OJAS

Maybe the outcome of the latest European elections could finally serve as a wake-up call here???? https://aseannow.com/topic/1329349-european-elections-spark-political-upheaval-across-the-continent/ Although not planning to hold my breath for too long, personally.

We shall probably never know what lay behind the British and Thai negotiators' minds when the DTA was under discussion some 45 years' ago, but it does strike me that the "may be taxed" wording which has been used not just in Articles 7 and 14 is basically a cop-out. Either a particular item is covered (as is unambiguously stated in the case of Civil Service, etc pensions) or it is not (as per the deafening silence in the case of the State and company pensions). But, there again, it may not always be possible for things to be viewed exclusively in black and white - and it is (in the view of this particular cynic, at least) clearly in the interests of handsomely-remunerated tax consultants/advisers/agents/experts that they are not!

Once every 10 years for the antediluvian bureaucratic nonsense we Brits in LOS are required to endure at passport renewal time is once every 10 years too often as far as I am concerned. Why on earth we are not permitted, in the 3rd decade of the 21st Century, to avail ourselves of HMPO's online passport renewal service - the use of which they are seemingly encouraging practically everywhere else - is a complete mystery to me.

Strongly suspect that VFS's hands are tied by their dimwitted masters in His Majesty's Passport Office back in the UK - who IMHO are to blame entirely for the complete and utter bloody shambles that it is the British passport renewal process from Thailand.

In theory it can, but in practice this would involve a convoluted process to set up which is probably not worth it for a one-off notification. You and your partner therefore need to visit your immigration office ASAP with a completed TM30 signed by your partner, plus originals and copies of their blue tabien baan housebook entry for the property in question, their ID card and, if available, any formal document proving the authenticity of your relationship.

The "may be taxed" wording in Articles 7(1) and 14(1) does, however, appear to contrast with the more unambiguous "shall be taxable only" wording for Civil Service, etc pensions in Article 19(2).

That is likely when the aircraft is due to land on the runway at BKK. It will then spend 10-15 minutes taxiing to the arrival gate - and, assuming that you're travelling economy, you'll then need to wait a further 5-10 minutes for business class passengers to disembark before you can.

Far from dual pricing being scrapped, much more likely that we would be clobbered for tax at special foreigner rates which were at least double those paid by the locals, I would have thought!

Your first port of call in determining whether or not you have any tax liability in Thailand should be the Double Taxation Agreement (DTA) between the UK and Thailand: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a80bddc40f0b623026953eb/uk-thailand-dtc180281_-_in_force.pdf Your UK rental income is (IMHO at any rate) covered by Article 7 of the DTA, meaning that it does not need to be included as assessable remitted income in any tax return you file with the Thai Revenue Department. As regards your pension income, it depends on its nature as to whether or not it needs to be included as assessable remitted income in any tax return you file with the Thai Revenue Department. Civil Service, military and other public sector occupational pensions are covered by Article 19(2)(a) of the DTA, meaning that they do not need to be included. On the other hand company occupational pensions and the State Pension are not covered by the DTA, meaning that they do. Incidentally, I am at a complete loss to understand how come you are paying £4,500 per annum by way of income tax against annual income apparently totalling £4,000 (unless, of course, you have other income sources which you have chosen not to disclose)! I would have thought it highly unlikely that you will need to update your existing TIN, but it would IMHO be prudent for you to check this point with your current Revenue Office.

Simply by writing the word "Retirement" in place of "Marriage to Thai national" (or similar) as the reasons for your extension of stay application on the TM7 form. As already said, though, your wife will need to accompany you to the immigration office for your first retirement extension application. Another point you'll need to bear in mind is that your initial retirement extension will be dated 12 months from when you apply for it rather than from when your current permission to stay based on your previous marriage extension expires.

Which looks identical to the following version which is also downloadable from the Immigration Bureau website! https://www.immigration.go.th/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/แบบคำขอหนังสือการรับแจ้งที่พัก-ผนวก-ก.pdf So presumably it is not exclusive to Jomtien?

