jesimps

Three places I've been during Songkran which are chaos, Pattaya, Kanchanaburi and Bang Saen. Pattaya being the worst, it's mayhem and drags on for a week to a greater or lesser extent. If you're a Songkran lover, Pattaya's definitely your place.

First "If you don't like it here you should go back to your own country" post I've seen in days. It isn't your country, yet tell the poster he's not welcome here. You don't have to seek these people out, you can't stroll along Walking Street or Beach Road Pattaya without being bothered by them. They're also often involved in gang fights. No bigotry involved in the original post, just good sense.

On asking my stepdaughter if she was excited about seeing her uncle who is a monk and was due to stay with us, replied simply "He tok too mut".

Of course the customer pays the VAT. The store owner hands over the cheque to the government, but all his goods are marked up to cover the cost to him. If there was no VAT the goods you buy would be 10% cheaper. You also pay vat on utilities ie electricity, water etc.

How about if I pay tax at 20% to my home country and don't work here or receive any benefits, but pay tax on most of my purchases? Still a selfish foreigner?

Now I'm getting on in years, even though I have several tattoos, I agree. But that's only my opinion. You missed IMO from your post.

The local immigration staff would probably struggle without their "bread and butter" money, also if I could afford it, I'd go the agent route myself. Anything rather than come under the stony glare of the dragon lady once a year, clutching my small rain forest of paperwork at the same time.

I've been with my UK bank for over 50 years, but when I went onto the site a few days ago, they made me fill in a big questionnaire regarding my pensions, who I paid tax to etc, before accessing my accounts. Bit daunting because it was early morning and I was still half asleep! I must admit that I was panicking slightly because I was about to do my monthly pension transfer. Anyway, they seemed happy with my answers because my transfer went ok and I haven't heard back from them. I did cock up my first attempt at logging in, so it may have had something to do with that.

The government is at fault for not preventing these dog incidents. Dogs rule in Thailand, there'll be many other incidents of people being harmed by them tomorrow.

The problem for a lot of people is that a lot of these places open up after a residential area has been established. Also, the loud bass-heavy rubbish they play is at such a volume that it doesn't have to be nearby to shake your walls and windows. There seems to be a bit of a trend these days to build pool villas which operate a karaoke every night for the tourists staying there. It's happened around our way and although they aren't on my doorstep, you can hear the boom of the bass speakers most nights in my house with all the doors and windows closed. Although this guy's actions were extreme, I can understand what caused him to kick off.

I changed from retirement based to marriage because I feel that the powers that be, when considering rule changes, might show a bit more leeway if one of their own were affected. Probably wouldn't make the slightest difference to them, but there you go. It is a pain in the backside though.

Your post in itself is generating more President Trump threads by referring to him as "Donald Chump". Obviously his supporters will have a go at you in his defence. Seems to me if you want less posts about him then keep shtum. I do however agree that there are far too many threads on US politics.

Every cloud has a silver lining.

I can understand the outrage. When you have enough idiots of your own, you don't want foreign idiots adding to it.

I dunno, I don't think it's over the top when you consider that you get a 2000 baht fine for being a day or two over on your 90 day report.

Yes but his savings account is probably a high interest one. He'd probably lose interest if he separated them. Also, why should he when nothing concrete has come from the Thais. Some of us can't even obtain a TIN from our local TRD.

Been puzzling me for a while now. I don't have either my works or government pension sent direct to here, they both go into my UK bank account and have been for many years. Therefore what I transfer here monthly comes out of those savings. My 2024 pension payments are only a small part of this. If savings are exempt, then my 2024 contribution is well diluted. Hope that makes sense.

I knew it all along, it's Trump's fault!

Also in the morning. I like to shop the big supermarkets as early as possible so I can get it out of the way and get home before the lunch time road traffic build up. It would be nice to be able to buy my booze at the same time, rather than wait until after 11am to do it. The whisky that I drink isn't stocked at the 7-11s etc so i either have to start my supermarket shopping later, or make a special trip to Pattaya just for booze. While I'm having a whinge, it annoys me the way some rope off the booze areas out of licensing hours. I like to be able to see if they have my brand in stock, as sometimes they run out. I have been known to hang around until after 11 only to discover that they're out of stock. Whinge over.

Only if assessable. You should not file if exempt under a DTA, otherwise you encounter the same problems as the OP. What's the point of a DTA if you're required to file for tax?

I think the time is right for the embassies to start getting involved in this. The DTAs are treaties and are supposed to be binding. Otherwise they aren't worth the paper that they're written on. The Thai government should be put in the picture and proper procedures sent out to tax offices countrywide. As a UK ex government worker, I will abide by the UK/Thailand DTA by NOT filing.

Quite! The UK/Thailand DTA clearly states that tax on government employees pension can only be paid in the country where the pension was earned. No matter how much I'd like to pay my tax here (where I've lived for over 18 years) instead of to the UK, HMRC will not allow me to do so. I've no intention of, nor can I afford to pay it out of my own pocket.

Unless you're an ex government worker when HMRC filch the tax before paying you, so you have no choice about where you pay tax. This is, I think, why it's included in the DTA. Makes sense.

I reckon I'm exempt from filing under the UK/Thailand DTA, being an ex government worker and my state pension puts me way below the threshold. However, if I wasn't and being that I don't send either of my pensions here directly {they go straight into my UK bank savings account which I've had for many years), would I be entitled to claim that the money I send is non-assessable? Food for thought.

Correct! When I was down that way many years ago, we used to nip across the border to Chepstow on a Sunday, as did half the local population I reckon.