-resident foreign......................no, wait, more than posit. I opened a Schwab account for the wife a couple weeks ago, had to provide her Thai TIN. Opened one for myself as well, and was required to provide my Thai TIN along with my SSN when claiming tax residency in Thailand. The point of my post was that wealthy Thais are able to bring massive amounts of money into Thailand tax-free. That's the beauty of being wealthy, you have friends willing to assist you in maintaining your wealth. .................Make that "were able." This new ruling hits them bigly. The $Millions they could bring in free last year can now be taxed as ordinary income.........30-35%! Unless they use more expensive options, setting up family trusts and front companies to hide their wealth. I'll have to assume those same wealthy Thais have been contacting their friends to complain, thus "Thailand May Ease Overseas Income Tax Rules Amid Global Changes."

A new sheriff in Arkansas, not too bright they say, was trying to crack a murder case. He heard somewhere that the last thing a person saw before death was etched onto their retinas. He ordered the morgue to dissect the victim's eyeballs, and find out what was etch-a-sketched onto the insides of his eyes. The coroner took a close-up photo of a bullet and sent that to the sheriff. Case closed! True story. I read it on the innertubes.

A foreigner who spends >183 days in the US would be considered tax resident, same-same as here in Thailand. I'm talking about wealthy Thais residing in Thailand, Investing offshore, thus non-resident in the US for tax purposes. Withholding tax of 30% is generally assessed, unless....................there is a DTA. The difference is, US tax forms offer provisions to claim DTA benefits, unlike here in Thailand. The non-resident alien fills out a Form W8-BEN identifying themselves with their foreign TIN to the financial institution, and the bank/brokerage handles the rest. Tax is withheld at source, sent directly to the IRS, and the foreigner does not need to file a tax return. The rate of withholding varies depending on the DTA. For those claiming under the Thai-US treaty, dividends and interest are taxed at 15%. For those claiming under the Sino-US treaty, the rate is 10%. In both cases, capital gains on stock/mutual fund sales is NOT taxed in the US. Capital gains on property? I dunno. So wealthy Thai's investing in the US got their cake - no tax on capital gains from stocks. Then they got to eat it - no tax on remittances when income is from previous years. That changed with the new interpretation, wealthy Thais suddenly had to pay tax on the $Millions of offshore investment gains they brought in to Thailand. And that is why I believe this ruling will be reversed. Publication 515 (2025), Withholding of Tax on Nonresident Aliens and Foreign Entities https://www.irs.gov/publications/p515#en_US_2024_publink1000224807 ***OPINION, NOT ADVICE. FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY***

Hub of "Life is like a box of fish sauce infused chocolates"

Sold house in 2024. Not tax resident in Thailand 2024. Move to Thailand July 09 would put you in country for 176 days, so also not tax resident in 2025. (assuming no other visits!) Appears safe to remit in 2025 without having assessable income. The new rule is still not clearly established, and now there's talk that it may be reversed as Thailand has seen a drop in remittances. Will offshore income earned while NOT tax resident be taxed when remitted to Thailand in a later tax-resident year? I think not, which would allow you to transfer your 2024 house sale proceeds in 2025 without paying tax, even if tax-resident.......but it hasn't been tested yet. Stay tuned to find out what happens when you remit 2026 or later when tax resident. **OPINION ONLY, NOT ADVICE.**

It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly, a regulation was re-interpreted! A loophole slammed shut. The mia noi screamed. Suddenly, a BMW smart car appeared at the end of the soi! While millions of expats were starving, the tax-stamp pimps lived in luxury. Meanwhile, on a small thread in Jobs & Banking, a scaremonger was mongering....

Oh, no, I forgot the 33,000 emails!

Did they check the cardboard boxes behind the corvette in biden's garage?

For the confused amongst us: Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany has accused the German chancellor of behaving like an “offended liver sausage” by declining to visit Kyiv. In comments to the German Press Agency published Tuesday, Andriy Melnyk suggested Olaf Scholz was being childish for opting out of a visit after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky snubbed German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier last month, declining his offer to meet because he said Steinmeier had cultivated close ties with Moscow. “Playing an offended liverwurst doesn’t sound very statesmanlike,” Melnyk said of Scholz’s decision, using a German colloquialism commonly employed to describe someone as a prima donna. https://www.thedailybeast.com/ukrainian-ambassador-andriy-melnyk-dubs-german-chancellor-olaf-scholz-an-offended-liver-sausage/

You might be on to something there! Do we really need to spend more on "defense" than the next ten nations combined? Do we really need 800+ foreign military bases? Hopefully Doogie can get in there and audit the hell out of the pentagram!

Lets axe 'em! But better make it an AUDIO survey. On average, 79% of U.S. adults nationwide are literate in 2024. 21% of adults in the US are illiterate in 2024. 54% of adults have a literacy below a 6th-grade level (20% are below 5th-grade level). Gosh, the fine folks at the Department of Edumacations got us ranked just below Zimbabwe and Zambia! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! Less bang for the buck: In 2019, the United States spent $15,500 per full-time-equivalent (FTE) student on elementary and secondary education, which was 38 percent higher than the average of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries of $11,300 (in constant 2021 U.S. dollars).

You're welcome!

Half of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention's Epidemic Intelligence Service officers — a group known as the CDC's "disease detectives" — were among the cuts made Friday by the Trump administration, multiple health officials tell CBS News. As part of the fellowship, they serve for two years around the CDC or deployed to health departments across the country, often on the front lines of public health responses. Many go on to rise through the ranks at the agency after being selected for the program. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cdc-disease-detectives-doge-cuts-health-agencies/ The Trump administration has laid off approximately 1,270 employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, amounting to nearly 10% of the agency's workforce. https://www.btimesonline.com/articles/172843/20250215/trump-administration-cuts-nearly-10-of-cdc-workforce-eliminates-half-of-disease-intelligence-officers.htm Cutting in half a 2-year fellowship training program ≠ scrapped, and cutting an entire department by 10% isn't exactly earth-shattering. We may not like what Trump-Musk are doing, but let's not lie about it.