jayceenik

"Theoretically" applies to me... I have since a long time a FCD Euro in SIN. Non interest producing since many years. I have whittled it down over the years to buy car, house, living expenses, etc for my Thai wife. Now I think I'll have to close it down and bring the rest of it into in my savings account in Thailand to be THB because I fear that inbound remittances from that SIN account after 1JAN25 could be hammered by the TRD. "Theoretically" is not a certainty even though I think like you that it's most likely to be a "no". It's now over five months that the new tax law should have been announced and spelled out clearly but even knowledgeable guys like you are still not sure 100% of WTF is going on about what applies to us tax residents farangs. Anyway, thanks for all your valuable inputs.

Talk about a FCD at Bangkok Bank! I have a very satisfactory FCD EUR at Citibank SIN since 2001 but I thought I would transfer it to a FCD EUR at the BBK for ease of inheritance for my Thai wife so I went to BBK Silom HQ last Friday with intent to open a FCD EUR. By God! Their FCD is a joke! First I'd have to open a THB savings account to which Citi SIN could transfer my EUR. These THB which would then be changed into EUR to go to my BBK FCD EUR account. So change incoming TT EUR into THB then change those THB into EUR for the FCD account. Costly double exchange. Citi accepts EUR TT remittances straight into my account and transfers whatever amount in EUR wherever I want at no cost and without any change into SGD first. And I can change the FCD currency whenever I want. My first FCD was in USD with SCB SIN eons ago when I was working in Indonesia and paid in USD. I changed to Citi in 2001. Absolutely no transfer problems.

I'm 100% on Russia's side and 100% against those who sabotaged NS1-2 and now are licking their chops at the idea of NATO going after Russia and launching a nuclear WWIII. So the ad homineen attacks at @Gweilomancan be directed at me too!. 😉 Thank you! Always amusing to see that Herr Goebbels has left such a very active Russsophobe progeny. Ach! Time for a Barbarossa redux with NATO leading the charge this time.

My Thai wife has a couple vacant houses here in LOS. She goes there regularly to check things out, cut the grass to make an appeearance if not a presence. She says a squat in LOS can become permanent after ten years if no owner showed up. Squatting is a big problem in France. Takes usually two years and expensive lawyer and court fees to evict squatters. As in the US the law is much more on the squatter's side than on the legal property owners. Owners could get up to two years jail time and heavy fines if they tried to evict the squatters themselves. Other than the occasional and temporary church and vacant commercial building in Brussels squatting is not a problem in Belgium.

A few years back a local airline rquested some sort of attestation of being fit or have a help companion on the web booking form for PAX older than some age. I was aged less than the mentioned age so no problem but It made me worried about future air travel in LOS. Sorry, I forget the details but, anyway, I haven't seen this notice for some time. Still, being seriously old (but very fit) I always fret when they ask your DOB on the web booking request. Next Thursday I fly UBP to DMK and then go to Silom by APT bus, then BTS, then... on foot! Second such trip this year. I know this will become difficult one day.

Sorry, no links I can find right now. This is more of the stuff I found about in WWII books and that nobody wants to remember. As for France, the plan was for Alsace-Lorraine to revert to Germany and most parts on the East side of the Rhone to go to Italy. Note that the US-UK had planned early on for France to be a military protectorate run by US and British generals. A new currency had already been printed - the AMGOT Franc. Fortunately for France De Gaulle put a quick end to these imperialistic dreams What I want to say is that all these accusations about Putin being an new Empire builder came from people who are themselves citizens of hegemonist countries. There are maps you can find on the Internet about the US planned dismemberment of the present Federation of Russia into a multitude of mini states that, it is hoped by the US will welcome Black Rock and associates. Just like Zelensky is now.

Do you know that the US had a plan to dismember Belgium after the Liberation? And make it disappear as a nation... One part to Holland, one part to France, and one part to Germany. But a few years later, when Wallonia did want to join France (Walloons, French, De Gaulle had all marked their accord) this project was nixed by the US who didn't want France to be augmented with prosperous Wallonia and its rich coal mines and steel mills. BTW-many sanctions directed at Russia have been economically very detrimental to Belgium. Latest one being directed at the word class Antwerp diamond market. No more Russian diamonds for Antwerp, not even those pre-cut in India. I want peace in Europe, not a US-Russia proxy war that would serve only the geostrategic interests of the US. Belgium is host to 22 US nuclear missiles and will be one of the top retaliatory targets for Russia if it's attacked by NATO like so many now in Europe want (UK, Poland, France, the Baltic states, ...).

