Mike Lister

Strange behaviour from the TRD, what if the taxpayer has no assessable income that year and is instead living off savings from inside Thailand or exempt income from overseas. A rhetorical question of course.

Nobody is hiding the appalling smog levels, nor the road traffic deaths nor any of the other bad things, if any potential tourist was to research those things, they would know in a heartbeat and would holiday in Morecambe instead......or would they!

Anything earned before 1 January 2024 is exempt although @JimGant can probably guide you better in the case of IRA's and 401K's

It's a cover story that the masses will buy into and gives reassurance to the 40 million they will be looked after....yawn.

verb keep (a person or place) under surveillance; closely monitor or observe. "he deployed FBI agents to surveil the offices of those companies"

I doubt that a majority of the foreigner related crime is derived from visa-exempts, unfortunately for us it will come from long stay visa holders.

Doing those things requires active enforcement, just like in any other country....don't hold your breath.

Yes I agree, playing the wealthy farang is counterproductive.

Guessing here but it could be to see what the market will bear, those amounts haven't been increased in over 20 years.

Thanks for that. As I suspected, it's a fishing trip to find out more information. My strongest suspicion is that visa extension fees and money in the bank will be increased before too long, I'm very surprised that hasn't happened before now. The other strong possibility is that they are gauging the ability of expats to adopt new types of visa such as the LTR. This is nothing to do with tax, I'm pretty certain of that.

Some laws are obsolete and have not been removed from the books, others exist as deterrents, it would be impractical to enforce every law that exists.....most countries are similar

No, but a multi part visa extension program might be. Applicants will sit a three hour exam on Thai culture, history and traditions, an extensive Thai language test, a forensic review of their finances by trained accountants and finally an interview before an investigative panel. All of this will be conducted at the airport to facilitate immediate removal for those who fail so best pack a bag.

Wash your mouth out for suggesting such things happen, don't you know where you are.

Yes, well, it certainly sets a bad precedent, declaring all our finances to a department that is not known for its honesty and integrity.....that's concerning. I'm comfortable letting Revenue have details of my assets because finance is their job, the Police however is a different matter.

Thank you, now we're getting somewhere! That is not an official government form, which as I recall you said was given to you by the agent, the form does not show a form number on it as all official forms do. The design and contents of the document suggest the form is part of Immigration's "greater scrutiny" campaign, rather than anything that Revenue might use. The question is now, whether this is a local office, one off or is it more wide spread.

Here's one for the collective minds to try and solve: Japanese investment in Thailand is massive. One problem however is that the car companies especially, do not repatriate their earnings and instead leave the money inside Thailand. Now, with BOJ starting to tweak fiscal policy and play around with yield curves, it looks like the YEN will strengthen and that in country opportunities may see those earnings repatriated. That means selling THB for YEN or perhaps even USD, along with the associated impact. If anyone has any data or views on this, I for one will be interested to see and hear it.

I disagree. The purpose of a Dual Tax Agreement between two countries is, amongst other things, to determine which country has primary taxation rights over certain types of income. Where that income is taxed by say the UK, the tax paid can be used to offset any tax that is due in Thailand. If the Thai rate of taxation on the income concerned, is lower than the UK, Thailand will not tax that income further. But, if the rate of UK taxation on that particular type of income is lower than Thailand, Thailand will require additional tax is paid. There is therefore a direct relationship between the tax rates and the tax paid, in both countries.

Look, please don't quote Immigration rules to us, we're trying to get to the bottom of an issue relating to tax. You wrote: "This year, they wanted to see a proof of income and the source of the income. I have been told by somebody at Immigration that this was to proof that I had declard my income to the tax department". When I asked you if you were sure you posted immigration visa rules. So what was it exactly that they asked for and what did you give them, above and beyond the things required to obtain the visa extension?

The extract that you've posted appears to be the Immigration requirements for a visa using the income method, which has nothing whatsoever to do with reporting income to the Thai Revenue!

That makes zero sense, are you certain about that? Unless a person has assessible income, they have no need to declare anything to the Thai Revenue. Income may be exempt under the tax treaty or it may already have been taxed in the home country, in which case, Revenue here doesn't want to know about it.

Sounds like it's possible but quite unlikely, it's far too soon to believe that's the answer

Just because the UK has a 45% tax band, doesn't mean that all UK income is taxed at that rate. For example, if you import UK funds that were taxed in the UK at say 20% and the cumulative corresponding Thai tax for that category of income turns out to be 25%, you may pay an additional 5% tax in Thailand. If however your income is taxed at 45%, chances are you will not pay extra.

You tell 'em!

This is not necessarily true, it will depend on the level to which that income is taxed.

Agreed. One strike and you are out.