Sydebolle

Nope, the very last one bites the dust - that is the whole idea of VAT. The final end user, beneficiary, whatever you want to call it, pays the tax on all the "value addition" since creation, import etc. The only accounting advantage could be that, if the friend has a company and books the car(s) as assets, then he can also mark 7% VAT as input tax. As a private individual there is no avoidance or possibility of refund (unless the cars would get exported for good). The VAT always* applies and can a positive or negative amount. 500 = purchased new by the first buyer 35 = VAT of 7% added on the above 535 = price paid by first buyer The 35 go, in this example, as input VAT into the seller's tax listing to be net balanced by the end of each month and result in settling a payment or enjoying a tax credit (for the next month) 100 = is the price the above article gets sold on (i.e. a loss of 400) 7 = VAT of 7% added on the above 107 = price paid by the second buyer (or revenue for the seller, i.e. the first buyer) This results in a tax credit of 28 to the benefit of the first buyer. *the VAT applies only to products, on which something has been done; fresh unprocessed meat or veggies are VAT-free, a sausage or a plate of cooked veggies in a restaurant are subject to VAT. To complicate matters; if you give it away free of charge (say, a hotel gives you a lucky draw award of a free suite with breakfast), then the 7% of the walk-in price still applies. If you have a restaurant and offer free drinks (i.e because you goofed up in the kitchen), then the revenue department is not accepting that. With non-measurable units (i.e. a glass of house wine) or a scoop of ice cream out of the two kilogrammes pail - no issue as the revenue department will never find out. But if you offer a round of beer in stubbies, you give away 10 stubbies with zero revenue which you initially bought. A physical stock control would reveal, that the stock is 10 bottles short of the sales figure. Having had restaurants, I usually just threw in a few boxes of beer on a just-in-case-basis, which happened years later. There were still stock deviations in the individual product listing (buying two cases of Heineken to cover 7 Singha, 12 Leo, 15 San Miguel Light, 9 Asahi and 3 Tiger). As you can see, there are still two stubbies too many in the stock and my accountant explained, that this happens often as staff open the wrong bottles at times.

Deport them, that is OK, I assume the provisions of the law give the court the necessary space to breathe. My point was more that if no non-Thai would have been involved, a Thai-only performance so to speak, then it would not have made any news. Given the educational understanding of our hosts here - specially upcountry - easily could reflect, that foreigners are serious b"%ç*"kers who need to fornietac at every red light or traffic jam and hence - very strange race. Explain otherwise, why most Thais refer to Caucasians as "rich" (ฝรั่งก็รวย), but never mention work, paying taxes, saving, employment loyalty and further education after school years. Another myth can be heard in a supermarket at the cashier's queue. When a child whines (สะอื้น) for a biscuit or a sweet, the child gets, heard actually quite often, reprimanded by the guardian who says, that to better stop the whining before the Caucasian in front will turn around and bite. I am fluent in Thai so I am aware what certain "news" can create. In closing, nail the pick-up passengers down and treat with them according to the law and rules but do not blow up a delicate picture completely out of proportion - me thinks!

Well, the VAT responsibility is with the seller. Correct is, that his friend will be charged 7% of the sales price and the collection is done by the seller, here the company. The latter then has to balance the VAT account against purchases done by the company and the net left over is then to the benefit of either the Company or the Revenue Department, whoever had a higher tax exposure/income (i.e. here the VAT amount).

"Patong is a place with no rules" and "Do foreigners really think they can do anything here?" Yes, not only Patong but Patpong and all the other places as well; the only rule is the "Rule of Cash". That explains the indifference by those passing by. What apparently happened in the Bahtbus is what they would have to pay obscene amounts of money in all those sleazy joints for life-shows. Quite a few of them are "for Thai only". Once those semi-divine superThais will understand, that there is no difference between them and the alien bringing in desperately needed foreign exchange, only then the alien crowd will take the semi-divine serious. The law is the law so - for crying out loud - start wiping up the manure on your doorstep first before you start breathing down the dirty Farang's neck, will you .......

