Mike Lister

The facts don't support your argument. Only 6% of the population pay personal income tax and they are mostly in PAYE equivalent schemes or people on salaries in companies. Personal income tax is a very small contribution to GDP, less than 2.1%, tax from corporations (or rich companies) is a much higher percentage. Generous tax deductions and allowances mean that the self employed can turnover 1 million baht a year and pay almost no tax.

I give up!

Yes, that's true, but I think you are missing the point. My state pension is 550 Pounds per four weeks, my SIPP income which was funded by the contracted out payments, totals 500 Pounds per calendar month. The sum total of those two things equals an amount that is greater than the new state pension of 221 per week. I therefore don't object to receiving a smaller state pension because in total I recieve more and have greater control.

"What is contracting out. If you were contracted out of the Additional State Pension (also known as State Second Pension or 'SERPs') your National Insurance contributions were either: lower than people paying into the Additional State Pension. paid into another pension, for example a private pension". https://www.gov.uk/contracted-out#:~:text=were contracted out-,What is contracting out,for example a private pension

Yes of course, I contracted out and that money was invested in a Self Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) with Hargreaves Lansdowne and now gives me a monthly income that is equal to the state pension. In total, my state pension and SIPP income is far higher than the new state pension, plus I can control how much i receive, and it's still invested. For those reasons I don't too much care about losing the 20 or 25% in increases.

My state pension is frozen but every few years I return and it gets uprated, I did that last, 5 years ago by moving into my UK flat and saying I'd returned.

I'm on the old pension and that's even lower. I was contracted out on SERPS but that part of my pension isn't State pension, it's private.

Does it? I read that the forthcoming increase would maintain it below the PA. If the state pension is 201 pounds per week, that's 11,051 per year if increased by 8.5%.

I don't understand what your problem is, it doesn't cost me anything and I don't pay any extra tax plus it means my tax return here is legal. Contrast that with the hundreds of tax returns that expats have filed to recover tax paid on bank interest and have not bothered to complete the rest of the return regarding income details. How about if the RD does decide it wants to audit a few people, anyone who gets their pension deposited directly into a Thai bank (as I do) but didn't declare it when they reclaimed the tax paid on bank interest could get well and truly stuffed for filing a fraudulent return.

The State Pension is not a government pension, government pensions are taxable, just as private pensions are taxable.

I can explain it for you but I can't understand it for you.

I'm shocked.

Yes, it's very common. We ply the route from Chiang Mai to Tak on a regular basis and it's rare to see patrol cars on the road. If we do see thm, it seems as though they were called out or are inspecting trucks. Meanwhile, the Khuntan service station is police parking garage.

Revenge of the electricity poles....it's begun.

I saw a patrol car on the highway, it was 2007, late evening, I think he was on his way home.

I'm not going to argue with you, the State pension is at the bottom of the personal allowance stack, the total amount of the full state pension is still less than the personal allowance, ergo, it is not taxable (at present). If people have other income that sits on top of the pension, that is taxable. Now, if you ask the question, is the state pension capable of being taxed, if it exceeds the value of the personal allowance, the answer is maybe, we don't know for sure what government will or wont do if ever that point is reached. It has been said that in the event the state pension begins to exceed the personal allowance, the personal allowance will be managed upwards to ensure the state pension is not taxed. Why? Because it would be disingenuous to say the least if the government were to pay people the state pension and then demand a portion back in taxes. Done, out. Government responded This response was given on 31 July 2023 It is important to note that the PA is currently set at a level high enough to ensure that those pensioners whose sole income is the new State Pension or basic State Pension do not pay any income tax. https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/635729

I'm actually not that civic minded but I could see many years ago that we would reach this point and I didn't want to get caught out, in case somebody in the RD wanted to go digging into my history. I now have three years returns under my belt, even the lady at the RD asked me why I was filing when I didn't get a refund so I had to explain what the law and RD rules are.

I'm not assuming anything, I'm merely stating a a fact. What other income a person may or may not have is not part of the point being made.

The government has already said the money must be spent in the local community, not all of them have a Central Mall etc.

It sounds like you're chastising me for filing a tax return, as the law requires, what can be said!

Yes, weekends can be busy, I try to go midweek. I'm very happy to hear that, well done. Yes, Dr Ampica is a rare find. Years ago, shortly after I first met her she was treating me for higher than normal blood sugar. I'd made the connection between my condition and something known as metabolic syndrome which turned out to be correct. Empowered by the fact she had agreed with me, I went on to make a connection between metabolic syndrome and B12 deficiency and drew a diagram to explain it!!! She very graciously tolerated my ramblings which were completely wrong and she said something like, well we'll see later if you need a B12 shot or not, smiled and moved on. We became good friends immediately after but she does occasionally prod me about needing a B12 shot, in a good natured way, bless her.

In many cases, visa extension is part of the package offered by the care home.

I don't feed trolls, it's posters like you that drag this forum down so I want nothing to do with you. Goodbye Bob.

I live in a tourist hotspot.

The combination of the wrong side of the road and having never driven in Thailand previously, is not good.