ukrules

Yeah, it would only be worth doing the non resident thing in a year where you plan on liquidating and bringing in many millions of Baht on which there is no tax paid. Not paying any tax is more common than people tend to believe, for example you sell that family house you bought 40 years ago and end up with 500k pounds - you're not paying any tax on that and if you're tax resident in Thailand during that year then good luck with that!

I did it a few years back using an agent as there's no way I was going to Bangkok twice just to get a new passport. Can't remember what I paid for the service. For proof of address at the time I used a rental contract, one which we made in English especially for this purpose.

Did many actually stay out drinking until 4am?

Professional service at its best

Not really, tax avoidance quickly becomes tax evasion once you fill out and sign any kind of tax return with incorrect values. In general you're often ok right up until you put pen to paper and sign something which is untrue. Then you're in trouble.

The change that they're attempting right now is to tax remitted income from around the world. They have stated that they want to tax it even if it's not remitted to Thailand at some point in the future (an amended law) - that's when the big problems will begin. We can all earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a year and keep it outside Thailand far away from the tax system if we want even with the new rules but if they do this next step which requires full parliamentary approval then it's a whole different world if you make plenty outside Thailand and don't remit it.

People who can't be bothered or don't have the time / freedom from responsibility to take a 7 month holiday - which when you think about it is going to be most people - also Thai nationals are the main target. I believe we're just small fish getting caught in the nets.

I doubt that very much. Firstly, most of the long term visas are income tax exempt and secondly we can choose how much money to remit, and that does not need to be very much compared to our overall income. Lets say I have an income of 300k Baht a month but only spend 100k a month in Thailand, I will send 50k a month to Thailand and send 50k to the woman I live with who I'm not married to, we would both pay about 20k tax a year which is almost nothing. The rest including all investments stays outside Thailand and there are ways to remit very large amounts of money by leaving the country for a single year, the same year when the shares, etc were sold which would result in zero tax that year. We're not stupid and plan for such scenarios with accountants and lawyers, so it is very possible to bring tens of millions of Baht of untaxed money into Thailand and not be taxed. If they do change it to taxing worldwide income (something else to this current change which they are also talking about) then there will be a mass exodus of anyone who has any significant wealth and income resulting from it.

Trust nobody I guess, even the banks because they clearly don't give a ###t

Not one of the comments or the article mentions the actual reason that the Chinese are not coming to Thailand like they were before. Thailand is on a list of countries around South East Asia which are unofficially 'banned' from travel outside of official tour groups. Unofficially being why some people are allowed to come and the masses are not. This is the reason why they're not coming. The Chinese wield their tourists like a weapon and this is the effect. It's across many countries in South East Asia, not just Thailand.

On the gofundme page it mentioned something about being in Thailand beyond his original planned duration of stay. Perhaps he had a 60 day policy and decided to extend for another month. I've never seen a travel insurance policy which is linked to flight dates but maybe that's a thing. Not very helpful if you get ill on the way to the airport - like the taxi crashes - 5 hours of treatment then they cut you off because you're holiday has ended. Strange.

I'm doing nothing.

I decided to give this a go and compare it to my ChatGPT Plus account I keep trying again but the stupid AI continues to give me the wrong answer

Well I don't have any of those, I'm on a Thailand Elite visa which is not a non immigrant or smart visa. I checked with their support and they confirm that the Elite visa is ok to use as well as non immigrant / smart visas.

I've been in your shoes before though I never went as far as getting married

Ok, makes more sense now with this as some added context. I did lookup the law about the age of consent in Germany and was surprised to find out that it is in fact 14 with some caveats and additional rules applying to the age of 16 and 18. It's definitely an unusual country with non standard rules which I found surprising.

Define 'underage' in Germany? What is the age of consent there?

It's interesting that this guy has been arrested in Germany, does anyone know what the age of consent is in Germany? Normally when considering international crimes it needs to be a crime in both countries. For example, the age of consent in the UK is 16 but I'm not familiar with German laws.

I would not be surprised, it's the next logical thing to crack down on. Anyone going this agent route is 'making their own card' for potential future issues. Nearly everyone I know who lives here in Hua Hin uses an agent except for that one guy with PR, I don't know why as most of these people (but not all of them) do actually have the money, they just don't seem to want to put it in a Thai bank.

Perhaps you should have a word with some of the Doctors and pharmacists who are often the first line of treatment here. Nip a small infection in the bud with some amoxicillin, not ciprofloxacin which seems to be handed out like candy here. It's the strong ones which create the really treatment resistant infections

I suspect you're correct on each point you make

Personally I would take Amoxicillin 500mg 2 x 2 capsules each day 12 hours apart at the first sign of any infection and then see a Doctor if it doesn't clear up within 3 to 5 days - but that's just me. This is not medical advice - I would have acted far sooner than you appear to have acted so consulting with a Doctor immediately would likely be your best option. He may well recommend a stronger antibiotic or even a very strong antibiotic - which is something to be wary of in my opinion.

My account is with the UK company and they sell it direct all around the world. This is the premium option and nothing like the previous offerings in Thailand https://www.bupaglobal.com/en/

BUPA Global is the international arm of the UK company which remains a part of the insurance empire which is BUPA and it's very much still going.

See a Doctor and they will recommend something which will likely come in tablet or capsule form. Is it the actual eyeball itself or a part of the surrounding area that's infected?