The city fathers of Pattaya, called the council, it its endless wisdom, had previously huge screens installed along the Jomtien beach; half of them broken, some of them completely down the shoot and literally nobody watching. Apart from the silly investment the running costs (electricity springs to mind) must have been mind-blowing. So, to make Jomtien more attractive, the mayor and his goons opted for commission-promising screens but to this day I have not seen a single public toilet. The toilets on the land side of the road are there. Very often marked in Thai (สุขา), bathrooms/rest rooms (ห้องน้ำ) and two-tier pricing applies as well in some places. Latter are privately operated and mostly smelly, dirty and very "un-Thai". Maybe less screens and other crap along the beach and proper toilets would be a step in the right direction? In closing, if urine is the only waste in the shallow waters of Pattaya and surrounding, then my prayers have been heard and all is good. The water probes from any hotel or public pool would result in much higher urine content than ........ the sea anywhere 😉

1) - noted 2) - as far as I understand, the two cars were parked next to each other when the water came 😉 3) - VERY IMPORTANT is to liquidate all assets prior to company closing; once the company is closed you literally cannot sell any assets anymore (as the owner/seller - legally speaking - does no longer exist/operates). And yes, the cars are best sold outside in-laws, shareholders or board members; while an employee is no issue (taking advantage of walking out with a nice farewell gift of a discounted, albeit watered, car

Verbal manure again; like the taxation of pensions. The money you take away from the visitors, be it arrival tax or pension taxation, will be missing in the private industry of Thailand, the SMEs all over the place. In essence the government steals from its own people as the latter will have less revenue. In addition to all this it clearly marks that visitors are only welcome if they throw in 300 Baht during their first footsteps in Thailand. How they want to manage that - will remain a challenge. Either huge queues in front of moneychanging booths of banks or the Ministry of Finance will have to convert rupees from various countries, Won from both North and South Korea and Ngultrum - which would be Bhutan. Credit cards - well - that takes time again so better enlarge the arrival areas tenfold and tell tourists, that getting through the governmental highway robbery will take them hours 8-) What an idea, business is dead, hotels and restaurants are empty - apart from the cheapest market segment and they think about stealing money from their own people!

Quite obviously not fine-tuned with the tourism goons as the latter proclaim double and triple digit increases.

Read very carefully: 1) I referred to 40% write-off - that is over the time span of TWO years; one year allows 20% usually. So, the remaining value of the car is 60% of the purchase price. 2) well, the 50% - or even less - could be the case, if you had a major water damage due to the present heavy monsoon while you parked the car wrong. Put this as "water damaged" onto the sales contract between the company and your friend and all is OK. There will be thousands if not more such cars on the market within weeks - given the present weather pattern. I am sure that your friend would not offer more than 30% - 40% of the value as he might have to rip out all the carpets, upholstery and many other components of the car, don't you think so? When transferring the car, you will have to have the car inspected. This is done either at the Department of Land Transport or external, officially authorized, inspection agencies (see logo photo enclosed here symbolizing a cog wheel - visible at the road side): Go to an external one, they just check the engine's fumes and the brakes and give you a paper confirming, that your road is roadworthy. There is a nominal fee of a few hundert Baht for this. And, while you are at it, get a new insurance coverage (the government insurance for THB 650+ or something like that). Then take this certification, the insurance confirmation, the blue car registration book with the sales contract, duly signed by the company's authorized signatory/ies and the company seal (see sample) to the DLT for transferring ownership: Make sure your friend's paperwork is in order and you'll finish this in one go.

The dinosaurs are out roaming the land again. What kind of nonsense is this petition? But then, praise the Lord - our prayers have been heard. Thailand has no other problems whatsoever and can waste its peaceful time with such absolute nonsense. I - for one - don't care but it gives those usually grim-looking, in stone chiseled faces a more human touch; the days of "standing to attention" in each and every photograph are ..... thank God ..... over in all other countries - except possibly North Korea?

Quality tourists - explained. Wondering though, how many of non-native English speaking readers will understand the article which contained "inebriated" and "fracas" in connection with two Aussies who were beating the manure out of them ........

Quality tourism nicely mixed with Thailand's finest genderism - is is really newsworthy?

Well, if the property is haunted, get some 25 40-seater busses and get 999 monks for an exorcising event - that should do the trick, specially if combined with a juicy donation to the temples. Alternatively there could be a fight among family members going on over an inheritance case. Another possibility is that the price there goes only in one direction and if they are not in dire need of the cash, time works for the present owners. Then the place could be tied up in a bankruptcy case and some cases are hanging around in the Thai legal system for decades. In short, there are many possibilities. If you really want to know, then get the name of the legal owner at the Land Department and then contact the stipulated owners .......

