NancyL

On 3/3/2022 at 9:30 PM, gamb00ler said:

You have conveniently overlooked the USA Internal Revenue Service Technical Interpretation which is very specific and refers to only the USA-Thai treaty.  I would call that source the proverbial "horse's mouth".

 

I linked to that document in an earlier post.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/thaitech.pdf

No, I haven't overlooked the IRS's technical interpretation, nor has my U.S. financial adviser, accountant and a lawyer here in Thailand.  As I wrote earlier, the real "danger" of utilizing this tax treaty is if the Thai gov't decides to collect tax from resident foreigners' pensions.  And, as this you've learned in this thread, no one reports any difficulty nor do they know of anyone who has had difficulty, aside from some random nastygrams from the IRS that have been resolved in the taxpayers' favor by the tax preparers at no charge as part of their fee.  

I think the best course of action is to move on and check back with everyone in a year or two to see if we're all still out of the IRS's clutches.  Meanwhile, Hubby and I and others I know are using the tax savings to drastically increase our charitable giving in Thailand.

Why didn't see just pee into a cup and throw it overboard?

My father was a big fan of alka-seltzer, usually starting out his day with two tablets in water.  That is until he was diagnosed with high blood pressure in the mid 1960s and there really weren't many drugs available to treat it.  The recommended treatment was to lose weight and curtail sodium content.  Two tablets, the recommended dose of alka-seltzer contain 500 mg of sodium,  and his doctor wanted him to consume less than 1000 mg of sodium daily.

On 3/1/2022 at 2:11 PM, JimGant said:

...........................

 

For those still scratching their heads about the saving clause, check out this link:

https://www.irsstreamlinedprocedures.com/tax-treay-saving-clause-impact/

All the examples presented are for India, Australia, the UK, Switzerland, Korea, etc, etc and never is Thailand mentioned.  And yes, there are now two firms in Bangkok who are interpreting the Thai-U.S. Tax Treaty this way.   And I think that by now, we can assume that none of their customers have had a problem with the IRS because of their interpretation of the treaty.

On 3/1/2022 at 2:22 PM, DefaultName said:

Why was he allowed to drive?

It was probably easier for his wife to let him drive than to argue with him and try to take away his keys.  He may have insisted that he'd been to the French consulate hundreds of times.  I've known others, including my own father who became disoriented while driving and ended up 100 miles away from home.  That's when he finally realized he needed to give up the keys.

If anyone is likely to shutdown the savings granted to U.S. retirees as a result of this treaty, it is the Thai government not the U.S. government.  According to the treaty, since we live in Thailand for the majority of the year, the affected retirement income is to be taxed by Thailand.  However, Thailand doesn't tax retirement income.  This is probably because they realize they have a big problem with an ageing population and lack of savings by their people for their own care in retirement.

 So, in the future, Thailand may decide to tax the retirement income of those of us who are filing IRS Form 8833 for the Thai-U.S. Tax treaty.  

All of my crowns in Thailand were done by her, but I wouldn't recommend coming here unless you plan to stay for several months.  She takes her time with temporary crowns that you wear for several weeks, etc.  I'm astonished when some people go to dental clinics and have their crowns done in a matter of days.  I think those places are targeting tourists who can't stay here for long-term.

Maybe it's because I had so many done at once and my problem was dental erosion, but she made a temporary upper denture that I wore for several weeks while she made adjustments from week-to-week.  It really improved my appearance and my ability to bite into sandwiches, corn-on-the cob, and my speech.  Maybe you don't have as severe a problem as I had.

Unlike the previous poster, when we received rejection letters from the IRS, we simply let AI handle it.  No point in taking the time to call the IRS ourselves.  AI and the other firm in Bangkok handle these IRS rejections as part of their fee.  I've known others who panic when they receive IRS rejection letters and get angry when they spend hours on the phone with the IRS without satisfaction because they don't know what they're doing.  Let the professionals handle it.  As I said in my post, everyone I know who has filed under the treaty has had satisfaction eventually.

On 2/22/2022 at 7:02 PM, Lim Yuan Hai said:

No pain is a blessing. 
Can you kindly recommend your crown specialist? Is he/she in Bangkok?

 

Thank you. 

The dentist is Dr. Nattaya Satvinit.  She practices at CM Ram Hospital just on Thursday and Friday afternoons, coming up from Bangkok.  She also teaches at CMU.  I did a google search, thinking she perhaps has a practice in Bangkok, but couldn't find anything.

8 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

What is this thread about.

Condo design??.

For heaven's sake most are just rectangular boxes.

Not much involved in design.

 

Critical in design is lighting and sadly that is a set feature in the condo and your stuck with it.

 

Couple of people have asked about size of the condo.

So what's the size? 

 

Today going to sign the contract on a 60sm one bedroom condo.

Fortunately corner room so that's a bonus lighting wise.

The key is furniture along with smick kitchen. 

