cusanus

Did several comments disappear? Is it just me, or does it not compute that a Thai wife who has never been to the USA is NOT an immigrant? To get a jump on it, I filed a 1040X (amended return) as filing separately without my Thai wife's info. Then I took it to the Post Office and found that Thai Post does NOT ship to the USA anymore. That could be a serious problem in five weeks when we're supposed to mail in our Proof of Life forms or face termination of SS payments. So, it's looking like those of us with Thai wives may not get our $1200 payment, even if they're in no way immigrants.

1 hour ago, cusanus said:

Well, now, SOB, Thai postal would not mail my 1040X to the USA, Covid-19, no mail to US of A

This could be a serious problem since five weeks from now we will be receiving Proof of Life forms (SSA 7162) which if are not returned will mean that our Social Security payments will stop Feb 2021. 

38 minutes ago, gamb00ler said:

You can definitely try that approach.  The final determination of your eligibility will be based on your tax filing for 2020 because this payment is actually an advance on the refundable tax credit created for 2020 in the CARES Act.  If filing as married separately doesn't cause you to pay more tax you can make the change on your 2020 tax filing and receive the benefit later.

I always ask myself why I put her on the form, anyway. So, the amended 1040-X goes out today...
Part III (explanation) goes like this. Why wait? 

According to news reports, US citizens with immigrant spouses do not qualify for the $1200 stimulus check. In a few cases, it is stated that spouses with TIN numbers instead of SSAN numbers will disqualify a taxpayer. My spouse is a Thai national, NOT an immigrant to the USA. She has never been to the USA. I had to leave the USA to avoid pervasive crime interring with employment, including 100s of millions in tax fraud and drug racketeering on government property (which the IRS ignored). I included my Thai wife as a spouse on the 1040 out of respect, but since neither of us has any taxable income in either country, there is no need to include her in anything. There are many ex pats here in Thailand with Thai wives who are getting stimulus checks because they do not file a joint return. Please do not deny me a stimulus check simply because I'm married to a Thai national. Thank you. 

Well, now, SOB, Thai postal would not mail my 1040X to the USA, Covid-19, no mail to US of A

54 minutes ago, Pib said:

Will be interesting to see how it works out for someone in your situation.  My guess is you will "not" get a stimulus payment based on your SS, because the IRS will see from your 2019/2018 joint tax return you are not eligible for a stimulus payment since you filed a joint return with a ITIN person. 

How about I file an amended return non joint, file singly?

3 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

If they filed and the immigrant has an ITIN. No check.

Just because you're married to a Thai woman, that doesn't make her an immigrant. Oh, SHEET, this is what it says on ABC website: "The current stimulus package, like in 2008, excludes couples who file taxes jointly but where one does not have a social security number with the exception of military families."
I suppose I didn't have to put my Thai wife as a joint filer, neither of us has any taxable income, but we live in Thailand, Meaw has NEVER been in the US of A. Looks like I won't get my check. 

Boy, doesn't look good for me. I'm on SS so should get the stimulus check, but the IRS website says I don't qualify. Now I see that those who have immigrant spouses without SSANs will NOT qualify for the check. My Thai wife is not an immigrant, we live in Thailand, but I filed jointly with her as my spouse using her TIN that I got for her ten years ago. 

Looks like I'm screwed???

Have a friend who cannot file the 90 day online and there seems to be no reason even after having a new entry card done. It seems 15 days prior to expiration date may be a day early and 7 days a day late, so the window has to be right. Now in person the permitted window was always 14 days early to 7 days after, so many times myself and friends have mailed in only a few days prior and it was fine. So, if online fails for some mysterious reason, there should be plenty of time to mail it in. I do pay close attention to these dates and file for others fairly often. It is no trouble to go in person if all else fails and for years I liked to do that. As for the guy who is rejected online no matter what, I've no answer and neither it seems does Immigration. It also seems that a live person has to receive the online form during the right time period, so holidays etc you might also be unable to finish the online process. 

2 minutes ago, riclag said:

It won't let me enter anything in the state after I enter Thailand

No problemo, just add it after city OR leave it out BECAUSE the zip code takes care of that. But I always use Amphur before the city name 

50 minutes ago, riclag said:

My question is  what do I do about the Province ?

When I have purchased items I always include the Province 

Example -City- Muang Sakon Nakhon,Sakon Nakhon,Thailand 47000

Thanks

If this helps, the Province is always the State,so you have to put in the country first from the drop down list, then the Province (state). Amphur or Amphoe is the city. I did mine two months ago and am too lazy to bring it up for a look, but it's a no brainer. 

