nigelforbes

Sorry, I wasn't as clear as I needed to be. I did not mean to imply that the poster would not need to file a UK tax return and pay tax on any income that arises there, he does. But if he did as I proposed, he could file as UK not tax resident and potential exclude any non-uk income. In my case, I have pension income from the US social security system which I do not have to declare for UK tax because I am not UK tax resident.

I agree with the previous poster, cleopatra2. Even if those DTA clauses were relevant, the UK SRT still has a key role. Under SRT rules you would not be UK resident for tax purposes, assuming I have read it correctly that you spend all your time in Thailand. That would mean that you would have to file a Thai tax return and recoup from your UK tax return, whatever overage was paid, citing the DTA with Thailand.....messy to say the least. FWIW I have a UK property also, plus I do not own property in my name in Thailand, our house is in my wifes name. I am obliged to file a UK tax return, because of my rental income but I'm regarded as not UK resident for tax purposes . This means I can exclude from UK tax, all my income that doesn't arise in the UK, plus it's exempt from Thai tax if it's not remitted in the same year. The net result is that I can take advantage of two lots of Personal Allowance, UK and Thai and that I don't have to pay tax anywhere.

Yes I agree that the table of ties can be confusing, but for first time expats it's very straight forward, 183 is the magic number, either way. Even for more complicated tax affairs, less than 30 days in the UK in a tax year and you are automatically not UK resident for tax, regardless of other ties and past year activity. It's the area in the middle that can get complicated, especially where a person has been borderline resident in previous year.

Thailand is a very cheap destination for Chinese tourists, regardless of the impact of covid on their economy.

Thailand is slowly tightening up its money laundering rules, AMLO regulations are popping up everywhere and as usual, Thailand has gone overboard. Also, Thailand will begin to exchange banking information with the other countries, beginning in 2024 I believe. I don't think either Thai banks or banks in the UK want to be caught out as a result of the new regs. and suddenly find out, as the veil of secrecy is lifted, that some of their local trusted customers had dodgy bank accounts in Thailand and were not paying tax appropriately. The penalties for banks in this area are likely to be harsh.

That news about 50%+ of passengers testing positive for covid is being widely circulated but appears to have originated on Twitter. I'm not certain how reliable the news is.

Not really, I just wanted to try and explain all aspects as fully as possible. The basic steps are: Thailand 1) Decide if you are tax resident in Thailand, ie, >183 days per year. If yes, and: 2) If you have offshore pensions remitted here during the year it was earned, and/or, 3) You have rental income from Thailand, and/or, 4) You have other income that arises in Thailand such as savings interest.... 5) File a Thai tax return to pay/reclaim tax. UK 1) Decide if you are tax resident in the UK, ie >183 days per year. If yes, business as usual. If no: 2) Declare yourself to HMRC as not UK tax resident. 3) If not resident but you are still required to file a UK tax return, because your UK income exceeds the personal allowance and/or you have rental income, declare only the income that arises in the UK and pay/reclaim UK tax accordingly.

Whatever system they put in place will have to rely on data obtained here rather than in China, the market for bogus test certificates in China will be massive. That means testing people at the point of entry and that means separating Chinese from every one else, until they are tested and that doesn't seem possible.

The big question is, what heath checks or controls will Thailand place on inbound Chinese tourists, Japan and the USA (at least) are implementing covid testing and controls on inbound Chinese. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/28/china-reopening-travel-japan-restrictions/ https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/12/27/national/japan-borders-china-travelers/

