Ricardo

The som-tam lady, source of inside-information & understanding on all things Thai, told me there was once a Thai-agency which improved its operating-efficiency & then cut its fees ? 🤔 I think she must still be pissed, after a serious celebration with her friends/family over Farang-New-Year, to say anything like that ! 😎

Happily I'm remitting just a shade under B500k per annum, in the past two years, just short of the point where I'd have to pay income-tax on my remittances & trivial bank-interest. I suspect that I'm not the only farang doing this ? 😎

Presumably any Jewish politician, when being sworn-in, uses the Torah ... does that also make them enemies of the USA, in Tuberville's eyes ? The important thing is surely, that the person doing the swearing respects/embraces the sacred-writing of their choice, and is therefore reluctant to lie while swearing their oath ? Non-believers, as we saw demonstrated last January, might only pretend to lay their hand upon the holy-book.

And this is at the same time as an attempt by the TRD (from 1.1.2024 onwards ) to start taxing expats on their (visible) bank-transfers into Thailand ! A cynic might wonder whether the two things might possibly be related ? Although that said, I don't see why the total amounts being transferred-in would change, by all that much ... just how the money we live on gets here.

I always thought it was a commercial-decision for the local airlines, when to add extra-flights or put on larger-planes, but now learn that it was the CAAT all this time ! I do also recall when, 20-30 years ago, Thai Airways would put on B744s instead of smaller aircraft, over Christmas and the New-Year rushes, and thought this was so they could make more money ?

First one not yet completed or delivered, let alone the rest of the order.

And the Bank-of-England also did the same thing. Hence little change against the Thai Baht, whose relative strength continues.

or perhaps trans-species Brass-Monkeys ?

I wonder what idiot told President Piggy, that the Mayor of London has anything to do, with setting national immigration-policies ? Mind you, there's a certain US-citizen that many Brits (not all) would hope is not allowed to visit our green & pleasant land, ever again. Who might that be ? Hint ... he cheats openly at golf !

The same was true of Thailand's previous fleet of submarines IIRC, they were built in Japan and delivered just in time, to not-get-used to repel the Japanese-invasion & occupation of Thailand on 8th December 1941. Japanese invasion of Thailand - Wikipedia

Is that the same track-dualling project, which has been underway for over twenty years, and is running way behind schedule ? It will get there in-the-end, and hopefully help freight-operations to move containers more-economically around the country, both inbound & outbound !

The crisis is loss-of-money.

Just to add that some sections of the new LCR-line are only single-track ...

Apologies, double-post

I would like to point out that, just because you disagree with their (and many others') opinion, does not make them wrong in what they say. We are all entitled to our opinions. What you (and many others) describe as "living rent free in their head", I would suggest is no more than taking a healthy interest, in the actions of someone who appears to be hell-bent on leading that country to chaos, having recently been re-elected by a narrow-margin on that policy-platform. Trump is destroying alliances & trading-patterns which took several decades to build-up, I personally would take an interest, if only because it seriously impacts my investments & retirement-funds ! Time will show, fairly soon IMO, who is right anyway.

This old chestnut, again ? IIRC it was proposed, as a street-circuit in Bangkok, some 20-years ago ! Oh well, I guess it sells newspapers.

Just to point out that Thailand already has a pension-system, IIRC it pays about B600 per-month, to Over-60s ?

I was once in a similar situation myself, and I would strongly recommend the OP to visit a visa-agent, and ask whether they could help solve the problem. This will definitely incur a 'special administrative fee', if they can indeed help you !

