jitenshaman

Hello Forum!

My first post so go easy on me. I am a digital nomad for over 10 years now and have worked many times from Thailand in cafes etc. I pay my taxes in the UK as my income is derived from the UK.

I don't really understand why anyone would have a problem with the concept of working remotely when it has no negative impact whatsoever on the host country.

As many have said the only consequence is an extra foreign body spending their foreign earnings in Thailand on accommodation, coffee, food, travel etc.

How can this be an issue?

You use the streets in Thailand. You drink the water in Thailand. You are protected by the police and military in Thailand. You use Thailand's roads and mass transit. You are protected from having a building fall on you by Thai building inspectors. Thai health department money protects you from Ebola and scads of other threats, whether you know it or not. Thai money kills the mosquitoes so you don't get dengue. The list goes on and on.

All that costs money, and yours is going to the UK where it doesn't do the Thai people much benefit.

You pay 7% VAT on the stuff you buy here. That doesn't come close to covering your share of the wear and tear on the infrastructure.

You pump some money into the economy. Thai's that earn the same money to pump into the economy also pump a lot more into the tax coffers.

You're getting a free ride in Thailand, and that's the issue. I love visitors to my home. So do the Thai's. But if my guests plan to stay for 10 years, they probably ought to chip in some rent and put some food into the fridge occasionally.

If you disagree with that, I dare you to go to the Revenue Department back home and claim you pump so much money into the economy that you shouldn't be required to pay taxes on top of your VAT, GST or sales tax.

Complete and utter rubbish. I have worked freelance here, been paid by Thai companies, who take tax out of my payment, the same tax that they take out of their other Thai employees payment...only difference is that a Thai, at least some of them in some situations, can walk into a hospital or an insurance building, and claim for whatever payment they are covered under or think they have right to.. some of their companies give them insurance, many of them pay bonuses. As a foreigner, I don't get any of those. If I need health care, I pay cash, if I need police protection (what a laugh), I pay cash, I do not get any benefits whatsoever, I pay cash. So I get nothing for the taxes I pay. But I don't gripe about it because that's just the way it is...the same way that I pay taxes in the US, deriving some of my income from there and as a US citizen, and yet I don't receive a single benefit from the government there (as I do not live there). There are plenty of people living here who pour loads of money into the economy here, probably doing far more good than anybody's tax money is doing. Somehow, I don't think the Thai government uses tax money here to create good affordable public transport (BTS and MRT running on tax money??), health care for everyone, police that people actually turn to in a crisis,......hmmm, so I guess anyone who lives here on a retirement visa, on a marriage visa, on an education visa, and even those who are here for more than 6 months a year on double entry tourist visas with extensions, all of whom don't pay tax, well they must be just putting such a strain on the infrastructure...damn, no wonder the roads flood, the country has some of the worst traffic accident stats on the planet, buildings fall down not adhering to code, and the police remain corrupt. As usual, all us farangs fault...except of course those who are paying their tax......

This honestly doesn't seem too much different than what has been going on for years, only this time the in and outers will definitely not be welcome. I remember back when I was here on tourist visas the discussion was always about which embassy or consulate was the friendliest or most difficult, and yes, places within the region really tightened up...but it still was and is possible to use agents in Phnom Penh or elsewhere to obtain multiple or single entry tourist visas. I always wondered why anyone wanting to stay here long term wouldn't make the effort to go to a proper consulate or embassy and get a real visa that allowed them to stay longer rather than going back and forth across the border every two weeks, just makes no sense at all. I don't read the new law as having any affect on tourist visas or on those with them, as they are bonafide visit documents. I would highly doubt that anyone going out for 3 days on a double entry tourist visa will not be stamped back in for their second entry coming back. Those who do not have a visa will be the ones affected. It doesn't take that much of an effort to play by the rules and pay some cash and get the appropriate paperwork...it always has been and always will be quite easy.

If your kid's last name starts with an S and ends in an A, then there is a chance.

"Thailands embattled government has offered to call off an election set for February 2 if protesters end their rallies and promise not to obstruct or boycott a new one within months."

Do they really think this is what the protestors want? How will this meet their demands for reform? Clueless.

They dont want reform they want a dictatorship and that is not democracy where I come from.

Where do you come from?

Thailand.

just to let you know, in most parts of the world that have democracy, people don't get paid to go to protest nor to vote for that matter, they do so because they believe in it. I think Thailand kind of falls pretty short in that department.

