CWMcMurray

I would say the salary that you have advised is high for "Middle class" in the US. I would put entering the Middle class at around 60,000+ (household income).

This is not to say they wouldn't be feeling the pinch at this wage, but they would be able to own their own home (unless living in NYC or LA), cars for husband and wife (nothing special but new every 5-7 yrs).

Not being able to retire worry free, but should be ok if they watch their budget...

With a single wage earner making USD 150,000 I would put that family in upper middle to lower upper class.

For Thailand, I would estimate that to enter into the "Middle class" you are looking at around thb 75,000/ month (family income). At this wage, you should be able to afford a mortgage on a small home(15k per month) and two cars (nothing special, under 10k per month each). With enough to pay the rest of the bills will a little left over to save.

I have looked into this issue and from all of the information I have found out:

1. If you are making under 80,000 USD per year you can file for foreign income expemption

2. If your child does not live with you in the US, they do not qualify for child tax credit

I am in a similar boat as you, but neither my wife or kids currently have SSN, but given the fact that I do not make USD 80,000 per year, form my understanding it is really a non issue as there is no benefit to claiming them on your taxes.

My wife and I are thinking about trading in our current car for a new car sometime next year. Family circumstances have changed a bit in the last 2 years and it makes sense to change our vehicle.

I understand that we can try to sell on our own (to one of the tents, or direct to another person) or we can ask the dealership how much they would give us and use it as a trade in on a new car.

This is fairly straight forward, but since we are still making payments on the car I am not sure how this would work...

I understand that the finance company would need to "sign off" before any transfer of ownership can take place.

Does this mean that we would have to actually pay off the car with the finance company personally before we can sell or trade in the car?

-or-

Can it all be done together at the same time.... i.e. sit down at the dealership with both bank and sales person and agree upon total owed on the "old car", the trade in value, the purchase price of the new car and the downpayent and financing of the new car?

I realize that I could probably get a little bit more if I sold it on my own, but if it would be possible to just roll everything together and take care of all the buying, selling and re-financing at one time it may be worth it.

Would appreciate any information that anyone may have on how this process should work in Thailand.

Interesting.... as my home back in the US is in New York, I am defnately interested in knowing more. I will have to check with them next trip to see what there prices and schedules look like.

Ok, now that I had had my fun... If you are taxed, then the below rates should apply..

--Photographic (other than cinematographic) cameras; photographic flashlight apparatus and flashbulbs other than discharge lamps of heading 85.39.

- Parts and accessories :

9006.913000 - - - - Other, for cameras of subheadings 9006.40 to 9006.53--- Duty 5% (CIF Value)

-or-

9006.919000 ------ - - Other---- Duty 5%(CIF Value)

VAT 7% (CIF Value + Duty Amount)

As Far as I know there is no such thing as a "Thailand - Ebay Free trade Agreement" or "ASEAN - EBAY Free Trade Agreement" , so yes import duty and taxes should be paid...

but... as many have mentioned it is possible that sometimes things make it through the post (and even on the rare occasion with courier) without getting caught. Technically this should not happen, but no system is perfect and some packages are sure to slip through.

My goal is to find a decent school for my daughter (next term) and my son (in a couple years). They are Thai/US and my wife and I would like them to go to a school that will give them a good education and help to ensure that they are prepared for university/working in either a Thai or English environment.

Culicine... would you care to share the names of any of the schools with EP programs that you have worked at?

This is exactly what I was looking for....perfect.

I don't recognize all of the different locations (will have to ask the wife), but I see a school in Suan Luang just a couple of sois down from where I am living (pass it every day on my way to work). I have never actually had any reason to go inside the soi, so I didn't even realize their was a school there.

Much apreciated, thank you very much for your help.

Scott... this may be a good one to put as a "Sticky" in this forum. This list could be very very useful for English teachers lookig for schools with English programs that they could contact for jobs.

I agree with the others, it is not a huge amount and if you can afford do to it it may work out. As a previous poster advised, whether or not you get paid back will depend upon the charachter of the family member receiving the funds.

I also agree that you should get it in writing. Make a simple contract and you both should ssign it along with 2 witnesses and attach copies of all 4 persons ID/Passports signed. (just in case it goes pearshaped).

Just want to give you a bit more info, because I believe I know where you may have been mistaken...

As it was explained to me by our operations manager...

999 : The Customs Tariff Decree B.E. 2530 - shows 5%... you should not look at this when you want to know the import duty...

This box is the max allowable by law, changing of this amount would require a change in the Law.

000 : Notification of the Ministry of Finance Section 12 of the Customs Tariff Decree B.E. 2530 (General Rate) - shows Exempted... thisis the one you want to look at...

This box shows the "current rate" as advised by the Ministry of Finance... this amount can change by the Ministry of Finance and does not require any laws to be revised and this can be less than the MAX allowed by law.

Nope... just rechecked, the General rate is "Exempted"

One other point... it may seem ludicrous from a UK perspective, but you also have to remember that in the UK the government provides an old age pension. Here in Thailand, I believe the max payout for old age is thb 500 per month and many do not qualify for this...

So it really is apples and oranges... there is no social safety net, so it is not completely unexpected that the Thai system may have other ways of compensating.

If you want to compare it to the US system... the employer needs to pay 7.5% of the employees salary to the Social security fund every paycheck (the employee has to pay the other 7.5%), so just think about how much more it would cost you if you had to do this for each employee. If you add up 7.5% every month for 20 years... that would be the equivalent of 18 months salary the company would have had to make in SSI contributions alone.

