SamSpade

As there is no need to file a Tax Return on the LTR Visa how would you go about getting a Tax Residency Certificate for your home country? I'm looking to get an NT (No Tax) Code in the UK so I don't pay any tax on my pensions but I know others have needed them for their banks etc...

I also had problems logging in so reset the HMRC app & then I seem to remember switched the 2FA method to something else before changing it back again. Both now work fine for me.

Maybe when I lived there or used to visit my mates/dentist at least once per month I would have done it myself but traipsing to Bangkok (twice) is not my idea of easy. I do admit that it would be nice to have been able to keep my passport & it did inconvenience me a little bit as I needed to move 300K from my Fixed Deposit account to help a mate out but no biggie to be without it for 2 weeks.

I can well imagine it does, thankfully I'm retired and this is strictly a 1 time 1 year deal where I spend <180 days in Thailand so I'm not Tax resident, bring in enough money to buy a condo in my name and get an LTR visa (I don't earn $80K per year so need the investment) so I don't have to worry about Tax in the future :) The reason for my time in the UK is mainly an extended holiday visiting ageing parents (I'm hoping to convince them to have a couple of weeks in Spain, haven't been in over 20 years), technically I could spend up to 120 days there due to the fact that I don't have the "Ties" to the UK, but I try to keep it below 46 days which is the number of days where they start looking at "Family Ties". The 1st 2 weeks of this trip will be using remaing days from the 2025/2026 tax year "Days in Country" having only visited twice for a total of 5 weeks, 10 days of which were from the 2024/2025 tax year, so far this tax year.

No, we were in the Maldives & originally was planning to extend our stay there but the "No Alcohol" was doing my head in so we flew back to DMK (AirAsia), spent the night at an Airport hotel & the next day flew to Penang (Again, AirAsia).... I wanted to scrap our return flights & get a new flight from Maldives to KL but the GF really hates "Wasting money" (Spoiler alert, her way cost me more but pointless to try to argue & at least she got a night of Thai food to enjoy, she was pretty desperate by this time & didn't understand just how vast the food scene is in Penang). I got challenged by the IO in Malaysia about why I was spending 4 weeks here, GF didn't get asked any questions at all. I did meet a German chap whilst we were in Batu Ferringhi who apparently spends 3 months here renewing his Thai Marriage visa then 6 months in Thailand rinse/repeat & he said he would move here in a heartbeat but his wife wouldn't hear of it. As part of my spending <180 days, will probably return for a 6-8 week stay later in the year, but will book her a trip to Hat Yai (more accurately Satun) to visit her family in the middle so she gets her Thailand fix in. In short, it's a lovely place, highly recommend it & not too expensive either.

I'm in Penang for 4 weeks (part of my plan to spend <180 days in Thailand so I can bring over the money to buy a Condo) and it's a great place, I could really see myself happy here if I needed to leave Thailand for any reason + I believe (haven't done indepth research as I'm not planning on leaving Thailand) that the MM2H visa requirements are much lower here than in KL. Am missing Thailand though, this is week 4 of a 6 week holiday (1st 2 weeks were spent in the Maldives), can't wait to get back for 3 weeks before my 7 week trip to the UK (Spending <180 days in Thailand is a lot harder than I thought it would be :( ).

I can never understand why people subject themselves to all this hassle... Take your current passport to an agent (I used Thai Visa Express, didn't even need to take photos as they did them there & then), pay them 12,000 thb which is 1,200 THB pa or 100 THB pm, the Jumbo passport itself accounts for approx 1/2 of this so in reality it's more like 50 THB pm. And that's it, no need to traipse to Bangkok (Twice). Pay them an extra 1,000 THB and they'll go to immigration to have your stamps transferred over.

We had the same thing happen at Wongamat a few months back with the whole of the beach line being covered mainly in Seaweed but some wood & junk there as well. Pattaya Council Staff were already on it and did an amazing job of cleaning it up

I got mine free from Maneerat, mainly for them to be able to put in a slip reminding me when my next 90 day report & extension are due, but also has their contact details in there. Comes in handy as I keep my TM30 in the back (and my UK Credit Card in the front). I know I don't need to carry the TM30 around with me but it means I always know where it is for when I do need it & it comes in handy when I need to provide my address, much easier for the person needing my address to see the official address then the address as I would explain it.

I believe he was refering to the ExpatTax Thailand video I posted above.