The VAT amount mentioned by you would represent a today's car value of THB 715,000. When you bought it, your company used the VAT paid to the dealership as input VAT; i.e. this amount could be used for your company's VAT liabilities against company sales by the company. Obviously you cannot have your cake and eat it; if the car was properly booked as assets into your company with VAT credit, then you have to live with the VAT debit upon selling the asset. Given the fact, that your company owned the car two years already, the company could benefit of a write-off 40% (20%/annum) of the car's initial value. Back in the day, the highest purchase price of car accepted by the Revenue Department was THB 1,000,000. Given that, your company's car would have a present-day value of THB 600,000 upon which of 0HB 42,000 VAT would apply. Your company could also sell the car below the book or market value - but it would require a paper trail prove it. Say, you sell the car to a third party and co-incidentally a friend of your confidence decides to buy your company's car in his name due to a very low attractive value, then he would have to pay the company through a bank transfer. On that amount VAT of 7% applies and the car changing ownership from the company to your friend. At a later stage your friend might want to sell this car to you - at the same price he bought it or slightly more. You would have to pay your friend with a bank transfer for the paper trail and once done, the car gets transferred from him to you - again against a nominal transfer fee. No VAT would apply on this fictitious transaction anymore as both your friend and yourself have no VAT registration. If you'r e lucky, this scenario could happen and Bob's your uncle!

Unbelievable, how complicated a visa system can be arranged. In other countries I lived and worked, they had: - tourist visa, duration earmarked by applicant and fees according to duration - stay visa for one year; retirees and spouses, a flat fee - work visa for the duration of the contract; expiring when the contract got terminated/expired All visa types required one trip to the immigration office and was dealt with in no time. You sign that the host country is not responsible for any costs occurred which includes eventual repatriation, health services - the works. The half-page stamp showed the expiry date and until then the visa was automatically on a multi-reentry basis; costs between USD 300 and 500. An A4-form in English, one photograph and the visa fee in cash. But that would make tens of thousands of Thai immigration goons obsolete, starting with the 90-days notification which is a joke in itself, if you see the widely published announcements whenever they find an "illegal alien" or a "dirty farang who overstayed the grace period"

The rant goes on - this week starts with electricians from Russia. Well, they should have gone for a company and work permit; I've been using a Swiss electrician for more than a decade - he is legally employed with visa, work permit et al. His invoices are quite a bit higher than the local Somchai next door for good reason. Most Thai electricians are "challenged" with their assignments - to put it mildly. I had a house rewired with the result, that one room had all green wires, the next room all yellow wires coming out of pipes and sockets; in addition to the colour ignorance the individual cable diameter was absolutely irrelevant to "Somchai the electrician". Same applies to plumbers, the law of communicating pipes is literally unknown here and results in blocked drainage before you shower properly, overflowing toilets and dripping cold water outlets. Warm water outlets don't work quite often as the pressure is insufficient - see communicating pipes - despite a perfectly able and strong pump. So yeah, the Russians could sit on a gold mine. Get them fined for this illegality and hopefully they will resort to a company and work permits as Thailand certainly could use good workers for years to come!

Nobody mentions the real reasons for the yearly repeating floods (albeit this year a tad more than usual) . The officially supervising body, the Mekong River Commission (MRC), is an UN-entity with its head office far away from any action - in Geneva/Switzerland Regretfully the MRC is an absolute waste of money and a toothless tiger more. The MRC was created to serve as a platform for all countries, through which the Mekong flows or borders the river. Unfortunately the most important partner, China, remains absent and is not a member of the MRC. The Chinese do not even know the Mekong, they call it "Lancang Jiang". So, whatever those overpaid incompetent diplomats say, write or think - it is nothing but hot air, if the proverbial manure hits the fan. The main reason for the floods are the dams and their management. Thailand has had local disasters due to incompetent dam managements some 10+ years ago - more than once. The Chinese are much worse as they have more dams and those dams are much bigger. To operate a dam is actually quite simple; let me share the following example: 100 units = total capacity of the dam 20 units = remaining water volume at the end of April (shortly before the rainy seasons start) 80 units = required water to be stored in the dam - in line with the end of the second rainy season Thailand has fantastic historical data dating back to 1865 and hence can pretty much forecast the water to be expected in an upcoming rainy season. To stay with the above example, lets assume the following: 80 units = required water to be stored in the dam - in line with the end of the second rainy season 120 units = expected water volume - or 40 units more than needed So they get 120/80 of what they actually need and have to release 40 - over a time span of six months. The formula hence is, that you release 40/120 (or one third) TODAY of the rainfall of YESTERDAY. If you release 1/3 of yesterday's rain - on a daily basis - you reach your target for sure, by the end of the rainy season you can even fine tune the release and achieve a water level of 98%. The present modus operandi is, that at the beginning of the rainy season they close the valves to fill up the dams as fast as possible (one never knows, right?). Given the fact, that 1/3 of the rain will fall in the last quarter of the rainy season, you will get most water towards the end. Now, if you fill up dams as soon as possible, they will be full once the last third of the rain falls in the last quarter of the rainy season. This forces the dam operators to release LOTS of water during the heaviest rain falls. Result is .... floods everywhere. The Lao dams reported 98% - 100% levels of water since July 2024! This explains most of the yearly mess along the Mekong and this concern is being shared with the Chinese for the last +/- 15 years. But, as all the countries in this part of the world are hand fed in one or the other way by China or being enslaved by China (Laos and Cambodia spring to mind and they work on Myanmar while we speak), nobody dares to address the issue in such a way, that the Chinese would listen or even feel the pain. The world's bodies - like the MRC - remain irrelevant clubs of fancy cocktails and diplomatic privileges and the rest is nature's choice - at least that is, what they tell all those farmers and fisher along the Mekong who have no voice, no say and - in most cases - cannot understand what really happens. So they see monks and fortune tellers, who make the misery go away ........ until next year. Get professionals to manage the dams and step properly onto Chinese toes until they get the message - everything else will change nothing and is a waste of time, resources and human tragedies - me thinks!