 

Have only done one make over in Thailand (3 story townhouse) and found the trades that did the work excellent. 

 

 

 

No, many condos are not square boxes, esp older ones.  Our corner unit has "artistic" rounded corners and wall projections that change with every column.  And 30 years of mild earthquakes means that nothing in a 15th floor unit is true and square.  For example, the contractor hung the towel bars using a spirit level, but they don't look level because the wall tile in the bathroom was placed using the edge of a wall as a guide.

Be sure to check that the drains actually work before starting the project.  We assumed that one of the drains in the bathroom could service a washing machine, especially since there was a water tap suitable for a washer in that corner.  Wrong.  Apparently no previous resident had ever installed a washing machine there.  

After the new bathroom was complete the clothes washer was installed, the drain hose stuck in the hole and the water ran under the wall into the hallway.  We had a plumber come with a snake and he pronounced that the drain hole existed for about 20 cm and stopped.  It wasn't connected to anything.  

The solution was to install an ugly blue PVC pipe along one wall in the bathroom so the clothes washer could drain into the shower stall drain.  Had we known this ahead of tiling the bathroom all this could have been made much prettier.

18 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Yes, that makes sense.

The location of the toilet and kitchen are one of the few things which I don't have to think about. They are where the drains are. And the drain locations are fixed. One thing less to think about.

You can tie the kitchen drain into the bathroom drain.  We moved the location of the kitchen from what had been a balcony, but had been enclosed in a previous remodel and converted it back into a balcony, really a catio.  The tile walls in that Thai-style balcony-kitchen were disgusting.  They were relying on open windows and a simple fan for venting and apparently doing a lot of frying in oil.  

Now, the kitchen is next to the bathroom.  We installed a new wall next to a bathroom wall with a 12 cm gap.  This permitted the kitchen sink to drain through the bathroom, one hot water heater to service the bathroom sinks and the kitchen sink and the kitchen exhaust hood to be routed through the bathroom ceiling into the bathroom exhaust.  The kitchen is open to the living area and we don't cook anything that the other objects to, but the exhaust hood is very powerful and cooking odors don't linger.  No frying in oil in our home cooking, either.  

Edit:  I love sauerkraut and German sausage and Hubby hates the odor.  So, the only time I fix that is when he'll be away for at least 24 hours. 

I know at least half a dozen people who have filed under the Thai-U.S. Tax Treaty, either with American International Tax Advisers or with American Asia Tax, both located in Bangkok and everyone has been successful.  Some have been "audited" in the sense that they've received letters with questions from the IRS and both firms have handled the IRS inquiries at no extra cost and resolved the concerns in the taxpayers' favor.

Hubby and I have filed under the Thai-U.S. Tax Treaty since the 2014 tax year and received one or two letters from the IRS.  One simply has to realize this is part of the "process" and not freak out.  As I said, in every case, both these firms resolved the IRS concerns in the taxpayers' favor.

OP, how old are you?  Hubby and I have been married for over 45 years, so I have a very good idea of how we live and what's important.

For example, I knew that at our age, it was important to locate our bedroom VERY close to the bathroom, the only room that couldn't be moved.  Also, the bathroom had to be handicap-friendly even though we're still mobile.  I offered a urinal, because Hubby's aim isn't what it used to be and a bidet toilet for me, because reaching behind the toilet for the sprayer is difficult if you have a shoulder injury.

In the kitchen, I knew that we like to use multiple appliances for cooking, i.e. instant pot, rice cooker, electric skillet, etc, so no need for a fixed cooktop, but rather lots of power points, a large countertop and good exhaust hood that actually exhausts to the outside.  And a wall-mounted TV to watch while cooking and washing up.

Places for the cats to observe.  Turned the balcony into a "catio", with a cat flap so they could come-and-go at will.

And storage.  Lots and lots of storage.  Keep the clutter out-of-sight throughout the condo.

OP -- think about what's important to you and your family and what will become even more important in the years ahead.

Boonthavorn stores are good places to go for inspiration, but are expensive.  I ended up spending a lot of time in the Boonthavorn in Chiang Mai for inspiration, but actually bought stuff at Home Pro, Watsadu and Global House -- places where my contractor took me.  

12 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Thanks, I thought about that and maybe I will do that.

 

But some things can't easily be changed. I.e. I like a tile floor. I know already I don't want slippery tiles like they seem to be used everywhere. Probably I want some kind of grey because it is a neutral "color". But which grey? Dark or light? And small or large tiles? All the same tiles or maybe different tiles in the kitchen? These are just some of the possible questions.

Go to a store that sells a lot of tile floor and look around.  We ended up with large tile with a wood grain pattern.  It almost looks like a wooden floor and really makes the condo look elegant.

