The Cyclist

No A 2 week tourist would not be considered a resident of Thailand for tax purposes. But people have convinced themselves that the Thai authorities have the means, capability and desire to track every ATM withdrawal on a foreign card and then sub-divide that into tourists and residents for tax purposes.

There is your answer Give the lawyer a witness statement from your friend along with the social media of her making a fool of herself. Let your lawyer deal with it.

A lot of assumptions there. Still, look on the bright side, if you need to hire an accountant it should be tax deductable. That accountant will also deal with paperwork, document translations and any other hassles.

Simple answer It might, then again it might not. It will depend on your individual circumstances.

The question should be, who would buy a tin of spam at that price ? For 260bt you can make a fresh chicken curry that will easily cover 4 or 5 people or 4 or 5 meals if you freeze it in individual portions.

For anyone that might be interested, I renewed my extension last Friday. I was bitterly disappointed that neither of the.2 very good looking girls at the bank or immigration took it upon themselves to slap me in handcuffs, wire up my gonads to a 12V battery and grill me endlessly on TIN's, or lack thereof. Neither was I given any advice that next years extension would require a TIN or evidence of paying / not paying tax in Thailand.

I would only trust what comes direct from the Thai Government or direct from the RD. I would trust very little that is posted on internet forums, in the press or tax experts. They know no more ( at this stage ) than anyone else. As an example It is my understanding ( and I could be wrong ) that no laws need amending as the Law isn't changing, only the interpretation of the Law / Rule is changing. What could possibly happen is that Thais with lots of money, and could be hit with mountains of tax, could mount a legal challenge, which could tie up the implementation for a few years as it goes through the legal process. My opinion only and not based on any fact. The only facts that I am working on right now are 1. Something is changing on the 01 Jan 2024 - How it will effect me, at this stage I do not know ( and neither does Nyone else. 2. On the 01 Jan I will have a hangover from hell. Any other facts that surface between today and the 01 Jan 2024, I will have a look at them, and decide what I need to do in light of that new fact.

Unless the post was made by the Thai Government or the head of the RD, I wouldn't place a lot of faith in that post. If you are not a resident of Thailand for tax purposes, it will not ( or should not ) be liable for Thai tax anyway.

If I ever get to the point you are at, then there is only one thing left. A one way trip to https://www.dignityindying.org.uk/why-we-need-change/dignitas/ Change your lifestyle for a couple of weeks / months and get a new perspective on life.

The clue is the link you supplied Voluntary National Insurance Contributions ( VNIC's ) which allows you to add years to your NI contributions to uplift you to a full 30 or 35 years contributions to claim the State Pension in full. Which is totally different to the AVC's that I paid, which either uplifted death benefits or enhanced my pension payout. Probably a bit like ' Opted out ' or ' Contracted out '' As you are now aware, they are called VIN's and are somewhat different to the AVC's that I paid. Much like some people call a lifetime annuity a pension, to simplify things for people who might not understand what a lifetime annuity is.

Obviously they are not, as my AVC's increased death benefits or increased my pension if I did not die. Which as the link provided above shows is not the case with VNI's and the State Pension. Rather odd that you did not mention this when I previously gave 2 examples of things that would effect the size of your State Pension payout. Anyway, it is getting rather monotonous and the next thing people want to really hear about the UK State Pension is whether the Thai Gov / RD is going to tax it due to not being a Government Pension and therefore not covered by the UK - Thai DTA. Keep your eyes peeled and you will be able to deliver the bad, or good news as the case may be.

Call it what you will ' Opted out ' or ' contracted out ' The end result was the same. Sure, but as AVC's haven't been mentioned, they were not really part of the discussion. I am not evenconvinced that you pay AVC's towards the State Pension, it is more a Private / Company Pension thing. You can pay VNI's towards your State Pension, but in some cases this will be a waste of money. https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/pensions-and-retirement/state-pension/voluntary-national-insurance-contributions-and-the-state-pension You can pay VIN's to make up your qualifying years if you are short of the 35 qualifying years to get the maximum State Pension.

You are trying to compare the value of a State Pension in combination with a SIPP with a single State Pension. Private investment Pension should always trump a State Pension. The value of the State Pension does not change regardless if you pay NI at £30 a week or £100 a week, what changes the value is the number of qualifying years you contribute. My Private Pension trumps my Government Pension, even though it was accrued over a much shorter period. The difference being that I shovelled money into my Private Pension and my Government Pension was non contributory. Swings and roundabouts, and when I eventually get the State Pension, it will be a very poor relation to the other 2 pensions.

It would depend on various factors, as does most things. The terms of my Government Pension dictated that I could not invest in a Private Pension, whilst accruing that Pension. It doesn't change the fact that if you were ' Opted out ' you paid reduced rates of NI and therefore recieved a smaller State Pension than you would have recieved if you were ' Not opted out '

I am only explaining why your State Pension is so low. 1 - Lower initial payment because you were ' opted out ' 2 - Periods when your State Pension was frozen.

When you are " Opted out " it means that you paid a reduced rate of NI for the years that you were opted out. That reduction in NI equates to a reduction in the State Pension, it also means that you do not qualify for SERPS 2, or whatever it was called. Nothing to do with a Private pension.

In the last 5 years you will have lost about 20-25% in annual increases. Were you ever " Opted out " in previous employment ? That would explain your lower level of pension.

Yes, that is possible, especially if 1 - You are on a frozen pension. 2 - You were previously opted out

That is the new pension. I believe it applies to people on the old pension who also have the SERPS 2 or whatever it was called.

The 10.1% increase in April 2023 and the ( as yet undecided, either 8.5% or 7.9% in April 2024 ) will put many State Pensioners over the £12,570 tax threshold.

DTA's aside. In the UK, there are many different Pensions that will always be taxed in the UK, regardless of where in the World you decide to live / retire to. If you only have a single UK based pension then you get the first £12,570 ( Bahtt 550,000 ) tax free, before you start incurring UK tax. Not as simple as reading the appropriate DTA.

Steal and hide the keys until your friend sobers up or you talk some sense into him.

Was going to suggest heading down to the Mercedes dealer and checking out the new Merc EV, it is stunning. But I then seen your location as Pattaya.

As of today, it is effective as of the 01 Jan 2024. It is not legislation that is being changed, only the interpretation of the legislation. Whoch are 2 different things. Sure, it might well be delayed, but the sensible thing would be to work on the 01 Jan 2024 and treat any delay as a bonus.

The poster that you quote, has apparently had emails from 2 tax experts confirming his doom & gloom. Sadly, said poster refrained from publishing these emails when asked to do so.