JimGant

Filling out the offline PDF won't work with Firefox -- you need Acrobat (the free Reader version works). When you check Thailand in the country drop down box, the state box greys out. Interestingly, older versions of Adobe Acrobat, like version 7, also fail to activate the drop down boxes.

Per TallGuy, if you bank with Krungsri, Imm will need to see activity to get a current balance. But if you bank with Bangkok Bank, no activity needed. For readers trying to complete their checklist, what other banks like Krungsri will need "activity" to record a current balance in their passbook....

Why activity? My Bangkok Bank passbook, when stuck into the machine, will move the latest balance down one line and add today's date. And CM Imm doesn't require any activity with an updated passbook. Is this peculiar to CW? Or just for some banks other than Bangkok Bank? Seems odd, since activity will now mean your passbook balance doesn't match that of your bank letter (not that the IO couldn't figure out why).

Ok. Sifting thru data on this thread, it looks like Imm knows LTR visas warrant five year permission of stay stamps, not ten. On page 20 of that long "LTR Visa is Now...." thread, ThailandRyan shows us the ink stamps he got from BoI when issued his LTR visa. Besides the 10 year visa stamp, there's a five year permission of stay stamp (with an "until" date expiring when the five year renewal process is due, i.e., five years from date of issue). And a re-entry stamp, also for five years and also expiring on the "until" date of five years. Thus, easy for Imm at the border to figure out what permission of stay to stamp, being highly familiar with re entry stamps, where the "until" date is used for the "until" date on the new permission of stay stamp. But what about a sticker visa obtained outside Thailand? Look here to see aublumberg's Hong Kong issued sticker: https://aseannow.com/topic/1265383-ltr-visa-is-now-available-for-long-term-residency/page/23/ Looks like lextsy's, right? His had an issue date of Oct 18, 2022 and an expiration date of 17 Oct 2032. Now, look what happened when aublumberg entered Thailand a week or so after visa issue: https://aseannow.com/topic/1265383-ltr-visa-is-now-available-for-long-term-residency/page/29/ He was stamped in for five years, beginning on the date he entered Thailand, not five years from date of issue of the visa. Had he a reentry permit like Ryan, whose LTR was issued in Bangkok, Imm at the airport would have had an experienced situation on when the five year permission stamp's "until" date should be. Anyway, lextsy, when you enter Thailand, don't be overly alarmed on what your five year permission of stay's stamp "until" date is -- whatever it is, no problems with either. As Ryan pointed out, 60 days before your five year anniversary comes due, you'll get a notice from BoI about the renewal requirement. Whatever your permission of stay says at the time, would be irrelevant. [Now, when there's less than five years left on your visa, and you're still getting stamped in for five years -- well, yeah, that would need to be fixed.]

.... unless you're a US taxpayer.

Give me a break. It's certainly not a "private purpose" to honor deceased members of the armed forces, particularly high ranking ones, with hardware peculiar to that service. And, in the interest of cost, the RTAF probably does what we (US) do for our flyovers -- after the divert for the flyover, redirect to the training area for a "bump heads" to satisfy towards quarterly intercept requirements. The article in question, for hype purposes, mentions the cost of this mission -- without regard that most of the fuel was for training (presumably), and that the cost attributed to pilot pay is a sunk cost, payable even when playing golf. I guess if the deceased had been an Army general, and there had been a 21 gun salute -- then this disgruntled MP would have considered the howitzers used for private purposes..... No "gotcha" here, folks.

But, you can also send a domestic wire to Bangkok Bank NY, with your account number being that of your Bangkok Bank account in Thailand. BBNY will send those dollars across the pond, charging same as for an ACH (e.g, $10 for amounts between 2 and 50k dollars, plus 200-500 fee on receiving end). Since domestic wire fees are normally cheaper than international wire fees, this method should be included in your comparison analysis.