And by the way, in most democracies, when elected leaders break the law or abuse their power and get caught, they are usually impeached, jailed, or forever banned from politics. Thailand again seems to fall a bit short in this department.

its like a plot to a Planet of the Apes movie . they find a dusty tome in a cupboard from the past and adhere to it without using some common sense and think out a sensible outcome and sit round grunting to each other about the minute details

even better than Planet of the Apes

The Royal Thai Army has the biggest opportunity ever to advance the cause of Thailand by bringing these protests to an end without a coup. Thai people have to learn that democracy means accepting the results of an election no matter how much you may dislike the person(s) elected. Have elections and vote! Let the will of the majority be shown for all to see.

Richard Nixon won a presumably relatively democratic election and then proceeded to abuse his terms and power of office, and thus was removed. He certainly wasn't allowed to run for President again. Sorry to say but the criminal in Dubai has no right anymore to run the country, and any election which allows he and his proxies to do so is nothing but another sham. Before they have another election they need to clean house, put the criminals in jail, make some laws about who can run, and maybe then there can be even the remotest possibility to end all this.

All those going on about no democracy need to take a look at the leader of this supposed democracy...about as far removed from the term as anyone could be.

I know the protesters went to shut down the revenue offices a week ago or so, but since then I have gone to the Times Square branch (Sukhumvit near Asok) and it is always closed. Does anyone know if all the revenue offices are closed indefinitely now? Would like to go drop off my tax documents whenever possible.

Anti democracy protesters go home. You were misled, misguided by people whose objectives include seizing power to install their dictatorship regime. Exercise your voting right before it is too late. You have seen the government have been tolerance, exercising restraint, patience in the midst of baseless and unsubstantiated accusations and daily threats from PDRC leaders. The safety and the livelihoods of the people are their main concerned not their power that was gained through democratic means. I am sure the government will be compassionate and appeal for leniency . Send from my Mobile

Pro Government protesters go home. You were misled, misguided by people whose objectives include seizing power to install their dictatorship regime. Sell your rice before it is too late. You have seen government corruption without restraint, arrogance, and unconstitutional activities and daily threats from the PT leaders. Their bank accounts are their main concern and maintaining their power through a corrupted democratic means. I am sure that the government will vigorously prosecute any dissenters.

Goes both ways.

It doesn't actually - nobody installed a "dictatorship regime". YS is globally regarded as the properly elected PM of the country whether you like her or not. Simply stating stuff irrationally does not make it fact.

If you are so convinced that you are right and the people support you, go to the electorate and ask them to vote. Last time it happened the global community seemed fairly pleased with the cleanness of the election. I know it's important to the protest that it was not so, but it seems to have been the least purchased vote in Thai history.

Ferdinand Marcos also won "democratic" elections supported globally, and was beloved as a champion of the poor with his Populist policies until far too late, after he and his family had plundered the country beyond comprehension and committed untold human rights abuses and atrocities.

Seems to me that a heck of a lot of people know that the current PM is just a proxy for a criminal who ought to be standing trial in the Hague...I mean come on, what sort of novel idea was it to appoint as PM someone with absolutely zilch political experience, zilch knowledge of anything to do with running a country, someone who would certainly not be fit to stand as PM anywhere on the planet other than for the fact that she appears to be a stand in for someone else...and isn't it amazing, in this true democracy, that everyone PT picks to run the show is a family member or relative of one person? Suthep and his lot are horrid, but don't for a minute claim anything about a free democracy when on February 2, there will not be any type of government reform or new start, merely another term of one man and his clan cleaning up for themselves.

It is fine to start with a campaign and accept support from all those that have an interest in your stance. However when you allow others to take over or mismanage your plans then it is not your campaign and you have created an achilles heel. The students have proven they are a law onto themselves and the game plan is not going as smoothly as Suthep thought it would. The effect to take over AEROTHAI to some posters does not matter so much if each of the airports can rely on running their operations without it. However one TV poster mentioned that RTAF do need the services of AEROTHAI, then the Military must act. Terrorism is all that this campaign has been about but the students are spearheading it into a collision course with those that do not wish to be involved.

Maybe this is all a cunning ruse by Suthep. Use the brainwashed students to do something which unquestionably would lead to the arm of the military having to step in. Goal achieved by Suthep and all the while he can claim he 'never wanted that' and it had 'nothing to do with him' as despite quitting politics for good he under duress accepts to step is as secretary general to the appointed council, with his step son the leader.

This is what suthep has been trying to do for the past 10 weeks, provoke the government to attack that way he and abhisit may not look as bad in contrast at their murder trail! I must say that PM Shinawatra has played her hand very cool and very well, world governmental leaders as well as the U.N. are finally speaking out against suthep and his antics One false move by suthep now (especially dealing with the Thai ATC system or the Thai stock exchange) and the Thai government will have world support in squashing suthep and his thugs in any manor they choose

The only hand Yingluck plays is the one on the Skype button.