Wow they're expensive at 209 THB ... https://www.lazada.co.th/products/pdp-i1988968214-s6378770077.html?c=&channelLpJumpArgs=&clickTrackInfo=query%253ABush%252Bbeans%253Bnid%253A1988968214%253Bsrc%253ALazadaMainSrp%253Brn%253Ab82e3d8966bf81587ab76c750262bff8%253Bregion%253Ath%253Bsku%253A1988968214_TH%253Bprice%253A209%253Bclient%253Adesktop%253Bsupplier_id%253A1000015964%253Bsession_id%253A%253Bbiz_source%253Ah5_internal%253Bslot%253A6%253Butlog_bucket_id%253A470687%253Basc_category_id%253A14803%253Bitem_id%253A1988968214%253Bsku_id%253A6378770077%253Bshop_id%253A261925%253BtemplateInfo%253A107882_A3_C_D_E%2523&freeshipping=1&fs_ab=2&fuse_fs=&lang=en&location=Bangkok&price=209&priceCompare=skuId%3A6378770077%3Bsource%3Alazada-search-voucher%3Bsn%3Ab82e3d8966bf81587ab76c750262bff8%3BoriginPrice%3A20900%3BdisplayPrice%3A20900%3BsinglePromotionId%3A-1%3BsingleToolCode%3A-1%3BvoucherPricePlugin%3A0%3Btimestamp%3A1771579290295&ratingscore=4.953271028037383&request_id=b82e3d8966bf81587ab76c750262bff8&review=107&sale=909&search=1&source=search&spm=a2o4m.searchlist.list.6&stock=1 But sound yummy so I might have to try

I do know that a couple of years ago they charged a friend of mine an extra 2,500 because he didn't have the insurance BUT he used the "Agent Assisted Financing" so it was 12,500 for that + the 2,500, the cost of the "Finance" side of things has gone so it's probably >13.5K + nowadays, I don't see why the Insurance should have gone up. I use the 8K method but am on a Non-IMM O & last June needed Passport, 2 Photos, Letter from Bank, 3 month Bank Statement (I use a Fixed Deposit account). Wasn't explicity asked for proof of Address but always have my TM30 tucked into my passport holder so they used this to complete the forms, they kept my passport with this so I don't know if they needed to take it to immigration or not. I find them very responsive via Line (ID is je-maneerat) or try calling Fon on 081 863 0320

In other news, Water is wet...

Wow, you're very lucky with your Immigration office, Jomtien (and IIRC Bangkok) won't accept the downloaded statements (Which don't even have your address on them) so people who need them have to go order one the week before, I use an Agent so thus far have only needed to get 3 month statements for my FD account which I get on the day. Like you I've had great experience from BBL up until a couple of years ago but it really feels like the service has gone downhill nowadays... I do like their App :)

Try here https://efiling.rd.go.th/rd-efiling-web/register NB You will need a Tax Identification Number (I know you will have one as you've filed before) which you can get from the Tax Office that covers the area that you live in, which isn't always the same one where you file your return (In my case, I live in Wongamat so had to register in North Na kluea BUT I had to file in Jomtien) Alternatively one of the Tax accouning companies can get a TIN for you.

That’s only true as > 2 years back for 2025 tax year filing would be pre-2024 income & there’s “Grandfathering” in place for any income earned before 1/12024. Unless the proposed change in rules happens, the same won’t be true for 2024 income remitted in 2025, 2026 or any year in the future.

Great to hear you got your KBank account at last 👍🏻 Don’t want to tempt fate but next step might be to open a Fixed deposit account with them for your immigration monies, this will gate you a little bit of interest but more importantly make it much harder to accidentally spend below the required limits.

Correct, only need to consider what you remit 👍🏻

Yep, filed online for the past 2 years and imost of it is very easy if (as mentioned above) you use a Browser with a built in Browser or can read Thai. Only part I struggled with was selecting the correct Income catagories, I normally rely on my partner to translate written Thai for me & if your only income is a Pension this might work for you, but when it comes to things like Dividends & Capital Gains she struggled to explain what the differences between similar sounding income catagories were (as did Google Translate at times), but once you've eliminated the possibilites that don't apply, it's straightforward enough. I kept a note of what catagories I needed from last year so this year's return took less than 5 minutes. Where things may get a lot more complicated is if you have to claim Tax Credits (I don't but it sounds like you do), I've read reports that there is no where to enter these on the return and you have to add a separate document at the end explaining the credits being requested & adding proof of paid tax in your home country. If this does apply to you then it might be worth getting a Tax Agent (ExpatThailand offer a simple tax filing service & a free 15 min consult) to do it for the 1st year, then do it yourself in future years. End of Filing season (8th April for online filing) is fast approaching (49 days) so if you do need to get a service to help then you contact one very quickly as they're likely to be very busy already. Good Luck

Maybe try using www. & not www, then (Joke 🤗) Joking aside it is a pain not being able to post proper links, so I always copy & paste the link from the page I want to highlight, in this case it would be https://is-this-legal.com/is-mad-honey-legal-in-thailand/, just makes it easier for people (including me)...

Thanks, It's been a while since I've used a Krungsri ATM but if I can do BBL/KBank withdrawals from one then maybe I could ditch the ATM cards and save on the annual/renewal fees (should more than cover any additional 10 THB fees when withdrawing).