Also under the "Western System" you would need to contribute to every employee's SSI fund every month, where under this system you only have to pay for the employees that stay with your company long enough to be eligible to retire. This is in addition to the standard Provident Fund (or 401k as it is called in the US).

So maybe not as ludicrous as it seems at first...

Depends on what you are looking for... I freind of my wife's is in the process of buying a two story two bedroom townhouse in Bang Yai for 1 mil thb.

If your not familiar with the area it is across the river on the western outskirts of the city (Bang Bua Thong area) on the outer ring road.

It is a new housing project, we were just over there last weekend and it looks like there are still about 20-30 units that have been completed, but no one is living in them.

I would guess they are all still for sale at about the same price.

Even more surprising to me is that with only 19 Thai spouses working and 34 mortgages aproved.... that means that at least 15 mortgages must have been aproved based upon the income of the foreigner alone.

Jusat though of a possible compromise.... If you do not want the employee to leave at this time because you need them, then negocaite with them for a specific timeline until they can retire with severence.

My wife and I would like to send our daughter to a school with a Bi-lingual program, but are not sure about how to get a list of possible schools to start our evaluation.

We are living in the Notheastern part of Bangkok (Pattanakarn) and would like toask all of your help in fgenerating a list of schools. We will of course then come up with a short list to actually visit and evaluate, but we are having diffculty finding a list of schools t start from.

There seems to be many lists of International School, but none for those with Bi-Lingual or English programs.

As I realize that many of you may have previously taught at or be familiar with schools in this group, I would greatly appreciate your help.

Please advise name of the school in question (and if available) the location and contact details of the school.

Thank you all for your help.

If he has seen others (who you aparrently didnt want to stick around after 65) allowed to retire at 65 with full severence, you might end up casueing yourself problems.

I guess then you might very well get an employee who was a little resentful and hel_l bent on doing what ever he could to make you want to fire him without going far enough to allow you to fire him without severence.

Kind of looks like a senerio where your are rewarding your worst employees and sticking it to your best... you may want to think about the precendents you are making.

If your employees realize that only lousy employees get to retire with severence, then it wont be long until they learn thats what they need to become...

----------------------

Just saw that you have already told your employees that you will only give them severence if you want them to retire, not if they want to retire....

I wouldn't be surprised if the employee in questions performance will start to decline as he tries to ensure that you do not want him to stick around. I am also equally sure that all of your employees are going to be watching and learning...

My suspicion is that funds are budgetted as per your written contract. Whether this money comes from the Thai government or is just a part of the Official School Budget is uncertain.

My guess is that you are getting paid on paper, but the funds are going to somebody elses Mercedes Benz fund...

That being said and even if true (especially if true), the advice to tread lightly is good advice. If this is what is happening, they will find a reason to fire you asap if the boat is rocked.

No Bonuses are tax Free !!!!

Just kidding....

If the taxes are not withheld, you will still be libel to pay taxes on the Bonus amount when you file your taxes (it will be added into your total income).

Not sure if it is a requirement to withold for foreign nationals (otherwise couldnt they just skip the country without fileing their taxes?).

At our company, we do withhold taxes from Bonus payments.

Any details on this???

1. What is the reason they are giving for holding your package?

2. How was this sent (freight, post, Courier?)

3. What are the goods sent?

To be honoest this doesnt make a whole lot of sense, there is nothing that can be done in two weeks that can't be done today... unless an import permit is required.. (some toys do require import permits).

If this is the case, the two weeks in question may be the estimated processing time of the import permit. (just guessing about the import permit, but it is the only explination that makes any sense).

If it is an import permit, then they are not holdong your goods "hostage" they are offering to break the law for a fee...

The link above didnt work and it wouldnt let me copy and paste the picture.... so lets see if this works

http://www.dft.moc.go.th/level4Frame.asp?s...amp;level4=1150

well that didnt work either....

just go to google and type - "form e" and hit enter and click on the first web page (depatment of foreign trade) and you will see an example of what it looks like

Well.... in order to qualify for the duty rate listed under the ASEAN - Thai FTA, you would need the shipper to provide a "Form E". This form is a certificate of orign issued by the chamber of commerce china, that proves theat the goods were actually manufactured in China. You can find an example on page 3 on the below link.

Form E

This is needed, but the FTAs are all based upon where the goods are manufactured, not where they are shipped from. Without this, people could just have their goods manufactured elsewhere and transit through China and claim duty reduction.

The good news is that the HS Code that you have provided below does not appear to be applicable for Cell phones. I bewlive the below tariff code is applicable and the good news is that the general rate for the below HS Code is 0%, so no "form E" needed

8517.120000 - - - Telephones for cellular networks or for other wireless networks

- general rate - Exempted

As to the calclulations....

CIF value = Cost of goods + Insurance (1% of invoice value) + Freight Costs

If Duty is 0% then only VAT is applicalbe

VAT is 7% of CIF value

Good to know...

(not like I have access to any Top Secret Documents from any country, but good to know...)

There is no requirement to be a government employee in order to be charged with releasing classified documents. Any number of journalists, for example, have been convicted of doing so.

Really ???

Are you talking about previous cases of journalists being jailed for this is Thailand or in other countries around the world?

I can not recall any similar cases in the US (which doesn't mean that it didn't happen), but from my understanding in the US is that journalists are usually threatened with "obstruction of justice" or "held in contemp of court" for not releasing their source, rather than actually imprisioned for publishing the documents them selves.

Not sure if the laws / precendants are different in Thailand

I disagree with the comments that Taksin should get in trouble for publishing the document... he is not a government employee and he did not do anything wrong (in this case).

The person who committed an illegal act is the government employee who released the document illegally.