CaptHaddock

US Citizens do not require a visa to visit the UK as a tourist? or did I miss something? non schengen visa?

US citizens do not need a visa to visit the UK as a tourist. See the link above.

Thanks, no work, legal or otherwise. Just tourists. Thanks for the link, also, but it is only general and does not cover the specific case of "switching passports in flight" (terminology of Bangkok Air rep.)

My wife has both Thai and US passports. We are planning to visit the UK. Will she be able to exit Thailand on her Thai passport and enter the UK on her US passport? I ask because although she routinely does this when traveling to the US, she was recently unable to do so traveling to Laos. If she can do this going to London she will not have to get a visa as a Thai citizen. Needless to say, she cannot exit Thailand on her US passport since she has no visa or entry stamp in that passport never having used it to enter Thailand.

A pointer to the relevant regulation would be appreciated.

Explain which government was imposed by a coup ?

In this case, it would have been the one from December 2008. Abhisit's government.

It's known as a judicial coup.

The same tactic may have been "Plan A" in 2014, but in the end, we just got an "intervention".

It's know as 'judicial coup' by those who like labels as they are not up to explaining in legal terms why that would be so. It's so much easier to suggest it's obvious and insinuate only morons or right wing fascists wouldn't see that.

There is no genuine democracy in the world where the courts can dissolve political parties or remove the head of government from office. In all genuine democracies the courts owe their allegiance only to the constitution, but not in Thailand. In most democracies it is the executive and/or the elected legislature that selects judges, but not in Thailand under the 2007 soldier's constitution, where the half-appointed Senate chose them. Those undemocratic features, along with the creation of "independent" agencies, like the National Anti-Corruption Council, held vast powers outside of elected officials including the apparent "right" to impeach the President of the Senate.

The next constitution will even more fully ensure that elected officials are under the firm control of the very much un-elected ammart.

Not only were unarmed protesters wounded and killed but also bystanders, including a boy, were killed.

Yep bystanders and ordinary citizens going about their business like the lady in the skytrain station that was killed by a deliberate grenade attack on that station.

And how many others killed by grenade and rifle fire by the armed element of the "Peaceful protesters" ?

As yet I have seen no logical reason for the riots to have started in the first place, except the greed and hunger for power of Thaksin who funded them then sat in luxury while his paid thugs urged their their followers to overthrow a legal government by any means including arson.

The red shirts in 2010 were calling for elections, the fundamental right of citizens in a democracy not to have a govt imposed on them by a coup! Their actions in 2010 led to the election with a majority of Yingluck in 2011, the clear choice of the Thai electorate. At that point, according to later remarks by Suthep, he and Prayut started planning to remove Yingluck from power illegally.

Explain which government was imposed by a coup ?

Be serious. You don't imagine Abhisit and Suthep ever won any election, do you? They got there by one military coup, and two (royalist) judicial coups that dissolved the party that won the election of 2008 and it's successor party.

Govt compensates family of dead world cyclist

BANGKOK: -- The Ministry of Tourism and Sports will handover this week Bt300,000 in assistance money to the wife and son of the late Chilean intercontinental cyclist Juan Francisco Guillermo, 48, Nakhon Ratchasima Tourism and Sports Office director Pichet Dechakhamphu announced Tuesday.

Guillermo was killed in a road accident in tambon Bua Lai in Nakhon Ratchasima's Bua Yai district on Saturday while completing the final leg of a five-year, round-the-world cycling journey.

Guillermo's 39-year-old Singaporean wife, Pei Ling, and their two-year-old son, were also injured in the accident, and Tuesday remained at Bua Yai Hospital. Pei Ling sustained a broken leg and will take another week to recover.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/Govt-compensates-family-of-dead-world-cyclist-30254764.html

-- The Nation 2015-02-24

So 300,000 baht is what Thaines thinks this mans life and destroyed family is worth. Unbeliveable.

It is a gift from the government. The driver's insurance is another source. The driver himself is yet another. Finally, and most importantly, the victim's insurance company should pay.

If a foreigner dies in a road accident in my country the US government will pay nothing.

