Digger

I have seen ads for Land Rover selling off their demo models, normally once a year at some big bun fight but never see it for any other premium brands. How do the likes of BMW and Mercedes dispose of their cars that they use for marketing purposes? if you ask a Benz dealer - they say they dont have them - so how do they sell them on? I guess they must be auctioned off but does anyone know for sure. For example, I was thinking Chevrolet must have those 4L monsters they import from Australia where its known as the Commodore - but you never see them for sale as nearly new car.

Anybody any ideas?

What about one of those big boats that do daytime tours on the river? You could probably get either one of the purpose made 'luxury' liners or a more traditional rice barge. Could be a nice evening and probably a fair bit cheaper than a hotel and a more interesting experience as well.

If your taking up a position with a work permit - you don not need to worry about under the table payments or taxes - they are waived. The only people that have to pay these are people not coming in on work permits (i.e somebody on retirement visa, marriage visa etc). With a work permit you could bring in a car and it is generally tax free - however nobody bothers - you cant sell it and servicing may be a problem.

Yes to register the car in your name you need the official note from Immigration confirming your address. The owner of the property also has to ensure they have registered you with immigration so that they (immigration) can issue the letter.

I have often been tempted to go to this place, but the parking sucks and I always go somewhere else. Why do people who have a niche product never give any thought to this kind of thing, like parking, ambience and end up pitching it at the cheapest possible price? I think the owner needs to go to business school - just look at starbucks, OK coffee, ok cakes, awful savoury stuff and always doing a roaring trade because they are in locations where buyers want them to be and the ambience is warm and welcoming.

Decorum is expensive for what they do and I found, not actually very good at the whole design thing. The Thai guy who Q Kam on Sukhumvit Road past Jomtien Tesco Lotus is good and not always too expensive. Speaks excellent English and gay as they come which often means a good result in interior decoration and styling. They do the whole ensemble - furniture, drapes, all manner of upholstery etc etc. He will go to the house and then make some plans for you.

"Ben is more correct than you let on - he is talking about anti-bodies"

He certainly is talking about "antibodies".

I'm referring to "antigens", a completely different marker.

Might help if you refered to that then in your post rather than saying "that is completely untrue" - he was correct in what he said and you quoted.

Star World WILL become a subscription only channel very soon - so if your considering buying a 20,000 baht dish to continue receiving 'free' programmes, expect this one to be scrambled. Star is owned by News International and has been losing money hand over fist ever since it started - it has now achieved some semi-decent viewership figures and exactly like how Murdoch operates, he will turn off the free service and scramble it. Hey presto, everyone subscribes and he makes another fortune. To my mind the best value package for those who are tight or skint is the UBC silver package - its about 900 baht a month and includes both BBC prime and Star World as well as about 30 other channels including Cinemax and MGM movies I think. It does not include Star Movies, HBO or the news channels such as BBC world, CNN etc - for those you have to go with either Gold or platinum. Personally I cant be bothered with all the scrambling and have the platinum package. I also have cable but its a waste of time except for ABC asia pacific (australian entertainment channel).

Is that the project just up from Laurel Park and before Horseshoe Point's entrance? Set back off the road down a dirt track? If it is, I understand they had some problems there about a year ago in terms of splitting their land plots. Dont know if its still the case or if they managed to get everything sorted out. Houses look pretty good, but some of the plots are a bit small and the roads are pretty narrow.

I have never used BNH however is the hospital that was about one year ago taken over by the Bangkok Hospital Group (i.e bangkok General, BKK-Pattaya, Bkk-Phuket etc) - if it was it would not surprise me in the least if their charging approach has become far more commercialised. Personally I still rate Bumrungrad as being the best value private hospital in Thailand versus the level of expertise and care they offer. I only know that Bumrungrad is cheaper for virtually everything than Bkk-Pattaya hospital.

ben,

"HIV infection needs at least a 1-3 month window for antibodies to show up"

That simply is not true. The latest testing technology, as used by teaching hospitals working in conjunction with the CDC in the US (Stanford University, for one) - indicates HIV infection in hours, not months. I'm not sure what how you've been tested.