We totally gutted out and remodeled an old condo in CM in 2019.  It helped much that we lived in the same building and had for over a decade.  It also helped, although we didn't know it at the time, that our original contractor did a runner after he'd gutted and cleared the unit.  Fortunately, all we'd paid was for the gutting and clearing, then he stopped answering my calls and messages.

At that point, I spent months on-line with Pinterest, Facebook groups, and in-person chats with people in our building who had remodeled units.  I spend hours in the gutted condo, laying out potential floor plans with tape on the floor and making sketches.  Trips to stores like Ikea, Boontavoon, Index, several kitchen places, etc. 

Based on recommendations, finally I hired an architect who worked with my drawings.  This was after I'd worked out a floorplan, down to certain pieces of Ikea furniture.  Nine months after acquiring the condo, we finally had a completed set of drawings that we submitted to the condo office for "engineering review".  That consisted of the building maintenance guy reviewing the plans with me in the unit.  He is nothing close to an engineer, but his big concern was that we weren't going to disturb the load-bearing columns.  He did have a great suggestion about opening up an outer wall more, something I didn't think we'd be allowed to do.

I hired a general contractor who was fantastic, based on recommendations received during the time that I was talking to everyone I knew or learned about.  The project turned out great and was a lot of fun to do.  Our big "housewarming party" was in January 2020, just in time to hunker down for two years of Covid stay-at-home. 

1 hour ago, Sheryl said:

As above - and indeed do not trust any doctor who tells you to remove cataracts when they aren't causing you a noticeable problem.  Cataracts should be removed when they start to interfere with daily life.

 

It is not common, but there are a few unscrupulous eye doctors in Thailand who try to persuade people otherwise. Such people lack ethics and should be completely avoided. This does not however imply anything about the hospital, just the individual doctor.

 

All this said, if you have (or are seriously suspected to have) glaucoma it would be worth making a trip into Bangkok to go to Rutnin.

What about a procedure like Prelex, done at St. Peter's Eye Hospital in Chiang Mai?  https://www.stpeter-eye.com/prelex

On 2/11/2022 at 2:29 PM, chilly07 said:

Never had a tooth crowned without root canal being done before. I regard it as essential to give the repair a long life. Without it I would expect continued problems with that tooth especially infections under the crown

I've had nearly twenty teeth crowned and none were done with root canals.  Four of the crowns are over 25 years old and the others are at least six years old. Never had any pain either after the installation of the temporary or permanent crowns.   

32 minutes ago, transam said:

Am I to assume you have electricity involved in your toilet......????........????

PS. I think most of us clean bathroom utensils on a regular basis, what you do is up to you.....????

Yes, ours requires electricity, fortunately.  Somehow, despite having an architect design the condo and my spending hours of online researching, drawing, contemplating, etc, I had neglected to specify an electrical power point in the bathroom for hair care appliances.  Yes, a single power point for the toilet, but none for the devices to fry my hair.  After much discussion, the contractor and I decided the only solution was to change the single power point for the toilet into a double outlet.  Now I rather awkwardly sit on a stool next to the toilet to style my hair.  Thank goodness I didn't get the upscale toilet with the seat that automatically rises when you get close to the toilet.  Also, thank goodness there is a urinal elsewhere in the bathroom, so the toilet stays fresh.

4 hours ago, jimn said:

So you go around with a smeared @rse all the time then. Since when is the water that cold over here anyway

Our toilet with the bidet seat heats the water and also the toilet seat.  Has a nightlight inside the lid also.  Could have paid a bit more and gotten one that automatically raised the lid when you got close to it, but our bathroom is fairly small and I didn't want it raising the lid every time someone got close to it.

I can't understand why more people aren't endorsing toilets with bidet seats.  Instead everyone is writing about how to rehabilitate cheapie, nasty (probably germ-ridden) leaking bum guns.

When we remodeled our condo we simply got a toilet with a bidet seat.  Totally confused the maid because without a bum gun there is no way to clean the bathroom in the traditional Thai way, i.e. by hosing down everything, including the high-end wooden cabinets.  Instead we got her a watering can to flood the floor, with instructions to wipe down the cabinets with a slightly damp cloth.  No need to get everything in the bathroom soaking wet. 

We pay for Part B although we travel to the U.S. rarely, if ever.  You never know what the future may bring, we can afford it and it's good to have in place, for example I made a trip to the U.S. last year that I wasn't planning.  We also have international health insurance in Thailand, with a high deductible.  People say that the premiums are high and that health care is cheap, but I've known of bills in excess of 3 or 4 million baht for accidents or heart attacks, strokes, etc here and you can hop on a plane and return to the U.S. with those conditions.  Paying $4000 - $6000 a year for health insurance in Thailand starts to look like a bargain then.  

18 hours ago, OneZero said:

Interesting, & I'd like further information:

1.  How much does it cost?

2. POC Ph# to investigate further / potentially hire Lanna Care to do one for me.

It's a DIY document.  https://www.lannacarenet.org/lessons-learned-at-the-end-of-life/