ukrules

3 hours ago, Thailandbuckeye said:

I finally came down to two: Sonetel and Callcentric. Callcentric uses Zoiper which is free and easy to set up. Both will accept my Skype number to be ported in. Not sure which one I will end up keeping but Callcentric seems to be better than Sonetel. Not using either very much since I am using up my Skype balance before porting in.

Zoiper is just a generic SIP client, there's loads of them out there, I made a separate thread about this. I purchased Zoiper Pro but it's useless to me due to saving the phone call in WAV format only, so I settled with the free MicroSIP - any of these 'software phones' will work with any of the SIP / VOIP services.

I keep hearing about these stakeholders, am I ever a stakeholder?

It sounds like a complete load of <deleted> to me

Isn't it just vertigo?

Don't bother - they turned off tweet embedding so save your breath - it's not wanted

Saw this on TV earlier - it's nuts!

2 minutes ago, wadman said:

 

From the video, the 2 Thai guys were just standing in front of their bike, they were not advancing towards the Brit at all. I don't see how they were "chasing" the Brit, if they weren't even moving at all. We can't even see the Brit on camera at the beginning, he was that far away.

 

And then we see the Brit charging (literally charging, at a run) the 2 Thai guys, he pushes 1 Thai guy forcefully, mounted the bike, and tried to make off with it. That's when the physical stuff started.

 

IMO it's clear that it was the Brit who initiated the fight.

 

I saw only one video but it was heavily edited.

Did you see the full version?

18 hours ago, offset said:

Any saving you have before 2024 is non taxable, that is why they brought in the new rule to stop people using it as a loop hole not to pay tax

Describing it as a loop hole is not correct. The previous system where no tax was due on prior years earnings was very deliberately introduced with a 'memo' issued way back in the 1980s.

Suddenly out of nowhere a new memo was issued some 40 years later which reversed the 1980s memo.

Which brings us to where we are now.

So it was never a 'loop hole' - which is an unintentional consequence of something which wasn't thought through properly - it was a very deliberate and meticulous act when introduced and a very deliberate act when removed.

On 3/26/2025 at 3:53 PM, offset said:

I think you will find that Thailand as agreed to not double tax pensions

I wouldn't go that far, it seem like they can't be bothered with the hassle - at the moment.

Just now, richard_smith237 said:

 

So it was Murder in that case....    though the CCTV footage shows this was not an outright violent attack, rather is clear they tried to subdue and control him....  

If they hadn't have killed him they there would be no murder investigation.

If I see some crazy running around like a mad man I tend to just ignore them. If they bother me and I manage to get rid of them then that's great.

What I don't do is give chase and then 'subdue' them to death for some reason.

I don't care what the guys issue is, once he's gone, problem solved.

19 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Brit was chased by two bouncers (after the argument) << why did they chase him ?? >>

So the difference in a manslaughter and murder charge often comes down to one simple question.

Did they 'go after' the deceased or did an incident break out in which they had to act in self defence.

Here they gave chase and in many countries that single difference is what changes any potential charge regardless of the reasons given from one of involuntary manslaughter / manslaughter to murder.

It's a very small difference but it's why people sit in prisons for life compared to say 5 or 10 years if it was a one punch knockout in response to a single incident.

Never chase someone down and attack them - because that's murder if they die, even if you didn't intend it - chasing after them is intent to attack.

Simplified but explains how some people can end up on a murder charge even if it started out as an act of self defence.

On 3/25/2025 at 8:20 PM, JB300 said:

The only thing that has changed is the interpretation of the rule around what is assessable income, key factor being we can no longer use the “Previous Year Loophole” around what is/isn’t assessable income.

You're right of course, but in practice lets face it - hardly anyone filed anything with the Revenue Department and many people remitted mixed funds / same year funds without much separation.

I know some people used the beginning on the year big remittance method - as in do a wire for a few million Baht on the first business day of the year - kind of proves the money comes from the previous year but many people, even those who attempted to get TIN numbers were knocked back- and they're all potentially liable.

13 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

The story is incomplete - much more happened here... 

Indeed. British man murdered by a gang of thugs in Bangkok is the headline.

There's never an excuse for murder so the circumstances (excuses for their actions) surrounding this literal beating to death of a tourist in Bangkok are kind of irrelevant really.

He's dead, they killed him and it's all on CCTV.

56 minutes ago, PomPolo said:

How could we make a mistake on our entry stamp? It is the IO that stamps it and has a record of you going through, but yes it is always wise do double check no mistakes have been made never happened to me

Didn't happen to me either but it does happen.

Imagine some local tax official filling out forms for years and doing them all wrong.

No problem until the auditors come knocking. It's not the tax official who has the problem then.

6 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

Hey, you do you. Time after time expats are being told not to file. Comparing taxes to immigration requirements is not same same.

Yes it is, and sure I will do me which is why I now spend half a year in Cambodia and don't pay a single Baht no matter how much I remit.

4 hours ago, jvs said:

You think you have only one mouse?

There are probably more meese then you know!

Or it is mouses or mouseses?

 

Indeed, you might only see one at a time but where there's one there's always and without exception many more
 

Use Kraken.com in the US if you have no ties to the US, are not a US citizen and have never been a green card holder.

The US have many tax rules for anyone who's ever been a taxpayer inside the US - but for the rest of us - things are far easier.

Also Kraken are international and they offer some special services to non US residents which are not available to US residents - like interest on cash balances.

Oh, and they do not care that you are in Thailand one bit. I used a Kasikorn bank statement which I had printed with my address in English to prove my place of residence and they don't even mention a tax id.

Who told you this?

Also what country and which exchange?

Because I can tell you that it is definitely not the case for Kraken in the US when registered in Thailand.

4 hours ago, anrcaccount said:

 

Checking the 'source of the source' is completely outside of their remit.

Nonsense, what do you think an audit is?

The best thing about voipstudio is the 2000 minutes per month plan which costs just £17 a month and comes with a local number - I do make a LOT of calls every month and could use most of those minutes.

I also setup a secondary account with 'SipGate' which allows pay per minute in case the first one stops working for any reason. both accounts have separate local numbers in the UK for me but have worldwide options.

I found that I can also add an additional piece of software to my computer which cleans up the audio automatically so it's incredibly clear on the other end and on the recorded calls - there was a lot of air conditioner related background noise when I first used it as the VOIP software contains no way to remove background noise at all, I believe Skype does some kind of processing but it's not that good.

In case anyone is interested and has an Nvidia graphics card I used something that's free called 'NVIDIA Broadcast' and it has these options which completely remove any background noise / hiss / echo - also keyboard typing sounds - it just sounds like you're sitting in professional a studio speaking into a high end microphone.

Now my microphone is on the better end of the home user scale - it's a 'Yeti' by Blue but even so the sound quality sitting right in front of the microphone with this free app named 'NVIDIA Broadcast' is perfect - the best I've heard.

So I have my full Skype replacement solution and it works better than the previous setup - I'm all set for years to come.