As described in my previous post ... 1. I went to my local TRD-office 2. I explained that my overseas-bank wanted to send them year-end information, about my offshore-banking 3. That I therefore needed to give them a Thai T.I.N., to identify me to the TRD 4. I showed them a bank-statement from my bank, which had my Thai-address on it 5. I confirmed that I did not, and had never, worked here in Thailand ... and lived in a house owned by my (Thai) wife, but that I didn't have her house-papers (and anyway don't appear on them) 6. I told them I had been living here for 20-years, they could see my visa/extension-status from my passport 7. I said I had two Thai-bank accounts, with KBank, knowing that the miniscule interest is reported to the TRD 8. The officer spoke with her superior, and made a brief phone-call 9. She took a couple of photocopies, and issued me with a T.I.N., which I signed a register for At no point did either of us mention Annual Tax-Returns. I generally played-dumb, and stupid (this comes naturally), but appeared wishing to conform to the new-requirements and to my bank's CRS-needs. It took less than two-hours. That's it, basically ... do you have any specific concerns, about your own case ?

I have had no problem making money-transfers into Thailand, over the past twenty-years including 2024 & 2025, without a TIN. So I would disagree with your final line. I have been pressed by my bank in Jersey, C.I. for a Thai T.I.N., over the past several years, they previously accepted my prior-statements that I didn't need one, or need to make a Thai tax-return annually, due to always making transfers out of prior-year income. Obviously that situation has now changed. I therefore visited my local tax-office in San-Sai, Chiang-Mai a couple of months ago, and requested a T.I.N. to give to my overseas-bank, they did manage to issue me with one (and I'm on retirement-extensions to a non-O visa, like yourself) which I've now sent to my bank. The TRD accepted my explanation, that I needed a T.I.N. to give to my overseas-bank, so they could in-future pass CRS-information to the TRD every year. My transfers-in for 2024 being just-below the B500k point, above which I'd be liable to pay a small-amount of tax here, I still have not felt the need to make a tax-return to the TRD ... until the situation changes again. But it has all gone rather-quiet, thankfully. So the answer to your first-question is 'Yes'. Hope this helps !

In fact that series is still being re-run, on UK-TV, very funny !

Thai tourist-industry helps reduce carbon-emissions ?

Thailand is aiming to become a Hub of AI-writing in S.E.Asia, sometime this century. Hubba-Hubba !

They have known (from my residential-address) for twenty-years that I was tax-resident in Thailand, and have long said that they needed to know my Thai T.I.N., so that they could report certain information annually under the enhanced-C.R.S. requirements. I had repeatedly explained to them that, since my funds sent to Thailand to live upon were always prior-year-funds, I had been able to live here for twenty-years but have never been legally-required to make a tax-return here, hence previously no T.I.N. could be obtained. They had found this odd, but had long accepted my word on it ! They also report information to H.M.R.C. in the mainland-UK, since that is where some of my annual-income arises, although I've been assured by HMRC recently that they do not want me to make an annual tax-return there. Perhaps, in recent years, banks have been required to improve their reporting & Know-Your-Client information, as part of some global-drive against money-laundering or tax-evasion ? Which might increase pressure upon them ?

FWIW one more experience, I went to my local tax-office outside Chiang Mai a week ago, and played old (which often helps, here) & stupid but willing, saying (well, it was true !) that my overseas-bank wanted to know my Thai T.I.N., so that they could send year-end information about me to Thailand. They didn't speak much English, I (of course) don't poot much Thai, either. They asked if I was married to a Thai, "Yes". Did I live in my wife's house, "Yes". They then asked did I have the house-papers, "Not with me, and anyway I'm not on them". Did I have a copy of my marriage-certificate, "Not with me, Sorry". At this point she spoke to her senior-officer, made a brief phone-call, took copies of my passport & visa & recent sole-name/offshore bank-statement which has my Thai residential-address. Then punched my details into her computer, made me sign her book of newly-issued TINs, and handed me what I wanted ... a simple certificate (3-inches square) showing my name/address/new T.I.N ! I thanked her profusely, lots of wai-ing, and made my retreat. At no time was I asked-for, or did I offer, to make an annual-return for 2024. Which would anyway have shown, that my local bank-interest & transfers-into-Thailand fell a few-thousand Baht short, of owing them any income-tax, for the year ! Result !