Maybe nothing, if the hospital doesn't need a release certificate (you might want to investigate that ahead of time). If a certificate is required, the embassy/consulate will need to know who the next of kin (NOK) is -- and this is automatically your wife, so just provide a copy of your marriage certificate. And you may want to get a "consular report of death of a US citizen abroad," which serves as a US death certificate, needed to cut checks to beneficiaries of insurance policies, etc. In my case, the wife would need a death certificate to begin her Air Force survivor benefit payments. Interestingly, I queried the Air Force (DFAS), also Schwab and some other agencies she'll need to contact, about whether or not just a Thai death certificate, with translation, would suffice. Answer: Yes, as long as it's accompanied by a certified translation. (Don't know what constitutes "certified", but Star Visa here in Chiang Mai said, yes, they're certified translators, which I guess means they have a rubber stamp to make translations look official....) So, maybe she won't need to visit embassy/consulate at all -- very handy I would think, if you live out in the sticks..... (But, I would suggest that if you can get that "consular report of death....," I would do so, just in case I got some bum info.) Some other thoughts: If your wife is sole heir and executor in your Will, and your sole asset is a bank account -- should be easy and recommended to avoid probate, since it could cost upwards of 50k baht, and take many months. Tons of info on this forum about this, so I'll let you do a search. Key related points: online banking; co-signatory; and bank has no legal requirement to freeze your account -- if they have no knowledge of your death, which they most likely wouldn't. Anyway, lots of info out there about this, although not necessarily conclusive. Do early in the year things your wife would have to do if you didn't do them early. Like FBAR -- you can do it on Jan 1st, as I did. Required Minimum Distribution of your IRA (and her IRA, if applicable). Taxes -- I did mine thru TurboTax mid Jan, and got my refund check from the IRS 4 days ago. Yes, if she forgot to do your FBAR, doubtful anyone would follow up. However, your RMD has to be done before she can inherit your IRA. Doing last year's taxes this year is one thing (assuming you got it out of the way, by doing it early). This year's taxes, i.e., taxes for the year you die, is another thing. Do you have a tax preparer lined up to help her? Can she download 1099's from the Internet? If all your income is documented with 1099's (except a few hundred in interest from Bangkok Bank), then you -- and more importantly the IRS -- know what your tax bill will be. Thus, why not set up your withholding and estimated tax payments to be a few hundred over your future tax bill? Then, the wife can choose to file late, or not at all. The IRS doesn't bother with folks who they owe money to (unless they suspect you have some non 1099 money out there, which I doubt applies in this scenario). So, if the wife never files to get that over-withholding back, she's probably ahead of the game, losing $200 to the IRS -- but saving $400 by not paying a tax preparer. Plus, not wasting time fumbling around for 1099's, especially if she's computer illiterate and the 1099's are only online.... Anyway, death planning can be interesting....

Have you got the "ugly" filter turned on? ????

Pib, seems we're finally regressing when it comes to automated banking. For my wife, it would be a lot easier to periodically visit our bank branch and conduct business with a real person. She could never set this up herself -- and I'm not so sure I could.... I guess it will take long lines of grey hairs at teller counters to get the message across that we're moving too rapidly with automation.

Actually, when you're a geezer, you need to hold the phone further away from your face. And past age 70, our arms just aren't that long. But, a business chair on rollers can very nicely accommodate distance to a brilliant HD monitor.

Christ, there's a lot more risk and lack of security with phone apps. And convenience? Surely sitting down in front of my desktop, with a keyboard I mastered in high school, and a screen I can readily read -- is far superior than a smartphone. That I can't conduct business in a busy, loud restaurant -- I'd never put myself in that predicament. [But, of course, I'd have my cellphone available for inconvenient emergencies.] But, hey, if you've got 20 year old eyes, and fingers unaffected with arthritis -- go for it. But even so, your risk with a cellphone is greater than mine, conversing over 3BB fiber -- where old tried and true OTP has never made the headlines as being broken.

... and with a full sized keyboard, so your fat fingers don't inadvertently keep hitting the adjacent letter on the incredibly small phone, whose screen requires me to find my reading glasses. Oh, yeah, the utility of a mouse -- plus, need a hard copy? Just 'send to printer.' No, a mobile phone's best utility is that you can converse over it. I don't need it to price compare, whatever doing that on the fly adds to one's utility, since for big purchases, this is all done before leaving the house -- on the desktop. And for small purchases, gad, I'm not peasant enough to need to scratch for pennies. And for checking out? Pulling my plastic Visa card out of my wallet, vs fiddling with my phone, is far superior -- you're probably the guy in front of me the other day, with a huge grocery purchase, whose phone battery went dead upon checkout. Anyway, there's still miles of utility in desktops and laptops. And if you're a diehard user, at least you can walk around town, with eyes held high, admiring the young ladies -- and not run into a light pole, like all those zombies with cell phones held high. Progress isn't always well defined....