And the lowest-rated Trust Pilot reviews referred to by @LOUIS65 can, of course, be equally fake and paid for by Wise's competitors with the sole and avowed aim of showing them up in the worst possible light, do you not agree? Oh, and by the way, my latest scheduled monthly Wise transfer duly showed up in my Bangkok Bank account yesterday at 14:01. I'm not sufficiently motivated as to get my knickers in a twist by lodging a complaint to Wise about this "outrageous" 1-minute delay!

The impression I'm getting from this thread is that it's mainly (if not wholly) about USA-specific issues/problems with Wise.

I wonder how many people are going to show up at the Consulate on Tuesday, completely oblivious to these new requirements and finding themselves gleefully turned away by Consulate staff with beaming smiles on their faces as a result?

Whereas changes which are arguably to our detriment (e.g. the Savanakhet procedural changes referred to in the thread at https://aseannow.com/topic/1328422-thai-consulate-savannakhet-policy-change/), on the other hand, can be - and, indeed, are - enforced with zeal and gusto from the word Go.

A further assumption which I presume that you are also making here is that the capital gains in question were all earned post-1/1/24? I am taking the view that the taxed capital gain on the UK property I sold in 2021 (and which I'm still transferring in dribs and drabs to Thailand) constitutes non-assessable income on the grounds that it was earned before 1/1/24.

Yep, bring back salt blocks! 🤑 https://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/vDn91YroQr-CC4OpxxEtDw

Might depend on whether you're pulling money from a home country bank account or a Wise account, though. Following a transfer from my UK bank account to my Wise account last Tuesday (which took longer than usual to finalise thanks to a public/bank holiday in the UK on Monday), I then initiated an onward Wise transfer based on the "funds for long term stay in Thailand" reason just after 9:30. I was initially informed that the GBP would be taken from my Wise account at 10:00. In the event the money was taken a few minutes earlier, and the converted THB landed up in my Bangkok Bank account just over 4 hours later at 14:00. So, in stark contrast to others on this particular thread, I have absolutely no complaints about Wise based on recent experience. Also worth mentioning that the amount I was transferring on this particular occasion was 4 times greater than the amount of my normal Wise transfers!

In these circumstances it strikes me that the only significant expense with which she might be faced would be with a trip to a theme park (if that is her sort of thing). Please see the following link for info (including pricing details, although you might need to add extra to cover refreshments, transport costs, etc) relating to theme parks in the London area: https://www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do/sightseeing/london-attraction/theme-park

That went out of the window in 2019 with the introduction of mandatory health insurance for OA visa holders past and present.

That's more or less what I said, I think.

But they might have a knock-on effect on extension of stay requirements, particularly when it comes to health insurance coverage.

Agreed - I think that we rule this possibility out at our peril.

The reduction in the mandatory minimum health insurance coverage from 3M to 440k will only apply to long-stay visa applicants between September and December, according to the thread at https://aseannow.com/topic/1328402-big-thailand-visa-changes-from-june-1/ What I personally find extremely worrying is that, if we are, indeed, talking about a merger of the non-O and non-OA visas in the case of retirement, the Immigration Bureau might use this as an excuse for extending the health insurance requirement (which will presumably increase back to 3M from 1/1/25) to annual extensions of stay for retirement based on original non-O (as well as non-OA) visas. Not good news for those who have ditched their original non-OA visas so as to avoid the insurance requirement by exiting Thailand, re-entering visa-exempt and then obtaining 90-day non-O conversions at their local offices. And definitely not good news for those who, for whatever reason (age or health issues), are unable to obtain minimum health insurance coverage of 3M.

Plus the risk in obtaining definitive info from the horse's mouth (i.e. your local immigration office) IMHO is that what you are told might depend on (1) the particular officer you speak to, and (2) more importantly, which side of the bed they got out of that morning!😔