Rolo89

You don't have to be a tax resident of somewhere. It mainly causes issues with banking so it's a good idea to get tax residency somewhere. I get paid dividends from my UAE company into my Jersey personal bank account. Can't see why I'd need to get tax residency, neither of those countries cared about my thai tax status.

Bangkok is getting better, but public transport is still very limited and it's grown very slowly. Covers a decent length now with the lines they've built far out but still needs decades more to get a complete system. The sky train is expensive. I know people who get a grab bike to work in the morning even when they live on a direct sky train line into work because its the same price.

Well they'll go from getting a fair bit of tax from me to 0. Thailand isn't a paradise that people are desperate to live in for 365 days a year. UK citizens can easily be a tax resident of nowhere so I have little to gain to keep being a thai tax payer, other than a messy return

War is ugly. Neither side is perfect. But only one side is evil. Hamas.

Well of course the ones that they kept alive and released to tell the tale weren't tortured. That's just common sense with their bargaining chips. Blaming Jews is quite the choice.

Thailand currently has the place with the worst air quality on earth.

The EU similar scheme has already been delayed 4 years and is still not in. I imagine the Thai scheme will be delivered a few years late.

Well at least in Thailand they have bridges for people to cross the road. In Vietnam you're just supposed to cross the road and hope you aren't killed. In Hong Kong they issue fines for people crossing the road without a green man. In many Asian countries the green man means nothing. If Thailand started enforcing the rare places where motorbikes are not allowed on pavements it might be a place to start. I can understand why the Japanese have given up going abroad, everywhere else apart from SG is like hell if you're used to their pavements and road users.

I find Vietnam worse than Thailand for that.

Quite. The idea that it's even difficult to exchange cash without leaving a paper trail is laughable. If it reduces the amount of tax I'm paying in the 35% bracket and it's perfectly legal to bring in $20k USD I have no issues with doing it due to the very poor value Thai tax represents.

The scheme is easy as pie to apply for. I just used chatgpt to write my cover letter for employment and send it with a bank statement and it was approved a few days later. Anyone using these services for is paying an idiot tax. You're applying with the embassy in your home country - nothing complex or challenging.

I'm sure she'll announce a scheme to up the safety of buses taking children on field trips to solve this issue 🙄

Boomers have had it so easy with jobs, housing and pensions. My dad is always talking about how he worked so hard for 40 years. In reality he had a easy office job, half days on fridays, often had long lunches on the golf course, was never in later than 5pm. Those kind of jobs don't exist anymore. Someone in the same circumstances these days would just about be able to afford to rent a small 2 bed on 2 adults working. House is now worth over a million (5 bed detached SE england), mum never had to work and they are bitterly complaining about the winter fuel payment taken away despite having an income in retirement of about 70k and no housing costs. They're taking out way more than they ever paid in to the system and are under some impression they're hard done by.

The current crop of pensioners will be seen as the lucky ones. Future generations are paying a far higher tax burden, the pension age is increasing and the state pension is pretty unaffordable so won't exist for many that are paying for others to have it. If someone is stupid enough to move abroad without spending a few seconds to check how it affects them, then that's an idiot tax. Don't move to a country without reciprocal social security if you want the increase.

This has been the case forever. Countries without reciprocal social security with the UK don't get the increases. I imagine he hasn't done a single "grueling" day of work if he's unable to know such simple things that take 3 seconds to google.

Horrific story, but unfortunately not that surprising. The buses often have a cloud of black smoke that would rival a coal power station. Somethings not right with them to be outputting that much black smoke and decent safety standards would save lives in tragedies like this and the deaths caused by the air pollution.

I think if you keep applying for SG PR without any big changes in your circumstances then it hinders your case. It's probably a waste of time applying unless Maylasisan with the right ethnicity like Chinese as the "other" quota is said to be 1% a year out of the 30'000 that get PR. It's like a lottery. I'd refuse to play that game when the odds are so small at winning.

The Elite visa is terrible value now 900k thb for 5 years, less terrible if you got years ago 20 years for just 100k thb more but very little benefit over spending 10k for 5 years DTV. Most smart people set up their companies in a low/no tax country and then live somewhere where offshore income isn't taxed (like Thailand at the moment). The elite visa makes no difference to tax. The Portuguese visa was the one to get with 0% tax on offshore money for 10 years and easy way to citizenship in an EU country. But that closed this year.

I would list the parent company on the form as the employer, that would stand more chance of getting past the box ticker that is unable to apply logic or reasoning. Most big companies are a spiders web of different companies. There's not really a huge amount of difference really between the DTV and LTV work from Thailand professionals. Unless I'm missing something? Fast track is nice and access to better help and services with a more secure visa, but still not a world apart.

Agree, the only tax benefit is that overseas isn't taxed, which many other countries offer and places in Europe offer a low tax to wealthy citizens. Singapore used to give out PR very easily, but it's far more difficult these days and their selection criteria is unclear. They have points but even if you meet all of those they often still reject, unlike other countries where if you have the points you get PR and a path to citizenship. SG has a quota for ethnicity and strict limits on PR, if you're Mayalsian you have by far the best chance. But people who have lived there for over 10 years, built up a business and raised children there still get rejected many times.

Yes offshore accounts aren't in any way private or untraceable (that ended many years ago). But the point is it's not taxable unless it's brought into Thailand until taxation on worldwide income happens.

You can change about 800 USD a time in Malaysia without a passport or about 3000 USD in SP without a passport, the small money changers in Thailand often don't ask for a passport. The big ones always do.

My post has nothing to do with saying DTV people staying over 180 days don't have to pay tax? Everyone knows they do.

And the best visa in Thailand is a low bar. LTR is good if you qualify for it due to an employer being publicly traded and 150million USD or are a highly skilled professional with existing work visa. For the wealthy LTR visas it's quite the gamble having to put so much money into Thailand to get it. Your investment could crumble or be untouchable at any time. Far safer and more stable places to go that offer a path to citizenship.

Well you can't work in Thailand on a DTV other than abroad remote work, so any money earned doesn't need to be paid into a thai bank account. I can just take a short flight to another country, withdraw up to $20'000 USD from my Guernsey bank account where my company dividends are paid and Thailand can't trace or tax it. If I decide to pay tax in Thailand then I won't pay the 35% tax rate while the services received don't justify it.