I like Thailand, I'm happy to pay their taxes.

Don't understand why everyone is so desperate to claim such small amounts back.

If you do not want yours ,can i have it? my mum always said"look after the pennies and the pounds look after themselves"

If someone gave you $100, would you throw it in the trash or spend it?

I would rather I got to spend my 5-6,000 baht (or even 1000) rather than letting Yingluck, Obama, or whomever it might be do so.

The Thai wife and I then went to the personal income/revenue tax office here in my khet (district) in Bangkok, asked how do we get the tax refund, a nice customer support lady pulled out a simple one page Form Kor 10, Request of refund of Tax Payment and helped us complete it. The form is all in Thai...and don't even ask me where a copy might be downloaded...maybe someone else knows....just go to the tax office to get a copy.

Here it is, but you need to fill it & then print you cannot save it filled in

http://www.thaifranchisecenter.com/download_file/files/11-k10161050_130351.pdf

Thanks. Actually you can print that form to a PDF printer, then open and fill it in using a PDF editor, although the text alignment within fields is then trickier. After that, you're golden, as you can just change a few numbers year after year on the form.

As FYI to explain the easy/fast/painless entries on the Kor 10 form if your tax revenue office uses the Kor 10:

Block 1 is just your full name as shown on your passport. There was no entry in the first set of boxes and the tax office entered some number in the second set of boxes...this number was not my passport number nor my tax ID number...really don't know what the number was...maybe it was the ID of the particular tax revenue office I used.

Block 2 is your address and phone number, with the boxed entry area being for your address postal code.

Block 3 and 4: no entries

Block 5: what the refund request is for, tax year, and total refund amount requested.

Block 6: no entries

Block 7: a short sentence in written in basically saying you don't work in Thailand, have no income other than this bank interest income, etc.

Block 8: you write down a list of the attachment to the Kor 10 like a copy of your passport 1st page, bank tax doc(s), etc

Then right below Block 8 you sign on the line just above the line within the parenthesis marks,

After I got my tax ID number it was entered on the very top right corner of the form...not on any line, just at the very top right hand corner.

Really easy to fill out...if you can fill out a 90 address reporting form, then you have the talent to fill out a Kor 10 if your tax office uses the Kor 10. And giving the puppy dog eyes look when going into the tax office may help also....I think it does.

Excellent and easy to follow instructions, thanks!

Where is the tax office in Bangkok, or does one need to go to a particular place depending on one's residence? I live in Phra Khanong. I am guessing the main spot is in the Chang Wattana complex and is going to be shut down for the coming festivities.....

Can you tell me if the downloaded Kor 10 doc here will work anywhere or does one need the Por Kor Dor 90 as mentioned as replaced? And if so, is it downloadable anywhere?

If the government is too weak and ineffectual to deal with the protestors then for sure a coup is the only way to fix that problem. Pro-Shinawatras can blame Suthep all they want but it was Poo's useless and corrupt government that allowed the situation to become so bad in the first place.

Now they can't disperse the crowds because the Shinawatra police are just as useless as their masters and they refuse to resign because they want to cling onto power. The army won't help them either. Right now, the only way this problem is going to be solved is with a coup with a military junta in charge for a couple of years while they try to force the Dems and the PTP to work together without Shinwatra interference.

So this is what happens to people's political views when they live in Thailand for too long.....first time I have ever actually witnessed someone in support of a military junta.

Very little to do with living here for too long. Everything to do with the alternative being a continued dictatorship by a criminal thug and his greedy family a la Ferdinand Marcos. Just about anything is preferable to this.

Of course since it is all about reciprocity, the day the new visa rules go into effect will be the same day that craft beer prices will drop to 135 baht (per pint, not small bottle) from 250 and upwards, same as in the US. And good wine will also be discounted by 50% in order to have parity with other countries. And let's not forget to drop all the national park fees, museum and temple entrance fees, etc down to the same prices for everyone, just like is done in all the reciprocal countries. Can't wait.

Looking and having watched this all unfold for the past months, while the losers from the last election have done there utmost to destabilise the present Government, Yingluck has shown a maturity of a positive leader. There hasn't been the raging violence of the past couple of encounters (yet). The Democrats have shown their true colors joining the marches ( a clear fear of losing their own support to Suthep ).

Once again Yingluck has at this point out maneuvered the opposition by saying lets get a new mandate from the sixty nine million not the two hundred thousand. This is what a democracy is and how it works contrary to the views of a few of the TV Forum subscribers?

