TroubleandGrumpy

Thanks - I understand that but does that not mean the Bangkok bank immediately does the exchange to THB? Every time I have compared the Wise exchanbge rate to THB versus the BKK exchanbge rate, Wiuse is better (as below). Am I missing something?

Ok OK - clearly paying for and using an agent is what some people like, and doing it themselves (like me) is what others like to do. I think the OP is being 'defensive' and did not realise that the title of his post and the words he used came across to some as an attack on those who use agents. Maybe a more appropriate title would have been ' Extension done quickly in Jomtien' and then details on how things progressed.

But does that not require a multi-exchange bank account here in Thailand? Id there a bank you can recommend fo that? I enquired with Citibank years ago and they said minimum deposit of 100K at all times. Maybe it has changed now?

What a load of khrapp. These media aholes deliberately inflame the situation because ....... it sells. Stating an impossible goal and virtue signalling about it - and then attacking those who disagree, is what the leftisit media have been doing for decades. There never will be a peaceful resolution in Gaza - at best it will be 'you leave us alone, we leave you alone'. The best hope for that to happen will be the destruction and annihilation of Hamas - and it will not all be done by Israel. More and more Palestinians are speaking out about Hamas and their reign of terror on the people of Gaza since 2006 when Israel left. In the end, the hope is that the Palestinian people rise up and help the IDF destroy Hamas - much like the French Resistence helped defeat the Nazis. Then they can start to commence negotiations with Israel - something that Iran and the fanatic Muslims in Gaza do not want to happen. Meanwhile Hezbolla is about to be either destroyed or severely damaged by Lebanon. Since the conflict started in Gaza they have launched over 2000 milles into Nth Israel and 10s of thousands of Israelis citizens save been relocated for their safety. In response Israel has not attacked and invaded, they have shut down the agreement that allowed Lebanon to develop the gas field off the disputed coast on the border with Israel. This will crush their already bad economy and they have only one real choice - rein in Hezbolla or face economic collapse and a civil war. Hopefully this will start and then after Israel has destroyed Hamas, they can focus on helping Lebanon destroy Hezbolla. After that Israel can help Jordan destroy the Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ). Then and only then can a limited peace happen in the Arab nations around Israel. I think Israel has finally had enough of trying to appease the terrorists surrounding them, who are financially supported by Iran, and will embark on a concerted military campiagn to do to them exactly what they have been trying to do for decades - wipe them out.

Wise shows that and so does the 3 recommended banks in Thailand. Bangkok, Kasikorn and Siam. The others will do it too but not so well sometimes, and they will not send to them in very large amounts (forgot that amount - $20K USD?).

Why not ??

Yes they do in my experience - and less fees. Do this - in the same hour - check with the local banks at home in your place what their 'exchange rate' is for sending money to Thailand in THB (and their fees if listed). Then check all the money exchangers like Wise and get their rates and fees. Wise is cheaper on any given day. What they say is what you get in the bank account in Thailand - at the time you press send - same with most opther money exschanbgers. Banks send it and the rate you get is what is the rate at the time of the transfer - the rate they quote is not the guaranteed amount - rates go up and down each day.

Mate it is as if the left are so blind that they cannot see that their 'reality' is falling apart all over the world. Right win conservative governments are being elected everywhere - because law and order and economic strength is more important to people than the feeelings of fringe elements in society or the idiocy of environmentalists tryinh to 'save the planet' by killing people and economies. But reality will eventually win out - it was inevitable - all the things we righties have been saying would happen for decades are happenning. Look lefties this is an example of reality - the reality that us righties see a lot more clearly than yourselves. USA and Europe - they are illegal invaders that should all be arrested and deported - they are not refugees 'seeking safety from wars and death'. You want to see what those people look like - face west and look at what is coming our of Myanmar - that is what refugees look like - and what have you been doign about that - nothing - why - because you are 'followers of a narrative' and you have not been told to follow that issue. More and more people are seeing reality and listening to the righties - and as soon as they do that they realiseand say to themselves 'WTF". Pandering to minorities and throwing human rights (and money) at people with problems is not how to solve a problem. Start thinking critically - stop believing the BS - you have to want to see reality to see it - grow up and stop being a child - unicorns and utopia are not real - it is all a lie - we will all do what is best for ourselves and our families - we cannot save all the people and the planet does not need us to save it - grow up dammit.