The Federal govt would'nt pay, but the state might. New York State has an agency the purpose of which is to compensate victims of uninsured motorists. I doubt there is any such provision in the red states, where the citizen can enjoy his freedoms without assistance from the state.

As a US citizen living in Thailand, if his ownership structure amounts to self-employment he MUST pay US Self-Employment (payroll) tax, including both the employer and employee percentages, which payments will be included in determining his future SS benefits.

Depends on if it is in Thailand or US. If its a Thai based country he cannot.

Dream on.

Here's advice from one of dozens of websites that pop up in a google search for advice for self-employed expats:

Self-Employment Tax

Another important aspect to be aware of when it comes to Federal taxes is the U.S Self-Employment Tax. If you’re an employee of a foreign company (which could, in fact, be your own foreign corporation) and have payroll taxes from that country taken out of your pay, you don’t have to also pay social security taxes to the U.S. If you are self-employed, however, acting as an independent contractor, then you must file a Schedule C with your U.S. Tax return and pay the appropriate U.S. payroll taxes on your net earnings. The self-employment tax rate is 15.3% and the foreign income exclusion mentioned before does not reduce this liability.

http://www.expatinfodesk.com/expat-guide/nationality-specific-information/americans/us-tax-liability/

So, no, it doesn't matter if the company is in the US or Thailand, if the taxpayer is deemed to be self-employed. We don't know if Guitar God's ownership structure meets the definition of self-employment or not.

The OP should have been paying the Self-Employment tax (payroll tax) on his earnings from self-employment for the entire time that he has been self-employed. So, he needs to file amended returns now for the period of his delinquency plus interest and penalties. SS is not voluntary.

Go back and read what the OP wrote....

I know how to read, thank you. Every point I made is correct whether the OP has been self-employed for all of the last 20 years since he worked in the US or whether he just set up shop, which I doubt is the case.

Maybe you can read but your comprehension leaves a lot to be desired. His question was IF he set up a current self-employment business not that he has a current business.

As a US citizen living in Thailand you cannot do what he is asking.

I can not only read, but I can read between the lines as well from which I conclude that he has already started his business as he has indeed confirmed.

As a US citizen living in Thailand, if his ownership structure amounts to self-employment he MUST pay US Self-Employment (payroll) tax, including both the employer and employee percentages, which payments will be included in determining his future SS benefits.

Sorry but I don't think you read my post correctly or I didn't state clearly that I live and work and file my US taxes here. For the past 17 years to be exact. I record my earned income on a Form 2555 and pass the physical presence thing. During these past seventeen years, I have never been out of Thailand for more then ten days in any given year. It would seem that this is my 'Tax Home".

I think you are correct according to the IRS summary below. You must be paying Thai income tax then, right?

http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/International-Taxpayers/Foreign-Earned-Income-Exclusion---Tax-Home-in-Foreign-Country

Fairmont.com isn't the correct url, do you have another one or the full name? I did book a room for an upcoming trip there though.

Oops. Fairmark.com

It's only since the beginning of 2014 that I could be considered self-employed and I'm still not absolutely sure if I fit the criteria.

Now I own a foreign corporation which employs me. Both the corporation and I pay income tax in that country and file returns in both there and the U.S. Since the personal income tax there is higher than in the U.S. I have zero income tax liability in the U.S. because of foreign income tax credits which exceed my U.S. tax liability.

From everything I've read, if a U.S. citizen is working abroad and paying into that country's social security, healthcare, unemployment systems then they are exempt from making duplicate payments into the U.S. system.

I am an employee of a foreign company already paying all the taxes I'm supposed to be paying.

The only question for 2014 is, since I'm majority owner of the company if I could also be considered self employedi the U.S.? I've had Dutch accountants and U.S. tax preparers say "no".

Was Bill Gates self employed when he was CEO of Microsoft? Elon Musk, Donald Trump?

Whether you are liable for US payroll tax depends on whether your overseas employer is a US company that would then make both you and the company liable for payroll tax or whether you are self-employed. Self-employment as a sole proprietor would make you liable for both the employee and employer shares of the payroll tax.