There are many studies available regarding HIV infection. I suggest that you find one that is indicative of the population in which you are interested. The rates of infection between different populations are dramatic.

You are corrdct that misinformation is hazardous to your health. When Kim Bergalis died of AIDS, both the left (AmFAR) and the right (TV ministers) used public ignorance for their own use. AmFAR pled for money claiming it could find the cause. Oral and his ilk claimed that anyone, even a virgin, who had sinned in any manner could be infected. Of course, when the facts became apparent (Kim's dentist was gay, with a gay clientele, and he had failed to steralize the dental instruments), both sides ignored them.

Ben is more correct than you let on - he is talking about anti-bodies - these do take up to 3 months to show up on tests that are most commonly used - i.e they are looking for the bodies own defences against HIV, hence the term in most places for checking is a 'anti (body) HIV test'. Earlier tests can be done as Sheryl points out and they look for the virus itself as against the anti-virus. In simple terms its called a viral load test which measures the amount of virus in the blood. Normally done in conjunction with a CD4 test which assesses how many of the good CD4 cells have already been destroyed. Taken together, an experienced HIV doctor could reach a 99%+ sure prognosis just based on these two factors even with normal anti-body testing showed as HIV negative - for the simple reason that the viral load test would show the HIV virus in the bloodstream and the CD4 count would show approx: how many cells are currently left (unfortunately they dont know how many you started of with as it varies by person, however there is a range of 'normal' level of CD4 in the bloodstream). As an indication a viral load and CD4 test in somewhere like Bumrungrad will cost around 8,000 baht, hence due to its cost, its not the normal method of routine checking for an infection when other tests which are far cheaper generally do as good a job in 95%+ of cases.

As far as I know at Natheekarn there is no ADSL...

The phone exchange is located close to soi crocodile farm, which I guess is over 10 km away from you guys....

I was lucky to persuade them to hook me up (at the junction with the road towards the 36 highway), but I'm at the absolute limit distance, resulting in my adsl modem not connecting faster then 256/128, and the connection dropping when windy/rainy...

Unless your phone line is coming from the other side (Siam country club road) there will be no chance!!! The closest to your place from that direction where they hook up adsl is VJ land and house...

Hope they put an extra exchange in for the area soon, since even phone lines are very hard to get...

Oh, and until then you're always welcome at my place if your iPSTAR is out again

http://www.mabprachanresort.com/facilities/internet.htm

And if you don't own a laptop, I have a spare one for use by customers...

Cheers,

Monty

They have ADSL at Laurel Park/Delibean - I saw a sign saying they are just about to install wireless into the cafe and when I asked the girl in the coffeeshop she said all the houses have ADSL as well. Unfortunately she did not seem to know much about it, but the guy that runs it was not around so I just left it at that. I am amazed they have it that far out. I'll ask him if he is around when I pop in for some bread at the weekend if he is around. Oh, she did say all their lines are with TT&T.

I guess there is a lot more to this than the Bkk post is reporting. Lehman Brothers are not a charity - i'd hazzard a guess they have got this job lot cheap based on asset value of the hotels and plan to do two things:

1. Sell of the hotels to a most likely Singaporean property company

2. Sell off the development side most likely to another Thai developer - Raimon Land springs to mind as someone who have just concluded a huge financing arrangement with, you guessed it Lehman Brothers.

Anyway, I'd say however it works out, its better than leaving it as it was, otherwise the whole lot could have gone under as has been pointed out numerous times, this developer did not have any credibility in the market place.

Abortions are NOT illegal where a doctor decides its in the patients best interests health wise to have one. Presumably Norman means go to Pattaya Int Hospital first which is next door. Its a widely known situation that this hospital undertakes abortions WHEN the doctor agrees its in the best interests of the patient. This hospital is not doing anything illegal and is not some dodgy back street clinic.

Well if the company buys a house cant the MD stay there free of charge as part of his expat package? G you said something like this on page 1.

