Mike Lister

I was a forum moderator until recently, I was aware of some of what has happened and how hard senior forum staff had been working to make it happen.

Read your DTA and see what it says.

I also would use SWIFT, no question. As far as I am aware, it is unclear if a an FET can be obtained using Wise, there is no question that it can, when using SWIFT.

It depends on what the DTA says, the EU has a separate DTA to the US, you will need to check yours, in all probability the answer will be the same..

I knew it wouldn't be too long before the tag team leader in chief showed up! Re: Guesses vs Facts: read the introduction, read the caveats, read what the Simple Guide says it is....nowhere does it say everything is fact, grow up for gods sake. Why ever on earth you don't contribute to the guide and help people instead of constantly trying to undermine its usefulness or get it closed down, is unfathomable. I quote: "What this guide will provide is, A STARTING POINT for readers to manage their own tax affairs, and it will also provide links to many of the answers for those with simple tax affairs, especially the average pensioner". Re: Separate Thread: We every comfortably had our own thread until your mob barged in and destroyed it with long rambling posts about Australian tax and refused to leave. We've already had this discussion, you know what you did. You do not get to dictate who posts what where in this this forum or who contributes to it. The fact that you want to organise things in a way that suits you is disturbing.

I liked ?????????????????? better.

Congratulations, the hard work paid off.

Legal/defamation laws and similar

Where will the servers be based, in which country?

It's all been said repeatedly, twenty, thirty fifty times over. We're not experts or even trained in Thai tax law, our objective has been to provide basic information about what we know and how the system operates. That's the Simple Guide and that's what it does. I recognise it has been well received and viewed nearly 80,000 times and frankly, that's really satisfying for us. But still today, as we've seen very recently, there's a tag team of three or four members whose noses have been put out of joint some six months ago and who continue to look for ways to obstruct, be abusive, be uncooperative and generally hinder progress. You would imagine that professional and educated people might be able to debate pro's and con's at a sensible level, but no. No challenge is too small, no issue too insignificant, if it comes from me, it must be attacked, not the concept but the person! And if you think the forum picture of these things is ugly, the behind the scenes picture has been ten times more messy. Orchestrated letter writing, abusive PM's, complaints to the owners, dear god it's like being and adult back in ferkin kindergarten.

If you and your tag team can't stop the personal commentary, I'm very happy to leave all of this discussions on tax and let you four deal with everything, is that what you want because I can easily make it happen?

I agree with that 100%. It looks like the quotes system is all screwed up, it's difficult to tell now who said what and who's replying to whom!

I don't understand what your argument is or the point you're trying to make, let me summarise! The IRS doesn't want people filing if they earn below certain level. Millions here earn above the required level to file but don't. Let's not talk about it. Is that about right?

You should join the discussion on tax, there are people over there who think Thai tax rules have to make sense too, you'd fit right in!

Where is it written in the Thai tax code, or in any other tax code for that matter, that common sense must prevail in all tax regulations and not only that but Jim Gant's idea of what is common sense!

One last thought on this business of filing a return. All the statements that have been quoted on this subject have set out the circumstances under which a person must file a return, I cannot recall seeing any that set out when a person is not required to do so. I therefore wonder why it is that a majority of forum members seem to want even more confirmation and greater proof of the need to file. Surely the shoe should be on the other foot, those members should be posting proof that filing is not required! Clear statements of that fact, statements that set out unequivocally that filing is not required, just as they are demanding to the contrary. I mean, I don't know with absolute certainty if the law says we must file or not but my interpretation is that we should. It's odd that nobody feels the same way, in the absence of any contrarian evidence.

Everyone can feel to interpret those statements as they wish, I interpret them differently and just because the fine for not filing a return is not mentioned, doesn't mean there isn't one. At a minimum, I think it's indisputable that TRD has the ability to demand documentation and an investigation for people who do not file, if they so choose.