Thanks... have fixed the typos 😁

I take it you don't need the 12 month Bank statement when you go to Immigration then? There are many reported problems with Bangkok Bank including:- 7 days to produce a 12 month Bank statement that would be acceptible to Immigration. Freezing of monies in Bank Account or refusal to provide letter for immigration if it hasn't been in there for at least 4 months Freezing of monies in bank account pending additional proof of ID (without informing the customer) Closing of accounts for people who aren't on a long term visa (Including DTV holders). I've personally only had experience of #3 and luckily enough only had to go to Jomtien 3 times (total cost 1,200 THB in Taxis), if it would have been my other account opened in Bangkok it would have been a lot more expensive. Their service used to be great but seems to have gone down in recent years... Our closest branch told my GF they could only offer her .05% pa interest on an FD account despite putting 1Million, went to the Branch in Central and got (IIRC) 1.7%. When trying to move money from my (Jomtien homed) FD account to my (Bangkok homed) Savings account, they wanted 1,200 THB in chargest, central wanted 600 THB (but couldn't do it because it was then that we found out the account was frozen) as did Jomtien. Not for me, I've opened a Kasikorn FD account, transferred another 400K for BBK and another 400K from the UK to top this up to 800K and will hopefully switch to this when I do my next extension but will keep the BBL account for day to day spends.

The question was about cardless withdrawals, I know I can do BBL cashless withdrawals from KBank & visaversa but last time I tried I could only do cashless withdrawals from Krungsri from my (well technically my partner's, app is on my phone as she doesn't trust banking apps on the phone she takes out with her) Krungsri account.

I know you can open an Foreign Currency account with KBank but don't know for sure whether there's a mandatory conversion to THB if you wanted to offshore the funds... CO-Pilot thinks not... In short: Yes, with your Non O Visa you should be able to open a USD FCD account at Kasikorn Bank, hold USD, and transfer USD abroad without conversion to THB — provided the funds meet their source-of-income rules. Grok also thought not... Holding & transferring USD: You can hold USD directly. Transfer/withdraw in USD (e.g., SWIFT to US account) without converting to THB—no extra docs needed for foreign-currency outbound transfers. and pointed me to the KBank page... Forms of Withdrawal... Foreign banknotes Foreign drafts Traveler’s cheques For exchange into Baht For transfer to other countries per the objectives set by BOT For transfer to another FCD account https://www.kasikornbank.com/en/personal/account/pages/foreign-currency.aspx So it would depend on whether the transfers were "per the objectives set by BOT" which are:- Bank of Thailand (BOT) objectives (per BOT Act and official mandate): Foster a stable, sustainable, and inclusive macroeconomic and financial environment. Promote monetary stability (price stability) and formulate monetary policy. Maintain financial institutions stability and payment systems stability. Preserve overall national economic and financial stability to support sustainable economic growth. In FCD context, regulations align with these by managing foreign exchange flows to support stability without unnecessary THB conversion for permitted outbound transfers. Apart from the obvious FX loses in doing a USD:THB:USD conversion to send the money, I believe (please confirm this with an actual Tax accountant, this is just my understanding) that bringing foreign currency into Thailand is not considered remitted income until it is converted to THB so USD:USD you haven't brought the money in, USD:THB:USD you've remitted the money into Thailand so it's potentially tax assessable BTW, I achieve the same thing (with more interest & without having to move money into Thailand) with GBP by having accounts with WISE & Revolut where I can transfer money into different currency pots... There are more Options with Wise >40 Pots:- Number of currencies: You can hold 40+ currencies in your Wise account. Supported currencies for holding: Includes all major ones like USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, CAD, JPY, SGD, THB, INR, and many more. Adding money: You can top up in a subset of currencies (AUD, CAD, CHF, CZK, DKK, EUR, GBP, JPY, NOK, NZD, PLN, RON, SEK, SGD, TRY, USD, plus some region‑specific ones like BRL, CNY, IDR, ILS, HKD, MYR, PHP with restrictions). Restrictions: Some currencies have conditions — for example, BRL requires Brazilian tax residency, MYR requires a Malaysian address, PHP requires a Philippine address, etc. Transfers: You can send money to over 50 currencies worldwide, always at the mid‑market exchange rate. But I find Revolut a little bit cheaper & fantastic to use when I'm travelling... 39 Pots:- Middle East & Africa: AED, EGP, MAD, QAR, SAR, ZAR Asia-Pacific: AUD, CNY, HKD, IDR, INR, JPY, KRW, NZD, PHP, SGD, THB, VND Europe: CHF, CZK, DKK, EUR, GBP, HUF, ISK, NOK, PLN, RON, RSD, SEK, TRY Americas: CAD, CLP, COP, MXN, USD Other: ILS, KZT