Mike Lister

My 14% Japan paid off....happy days.

Perhaps I'm not being explicitly clear and simple enough in this when I say that the onus is on the tax filer/payer to self declare and self assess what he/she considers to be assessable income. That is funds that have been transferred from overseas, to Thailand (feel free to supplant the word remitted as long as it doesn't cause anxiety or confusion). Whether or not the TRD accepts what the taxpayer says is another matter, which I think is the point where your post begins. But....didn't we have this and similar discussions at least fifty times since November 2023 and wasn't it agreed 49 times since! I mean, I'm all for a little nostalgia from time to time but this is looking like C.O.D.

I've no interest in playing your word games nor in turning this thread into another 8,000 post thread that accomplished nothing. You understand full well what was said and why, if you want to debate your legal definitions of what the Thai TRD intends, do so in a court of law and not with me.

Any UK accountant can easily calculate the capital gains to include TRD rules. Anyone tax resident in Thailand but still needing to file a UK return, must either use specially acquired software to file, or use a UK tax accountant anyway. The calculation is not an issue.

It isn't that "experts" are saying anything, it's what the TRD Code says. https://www.rd.go.th/english/21987.html

Your question was answered already, "You have to tell them and if you lie and they check". YOU are going to give them the information they ask for.....please don't now ask how you will get that information, it's the paperwork that supports all the transactions that lead up to you have money in your accounts that is then transferred.

I agree. The reality is that the proof doesn't have to be provided until/unless requested, that alone should buy some time, in the event somebody asks for it. The process, I think, is to assess, calculate and file, providing proof at a later date, perhaps. Whilst I have never filed a Thai tax return involving CG, and I doubt more than a handful of expats have, I have never been asked to provide proof or confirmation of anything, but there again, I have simple tax affairs in Thailand.

I extend my Thai visa every year in Chiang Mai, this is what's required of me, using a rolling one year fixed deposit on an extension based on marriage (it's been rolling for at least five years): 1) the fixed deposit bank book, showing my 400k fix for at least the past three months. 2) bank letter confirming the above 3) statement showing last three months balances (new this year, separate from the book and the letter) I am not required to update the fixed deposit book.

A good post that sums up my sentiment, "not a real market", "it doesn't seem like it, and "just like a big casino". Thank you for verbalising my thoughts.

These discussions about tax have become fragmented and unstructured again. Now spread across several threads that overlap, with posts once again questioning the definition of even the most basic terms (a feature of the first long thread).....they are confusing the average poster rather than helping them, I know this because members have said so and have started to PM me again with queries which takes the discussions offline. The number of views has fallen off in recent weeks, I personally would much prefer the queries are answered in forum so that everyone benefits and the forum benefits. Debates about worldwide income should be kept separate from the present remittance basis, otherwise posters become confused. What happens in Europe is interesting to some but of little direct relevance to what happens in Thailand at present. The things we know about what happens at present in Thailand, should be kept separate from the many varied assumptions and guesses about what might happen here in the future. The majority still seem to be looking for simple answers to simple understood issues, not complex debates about capital gains and the interactions between governments, those things don't interest many and are not relevant to the majority.

I suggest you sit tight, you have many many months yet.

Unnecessarily argumentative, again, there's nothing even remotely incorrect about what I wrote! My comment doesn't suggest anything is guaranteed, only that the taxpayer must state /decide what the nature is of the funds being remitted. "there is no default position or automatic assumption that a remittance is one thing or the other", but the first step in the process is the taxpayer must decide what it is and so say.

The tax advisor is broadly correct but the tax return does not need to be filed until after 1 January next year (and before 31 March). The tax forms are available in ENglish language, I'll try and send you a link later today. That said, the forms may well be redesigned before the end of the year so probably best all round to just wait. Even though your wife doesn't work, you can both file a joint return to take advantage of her personal allowance.

I divide my portfolio into segments: 41% is allocated to core money earners; 25% to trackers; 18% to bonds and currently overweight in cash/mm at 16%. The 34% that is cash and bonds is a drag on performance, my annual overall return is close to 15%, which whilst not brilliant, is quite OK for me at my age. In truth I'm still playing a global game, even though the only action is in US markets hence another reason for under performance. Once again though, this is about risk aversion and age so the approach is still OK. Another dimension is the lack of obvious or even tempting investments. We may be in a bull market but it sure doesn't feel like any I've been in before.

Thai banks cannot sell repo's for less than their book value, their only strategy is to sit on them and write them down a little each year.

Thailand currently requires all remittances to be assessed for tax, that means any money sent to Thailand from overseas, must be examined by you to determine if they are assessable to tax or not. Some will be exempt, some will be taxable, some will be taxable but a DTA may help offset any tax that is due. But you are correct in that not all money sent to Thailand will be taxable, just because it is a remittance from overseas.

I've heard it said several times that currency moves isn't regarded as investing but is more luck or a "crapshoot". My view is that many people talk about currency gains but do nothing to try and realise them. In my previous example I made a conscious decision to invest heavily in THB and part of the justification for that was the elimination of rent, which in itself provided a payback and de risk the currency investment decision. Combining the two elements, currency and rent/buy, into the same equation, it becomes a much easier and more attractive decision. USD/THB and GBP/THB was on a one way street (in my book) during the subject period, it was a no brainer, all you had to do was A) have liquid assets, B) have the courage to deploy them.

You can claim your wife's Personal Allowance of 60k, only if you file a joint return. Your UK savings are not at risk, either now or in the future, because they are savings and not income.

I have some empathy for those who are panicking about tax and what will happen, it's part of what some people do at times, especially as we get older. I filed my UK return in April, using a tax accountant. As I had calculated, I owed 84 Pounds in tax...great! At end April I logged on to the HMRC Gateway to check my tax account, intending to pay the amount and was met with an ominous message I'd never seen before, something to the effect of, we're checking things and we'll let you know between June and August, how much you owe us! I asked my accountant if anything was amiss and she said no,they're just slow and lazy! As the weeks dragged on I went over in my mind, all my UK tax affairs for the past few years....had I made a mistake, was I being audited, we're they doing an in depth investigation...whaaaa! Today I bucked up the courage to look at my account and logged into the Gateway once again. The previous message was gone, replaced by a new one telling me I owed 84 Pounds and sorry for the delay but we're short staffed. My relief was palpable, I paid them ever so quickly and couldn't be happier. The moral of this saga is....it's going to be OK, don't sweat the Thai tax thing, it will work out just fine, don't second guess the things you don't know about.

Nope, at this stage we believe any transactions to be only remitted funds, but of course, not everyone agrees, albeit the TRD did say they were, in one of the many videos.

It has already happened, the tax year has begun, under the new rules.

The contract is made when you agree the purchase in Thailand, hand over you credit card and and the merchant provides the goods or services you agreed to buy. That settlement is made later elsewhere is not relevant. It is not correct to say the cash never reaches Thailand, the merchant is paid is he not.

He wants you to say, "gifted", tell him to go away also.

YOU must decide which pile the transfer came from and so state, you are the only one who can......that said, be careful with commingled accounts where different types/sources of funds are intertwined, try to keep them separate if poss. The US is not unique in having different tax rates, it;s a common problem.