Mike Lister

I mentioned Rayong. My wife said it would be good to go there because she'd heard good things, the choices were Koh Samet, Ko Chang or Rayong and guess what she chose! I was persuaded because the hotel we liked has a branch in Chiang Mai which is a center of fine dining. First afternoon there we went to the restaurant and when the food arrived it was decidedly off, so we sent it back. Five minutes later, a deposition of white jacketed, white hatted kitchen staff marched up to our table...."we cook food you, our food OK, you eat". I mean really! The trip went down hill from there, and after the first day we caught covid. Now when somebody mentions Rayong my eyes roll back in my head and I start to froth at the mouth.

This thread may now hold the record for confusing the most members in the least number of posts, needlessly and pointlessly.

I was referring to a particular debate between two argumentative posters rather than the entire thread.

We agree on those things

Not that, just a very undesirable destination.

At the technical level that may be so, but in practical terms, Por 162 means that "Offshore-sourced income received before 1 January 2024 can be brought into Thailand on or after 1 January 2024 without being subject to Thai personal income tax". https://insightplus.bakermckenzie.com/bm/tax/thailand-offshore-sourced-income-received-before-1-january-2024-can-be-brought-into-thailand-in-2024-or-later-without-being-subject-to-thai-personal-income-tax Throughout the over 20,000 + posts on the subject of tax, over the past 8 months, that has been deemed for discussion purposes, to be savings and that is the way members understand things. To now revert to more perfect terminology and say there is no such thing as savings and that everything is income, will confuse more people than it helps.

It's seriously unhelpful to play the sorts of words game you're playing, it doesn't help anyone and only further confuses people who have no knowledge of finance or tax. Every transfer of funds from overseas is a remittance and by definition is considered to be remitted funds. Each is income, until it is assessed for tax or otherwise assessed. The fact that exempt income is remitted and is considered income in your world, because it hasn't been assessed, it's even more unhelpful to everyone's understanding. In the terminology and parlance of the discussions in this thread, it has been sufficient to distinguish between income and savings, one being potentially assessable to tax, the other not. That you want to refine that verbiage to absolute perfection, is nice for you but unhelpful for most other people. Exactly how this exchange of two pages has improved the quality or content of the debate on tax and members understandings of the issues, is known only to you. I'll leave you to placing emoji's, as is your style.

Sure. But keeping the funds overseas is legal tax avoidance (under present rules), rather than anything more serious. Which I suspect is why the TRD would like to see Worldwide Taxation.

These are not my discussions, they are discussions by anyone interested in and knowledgeable about tax. If they have drawn incorrect conclusions, which I 'm certain they must have from time to time, I blame to the professional tax consultants, CPA's and other financial services experts rather than any pictures of bears or the lack of dictionary quotes.

We disagree completely on your definition that income can never become savings but I suspect it's unproductive to debate the point with you here, plus I have no interest in doing so..

I think what you mean to write is that the Will does not become legally binding until after probate, to which I agree.

I did not suggest Thailand is living under worldwide taxation rules hence none of us needs a heads up! Since the Director of the TRD has said publicly that Worldwide Taxation is something being considered, it is worthwhile mentioning that aspect for readers to consider future impact. FWIW STWW, these discussions historically have been held on a different level, rather than pictures of animals and quoting dictionary definitions of simple words.

I agree that it is. The big problem is that poor rural families may have problems waiting for probate and the cost of it also. This problem starts to subside as more people begin to do what many foreigner's do as they age, transfer assets into the beneficiary's name, in advance. I don't know what others do or have done in this respect but I've been reducing my own assets every year in favor of my wife's account, typically via an either/or account but sometimes as cash gifts.

A good but different summary from, of all places, The Thai/Russian Chamber of Commerce, useful for newbies who want a 360 overview quickly. https://trcc.or.th/legal-issues/tpost/23zky6yn51-thailand-to-tax-overseas-income-of-thai

Sorry, I forgot to address the second part: Income can become savings, that is clear, as long as tax and all expenses are paid, the only real question is how much time must pass before that happens.....I suggest that one tax year makes things certain. Just because the income become savings, doesn't mean the person no longer had income, that conversion from income to savings isn't retrospective that changes history. If a person earns all year long, pays all their taxes and expenses, at the end of the year, any saved funds represent savings. But that doesn't mean they didn't have income, of course they did, it's just that x percentage of that income was saved. And whilst that formula of income to savings may be satisfactory for one country's Revenue department, it may not be the same for another country's such as TRD who may have a different formulae which changes the income to savings ratio.....that is the impact of DTA rules and the different taxation rates of different classes of income, between the two Revenue Depts.

Under Worldwide Taxation rules, any income that was taxed in the previous year becomes savings in subsequent years hence @gamb00ler does have a point. I think if we take his interpretation and add to it a wait of one tax year, it's hard to deny that is not the correct interpretation.

Thailand has typically operated a small budget deficit every year but was urged by the IMF to increased the budget deficit to help build out infrastructure. This was possible because the governments borrowings to GDP was relatively low by comparison to other economies plus their foreign currency reserves were higher than most. The other part of the equation is that less than 5% of all government debt is in foreign currencies, the remainder is in THB hence there is no exchange rate or currency risk. The budget is linked below, if you are interested. https://www.bb.go.th/en/topic3.php?catID=1446&gid=1147&mid=763

I agree, this is just a new commer trying to redefine the nomenclature.

You should see Rayong, sheesh, it makes Cha Am look like Fort Lauderdale!

The photo's are fake, nobody is pointing.

31st March is the last date for filing a return, 1 January is the first date. You have seven days from filing to pay so safe until 7 April I believe.

Surat thani/Bangkok, about 10 hours

Power of attorney expires on death hence is not valid. In days not that long ago, Mrs Somachai in Nakon Nowhere wouldn't have the 20k baht needed to process Mr Somchai's will through probate court and bank staff knew this because they were part of the community. It was sufficient for Mrs Somchai to take a copy of Mr Somchai's Amphur will to the branch and the manager would make it all happen. I don't doubt that still happens in many places nationwide, despite the process not being up to legal process par. But in a country where illegal short cuts are SOP, this one is no biggee, unless head office as something to say.....if they ever find out that is.

Goodbye Lou.

"Should not do that:. Have you forgotten where you are!