I'll caveat all my observations, findings and interpretations, as and when everyone else does exactly the same, including you. Until then we'll return to the real world, safe in the knowledge that this is a social media platform where membership requires everyone to understand there is no liability on the part of the site or its members for any opinion that is expressed on the sites servers that are located in Hong Kong!!! Now, we're done discussing me, the subject is Thai taxation and I hope you understand that. My observations are that Thailand has far more laws on its books than it actually enforces, in fact, enforcement is a weakness across the board, as most people understand. When the choice is to enforce or ignore, the path of least resistance is to ignore. That doesn't mean to say that the ability to enforce won't one day be decided to be useful. Not necessarily enforce everything, just enforce the things that are useful to enforce. But we've been down this well discussed path many times in this thread, there's no pint going down it again.

That seems to be closer to the horses mouth and seems more likely. But as always, the devil is in the detail. With all due respect to the earlier poster who is not unreasonably trying to get to the bottom of the matter, an agents interpretation of what is already cloudy and the subject of interpretation by everyone else, probably doesn't add value.

Nothing to do with LTR visa's and I know it's boring, but this seems to be many peoples hot button at present: I was snooping, looking for information on Thai tax when the criteria for needing to file a US tax return caught my eye, I partially quote below: If you earn less than the standard deduction for your filing status, you likely don't need to file a tax return. (but if you do then you do) Even if you don't meet the filing threshold, you may still have to file taxes if you have other types of income. For example, you may need to file if you earned self-employment income or income from interest or dividends. https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/irs-tax-return/does-everyone-need-to-file-an-income-tax-return/L7pluHkoW I then looked at the criteria for needing to file a tax return in some other countries and they were not dissimilar, in nearly all cases there are circumstances where a person is required to file, mostly because they have a certain type of income, despite them not having any tax to pay. In many of those cases, having income in excess of the standard deduction is a threshold. Now granted, Thailand doesn't have a standard deduction per se, instead it has TEDA and a personal allowance of 60k and a requirement to file at the 120k threshold. So when we consider the need to file or not to file a tax return in Thailand, using the assessable income threshold alone, that is no guarantee whatsoever that you were allowed not to file by law. That is true if the criteria used by other countries are applied and it's true if you take the TRD verbiage alone. Where all those things take us is that we are told repeatedly by some members that "there is no penalty for not filing a tax a tax return, if no taxes were due".......or is there? Sherrings says this, and I paraphrase: If you don't file a tax return, the TRD can order you to produce books, papers and evidence AND fine the person for not filing a return, period. If such an exercise determines that tax was due, additional penalties become due. https://sherrings.com/tax-evasion-not-filing-tax-returns-thailand.html#:~:text=Whoever intentionally avoids (evades) payment,Both*. My very clear interpretation of the above is that the TRD can make you produce whatever paperwork they require, and fine you for not filing a return (unless your income was under the 120k threshold), if that's what they wanted to do. Their ability to do those things is very clearly present, whether or not they would is a totally different subject.

Exactly that, they learned the lesson from Russia. If you sit back quietly and do enough watching and learning, a small move can win the game.

The letter above is very ambiguous and shows a lack of understanding regarding the rules. The first sentence, "LTR Visa holders are tax exempt from income remitted into Thailand as long it wasn't earned in the same year" implies the old rules governing remittances is still in effect, which it is not. The second sentence, "For example, any earnings before 2024 (savings) remitted into Thailand in 2024 will not be subjected to income tax", confuses earnings and savings which is nothing short of amateurish. The next sentence once again hints that the old rules are in effect when it says, " Pension and dividends earned in 2024 and remitted in the same year would be subjected to income tax". The implications are that if they were remitted in a di9fferent year, they would not be taxable, which is not true. My last nitpick is with this, "Most people who hold the LTR will not have to pay tax as their savings are much more significant than their annual earnings", which is a gross assumption. My overall impression of that letter is that it is unprofessional and incorrect, I would have to think long and hard what compelling reason existed for me to want to do business with them. Whether or not they know the rules is one thing, it seems they don't, at a minimum they can't write a professional business letter that is unambiguous.

I didn't say or imply anything of the sort, please stop trying to scare people. Your experience in tax audits overseas is off topic anyway.

I second Ian's post above, Ian is well known in the banking forum over the years and his offer is authentic and genuine.

At the Amphur offices..