They all do and it does not matter to them because it is all about feelings - facts to the left are irrelevent, unless it supports their own cognitive bias. When a fact supports their view it is a FACT, but when it does not it is either misinformation or a conspiracy theory (or both). How anyone can say that Biden is even functional is beyond reality - that is a whole new level of unbreakaable cognitive bias.

I hope so ............... sort of.

Most adults cant stand her. How can they - she is a 34 year old who is dressing, talking and signing like a teenager - and she is just as stupid as most teenage girls. Madonna and Gwen Stefani did it all before - Swift is nothing new and she is not as talented as either of them. But in the world of KPop music stars and formula music, talent does not matter - it is all about the looks and only the looks.

LOL. Biden did not do that at all 🙂 All Biden's 'diversity' appointments were in no way partisan or political, and they were solely based on merit - just look at his Defence and Departmental Heads and Press Secretary. And it is not as if the Federal AG and Head of FBI appointed by Biden are both avid Trump haters. They were both heavily cricised in the Senate Judiciary Committee for their partisan avtivities against Trump, and they will probably both be impeached. But the biased lefty Politico ignores all that, and complains that Trump is going to do the same thing Biden has done. Hell Yes He Will. This time Trump will take down the Swamp - RINOs and all. They are all terrified, because the Obama lead idiots have given him 4 years to build his teams and set his strategies. They would have been better off leaving him in power to run out his term - now he knows exactly what to do, how to do it, and who to work with - but TDS makes people do crazy things. Trump is a political adversary that you give more rope and let him catch himself up in it. Trump was politically naive before, now he is going to be much better prepared and he will come down on them like the proverbial ton of bricks - they will not survive his second term and they know it. I am stocking up on the popcorn as I speak 😃

Definitely for Expats. But Thais need to ride bikes, but many do not wear any safety gear. By the sounds of this story, neither rider or passenger was wearing a helmet.

Not making any excuses, but a lot of the mentioned issues relate to either the location of the 'head' account, or to the IT people making changes. IT people in many organisations make changes and they sometimes screw it up (MSoft, Apple, Android, etc etc.) Each Wise 'office' is located within a country or region - it is not a global bank as such (none of them actually are). Local issues and local authorities 'assistance' can lead to problems that others with same company dont get. In Australia Wise has a (limited) banking licence and is a separate organisation - like a franchise - same for most globals.

Can anyone recall one of these 'hubs' that Thailand has claimed it was going to become, ever actually coming about???

While all these tourism related services remain under the control of the unaccountable local Authorities, nothing will change. The Thai Federal/National Government needs to subsume the overall authority of all industries and services (especially ttransport) that directly affects tourism. Not to run them - but to make the rules and direct the local authorities that they must adhere to their set guidlines of behaviours etc. or face dismissal. Recently there was a 'voluntary' meeting held of the boat operators in and around Phuket - the very fact that it was necessary and had not been done 'properly' by the local authorities already speaks volumes. When local authorities become liable for the behaviour of the toursim related industries in thgeir District/Province, then and only then will substantive change take place. But who an I kidding - that is logicval and makes sense - aint gonna float here in Thailand.

Omens are one thing - proper motorcycle gear and a good helmet will help more IMO.

I hope nothing happens in Thailand - it is a waste of time and money - and it will only increase costs. IMO all countries should adopt the 'Australia Colour TV model'. Wait and see what all the others do, and then choose the best solution to go forward with. Lets face it - China, India, USA and Russia account for the majority of the CO2 problem and even if every other country suddenly stopped, it would make SFA difference overall. Let the big boys spend all their time and money to find out what works best.

It was a great win but more importantly it was a 'solid' win. She screwed up the 15th and made a bogey, and was only 1 shot ahead with 3 hoes to go. At one time earlier in the day she was 5 shots ahead but she was not moving away - they were catching up with her bit by bit all day. It is tough to win front from in front - many times Pro golfers fall under that pressure on the last day (just ask Rory). But Patty bounced straight back and birdied the 16th (right in front of us - massive roar), and then she made a solid par on 17th and birded the 18th to win. Great win - very much deserved.