Some countries like Canada and Japan have reciprocal arrangements with the SSA that enables paying into one system and getting benefits from the other. Thailand does not have such an agreement.

I can't answer your question as to whether you are self-employed by virtue of working in a company you own, but if you post the question at fairmont.com some CPA will give you a definitive answer.

That being said, I am sorely tempted to open up a credit card with only the mail forwarding address just to deal with those vendors and shippers who will only ship to your billing address

My billing address for all my credit cards is my mail forwarding address. Everything works fine that way.

I just set up shop. That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

It might be worth your while to pay the back SE tax provided that you can avoid paying income tax for that period. After all, since you are treating the SS as a voluntary system, by starting to pay now, you are, in effect, electing to buy an annuity from the SSA. The only reason for you to do so would be because you think the payout is worth it. That being the case, why would it only be worth buy going forward? Paying for those years of delinquency would get you a larger SS benefit when you collect. You would not have to pay US income tax (as distinct from SE tax) for the same period if you paid tax on that income in the country where you were working, at least up to a high income limit. The interest and penalties might be a deal killer, but if, for instance, you have a spouse who is a US citizen, especially if younger, the long term value of the SS annuity with survivor's rights might make it worth paying even those extra charges.

John/Capt -- do you use your mail forwarder address for your Federal tax return?

Yup... always have...since day one. I use them for everything address-related. So it IS my address. And never had any issues about doing so. Though...after filing my tax return, if I get any correspondence back from the IRS, those letters are ones I ALWAYS have scanned and emailed...

On the other things mentioned above:

1. Re Obamacare obligation, AFAIK, that only kicks in if you fail to meet the IRS foreign residency requirement/exception, which IFIRR means being outside the U.S. at least 11 months out of the year, or approx that.

2. Re Amazon direct shipping, A LOT of Amazon products, including a lot of electronics stuff, are NOT eligible for direct shipping outside the U.S. And even if they were I wouldn't use them for two reasons. 1. Their shipping rates are higher than Shipito's for almost everything (I'm not sure about their shipping rates for books/DVDs). And 2. Amazon's shipping methods are more likely to involve/incur Thai Customs charges, whereas those can mostly be avoided with Shipito, especially for lower value shipments.

Re: foreign residency, how does that come into the picture when filing the 1040? Do you check a box or file a form asserting that you have been outside the US for at least 11 months? I don't work in Thailand so I am not invoking tax credit or the FEIC that involve foreign residency. I notice that TurboTax asks what country I live in, but that information doesn't seem to appear on any filed form, just the mailing address.

but then I had a number of Amazon shipments which were expensive, as much as $60 in shipping charges for a single shipment, all using USPS international first class mail.

According to Amazon's website, most orders can be direct shipped to Thailand. Were the Amazon items you ordered not eligible for direct shipment? Also, you can go completely paperless with Medicare correspondence -- just need to have an on-line account with them to switch to paperless.

For those who've not yet made the move, having a mail forwarder in a non income tax state (which the ones mentioned here are --Tx, Nv, and Fl) could prove useful. For example, Virginia (and some others) insist you haven't given up residency in Virginia, unless you move to another state (or US territory). So, as you exit Virginia, and file your part-year tax return, having a Tx, Nv, Fl address on that PY tax form definitely mo' betta than a Thai address, which could become a red flag.

John/Capt -- do you use your mail forwarder address for your Federal tax return? Probably advisable, if you're from a tricky state like Virginia, who could easily ask the Fed's for your address on your Fed 1040 (and a Thai address might cause the revenuers in Richmond to salivate).

If I remember correctly when I considered direct shipment from Amazon to Thailand, it wasn't always available, depending on the seller, and it was going to take a month or six weeks. So, I take the free shipment to the mail forwarder and pay from there.

My last US address was in New York State, which is not as aggressive as VA. In addition, I scrupulously severed every connection to NYS. So, I am not worried that they will come after me for taxes. I have been using the mail forwarder address when filing with the IRS, but I guess I will have to start using my Thailand address going forward to avoid having to pay a penalty for not signing up for Obamacare. As I remember the 1040 forms do not allow the filer to provide both a physical and a mailing address. That would be a PIA since if the IRS ever were to communicate with me I would want to read the scan at the mail forwarder's the next day rather than receive the letter weeks later in Thailand.

