TroubleandGrumpy

And therein lies the rub - TRD is not at all prepared at all to deal with many thousands of claims made under DTAs. IMO their default position for Somchai in the local TRD Office will be to deny and impose income taxes based on the total money advised in the rerturn as remitted into Thailand. I have previously stated what happens if TRD makes an arbitrary decision - you have SFA ability to challenge that - and you must pay whatever Somchai decides within 7 days and (maybe) you will get a refund if you win in the Appeal Tribunal or Court (good luck). You can be fully informed and legally represented and argue and fight and complain - but IMO the best strategy is to be informed and avoid if at all possible, interacting with TRD - at least for the next 2-3 years.

Was that money income or savings - if savings then not taxable. But maybe not taxable anyway even if income - but who is it taxable against. IMO it is only taxable against the GF/Wife if it is taxable (savings is not) - because she received the money - it was not sent to your own account. Is that a gift - it is (up to 20 million baht) if she is a wife (10 million for close family members). You are in Hong Kong - do not be in Thailand for 179+ days betwen Jan 1 and Dec 31 and you are not a tax resident - no taxes payable from overseas remittances.

Yes indeed - my read is the same outcome - Thaksin will get rid of the LTR exemption as soon as possible. It is also my read that the LTR exemption would be viewed as being in breach of the international obligations Thailand has signed up to, one of them being this change regarding taxaing overseas incomes. Thailand is obliged under those obligations to stop taxation evasion and illegal money laundering. Lets face it, the LTR could be easily bought by a person who illegal wishes to avoid taxation on international money transfers.

Nothing less than I expected - TRD has no 'real world' understanding and working knowledge of the complications of DTAs. Hopefully the head office will provide an answer to that question - as well as detailed explanations of all matters related to using a DTA as an Expat is Thailand - but I do not expect that will be done anytime soon.

Mike that is your call and I 100% support your decision to do that. In the end we all must do what is right for ourselves and not take upon ourselves to do something that is beyond our capabilities and not worth the efforts involved. As I said to you a few months ago - you have been trying to herd cats and that is just not possible. Having said that I am sorry but I have no intention of making any updates to the tax guide you wrote - as I said many times, trying to do that and forcing everyone to agree with me and what I have written or go away is not something I will ever do. However, I cannot speak for stat, Jim or others like Dogm and many others - perhaps one of them will want to do the impossible. My advice going forward, is if you are ever in such a situation again or you do decide (again) to make a comeback, then rather than trying to force people to comply with and agree with your interpretation, to remove all wording regarding that point - until confirmation is provided by the TRD as to what interpretation is accurate.

Same thing ourselves whenever we did visit a Thai island in the past - the prices are ridiculous. IMO the people on those islands are of the view that tourists are to be ripped off - not that there is any difference all over the world. But in Thailand there is very little (if any) control by authorities to at least try to limit to ripping off. I can remember Prayut tryng to stop the taxi mafia in Phuket ripping off tourists after they had just started to return to the island during Covid. They basically told him to go fornicate himself - just like they do to anyone that tries to 'control' them. That attitude is rampant in Thailand - especially in the islands. Years ago I was talking to a Thai bloke at golf in Chiang Mai, and he said something like - "Thais are always ripping each other off, why should we not rip off Falangs when they are happy to pay stupid money". Fair enough point.

Your 'very clear interpretation 'needs to be clearly caveated that you (and I) are NOT a tax experts and not qualified to give taxation advice. Unfortunately some people think comments made by yourself and some others is that of a qualified expert - and they may follow that advice, and then if it goes all pear shaped they might sue you/AN. On the point at hand - I will state this yet again. There are 10s of millions of Thais that do not lodge tax returns, but they earn over the minimum technical requirement as you note. I will state that perhaps many of them after deductions allowances etc do not have any income tax to pay - maybe. But they have received the income level you claim is absolute - and yet TRD does nothing about that - it is a well known fact. Any attempt to clamp down on and fine Expats who dont file, will probably result in (besides Expats quitting the country) in human rights and/or discrimination complaints by Expats groups. If the TRD clamps down on ALL Thais then Expats will possibly be caught up in the net - but if they target Expats in particular, the blowback will be extreme.

That says it all - nothing more needs to be said. Total BS.

Total BS - sounds like a woke teenager/female - but not in an English country - obviously.

Yeh - one of them being they aint married and they dont like (and/or sick of) the khrapp Thai men put women through.

Could I also ask, who exactrly is entitled to claim VAT refunds when leaving Thailand. Is someone who stays only 1-2 months of a 3 months visiting family Visa entitled to claim?

Calm down George - I was agreeing with you and your response to that other troll who thinks deaths are funny. My advice - back it down a few notches - you are getting far too angry about something you cannot change - and stop throwing punches at your friends or you will eventually have none.

