K2938

Correct

1) The problem with relying on capital gains is also that at least once every few years markets fall. And so your gains might not really exist in a year of relevance. 2) The dividend yield on Western equities is generally in the area of 1.5%-2%, in the U.S. currently even lower. So for 80k USD income without capital gains you would need an equity portfolio value of at least 4-6 MM USD. Not sure if disclosing such big amounts necessarily increases your safety in Thailand. 3) Maybe think of the Thai Elite/Privilege visa instead if you feel uncomfortable with the disclosure requirements and have the money.

1) So your chance to write an accompanying note explaining everything in a very easy to understand way. 2) Do however not get your hopes up too high about capital gains. If they are significant, the BOI does not very much like them regardless of what is written on their website. But you can try and see what happens.

The BOI solely looks at income, not assets. So if you were a tech billionaire with stock worth billions, but without any current income, you would not make it. From an economic point of view this is of course not very sensible, but these are the rules. Period.

An agent will charge you several times more than the value he or she adds which is generally marginal.

All the scenario tables by the various international accountancy firms I have seen solely focus on whether the income was accrued while you are a tax resident in Thailand or not and do not at all focus on if at the time of remittance you are a Thai tax resident or not (see for example https://www.mazars.co.th/insights/doing-business-in-thailand/tax/revenue-department-s-guidance-on-foreign-income, same e.g. EY). So why should the latter be relevant? Do you have any reputable source saying this?

Well, these funds presumably continue to yield income after Jan 1, 2024 and then the interesting - and so far unanswered question - is how to delineate what is old and new if both old and new funds are in the same account/investment/etc.

There are people who say that is not true IF you were a tax resident of Thailand in the period mentioned (i.e. 1/1/2024 to getting the LTR visa). Who is right I have no idea and probably only the future will show.

Brokerage account is not acceptable any longer. Only was very eary on.

So what about if the person could pay the hospital bill and used his $100k USD deposit for this? Depending on how the BOI looks at this in the future, they might well say you failed the requirements as you did not maintain the $100k USD throughout the visa period, throughout the last two years before the 5 year check-up etc. So in the worst case, this $100k USD might well be untouchable.

How is the water situation in the apartment buildings in Hua Hin? Water trucks do not really help there.

If you can at all afford it, it is best NOT to terminate your health insurance. You have absolutely no assurance that the rules for the LTR visa will not be changed tomorrow or that the LTR visa might even be entirely terminated. Health insurance is therefore very important for you.

Was also very bad last year. Did anything change then?🤣😱🤣

As has been previously discussed in this thread at least in the past the BOI was not very excited about any significant amount of capital gains, especially when these were generated based on your decision vs. the decision of some external trustee. Please therefore kindly update us if you make any progress with this. Thank you.

EY presentation on tax changes for Thai Privilege: https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=1149895986005482

I am glad you now agree that it appears to be very strange what Siam Legal is saying.

No, they are saying there is no taxation as long as one of the three conditions mentioned by them below is met, namely either not tax resident OR not remitted to Thailand OR foreign investment. So according to them a foreign investment on its own would be sufficient to avoid taxes.

Siam Legal appears to claim that investing in a foreign (non-Thai) investment fund or depositary receipt is tax-free even for Thai tax residents who bring the income back into Thailand: “However, there is an exemption from being subject to income tax in Thailand by meeting one of the following conditions: The individual must not reside in Thailand for 180 days or more in a particular tax calendar year. Invest on a foreign investment fund or Depositary Receipt. Does not bring an income from overseas into Thailand.“ (https://www.siam-legal.com/thailand-law/thailand-new-tax-on-foreign-income-an-overview/ ) This seems very strange and contrary to everything else written on this at least as far as I have seen. Any thoughts?

As you will die much earlier because of the air pollution, you have much more money in each of the years still left. Simple mathematics 🤣

The key driver is not infrastructure projects, but fires. And these could largely be controlled if there were the political will to do this. But nobody cares unfortunately. The picture shows real-time data

Sadly, if you value your health, things have deteriorated so far in recent years that you now better also decamp to somewhere else Feb-Apr even if you live in Hua Hin / Cha-am

What is the source of your statement on DENV 4? I am not at all saying that it is not correct, but I have for example seen a Thai study from 2010 which says the opposite: "DENV-2 appears to be marginally associated with more severe dengue disease as evidenced by a significant association with DHF grade I when compared to DENV-1. In addition, we found non-significant trends with other grades of DHF. Restricting the analysis to secondary disease we found DENV-2 and -3 to be twice as likely to result in DHF as DEN-4." (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2830471/ ) See also this from Brazil: https://bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12879-016-1668-y ("The present study found that cases of DENV-2 had a higher proportion of severe dengue than among those of DENV-1 and DENV-4")

True, but even there the BOI appears to be kind of immune to economic logic. If you show them a brokerage account worth a zillion dollars, they will say this does not meet the self-health insurance criteria since it needs to be in cash even if you could easily sell the shares at any time or take out a margin loan against them hugely exceeding $100k USD. Also, they even reject if the $100k USD in cash is in a brokerage account in cash, insisting it needs to be a bank account as far as I know. So they just love to tick boxes and if the situation does not fully meet this they will reject things even if they are economically vastly superior.

I would recommend you to talk to them again about this. They should accept an annuity. Regarding their answer whoever wrote this just did not get that since this is already your money, you of course will not pay tax on the capital part being returned to you. Point this out to the BOI - politely - and see what they say. Best to visit in person if that is possible for you. If you need an additional argument, tell them that they also accept Roth IRAs in the U.S. as far as I know and they are also tax-free. P.S.: The only problem with annuities is that they tend to be awful investments. But that is a different topic.

Try Malaysia. The problem in Thailand is that government hospitals probably will have a long waiting list and private hospitals might well charge you more than in many Western countries outside the U.S. So just search on Google and you will find a lot of good offers in Malaysia.