Thanks for the tip on going paperless with Medicare. I've got an online account with the SSA. Will investigate to see that I have to do to avoid the paper.

That's right, I get almost no snail mail from banks and brokerages these days. It's all e-statements. Medicare does send a paper statement every month.

$10/pound is quite cheap. What's the carrier? Maybe I can get SBI to start offering it.

So far this month I have spent $0 beyond the basic monthly charge. For Jan, the only extra charge was $1.50 for scanning, no shipment. For Dec. it was $0.90 for scanning, no shipment. November $0.70, no shipment. Nevertheless, my total charges from SBI for 2014 were $576. Scanning charges were probably small in every month like the ones cited, but then I had a number of Amazon shipments which were expensive, as much as $60 in shipping charges for a single shipment, all using USPS international first class mail.

So, it depends on your usage. I don't make much effort to minimize mail charges, other than by only buying items I really want from the US that I can't buy here. Even if I could save a little money by switching to another mail forwarder I wouldn't consider it, because the service I get from SBI is worth it to me. YMMV.

I recommend the mail forwarder, St Brendan's Isle, located in Florida.

http://www.sbimailservice.com/

For these reasons:

1. basic service is $20/month, includes a scan of all envelopes, and shredding of junk mail, if requested. Not the cheapest, but still cheap. No price increase in the several years of my use.

2. Scans of contents, when requested, are prompt and cheap.

3. They forward packages, including repacking, if requested, at shipping cost + $2.

4. As a small company, on the rare occasions when I have called with a question or a problem, I speak to a partner, usually Scott, not some everchanging voice in a corporation. Emails with questions or requesting special handling get a response the same day.

5. They will provide additional, exceptional services as requested. For instance, if you want an envelope of your own mailed from Florida, they will handle it for you. They will deposit checks for you, etc.

6. After several years of service from them, exactly zero problems.

Thanks for the info on St. Brendan's, Captain. I think I had seen them before, probably after I had already started using USA2Me.

I would have liked to be able to do a price and features comparison between the two, but St Brendan's website doesn't specify some details, including what their actual postal envelope or package forwarding rates are, which is going to drive the monthly cost, unless someone is doing scanning exclusively.

With USA2Me, for forwarding to Thailand, you get everything you need for handling postal mail using their Just Mail plan priced at $29.99 per month, which includes the mailing every month of one USPS Flat Rate Global Priority international envelope (9.5 x 12) with contents up to 4 lbs.

Under that plan, you get an email with a photo of the mail piece's front face every time something is delivered, and that includes the weight and dimensions info. You have access to their web-based mail management system, which allows you to save or delete individual items at will, order them shipped right away, or let them sit until it's time for your monthly shipment. Document scanning, which I rarely do, is $3 per order for up to 6 pages.

If you do order mail scanned, the resulting PDF files are posted for viewing and/or download in your online account.

https://www.usa2me.com/signup/pgeRatePlans.aspx?Country=Thailand&Region=67

USA2Me has other plans available also, but they're more oriented to packages and using private couriers like DHL, which IME experience is both overly expensive and oftentimes leads to problems with Thai Customs duties. On the other hand, I've rarely if ever had any Thai Customs issues with contents sent using the USPS Flat Rate envelopes.

Overall for USA2Me, they've done an excellent job over the years of forwarding my postal mail without problem and their online mail management system is very good and easy to use, and you have the advantage of pretty much a fixed monthly price.

On the downside, their in-person/telephone customer service is weak, and one reason I avoid them for package shipping in favor of Shipito.com is that USA2Me does all their package shipment pricing based on DIM (dimensional) weights instead of actual package weights, which can really jack up the price of package shipping. Shipito, on the other hand, uses actual weights for their most economical services.