This gives a whole new dimension to the concept of LIFO vs. FIFO. Also, shows bureaucrats will trump the fungibility of money, if they can squeeze a taxable event out of it.... Actually, I'd have no problem with Thailand figuring out how to tax foreign income coming into Thailand, that tax treaties give them the right to tax. As a Yank, this would be a zero sum game for me, since what Thailand doesn't tax, Uncle Sam does. But, if Thailand finally does figure out how to take advantage of the tax treaties, Uncle Sam will match that tax with a credit. Thus, my fungible tax dollar/baht will go towards Thai infrastructure, not infrastructure in the Ozarks. Or go towards alleviating Thai poverty. Good, good. But, with the rule about no taxation on income brought into Thailand in a later year in effect, not a lot is going to happen. Why? Because this rule primarily subsidizes fat cat Thais with business outside the country.

The wife and I both have online accounts with Bangkok Bank -- because you can't have a joint online account. My online account holds only one physical account, namely, the one I use for Immigration. Her online account holds three physical accounts -- two personal ones, and our joint account. The latter is accommodated because she's the primary holder of our joint account, making it akin to a single account, at least for accounting purposes. Not sure why Kasikorn couldn't use such a simple accounting procedure to allow joint physical accounts to be accommodated online........ Oh well.

Do you know why efile failed?

Makes sense that if trading mutual funds held in an IRA are restricted, then trading mutual funds outside an IRA would also be subject to the same restrictions, if your address is foreign. ETFs and individual stocks, I believe, have less restrictions.

Sure, if it's uncomplicated, like your Thai wife is sole heir and your executor -- and you only have one asset, like a bank account, that would be subject to probate. And there's no one out there that would contest your wife being sole heir. Plenty of discussion on this forum on how to avoid probate with a bank account (like, doing an online transfer by your heir to her online account before you head to the barbecue). The DIY template offered earlier in this thread seems to me one of the better such templates I've seen, primarily due to its simplicity -- no need for a flowery, overly inclusive, with too many legal buzzwords -- to be an acceptable Thai Will.

I hope not, because what's stopping me from applying is having to go to Bangkok, for at least the initial visa, then maybe for the five year follow-up requirement. Certainly a satellite BOI office, in the guise of agent, could accomplish all's that needed. Certainly if I can get a LTR visa from one of a hundred Thai embassies and consulates -- I should be able to get one from an agent established in the larger Thai cities, like Chiang Mai.... Certainly seems easy enough for BoI, especially if part of their target market includes Bangkok-adverse country bumpkins.

Yeah -- and any possibility that there could be an intragovernmental sameness and sanity policy on insurance, so that Tricare would now qualify for OA visa extensions? Probably not, as the insurance mafia would lose a chunk of premiums.

Actually football started at 1630 between San Francisco and Seattle. Could care less about any silly soccer games.

Understood. In my case, I have solid coverage with my Tricare policy, which is not acceptable for OA purposes. Thus, I'm stuck with the throwaway LMG policy. When the LTR visa folks get a branch office up here in Chiang Mai, I'll go that route and say goodbye to the OA insurance scam.

For your age, LMG will issue an OA health policy for 14,500 baht. But with a one million baht deductible, it's basically only a catastrophic type coverage. But, it does meet the OA insurance requirement. https://www.lmginsurance.co.th/en/long-stay-visa-plus-premium-plan-100000-usd

Egad! With hearing aid technology jumping by leaps and bounds, soon we'll be able to have hearing aids translate Thai into English (or whatever). But until that time, I'll be content to not be able to hear a language I don't understand, as deafness in the midst of Thai cacophony is bliss. (A little tongue-in-ear canal humor, before you hit the respond button.) ????

Well, not really, as you have until Oct 16, 2023 to file, using the automatic extension. But why wait? Just one less thing on the wife's demise checklist, should I get run over by a truck next week (same logic for RMDs and taxes). Anyway, last year's form hasn't changed, so if you did this PDF offline, just dust it off, "unsign" it, plug in the new info, sign, save, then click the "ready to file" button. After providing name and email, attach the revised PDF and send. I did mine Jan 1 and was "accepted" quickly, and two days later was "acknowledged" (which, I guess, is bureaucrat speak for "really accepted.") Bottom line: Piece of cake. Treasury FX rate: 34.52 So, done watching all the weekend's football and Maui golf? Here's something to do.