In a nutshell, no. Its considered a benefit in kind which is taxed exactly the same as income. However if the revenue office get to that stage with you, you can be sure they will be assessing it on a 'market' rent rather than what otherwise would have been considered acceptable had you not flouted the rules. Do yourself a favour volunteer to pay a rent level and it will likely be accepted without question. If they do a after the event valuation, you can be sure it will be a lot higher than you would have set yourself.

I can use the Ausie example, you can claim any % of vehicle costs as a business expence, however, you have to substansiate it.

Proper documentation makes everything much easier. For example, even with small expenses such as Taxi trasnportation, we specify the destination and the purpose of the trip in the payment voucher. It is more credible than just writing a sum with no explanation.

I'd be curious how many of these types of 'expenses' get past your accountant and included in your audited expenses. My experience is that unless its a correct tax invoice or other detailed correctly made out receipt, it just falls out of the audited expenses and never gets included. You may be doing a lot of work for nothing on these small value things.

And the interesting angle on expatriatte housing concerns VAT and witholding taxes. I am still surprised at how many companies take a employees lease contract in their name and then proceed to try and recover VAT and deduct witholding taxes, thereby making it appear a 'company' expense - when infact 99% of auditors that know what they are doing refuse to sign off on this procedure as its in clear breach of the law - i.e its a personal benefit not a genuine company expense which they can expense and recover VAT.

There is no VAT on rent - you may be referring to cases in which the whole thing comes as a "service package"?

Depends how savvy your landlord is and how much rent is involved. For example most larger places (eg whole blocks of apts) which are rented out, you are charged seperate amounts for the Rent for the unit, service charge for communal facilities and service charge/rent for the furniture. Reason being is that VAT applies to the services and furniture element but not to the rent, however on the rent you have to pay a rental tax which I believe is somewhere around 12.5% of the rent income. Therefore you often see rental contracts that show rent as 10% of the total, service fees, 45% and furniture 45% - VAT is paid at 7.5% which is cheaper than the rent tax at 12.5% but as I say it depends on how clued up your landlord is and if he is above or below the tax collectors radar screen.

So is it better for the MD to pay a very small amount as rent to stay in the company estate or for him to use it free and pay taxes on it for personal use?

You will be paying personal tax on expenses for personal use - If your salary is 50,000 baht and the company pays rent for you in the sum of 20,000 baht, you will be taxed for income of 70,000 baht. It is exactly the same as if you have a salary of 70,000 baht and pay the rent yourself from the salary.

So once everything is done and setup It sounds like you really need to get someone to take care of the books and be marking down all of these expenses and finding as many breaks as you can.

This is what Tax advisors are for. Some accountants include that in their services.

And the interesting angle on expatriatte housing concerns VAT and witholding taxes. I am still surprised at how many companies take a employees lease contract in their name and then proceed to try and recover VAT and deduct witholding taxes, thereby making it appear a 'company' expense - when infact 99% of auditors that know what they are doing refuse to sign off on this procedure as its in clear breach of the law - i.e its a personal benefit not a genuine company expense which they can expense and recover VAT. To avoid any problems, your better of taking a lease in your name and then leasing from the company and increasing your salary by the same amount as the notional rent your paying. Also the notional rent has to have some credibility, i.e not much chance of getting away with paying 20,000 month for a 10,000,000 baht fully furnished house with a pool.

Northshore looks nice but does anyone know how old is it, It was just a empty shell when I first came here 9 years ago and it looked old then. I dont know if its true but I have been told they took off the top 2 floors last year because or concrete cancer.

Shaved off the top two floors because of concrete cancer?

You just gave me my laugh of the day.

I assure you, the old rotting building you saw nine years ago was not Northshore.

Wrong I am afraid - Northshore was a half finished shell dating back to 1997 crash. Having said that, they (Raimon Land) are headed up by a British guy who I recall is a fully qualified surveyor - I would have no concerns about the quality of the teams they used for the engineering on the project.