In looking at the St Brandan's website, I couldn't quite tell how you got to the $20 a month figure you mentioned above. I saw they offer a basic membership plan for $12 per month that includes a very basic level of online mail management (keep all, delete all bulk rate, etc.), but doesn't include any actual mail forwarding shipping.

And they don't seem to say on their website much of anything about what their shipping rates would be, other than $2 more than the actual mailing cost. They seem to be saying they use USPS Flat Rate, but there are varying prices for that (retail vs commercial pricing, etc).

They also seem to offer a custom mail plan for $29.99 a month, but it's not quite clear from their language whether or not that includes any postal mailing expenses. "This fee includes your mail forwarding services plus custom sorting or bill paying, etc."??? It kind of sounds like that doesn't include the actual postage expenses.

And I don't see any mention of them offering mail contents scanning in lieu of mail forwarding... Can you fill in any of the various blanks based on your personal experience with them?

TallGuy,

The monthly charge comprises a Service Fee for $11.99 and a Mail Scan Pro Service Fee for another $7.99. For that you get just autoshredding of junk (if you choose), and scans of all envelopes. No mail shipments or scans of contents are included. For mail shipments you can choose a variety of carriers (USPS, FEDEX, DHL, etc.) and a variety of their shipment services. The only mail deliveries I take are Amazon products and delivery of credit cards, otherwise it's too slow and too expensive. I always choose USPS first class international mail, but all carriers and methods are available at all times. As mentioned, shipping charges are the carrier costs plus $2, including repacking if called for. To calculate the carrier's charge in advance you would have to go to the carrier's website. On occasion I have emailed St. Brendan's asking them to detail shipment costs in advance among alternative methods and they have done so promptly.

Mail scanning charges are 50 cents to open an envelope and 10 cents per page. Scan results are pdf files that I download from their site. They are not emailed. This is the service that I use by far the most often.

This pricing model works well for me since I rarely call for a shipment. For other usage patterns there may be better pricing options from other providers. As far as service goes, I have the highest confidence in them. They have been flexible and prompt in responding to every request from me. They have even found my mail when the sender mistyped the address. I just don't worry about my mail at all these days.

No, I don't mean only with opening accounts, but being challenged later with existing accounts.

That has never happened to me.

I recommend the mail forwarder, St Brendan's Isle, located in Florida.

http://www.sbimailservice.com/

For these reasons:

1. basic service is $20/month, includes a scan of all envelopes, and shredding of junk mail, if requested. Not the cheapest, but still cheap. No price increase in the several years of my use.

2. Scans of contents, when requested, are prompt and cheap.

3. They forward packages, including repacking, if requested, at shipping cost + $2.

4. As a small company, on the rare occasions when I have called with a question or a problem, I speak to a partner, usually Scott, not some everchanging voice in a corporation. Emails with questions or requesting special handling get a response the same day.

5. They will provide additional, exceptional services as requested. For instance, if you want an envelope of your own mailed from Florida, they will handle it for you. They will deposit checks for you, etc.

6. After several years of service from them, exactly zero problems.

I'd like to know of any that banks and credit card companies would accept as your actual residence address. Not sure that exists.

I think you mean that will accept a mail forwarder's address as your physical address when opening an account, right? Certainly most banks will not. If you already have an account at a bank changing your address to a mail forwarder is not likely to be a problem since they don't require verification.

I was able to get a Capital One credit by using my mail forwarder address while in a phone conversation with the CapOne rep. He immediately asked was that my mailing address to which I said yes. I then waited for him to ask for my physical address, but he never did. However, I don't think I would be able to open a checking account with CapOne on the same basis. Anyway, that was a couple of years ago and who knows what procedure they use currently, but I am sure that the mail forwarders are all identifiable by the banks.

The OP should have been paying the Self-Employment tax (payroll tax) on his earnings from self-employment for the entire time that he has been self-employed. So, he needs to file amended returns now for the period of his delinquency plus interest and penalties. SS is not voluntary.

Go back and read what the OP wrote....

I know how to read, thank you. Every point I made is correct whether the OP has been self-employed for all of the last 20 years since he worked in the US or whether he just set up shop, which I doubt is the case.