ukrules

This is the bit I find strange as the previous law is a law which was voted on in parliament and most definitely appeared in the Gazette. I find it odd that a memo can override this and I think we will find in due course that it can't.

I expect any new taxation situation to result in the same kind of outcome.

At what rate do Americans pay tax on for the first $120k ? It's zero isn't it......

Maybe I'm wrong but the timing of that raid strikes me as a little suspicious considering this announcement.

Just assume the worst

Exactly - depending on how it's implemented there should be massive warnings that nobody should ever retire to Thailand and remit funds before at least July 10 for this reason. This includes those depositing 800k.

Yes, it's called 'UpBit Thailand' - it's a spin off of the South Korean UpBit. They are a major platform, have their own app, etc. I think that settles the argument about Bitkub 'having it in' for foreigners - they hate us for some reason - now would just like to find out why that is. There will be some reason behind it - there always is, nothing is random, even here.

I think the point is - the previous year/years tax benefit which has often erroneously been referred to as 'the loophole' was never ay any point anything to do with the Thailand Elite visa. The Thailand Elite visa is just a way to stay here permanently and take advantage of those tax rules. Well the tax rules are apparently changing due to this proposal (we shall see on that) by a new previously non politician PM who's been in office for several weeks but it's certainly nothing to do with TE and I'll bet the folks over at TE were just as surprised and annoyed by this new proposal as the rest of us. Lets face it - it will destroy their entire business model. Oh yeah, my point - there's nothing to grandfather for TE as the tax thing was unrelated. It's like saying get a TE visa and take advantage of cheap 'insert cheap thing here' in Thailand - then the prices increase - nothing to do with TE.

I read elsewhere that having the TE visa makes zero difference to your tax residence status, why would it? It was sold as being a way to stay in Thailand long term, one of the benefits of which coicidentally was the remittance timing thing where you don't pay tax on previous years income - but it relied on the same rules which have just been changed. There is a long thread about Thailand on the 'OffshoreCorpTalk' forum which is elsewhere on the internet.

That's interesting, is there any service you would recommend for opening / managing the corporate registration of a Marshall Islands company - I would like to look into this as an option for the future.

I'm in a similar scenario, I almost never use the foreign cards for anything at the moment - I just wire money every month Then I realised that I live with a woman (we're not married) who uses none of her tax allowance and I don't really need to send all the money to myself, also I probably always send more money than I really need - better safe than sorry I guess. So I could half the transfer amount to my own account and save quite a chunk of change between the two of us if we spread the incoming payments out between our accounts. I don't like the idea of paying any tax but I worked it out using the UOB tax calculator which is here ( https://www.uobam.co.th/en/tax-calculation ) that we would need to pay the following amounts of tax each year depending on how much is sent to each account : 30k a month / 360k a year = 2.5k tax a year 40k a month / 480k a year = 9.5k tax 50k a month / 600k a year = 21.5k tax 60k a month / 720k a year = 36.5k tax 120k a month / 1440k a year = 185k tax This is definitely 'avoidance' and I can incorporate and send from a foreign company instead of a personal offshore account if needed. Of course if I decide to buy a 10 million Baht house I would need to look at other options like non taxable loans as there's no way I'm ever going to pay the top rate of tax on that - this is the economy killer aspect of the new rule and I wouldn't fancy moving out of the country for 6.5 months in a year but I guess that would be possible.

Interesting, they weren't interested before - but now they are.....

What if you're using your massive overdraft facility on the debit card account? Doesn't that make it a loan? It does.....

It is NOT a loophole, it's enshrined in law. A loophole would be something they didn't consider when writing the law which clearly isn't the case with this regulation.

Exactly, they're attempting to override an act of parliament with a memo - surely that will ruffle more than a few feathers in the parliament? It is even legal to do this?

Stranger things have happened...

Agreed, this order is nonsense. They should not be allowed to change major laws on a whim by issuing a memo.

The problem there is that summer only lasts for 2 months in the UK ????

Maybe, but I bet the sender must have already paid tax in Thailand on that money and it can't come from a foreign bank account.

What the hell is this stuff? Where do you roll it on?

Quite right, I've been in the UK for about 5 days in total over the last 15 years, if you're determined you can easily break all ties to the UK.

Indeed, many people seem to be referring to this as a 'loophole' as if it's an accidental / unintended consequence of a vaguely worded regulation. The current year thing is not and never has been a loophole - it's by design and enshrined in law. I have a feeling this whole incident will amount to nothing in the end and the talk of people having their '67k' taxed is absolute hysterical nonsense - I think they did say that would be a worst case scenario though.

If you don't have 100k you can opt to pay 40 pounds a month and keep your account - not quite the same thing as being forced to close the account

Yes me too, why not!

Almost every foreigner who dies in Thailand has an autopsy performed on them before they are released for repatriation. It's not something you need to request - it's mandatory unless some certain conditions are met - like you're in hospital under the care of a Doctor and being treated for something. More information here : https://www.gov.uk/guidance/what-to-do-after-a-british-person-dies-in-thailand So there will be a lot more information made available including the condition of the guy when he was found and all the other info like exact cause of death, etc.