Ben Zioner

It reduces my risk of get seriously ill by 70% to 90%. I never had the Influenza while updating my vaccine yearly, I caught it 5 years ago after a few years of negligence. Now it is just another floor to go to in Bumrungrad Building A.

Malaysians speak English and have normal brains, Bahasa Indonesia is easy to pick up. While Thai brains are as convoluted as their gibberish. So if I was a business man I'd avoid Thailand only for that reason, while there are so many other negatives. And let's no forget Vietnam.

Got my 2024 shot in February,,

Totally correct. It should nullify any of the attraction Thailand had left as a retirement destination. Also when was the last time they readjusted the IT brackets for inflation?

TIT

Not much to say, my Pension is about 100000 USD. Hence the LTR.

I must admit that I don't know what amounts of taxes are involved here. But if I lost my LTR exemption I 'd be liable for 800K IT a year, enough to consider taking extended holidays in 2 or 3 neighbouring countries.

So, why not being "non resident" the year you make such conversion?

Let's not be unfair to BOI. The people I have met there will understand "unlimited" just as we do. IMHO they want it spelled out because they have to escalate approval to some xenophobic dinosaurs in other departments, such as Immigration.

Russians count?

Elderly pensioners audited and caught defrauding the Thai Revenue.

This is not what I am saying here. I suggest that they will audit people in the forthcoming years, this is where someone might get caught with a post jan 1, 2024 indiscretion and then inevitably become subject to a full investigation of the 10 previous years if he hasn't made tax returns. Mike would be investigated only for 5 years since he filed tax returns. In other words: be extremely thorough from now on.

What you must do is to be ready to prove that the money you bring in this year has been earned in 2023 or prior to that. An keep that proof for the forthcoming years in case they audit you. Audit will occur, when and how many we don't know yet. Retirement lump sums will be nightmares...

Not a fiction at all, I used to transfer my earnings of year -1 on the first business day of the new year. Now I don't know if RD was expecting you not to comply, neither do you, but as I said before I'd tread very carefully with them when dealing with them in the forthcoming years.

Good, serves the bustards right.

Let's hope that many share this wisdom.

Apologies if I was too metaphorical..

I am not laughing, as you make a legitimate claim. But you have to be aware that Thailand doesn't want people who would willing to use the "30 Baht" health cover. And frankly, would you be prepared to resort third world healthcare?

It could be that the Asian motorist doesn't a big smoky V8 as a sexual attribute and EVs are believed to be on a winning run.

Well, many of the people who had their pension(s) paid directly into a Thai bank account should have. I don't say everyone as some DTAs may state that pension are exclusively taxed by the country of origin. The bright side of all these changes is that there seems to be some tacit amnesty for indiscretions that occurred prior to Jan 1, 2024. But it might be wise not to confront TRD in the near future.

This is why European Nato countries should have increased VAT by 3% at least to Finance the war effort. And this as soon as Russia crossed the Ukrainian border.

Move if you can. IMHO there should be a Dog Tax. Progressive": first dog free, second dog 20000 a year, third 100k, fourth 1M, etc.. And dog free neighbourhoods.

You don't have a friend who could come one night and poison the dogs while you go on a holiday overseas?

I thought I had mentioned that I had a family. So 2000 by 4 is 8000, at least. Rent taking away 3000 of that. And who wants a "basic lifestyle"?

So our situations differ. I am 72 with a loving family and only half a dozen of years to go (hopefully).So I can bite the bullet, read, watch TV etc.. At 55 I had dreams.. Reckon you should go, you are way to young to waste here.