I support Putin 100%. I'm just a plain Belgan retiree. If there is a Kremlin supported group of posters on this forum please message me and accept me in your group because I feel rather lonely as a Russophile in this mostly Russophobe forum.

Actually blocking RT and other Russian media in the EU was ordered by Ursula vdL. Without any consultation with other EU luminaries. Interesting to know Ursula's marital ties to big Pharma Pfizer. https://www.euronews.com/health/2024/05/17/how-the-love-story-between-von-der-leyen-and-pfizer-turned-sour

I'm a Belgian retiree in Isaan. I used towatch RT France for news until the Pfizer girl blocked it. Fortunately, it's still on FB unblocked in Thailand. https://www.facebook.com/RTenfrancais/ And, Yes, the Wikipedias;s entry about that SS has been redacted. Yaroslav Hunka, the Waffen SS veteran who received a standing ovation in Canada's parliament, was first able to flee to England before he emigrated to North America. Hunka was one of thousands of SS veterans who made the journey with the connivance of Western authorities, who saw them as anti-Communist allies in the Cold War. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEZPZt0X0Tc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASPoFzmDteg

I've followed the Ukraine events since 2014. I respect Putin. I see him as a great statesman and who has put Russia back on its feet since he took power. I'm on his side 100%. I wish Russia success in that US against Russia war by Ukrainian proxy. The US should push their marionette Z to accept that Ukraine should not be a Nuclear missile NATO threat at the border with Russia and start peace talks with Putin. And the US should call it quits. They have failed to destroy Russia but have succeded in weakening Europe (a long held goal) and making it a client for their expensive eco-disaster LNG by blowing up the pipelines that were bringing much cheaper and better Russian gas to Germany. One has to be awed by how successful US propaganda has been in painting Putin as a madman (orc?) who wants to recreate some tsarist Empire of yore. Man alive! A WWII SS received a double standing ovation in the Canadian Parliament recently. Babi Yar, anybody? That SS was lauded admiringly by all these Canadians because he had fought against Russia in WWII and was thus a hero to be applauded. Insulting those brave Canadians who died on Juno Beach in Normandy. Russia was on our side in WWII against the Nazis. you know...

Exactly. In 2014 I decided that my TGF was the ONE and I wanted her to be sole beneficiary of my modest riches. Indeed we're now married. I have no NOK. I made a Thai Will with a law firm in Pattaya for my Thai bank accounts (and motocy!). THB 10,000. I flew to SIN and made a Will with a SIN law firm for my Citi SIN FCD account. USD 500 plus 50 for SIN govt registration. And I wrote a holographic Will for my bank account in Belgium. Legal in Belgium. Wife will send it to a notary in Belgium for execution when I depart.

I agree with you. I've been thinking all along that this law was mainly aimed at Thais with big overseas income kept hidden to RD and we are unintended potential collateral damage. Potential because I don't think they'll come after us happy ordinary LOS retirees. Taxing the big Thai guys-yes. Taxing rich resident farangs with big worldwide income-maybe yes. Taxing modest farang retirees on their monthly 65k (home-taxed or not), I don't think so.... Of course, what I think is not RD law... 😉

I too went there many times about 40/45 years ago when I was vacationing in BKK. At the time it was favored by a group of American teachers.

Due diligence will give you the bank FCD conditions and you will see the good and bad of a Thai bank FCD and judge if it's OK for you. Me, I have a very satisfactory FCD in SIN but I'm thinking about ease of inheritance for my Thai wife. I have a proper SIN lawyer-drafted Will but still she'll have a bothersome time to get to that SIN FCD. Easier for her if I transfer that FCD to a Thai bank.