"I explained that retirees are not residents of Thailand and are not required to pay tax on UK pensions". Yes and no! Residency and tax residency are two very different things, as you appear to know hence your visa doesn't have anything to do with it, neither does Thailand's unwillingness to call you resident. This is about the number for days you spend in any one country. AND where your income arises. If you stay in Thailand for more than 183 days each year you are deemed to be Thai resident for tax purposes. In that case, potentially, you could tell the UK's HMRC that you are not UK resident for tax any longer and you wont have to declare income that arises outside the UK. BUT if your income arises in the UK you are still obliged to file a UK tax return, albeit you wont have to pay tax on any income that doesn't arise there, eg interest on Thai bank savings (we'll come back to this in a moment). Your UK pensions are not taxable in Thailand as long as the income you receive from them is brought into Thailand during a different year in which it was earned (Thai tax year is the calendar year). If you bring the money into Thailand during the same year, that income IS taxable in Thailand, subject to tax rules and tax tables, unless the pension is a UK Civil Service pension which is exempt by tax treaty. UK State Pension is not exempt by the Dual Tax Treaty Agreement (DTA) and IS potentially taxable in Thailand, subject to Thai Revenue limits and rules. If you want to reclaim tax paid on Thai bank interest you must file a Thai tax return, if you do so you must declare ALL other qualifying income, eg overseas pension income received during the year it was earned, plus any property rental income earned in Thailand, along with any other income earned inside Thailand. None of this has anything to do with UK tax and HMRC which is subject to its own set of rules, depending on whether you are UK resident or not for tax purposes. Given all those things I can understand your banks concern about your tax residency, given that you say you stay in Thailand for over 183 days each year. Note 1: UK tax residency and the need to file a UK tax return because of the income you received from within the UK are different things. You can easily be not resident for UK tax and still need to file a UK tax return, I am/do. Note 2: I understand that lots of people have strong feelings about the taxation of UK pensions in Thailand and have all kinds of reasons why they believe they are not taxable here, they're already taxed, DTA's etc. The onus is on readers to point out where the DTA says UK State pension income is exempt from Thai tax, it doesn't. It only says that pensions in the service of government are covered. UK citizens continue to have a Personal Allowance under UK tax code, even if they are not resident for UK tax purposes but must still file a tax return.

That's not a completely accurate description of zero dollar tours. Many of the various businesses involved in these tours were either co-owned with Thai's or were business partners in the tour venture. It's true to say that the lions share of the profits were shipped back to China but not all the elements were Chinese owned. The problem with these tours is that Thai businesses became upset that they weren't receiving the percentage of the profits they aspired to, that's why the government stepped in, under the guise of the tours harming Thailand's image. There was nothing wrong with the tours per se, they exist in many countries and work well. The problem here was the revenue split and the locals felt they were being cheated. https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/2130551/chinese-zero-dollar-tour-companies-dodge-thai-crackdown-and

Where are all the guys who have been trying to convince us that we're idiots for wearing masks and that covid is nothing more than a bad cold and that we're all pus sies for being afraid and that vaccines are bad? Come on, show yourself, join the debate about the opening up of China.......don't make me come in there and get you!

The truck was really smoking, way way too fast.

I agree, we also came down with a mystery illness before the official start date.

I dont believe that, which ones, please?

Sh*t, we're screwed, jab number 17 coming up.

And another girfriend.

The existing rules forbidding outbound travel remain in place, nothing is likely to change on that score for a while, despite TAT's wishful thinking for 2023.

In my version of ASEAN NOW the OP said it was worth 190,000, perhaps you're using the European version, dunno.

Agreed agreed agreed, but form the governments perspective, it's all about the bottom line and total revenue derived from each region, is it not.

Yes, the gap between Europe/US and China/Asia is getting bigger though.

I agree that spend per capita is lower with Chinese/Indian but future potential must surely be far higher. If the numbers you mention are total spend by country, I'd be interested to see them, unless they pertain to the covid recovery months where data remains heavily distorted. Some of my experience of Chinese visitors comes from the stories my wife has told me about visitors to the 5 star where she worked. Spending 200k/300k per time on visits to the hotel shop and asking the hotel to ship everything back to China. Many Chinese are seriously big spenders here.

I think you are on shaky ground with this plus the value of the vehicle is quite low so legal fees will potentially eat a good chunk of that. I like poster @salerno idea above, bribe/negotiate/threaten/extort, ask her how much she wants to sign it over but decide how much it's worth to you first. I doubt the police will be too interested in this, unless you want to incentivize them first, which will be even more expensive, chances are they will tell you to go see a lawyer. I think if it was me and without knowing the personalities involved, I might try the direct negotiated settlement approach first. If that doesn't produce satisfactory results I might pay a lawyer say 10k (max) to write a letter to your girlfriend threatening legal action. If that doesn't work, be prepared to walk away from it all or use the car in her name indefinitely and let her take any legal action against you.

Not many, I would guess she will argue it was a gift and the fact it was registered in her name supports that. You could try going to a lawyer and threatening her with court but the downsides to this are that the lawyer fees may be expensive and there's no guarantee you will win, even if you can prove the money used to buy the car came from your account. Plus, she may not scare easily so this is a major risk. The other aspect is that this is a civil matter and the wait time to get to court will be long. Sorry I can't think of better news to give you.

I'm guessing that your choice of words, "quick service" may be the reason, perhaps that was misinterpreted? Which Immi office was this, where? When I lived in Phuket at least on Immi officer there was pretty blatant about what he wanted, he had pieces of paper in the center draw of his desk with different amounts written on them. He would never actually say anything but from time to time a slip of paper would appear with the number 500 written on it.