Incidentally, Northshore was selling off plan at around 65000 baht meter - 100,000 is very high and its basically opportunistic investors.

Create a Thai holding company with 100,000 baht capital and a director loan account of 1,000,000 baht. Total revenue in holding company = 1,100,000 baht. Then have that holding company buy 49% of your operating company (i.e invest some of that capital, assuming its a 2,000,000 baht company, it invests some 1,000,000 baht). Then have 4 farang shareholders owning 49% of the company. You then have 5 shareholders already owning some 98% of the company. Additional 2% goes to 2 other Thai shareholders. This is a very simple explanation of how most companies are structured in Thailand (ie foreign owned) - do yourself a favour and go and see a real lawyer - its a piece of cake for them to set it up and follows the Thai law. In the holding company, you have same 4 foreign shareholders (brothers, sisters etc) and then need three Thai shareholders - using 2 sets of shareholding ordinary and preference, means you can have the Thai's buy the preference shares and when dividends come around, you have a vote and the majority of the shareholders vote to only award dividends to ordinary shareholders - given that you have the majority of the shareholding under your control, its a paper excercise.

As I say, there is more to it than this and lots of things you need to be aware off and mindfull in terms of nominees however the key is keeping the capital small, and then allowing couple of Thai's to invest very small amount of money as their element of the paid up capital.

It would not surprise me if this was a typical knee jerk reaction to the fact that Bangkok Bank has AGAIN been pulled up for not validating peoples identity and source of money - this time in the USA. Of course, the perception will be that its all the foreigners fault and I could well guess they have quickly tightened the rules in the last couple of days. I expect we will see a new position being advertised anyday now in the Bangkok Post for a "Vice President - Compliance" to work at Bangkok Banks HQ.

The reason for no work permits is that Chonburi's governor will not grant them to foreigners in the property development business. It is a restricted occupation. It also takes account of the fact that most of these 'developers' are two bit companies that dont show/declare anything in their accounts in terms of paying social taxes for their employees, be registered for VAT etc etc.

The likes of K-Tech and Raimon Land have loads of foreigners in senior positions - they are a completely different league - basically they are public companies where everything is transparent and taxes are paid. Also helps that their capital levels are oftemn running into billions of baht paid in as against 2million paid in capital. Any company with capital or assets over 30,000,000 baht has a different set of criteria for obtaining work permits which basically makes it a whole lot easier, the bigger the company.

There are property developers with work permits in Chonburi but they follow the principals of the big boys rather than the little one off guy.

I have a supposedly 'all singing and all dancing" electronic system in my garden. Worked fine for the first 3 months and then nothing but problems. It was a 'Hunter' system and cant remember how many times I had to repair it but I dont use it now.

I would suggest that you just put your garden into a grid pattern and run blue PVC pripes under the grass and flower beds with seperate pipes to each part of the grid - and have about 4-6 valves at one place where the water tank is + add a pump and then just get your maid to come and turn the thing on at dusk and let it water each part of the grid for a couple of minutes. Far more reliable than the ###### electronic thing from Hunter.

I think this is a good example of how difficult it is to actually make money in Thailand for a foreigner. You either have to have a unique model and keep it very specialised or do something that is so expensive that nobody could afford to do something similar. Exporting 'things' still seems to be a good business model but service or import based businesses continue to be hard work.

Having said that, as with all business, the key is the right calibre of personnel your using and how much attention you give to each business.

Perhaps that is something that Simon has learnt the hard way after what is it, a coffee shop, 2 bars and now a disabled resort that advertises on its main page that they welcome 'joiner' guests including ladyboys into the guests room for no extra charge. Sometimes, using a decent marketing agency pays huge dividends. First thought in my mind of this hotel was some old guy on crutches, being walked to his room by his 6 foot ladyboy guest for some bedroom gymnastics

Still it always makes for entertaining reading.

failed to check customers prior to entry which is standard practice in other Pattaya Pubs and Nightclubs."

Perhaps they failed to check that the other customers were all carrying firearms so to ensure an even fight