I live in Isaan. KTB in Ubon (where I have a THB savings account already) said no FCD for foreigners. KungSri didn't know what I was talking about. BKK Bank Ubon said the person in charge of opening FCD is not working there anymore and they couldn't do FCD. I contacted BKK Bank on their website and they immediately sent me all the info. I need 1} my valid Belgian passport, 2} my valid Non-Imm O visa (stay extension), 3} current Certificate of Residence (issued by Immigration Ubon}. I must also deposit equivalent €770 in THB for opening a Euro FCD account which I'll do at the BKK Bank HQ Silom BKK in the next couple weeks (have to fly there!). Like previous posters said banking in Thailand is all dependant on the particular branch and employees you're dealing with 😊

At KTB interest rates on fixed terms deposits are inferior for farang held accounts. Also, I was asked to get a TIN even though I already had a long time savings account with them.

I can't understand why the great majority of posters on this thread seems to dislike/hate Thais and root for a farang who has been so rude to a woman (because she is Thai she doesn't count as a woman?). That Swiss guy would pay hell if he had behaved like that in his country (kicking a Swiss woman or a foreigner). As for the him being definitively shown the door it depends how much pull he has here in Thailand. The oldtimers will remember that German in Pattaya that the Police wanted to get rid of (they had good reasons!). It took a few years because the German was very influential and could muster powerful relations. A Police chief and a Governor lost their jobs in the confrontation. Finally a new Governor with extra strength support was able to sent the guy and his lieutenant on their way out.

You should visit US vassal state Belgium. We are home to numerous US troops, US military Headquarters, and about two dozens US nuclear missiles. I am a real Belgian! BTW, in my adventurous youth I even enlisted in the US Army and did an extended tour in VN.

As a Belgian I object to your insulting stance about the USSR valiant soldiers who fought in WWII. The Soviet Army broke the back of the German Army in Stalingrad and Kursk and was the main contributor to the liberation of Europe. You must be a German still sore about the Barbarossa failure. And, Yes, I support Putin 100%. Ukraine's Bandera nationalists formed a SS brigade in WWII so I have no sympathy for Zelensky and his Azov battallions.

My first TIN. 03FEB89. 9 numbers. At the time I was renting a studio in Sukhumvit 22. I got a job for an Aussie company in Papua New Guinea. One month on - two weeks off. Airfare paid to BKK. The then Thai govt decided to tax farangs who were spending more than a couple months a year in LOS. That was me. We had to declare our overseas income and pay Thai taxes on it No reentry for those who didn't get a clearance from the RD. I declared a very low nominal salary, received a TIN by post and paid a token sum in 1989 ,1990 and 1991. Then this new "farang" tax was scrapped. I had completely forgotten about this TIN when I had to get one a few years ago when I made a time deposit account at KTB and they insisted on my having a TIN to open this time account even though I already had a savings account with them. Today I just exhumed the old one while clearing my papers. So, now I have two TINs!

You talking only about Russians or do you generalize about all nationalities? In other words, according to you is that only Russians who misbehave when in other countries?

This Western hatred for Russians dates back eons. Mure recently, remember that Patton wanted to fight his way from Normandy to Moscow, crush the Soviet army and occupy the USSR. Me, count my humble retired Belgian person to be resolutely supporting Putin in that dreadful US-Ukraine proxy war against Russia.

Thanks for the info. I was sure the employee was feeding me BS but it's good to be reassured by others. They indeed said that I had better open this FCD account in the BKK Bank Silom HQ where there would not be this doublr currency exchange. These FCD accounts are held and managed in the bank HQ and are thus of no benefit to the oulying branches. Just extra work that doesn't concern these subsidiaries branches unless one opens a concurrent THB with them.

I went to the BKK Bank main branch in Ubon to get info for my opening a EUR FCD account with them. I have a EUR savings account with Citi in SIN that I want to transfer here. The bank said they need to see my Belgian passport and my NonImmO stay permit. Fair enough, but then they want to see my Thai marriage certificate, my wife's house registration, and additional documents from my bank, immigration and amphoe. They then told me the way to transfer my EUR Citi funds to that account is to have Citi SIN SWIFT transfer my funds in EUR to my FCD account, have these funds exchanged in THB and then re-exchanged into EUR to then be entered in my FCD account. This is absolutely ridiculous. I don't want to convert my EUR into THB at this time. Is that the way FCD in Thailand work? I thought FCD were for keeping your foreign currency in your foreign currency until you decided to convert part or all into THB.