Does racism in other countries justify what is going on here? Asking for a friend - of course!

It would help, if you could actually read what I wrote .......

I was there three times in my life: - the first time - the last time - once too often It is absolutely unbelievable that people pay money for this completely "mis-"cooked chicken (to put it politely). A dehydrated piece of chicken, old oil and a price which could buy a "canard a la press" somewhere else. But all this fast-food joints are purely profit-driven and have little to do with real food which is fuel for the body. Go and get some healthy food cooked by a professional and, once it comes to pizze, you will realize that the most expensive pizze with the shi"%"test ingredients and taste are those fast-food-manhole-lids; for quite a bit less you can still get the real thing - me thinks!

The yearly agenda: - no intercourse on Valentine's Day for teenagers - no booze on Buddhist days - no drunk people during Songkran - decent (i.e. conservative) dressing during Songkran (see the dressing code for nuns during Stone Age) - no drunk people on Loy Krathong - no drunk people on New Year's Eve - no drunk driving - no gambling - no prostitution - no tips (better known as bribes) If you throw the entire list out, fine a first time offender on the booze with a seriously juicy fine of 20,000 Baht or more (that's what they take in Pattaya from foreigners, if the latter wants to avoid a police report and subsequent court hearing). Repetition of the same = impound the vehicle and release it at 50,000 Baht after a month. Revenue for social welfare (flood victims in Chiang Rai etc. spring to mind). Legalize gambling = brings tax money into the state's coffers and keeps those sticky fingers from the corruption till. Legalize prostitution = will de-criminalize it and Somchai the Police Man goes empty without "beer money" or more "Tips" or corruption, name the culprit publicly with photos and personal details all over the media, ban them for life from any governmental job after they served six months with the compliments of the Department of Corrections. But after all these years I know, that the very same list will appear in each and every year to come - for the time being guaranteed!

Well, they are in good company with all their predecessors of 1973, 1976, 1992 and 2010 - just to name a few years ....... A Thai problem to be solved by ...... Thais 😉

Tell all the Phuketians to leave the island = problem solved!

"Many Thai netizens condemned the foreign man, as well as other foreign motorists in Phuket, for their reckless driving and poor behaviour on the roads." My advice is to hunt all of them down and throw them into the slammer. Alternatively fine them for as much money as they have and then throw them all out of the country and your island is free of those pesky foreigners. "Some also criticised the Thai police for focusing more on cases involving foreigners than on those involving Thais." Yes, that makes sense as well, as foreigners are so endlessly rich, cannot read Thai and in many cases are not familiar with all the unwritten laws and regulations of the land of the semi-divine. This allows the boys in brown to ransack the financial abilities of the - actually unwanted but accepted for financial reasons - foreigners. Thailand, populated by many foreign-hating racists and covering up an inferiority complex over anything foreign, higher or better than .... the holy land!

Go back to the bridge and get it fixed there prior to depart outside Vientiane. There you also get a mandatory insurance for the car; if caught without it, then it costs you much more than the insurance premium. Apart from the 15 days timeframe by the Laotian authorities, also keep the Thai temporary export declaration of the car in mind (you should hold the original, the duplicate you signed and returned to the customs officer upon leaving. The Thai customs gave you 30 days only; exceeding that it costs you 1,000 Baht/day but not more than 10,000 Baht/car. Latter does - like so many other things - not make sense. Why to fine a Thai-plated car for "overstaying" in a foreign country ........ and not returning to the homeland within a timeframe which lacks any substance?