chiang mai

I think you are right and not to rain on your parade because I think 2017 is very safe. But there is a question as to when the sale proceeds of a capital asset such as a house, actually become savings and nobody seems to know. For example, if you sell your house in January and then remit the proceeds in February, are those considered savings? Probably not is the short answer, especially if the sale and the remittance are made in a year when you are Thai tax resident. If you weren't tax resident in the year of sale or remittance, the funds are not assessable.

In practise they are easily traceable.....Mastercard/Visa networks Thailand have copies of the transaction, as does the merchants bank, as does the central bank for forex purposes. Nobody is really interested however, unless its large scale evasion or fraud.

No, not if you don't have assessable income and are only remitting pre January 1 2024 savings.

Taxable or traceable are two different subjects, - is it taxable? - I think so - is active detection and traceability in place and or likely? - I think not

Correct

Oh I don't know, two square meals a day, free health care and a break from the missus plus a lot of banter with the lads all day long, it beats working your butt off in the rice fields in the hot sun. :))

Because they have little to lose in most cases, perhaps.

You are correct, the tax year ends 31 December. You have until 31 March to file a return for the previous year,

There are two aspects to this, the first is what the law says and the second is enforcement. As a foreigner on a long stay visa with a wife and family here, does anyone really need enforcement before they follow the prescribed law! The fact that many Thai's don't follow the law is not relevant, they can't get kicked out of the country for not doing so.

"Thailand's tax code states any money remitted to Thailand, using a debit card isn't remitting money to Thailand". Where exactly in the tax code does it say that? I don't believe it says anything of the sort.

Yes you're right, the terms Allowance and Deduction are often used interchangeably when really they shouldn't be. The point is that the same 50% deductions that is used for income is also allowed for pensions, I have claimed that every year for many years.

I was thinking dead cat bounce but Bloomberg is saying the bottom is in.....JPM estimates there's another 50% of the carry trade yet to cash out. S&P is up 1%+ currently. Overall I'm down 2% thus far which is very respectable, I think.

In case you haven't seen it, many of these things have been documented in the link below: a) Personal Allowance for self (PA1) - 60,000 b) Personal Allowance for wife (PA2) - 60,000 c) Over age 65 years exemption (OAE) - 190,000 d) 50% of pension income received, up to 100k (PD) - 100,000 e) In addition, the first 150,000 of assessable income is zero rated and free of tax (ZR) 90) Additional deductions and allowances exist for health or life insurance premiums paid in Thailand, along with a range of other things. A complete list of deductions, allowances and exemptions can be found in the links below: https://www.rd.go.th/english/6045.html or from Sherrings below. https://sherrings.com/personal-tax-deductions-allowances-thailand.html You should be aware that Allowances and Deductions are different things, deductions are expense avenue specific, ie, deductions against types of income. Allowances are purpose specific, ie, care, medical etc.

Standard Deductions against Categories 1 (salary or pension income), Cat. 2 (Service/Agents fees etc) Cat. 3 (annuities plus), Cat 5 (Rental income), Cat 6 (profession specific), Cat 7 (Construction Services) & Cat 8 (agriculture/commercial/transport income). PLUS, standard deductions against Health Insurance, Life Insurance, Retirement Savings (LTF and RMF's), Mortgage Interest, etc etc etc. https://sherrings.com/personal-tax-deductions-allowances-thailand.html Sections 42 thru 47 of the TRD Code explains: https://www.rd.go.th/english/37748.html Self employed can take a 60% cost of sales standard deduction: "In 2016 and prior years, self-employed income taxpayers were entitled to claim the standard expenses deduction up to 85% of their income. With effect from the 2017 tax years, the standard expenses deduction is now limited to 60% of income. On the upside, however, taxpayers with self-employed income may elect to rather itemize and claim the actual expenses incurred during the tax year. This would be beneficial where the actual expenses incurred exceed the standard expenses deduction". https://kpmg.com/th/en/home/insights/2018/02/thailand-tax-updates-15february2018.html

Many if not most categories of Thai income offer a standard deduction option. Pension income, income from employment, rental income, income from product sales for self employed, all have the standard deduction option, most of which are attractive alternatives to savings receipts and itemizing expenses all year..

Agreed again, and I did tell them. I raised this solely in the context of future pension increases during deferment.

That is the point, I am non resident for tax but there is almost nothing that forces me to tell DWP, in fact, the incentive is not to tell them.

That sounds right, the question is whether filing a tax return as not UK resident automatically informs DWP. My experience is the two entities are separate. I've filed returns as not resident and also received my pension as a resident, for three years during COVID-19.

I disagree. There are facts and there are opinions and UK DWP has stated fact, they are the sole authority for that fact, regardless of the opinions others may have, nobody's opinions can change that fact. Anyway, you haven't given a reason why they might wish to take the opposite view, for what benefit.

I'm uncertain but believe it should remain true because the pension disbursement has not yet started.

I agree with this. The annual increase remains in effect, until such time as you decide to take the pension, after which, the issue of frozen or unfrozen arises, but not before.

That despite the apparent liberalism of the tourist areas, the country as a whole is very conservative.

Commentators now saying that the markets melt down is merely a reaction to end of the large scale carry trade involving YEN and not much to do with the US economy at all. The Nikkei is up 13% this morning. That seems more plausible to me.

It does seem perverse and contrarian, without an obvious valid reason.

I don't understand your logic regarding the UK State Pension. The UK government confirms it is not a government pension, which means it is assessable, that is the worst case scenario. If TRD were, for some completely bizarre reason, decide to classify it as a government pension, that would take away their ability to tax that income and they would lose revenue. Is that what you are suggesting might happen?