100%. It amazes me to see old expats riding their bikes in Thailand. It is stupid that they ride their bikes in the west - grow up you fools - but to do it in Thailand just beggars belief. As the wife says - 'up to him - his life'. If anyone dislikes my comments about their 'right to ride BS' then that is OK, but go stay in any western hospital for several weeks and you will see what happens when (not if) old men fall off (get knocked off) their bike - they dont bounce like when they were kids (fools and idiots born every minute). You only have to look at the youtube channels showing so many fat adult people doing stupid things that they did as kids - but it goes very wrong and is hilarious (or sad). The kids in Thailand do not ride bikes as much as in west - and the adults do not (besides lycra fools) - they know.

Mike - please stop proving links to websites that are behind a paywall.

Sold a lot of assets (planes and properties) and reduced expenses as per bankruptcy requirements - an expected result. Lets see how things go over the next 2-3 years. If they put their hands out for government money - liquidate and sell it all off to the highest bidder, and then bring in all new management and staff.

If anyone thinks they are going to implement the new tax system any better than they have 'upgraded' Swampy, you need to think again. Thailand is full of conflicting committees, vested interests, archiac social interaction, corruption and very powerful people who are all trying very hard to cowtow to and appease those above while getting whatever they can from those below - all while trying extremely hard not to cause conflict or embarassment. The camel might well be a horse designed by a committee in the West, but inThailand the committee designed an Ostrich - and they claimed they were an Ostrich design hub and handed out awards.

OK I will answer. All those people avoiding complicated khrapp please ignore. The tax free threshold is $18,200. Any income above that ammount is taxable - offsets etc are irrelevent as to whether it is taxable income. Most Govt welfare payments are not taxed - the tax is either 'not applied' even if over threshold (Aged Pension) or the welfare income is declared non-taxable income (Jobseeker). As above - it is 'taxed' - but the tax is not applied. What happens (the reason it is done this way), is so that if you are on the pension and you earn some other income that is also taxable (eg. get a job), you are already over the tax free threshold and you immediately have taxes payable on that amount (offsets and allowances again exist but again are irrelevent). If you are on Jabseeker you can earn an income and pay no taxes right up to the threshold, but of course the Jobseeker payment would stop once you earned over the allowable amount. That way you dont get hit with an extra tax bill at the year's end when you do find a job after receiving jobseeker payments. You are 'reading' that Clause in isolation and the same way some 'armchair and community experts' have stated - real experts say they dont know - never been tested - wait and see. Firstly, realise that all DTAs have been created using the same template - some are changed a lot from the template (USA) and some not much. There are more than 1 or 2 issues related to Pensions under a DTA - this one is just one. Try reading it again a few times slowly - this time think of the (translated) words as meaning we (country A) will not allow you (country B) to take a chunk of our taxpayer funded pension payments to our residents. Think of it that way and then you will see that it applies to a 'resident' and the first issue is what is the definition of a 'resident'. In Cyprus you used to be a 'tax resident' after 2 months and there are many countries much less than 180 days - but the issue is being a 'resident' and therefore eligible for a pension - only citizens and residents in Aust are eligible for pensions - I am still a resident of Australia for tax purposes. As per another part of the DTA a person with 2 of more 'tax residencies' can choose whatever tax rates they prefer - it is not Thailand decides or Aust decides - you choose. Another clause covers 'domicle residence' - which covers which state you are more 'technically close with' - in short, my read of that means as I get age pension, have savings and super, bank accounts, licences, passpoert, family, friends etc etc etc then I am more close to Australia than Thailand where I have a long-term tourist Visa with 3 monthly reporting and annual renewals and the same legal rights as a tourist. Plus thgere are a few other 'out clauses' in the DTA. Mate - nothing is certain - but I am extremely confident about points 1 and 2 - and I am confident that my 3rd point has a 'way out' but it all has yet to be tested. We should just wait and see what the details and clarifications the TRD provide. However, the longer that takes, the more I think they cannot get all the worms back in the can and it will all be too hard - then they will probably just give up, and let them sort themselves out. This could be one of the biggest ever Thaland clusterf........

I am staying out of this as I said - but as an Aussie i must jump in here. IMO the Aust/Thai DTA states that only the state paying the pension etc. to the person can tax that pension. States do not want to pay their money straight to another Government. Pensions in Aust are taxable income - Pensions are already taxed - But the tax is not applied There is a clause that states a person with two tax states can choose whatever state tax rates they want to be applied - meaning the tax rate that is least for them.