I hope personally that the protesters now step back, work toward new elections and if they (the Thai people) want change they get it but let it be in the hands of the majority not the few!

Marcos and Suharto claimed the same kind of democracy. It most definitely is anything but democracy when all the decisions of a government are being made by a criminal fugitive who lives overseas, all the while continuing to claim that he has no interest in politics anymore. The Dems and Suthep are horrid in what they are doing, but the Shin clan are about as ugly and low as you can get and the country cannot and will not ever move forward until they are completely banned from ever having anything to do with politics here. If the Reds are so strong that they can win an election without paying people, why don't they just renounce the scumbag, give the Dems what they wish, and still come out on top? Looks like the only happy endings you get here are in massage parlors.

100.000 only???

What a loss of face for insane Suthep

And the majority were bought from the deep south...

Sorry, "brought"

If it's only 100.000 it is a very good news. It means that there are less brainwashed extremists than I thought.

Sound people would never follow or support Suthep in his acts of treason and insurrection.

Sound people would never vote for a thug who ordered extra judicial killings and robbed the country blind. Whoops, then again, people have the wool pulled over their eyes all the time.

I have used my Thai drivers license numerous times to pay a Thai price. Always works in national parks, museums, and some other attractions. I am usually polite about it, speak to them in Thai, tell them that I live here, and it almost always works...even went up to one of the longneck villages in Mae Hong Son, where they charge farangs 300 baht to enter, and when i asked how much it cost for those who live here, the girl looked at me and said, "it's free!!"

Once in Khao Sok they told me my license was not valid and I made a stink, asking to see the boss, and I soon got in at the Thai price. If they do double charge me, I will most likely not pay and just walk away. I don't have an issue with tourists having to pay a bit extra, as yes, the average tourist probably is earning a bit more than the average Thai, and the double pricing is not only to Thailand, try going to Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, or China, they all have different prices for tourists at parks and attractions. But when one resides in a country and speaks the language, it definitely should be a different story.

There is a noodle vendor up near Chatuchak, who, when you ask to pay for your kanom jeen, points to a sign that says in English, "noodles, 50 baht." I asked her if it wasn't 30 baht, and she pointed to the sign again. I asked her again and she did the same. Finally, I pointed to the Thai menu and asked her if she could read Thai. I gave her 30 baht and made sure to tell all my friends, both Thai and foreign, not to give her business ever again.

I honestly can't fathom those living here on an income of 20-30k p/m.

Life must be an endless struggle.

Life not an endless struggle at all. I could easily live at the top of the spectrum if I so chose, but it just does not interest me. I own my own condo, eat out at least 5 times a week, and hit up some of my favorite bars now and then, still don't spend more than 25,000 a month. Guess it just depends what makes one happy.

As to the costs between the US and Thailand....i moved here about 8 years ago..when I left Washington state, I was paying around $500 a month rent, got around everywhere on a bicycle so had almost zero transportation costs, did not have health insurance, ate at home most of the time...the majority of my income expenditure went to beer and expensive mountaineering gear.....over here, I do have transport costs (BTS and taxis), I do eat out all the time because it is so affordable, I do now have health insurance, so it is rather apples and oranges. The costs are just different, and of course in some cases one cant really compare because the average incomes earned in both countries are so radically different. When I was single, I spent far more here on going out and nightlife, something that I didn't spend on in the US...now in a relationship, that expenditure is gone. If one spends most of one's time in central Bangkok, eats in foreign or upscale restaurants, shops in Paragon and so chooses, then expenditure here can come out fairly close to the west, presumably without being close to taking in what one would make back home. Fortunately, Thailand does give plenty of choice, so one can live very comfortabl for far far less.

I just got my retirement visa renewed and had just changed accounts (from one matured CD to a new higher interest one) a week earlier. Absolutely no problems whatsoever. Immigration official could clearly see what had happened, and even said it wasn't an issue when I showed her the changes. I think the main stickler on the issue is the accompanying letter you need from your bank. When I asked at Bangkok Bank for a letter for immigration I was told I'd have to wait a day before I could open the new account (the letter needs to be for the old account which is more than 3 months old) and close the old one. Immigration was far more concerned with the letter than the passbooks. They just checked to make sure that everything was properly signed and outlined according to specs.

The spirits have been very naughty & busy this year.......higher budget should be given to the transport ministry to keep the spirits flowing happy They need it for the railroad & airport spirit

I propose a mandatory spirit tax to be leveled on all farangs arriving in the kingdom. Surely if we weren't here this wouldn't be happening.

Surely an evil Phuket tuk tuk driver must have driven across the spot precisely where each train derailed, or else maybe the boss in Dubai passed through the area in a previous lifetime.