All that plus here you will not be reported for 'unwarranted sexual advances' or get video'd and put on social media and labelled a 'sexual predator'. Young men are just not approaching young women in the west like they used to do - the downsides are horrendous - social and work. For the older blokes (like me) if you are looking for a 'partner up' and see how it goes girl - then look for the older (40s) girls in those places - they will be either married/taken or they will be available and keen if you are looking OK.

I agree - ignore the trolls. The problem in Thailand, unlike most other places and who cares there anyway, is that here they get away with it and then open a new one - and on and on and on it goes. That is why nowadays the 'owner' is never actually the owner - they use someone (usually in the broad family) and once it is set up they pull back and take in the cash - pushing the 'owner' for more and more profits.

Both AN and TT have the same core online system and already share a lot of stuff as you know. It makes sense to merge it all into one - good for the members, but much better for a lot of business reasons. Good luck with whatever happens going forward George. If you are cashing in on Thaiger (like Tim did) and are going 'on a holiday', then best wishes going forward mate. But if you get a couple of old khrapy fishing huts and refurbish them and offer them at 4000 Baht a night - I wont be staying 😁

The shopkeepers will all be happy - new surface and more room to place their khrapp and gear, thus blocking the footpath. Unless of course the contrcators from Pattaya are used - and it will be like this :-

True. But the OP was about making a call to Australiua. Skype has as you said, options to receive calls, but limited SMS, and no OTP. But I dont use Skype for anyhting other than making or receiving calls or vids. I have a mobile phone SIM from Australia that I keep on an old second phone - I get all my OTPs from Australia using that (for free).

AND die old and lonely surrounded by cats - who will eat you if your body is not found quickly.

NASA fires map last 24 hours shows far less than normal now in Chiang Mai Province. There are heaps today in Laos though - unless they drop water on them by flying into their countries, then they will not get put out. Thaiger - Hub of Quality Journalists.

As I said - if the person or organisation you call does not have Line (or Viber) then you cannot call them free. Skype allows you to call anyone - mobile or landline - and it is dirt cheap. Viber has the option to call a non-viber number - but you must pay for it and Skype is cheaper and is a much better service.

I agree - Samui is definitely the least 'violent' and least 'mafia controlled' of all the islands. But like all of them it is a scam - just getting there is a scam.

When we saw Thais drawing water from the moat in Chaing Mai one year, we realised that not all the water being sprayed or splashed around was clean water. At the best it will be tap water - which even the Thais dont drink (only the poor ones) - and I definitely dont want that in my face. We have always avoided being out on the streets in Songkran ever since - only travel in car and directly into Mall carpark etc.

Do they realise there will be blowback later about all the Russians in Phuket - from the quality family tourists that Thailand wants. There has been so many media stories about Thailand this season, that many 'quality' tourists planning next season will have second thoughts. This has been happening for several years now, and the Thai authorities have as usual just ignored it all, because 'we are best in world hub tourism'. They just dont get it - people dont look at the official travel warnings anymore - people are not influenced by the TAT activities that much - people see the social media stories and coming out of Thailkand for a long time it has been bad news. People remember all the khrapp that they had to go though in Thailand during Covid - they remember the scams and total BS Thailand imposed on people. I know the Thai people generally have short memories, but surely those in authority will begin to realise they have a problem - I know they will never admit it - but surely they know it. It has not been made public in Thailand, and probably never will be, but in 2023 there were more tourists into Malaysia (26 million) than into Thailand (24 million). 26 Million is the same number that went to Malaysia in 2019. 2023 was the first time Malaysia has beaten Thailand, and first time it has been number one destination in SEAsia. Thailand's tourism in 2019 was 39 million - in 2023 it was 24 million - a decline of 15 million. While Malaysia's tourism in 2023 was back to what is was in 2019, Thailand's tourism was down 38%. World tourism in 2023 was on average, 90% of what it was in 2019. Thailand tourism and therefore its economy is in trouble - big trouble.

Good questions - especially about the girlfriend of 10 years. They 'separated' during the night and his body was found the next day? When the next day?? One report said next afternoon - was she drugged/etc - was he robbed (phone gone?). Why was the death not reported until now - saving toursims? So many questions - probably get the same answers as before - some poor Burmese did it. I dont like the Islands in Thailand - from Phuket to Kao Tao - they are all 'not so good'. And as an Aussie, I hate Samui.

Made in Japan Models | Personal Lines | Medical | Products | A&D (aandd.jp) Bought this is Aust some years ago - works great and extremely accurate - cannot say the same for the devices in most Clinics here. Best to take pressure first thing in morning and keep a record.