wordchild

Sad but true

Some of those types as well , for sure, but also, lots of wealthy people who made their money legally who are attracted by the light taxation and attractive (relatively) visa options. in general, most ,seriously, wealthy people don’t want to flaunt their wealth. With certain exceptions ie Weddings in Venice etc.

So I doubt they will be interfering much with local village life, higher than average balconies or not!

What is for sure, is that non (very few ) of the seriously wealthy ,moving to Thailand , would consider anywhere in Isarn as a future home!

Sorry, but this is just nonsense, this country is now attracting wealthy people by the hatful. Would you prefer to live in Zug or Lichtenstein?

There are an increasing number of very wealthy non-Thai individuals living in Thailand. (Multi as opposed to merely single dollar millionaires) the country has many advantages when compared to Monaco,Dubai, Switzerland etc etc. Subject to Thai govt policy changes, i would expect this trend to continue. if things continue as they are the country will be a very different place in a decade or so.

You are almost certainly correct re the value of TE. I don’t need the visa for my residency in Thailand, but some of the perks are nice and I hang on to it for that reason. In my own mind I had written the value of it down to zero anyway which is why I was surprised to see such large values mentioned at the start of this discussion. i travel a lot in and out of Bangkok , probably 2/3x per month, and I do value having a car waiting just the other side of customs to whisk me straight home after I get off the plane. That is why I referenced the new limo policy from TE above. If , in the future, there is a significant wait involved , then the card loses a chunk of it’s value for me.

Well it will all become clear when you come to do the transfer. i am cheering you on because even if you get close to half your asking price ( which frankly I don’t think you will) i might consider (again) selling my one. Although it looks like I can only transfer a 30 year entitlement. I have limited use for it anyway. I was offered 1.5 million a few years ago which seems like a more realistic price.

Limo not waiting at the gate is a pretty significant change of service in my opinion. They say the change will be implemented from 31/3, I have a short trip scheduled in April, returning to BKK on the 9th ,will be interested to see how the new system is working.

BTW , I have one of the very early TE visas, I am pretty sure the same as the OP. i make some use of the service but not the actual visa as ,in recent years ,I have no need of it. a few years ago I considered selling and i spoke to TE about how to go about this. At the time I was informed that if I sold the privilege would change from lifetime to time limited (20 or 30 years I can’t remember) I am pretty sure that the OP was mistaken in suggesting that the lifetime privilege could be transferred without limits.

I just got an email from TE giving details about the new limo service as the old provider will change from 31/3. i read it as a significant downgrade of the service, at least in terms of arrival. Instead of the the limo being ready at the gate for pickup, the new arrangement requires members to cross to the other side and wait there for the car to come round ( I presume from the car park). under the old system it used to take a few seconds from exiting the gate to being in car and on your way. Yesterday’s email warns of an upto 15 minutes wait outside for the car to arrive. In the early days of the new arrangement I expect there will be confusion and delays will be more than this.

Not the most attractive soi off sukhumvit by a long stretch. Just a long line of condos and hotels. Personally I prefer the other side of Suk, between 39 and thong lor.

Through business I have got to know quite a few wealthy Thais with assets outside country. I wouldn’t claim to know, in detail, what their plans are , because everyone is naturally guarded in discussing such matters, however I have some general impressions of what some of them think about the new tax proposals and how they are reacting . 1) Many wealthy Thais with assets outside Thailand are not that different from wealthy (non- Thai) expat who live in Thailand. Eg They have strong links to other countries where part of their assets are held, especially in places like UK,USA. They were often educated in these countries and own property there. Their children were also educated abroad and in many cases they have close family members fully settled abroad. They see themselves as semi-detached from Thailand and a very high percentage have dual nationality, and if they don’t , for sure their sons and daughters will usually have another nationality. I know one wealthy Thai with 4 daughters all of whom are married and settled in the UK. As he told me , they come once a year to visit but he doesn’t think they will ever return to live in Thailand. 2) Again I wouldn’t know the details but among the ones I know they seem to have plans in place for a variety of scenarios eg family trusts already set up in Singapore and the like. 3) Mostly they seem pretty unconcerned about the new remittance tax. They have a certain amount of wealth in Thailand already and i assume they will just be cautious about bringing additional funds back into country. A couple I know are just pretty dismissive of the whole thing and think it’s a storm in the proverbial, they have lawyers and other advisors and, as one of them remarked to me there are so many holes and ways around. it is just not going to work out in the way the RD expect. They expect light enforcement and a gradual walk back of the rules if it is seen as hurting critical parts of the economy. 4) a bigger concern for some is what will happen in the UK with the abolition of the non-dom status and, in particular, the possibility of an introduction of some form of inheritance tax on worldwide assets for those who were formerly classified as non-dom.

From a wider perspective its really difficult to see that Thailand has much to gain from a remittance tax on its own, in terms of the net financial benefit to the country. At least as far as expats are concerned we bring funds in for a variety of reasons but the linking factor is it’s money we intend to spend or invest , one way or another, in the country. Eg 1) daily living -finds its way into the tax system, one way or another. 2) purchase or rent somewhere to live, again moves funds through the system into the government coffers 3) travel and tourism activities, again some of it should generate tax revenue. the deeper problem in the country is the inefficiency of tax collection in certain sectors and especially the ease of avoidance within the “black economy “. It seems to me, that all this remittance tax will do (without addressing the fundamental problem above)is reduced the flows of funds into the country, and hence lowering the total tax take. I think this whole thing has been poorly thought through , and I would not be surprised to see it walked back over the next few years.

I spoke to someone at TE a couple of days ago. She confirmed that TE were in active discussion with the govt in order to obtain (tax) concessions for TE members. She said that she was not involved in those discussions and had no idea if anything would come of them. i have no idea where this is going to end up, but the fact that, at least one reasonably influential organization is raising issues with the government is ,at the least , encouraging, for all of us . TE members or not.