Mike Lister

Untrue. It depends on the visa the person holds and the source of that 80k pension, if social security in the USA for example, yes, if from elsewhere in another country, potentially no.

Prostitution is not part of Thai culture, it's a function of Thai economics! Cultural traits, do you even understand what you're talking about!

If you want to judge the content of the book by its cover, you can, but it doesn't mean....well you know what it means.

I think it's you that needs to change their attitude, you appear to view local girls as merchandise. What I see there is a picture of a couple of pretty local girls. Who they are, what sort of people they are, what they believe in, how they treat others, are thy decent human beings etc etc....I dunno and neither do you so quit the steriotypes.

Here's a post I did a while ago that the mods pinned, I'm looking to simplify it and expand on it, in case anyone is unclear:

I'm still not clear where you're coming from. The subject being discussed here is about us gathering information about Thai tax for people to be able to use. If somebody is not tax resident, none of this subject applies and taxation is not relevant to them. If they are here for more than 180 days, it is hence immi. status is relevant in that respect. If all those things are true and correct, we need to be setting out the rules that apply to legally resident foreigners, not ways to circumvent those rules by using bad agents. Do you agree with that?

So what do you suggest?

Zero interest in second guessing the future and what may happen. Just want to try and salvage something of use, if there is anything, from the past 200 pages and produce something simple that contains useful information that covers 80/90% of people in 80/90% situations. Interested in that or not?

I have no interest in telling people how to evade tax or break the law. Income is either assessable or it is not and we just need to wrap the right form of words around that aspect. Are we on the same page here or are you in a different part of the library altogether?

Well Jerry we can, if that's what others think. It's just that I use an agent for all my Immi work and they won't touch a person who doesn't have the money in the bank so I'm certain they wont touch the RD aspect. But that's just one agent out of potentially thousands so I can't speak for the others. I just think by including anything about agents we get into territory that is both illegal in many cases and also unnecessary for our purpose.

Somebody will be along shortly and ask........are you telling me that after 200 pages, you guys haven't managed to even decide what is and what is not assessable income.....FFS! And they will have a very valid point! Look, there is a basic definition of what is assessable income, anything not meeting that definition is not assessable. We will not be able to define every possible type, there will always be exceptions so we just need to say that. We are not attempting to become the PWC of tax in all of this, we are merely attempting to produce something simple and useable for the majority. I just googled, "what is assessable income Thailand "and the first two quotes are from the RD defining what is and what is not assessable income, surely something very similar to those things will suffice for out purpose? The problem with this aspect is that some "expert" posters always want to find exceptions to everything and tell us what happens in Germany or the US and go so tangential to the topic that they, and every one else, forgets to return.

The bad agent industry (and it is becoming that), has the potential to shrivel and die or grow massively as a result of this. If bad agents get around any RD approvals also, as well as getting around the banking issues too, their fees will only increase. If downstream, tax clearance certificates are required to exit the country and they are able to skirt that too, Immi and visa's will become a laughing stock. All of which makes me think that the bad agent industry isn't going to be of much use with RD issues for visa's extensions. I suggest we don't attempt to include anything about this aspect, but that's just me.

Thank you for the feedback, I wasn't expecting a positive response TBH so that's good. I just need to sit and think through the best way to construct this, without every contribution becoming a lengthy discussion. I like the idea of the RD link as a starting point, it's simple and easy to understand.

Dr Copper, I like that and you may well be right. Personally, I like simple indicators much more. I can't seem to shake the November election issue, it's far easier to assess the impact of say high oil cost or inverted yields curves than it is an undesirable election outcome. The problem is I think, I can't quantify what it means, I know it's bad but I can't properly translate it into economic terms. It's for those reasons that I'm leaning much more strongly towards Japan, India and even China this year and I'm understrength US.

It might be helpful and constructive if we could collectively, put together a list of facts and pieces of information that we can then post for the benefit of others, in a separate NON-DISCUSSION thread. In short, distill the past 200 pages into something useful! I know that many people are still trying to understand the basics on all of this and that lots of people don’t believe it effects them or that anything will happen. These are some of the things that I think will be helpful to others, if you have ideas, feel free to contribute: A copy of the tax tables A SIMPLE list of deductions and exemptions Guavamans sample tax return A SIMPLE list of the rules, that apply to everyone A list of KNOWN FACTS that are country specific All of the above are available in sherrings and mazars, the problem is, few people want to read them and even fewer understand them. Simplicity and brevity will be important. Thoughts?

Each will should acknowledge the existence of the other, that's as far as it need to go.

I can think of a couple of things that should be different. 1) This will governs my assets in X (or Y) only whilst my Y will governs my assets in that country. You have to specific the boundaries of the will and which assets it covers. 2) Wills are governed by the laws of that country and you need to specify which sets of laws that is. You can't for example say that your Thai will is governed by the laws of Australia because Thai probate court wont sanction the will. 3) If you make changes to one will you must cancel it and be certain to cancel just the one and not inadvertently cancel both. 4) having the same Executor manage two probate court cases in two different countries, may be problematic, I would have thought wo executors would be easier.

Correct

Yes, most expats I think have two wills, one for their home country assets and one for Thailand, that is what I have always had and from the many discussions over the years on social media, it is everyone's preferred way forward. It means two probates and two executors but since the laws are very different in any two countries, it's by far the safest and quickest way to go.

Ummm, sort of! SSc has its own form that must be used and signed by the bank and then returned to Manilla, the bank will keep a copy for its records. When you say a DDA account in Thailand you seem to be talking in terms of US style accounts. Accounts here are mostly passbook savings which are easy enough to open, there aren't banks that deal with retirees but there are good and bad branches. I suggest opening an account at a business branch and definitely not a branch in a shopping mall.

How amazing is that, I actually agree with you for once.

Which is just another pointer towards that posters credibility or lack of. Nobody in Tax within the Big 4 reaches Partner without first having been at the coalface for a few years, it just doesn't happen. Plus partners have to go out and talk with potential clients, most of whom are CFO's in City blue chips, if they don't understand the detail, they will not win the client.

For the benefit of other readers, let me just clarify: Yes, I have filed tax returns in Thailand for several years, that's because I have income that arises in Thailand and I have transfers from overseas that are remitted in the year they are earned, into my Thai bank account. And Thai Revenue law says anyone who has assessible income over 120 k per year, must file a tax return. Well I did, so I did and there's few chaps here that it doesn't sit well with , it's like driving behind the guy who's only doing the speed limit, he must be an idiot of course.

Yes, there have been several people in different parts of the country have made visits and asked different question but nobody seems to be further ahead as a result. It's a face thing, nobody is going to say I don't know so everyone fields their own answers. I think the truth is that much of this is still WIP, centrally.

You just don't get it do you. You've even got to turn an attempt to redirect the thread into something useful for many, into a personal attack! Whoosh went the point.