13 minutes ago, JimGant said:

Will she be hiring someone to help with US taxes? If so, FBAR filing should easily be part of the contract. Otherwise:

The Feds really aren't out to get we wee folks; the FBAR law is just a hook to hang real money launderers on. Filing late FBARs electronically can be explained away on page one's drop down box. "Husband died and I'm a mess" should suffice, in this example. Also, if you're not a genuine money launderer, and you've declared as income on Sched B the interest from you FBAR associated accounts, relax:

Great answers and much appreciated. Should work 99% of the time. If you've heard of one of the many legit business in the US who've been destroyed by the IRS for laundering money (daily revenues), then you might have trouble relaxing. If you've observed a cocaine and meth racket going gangbusters on government property, it might also make you think. If you were not aware in past years and should have reported, then definitely report them. It's not worth having it come up later after the problem has multiplied. Believe it or not, the government is the major drug player on the block and cares more about seizing money than about whether or not you're guilty. Yes, I know, this is called conspiracy theory.  Nobody I know, me included, has owed a penny in taxes for many years, but we file anyway for several reasons. One in particular is that the address for the annual Proof of Life form is taken from your 1040, at least it's supposed to. It wasn't for the one fellow, a mystery, but that could be why he lost his SS. They claimed it was for some other reason, but wouldn't tell him. Let me just toss this in, that if your Proof of Life form (SSA 7162) has not arrived by early June, make sure you fill in a blank and send it in yourself. There are numerous addresses and methods and some do not work, so check back here if you're confused (after doing your FBARs).

5 hours ago, zlodnick said:

I file for myself and for my wife. It's a pain in the neck, but only takes 20 minutes or so and we really have no choice. My worry is, the wife doesn't use the computer, so what can she do when I'm gone?

I've a very similar situation. The government may well just take it, perhaps using it also as an excuse to take on the "responsibility" to put your wife in a facility. 15% of SS recipients do not have access to their money; instead, it is paid to a "representative payee," often without the victim's consent. They payee is supposed to use the money to care for the older person, but in practice there is no way to assure this happens. At our age, nobody will hear your cries. If you get declared incompetent by a court, the seizure of SS checks automatically follows; however, based on a single telephone call, a SS representative can declare you incompetent without any court evidence. I've caught on to such things due to some very nasty experiences. Note that as we get older, not only are SS increases trailing far behind COL increases, but as our physical and mental capabilities diminish the government's rules become more difficult to maneuver; in fact, outright abusive. It took a friend of mine many phone calls, some of them 2-3 hours to SS reps just to get his address changed. It never happened and the following year his payments were suspended. That eventually got straightened out, but it wasn't easy.  Don't get me started.

11 hours ago, muffy said:

The fbar computer filing doesn't work for me but the private pay one works but I refuse to pay . USA get your act together .

There's nothing difficult about the online filing (which I understood to be the only way to do it this year). I wouldn't recommend advertising a refusal to comply.  <removed>
https://bsaefiling.fincen.treas.gov/NoRegFBARFiler.html

You may be right, Tim. For many, the financial penalties would be pretty devastating. Also, no penalties should apply unless the failure was deliberate, but that isn't your call. Thanks for your comments. 

You're quite wrong on all counts. If you have money in a foreign bank it matters not whether or not the bank asks for your social security number. Not a passable excuse. The $10,000 threshold does NOT apply to any single account, but the aggregate of all accounts you own or have signature authority over, even the $807 in the account of concern. The co-signer rule does NOT apply to your money, but any accounts over which you have signature authority. A typical example would be the treasurer of a trust or pension, or in this case, anyone who has access to the funds for whatever reason but has no personal interest in them. I suggest for your own safety that you look a little closer at the rules. The penalty for missing an account is $10,000 per account (whether more or less than $10,000) PER YEAR. I'm not sure of the prison terms, but it would be a life sentence for many of us. The term signature authority used by US banks has no meaning in this case, it's a term used by the Department of Treasury for this purpose only. 

Here's an important question. If you're American and don't know know about FBAR filing for the US Treasury, you'd better get informed in a hurry or risk Uncle Scam stripping you of your bank accounts and sending you to prison. So, for the rest of us, the question is whether or not a "co-signature" Thai bank account must be reported by the co-signer. I would assume so, but the question arose because I went to a local BB branch and asked to be named beneficiary on a relative's account, not a joint owner or signer. No problem. We signed the papers without any questions, though of course I can't read what I'm signing and had to assume I was only a beneficiary.  I was assured that I had no interest in the money or name on the account. Much later, however, I read discussions to the effect that Thai banks do not have beneficiaries, but co signers, whatever that actually means. I had to suspect then, that I actually am a co signer. I don't know if that means I have "signature authority" over the account or not as defined by the US Treasury, department, but it's certainly a worthy question to be put to the Thai expat community. I do plan on adding the account to my Fincen report just to be on the safe side, can't do any harm I suppose. It's not a tough job to file, but a very serious concern to do right unless you want to be ground under the heel of the US and sent to prison. I spent 57 years in the USA being the victim of nearly every high crime perpetrated by the US government: cocaine distribution, child porn, death threats, extortion, Rico violations, to name a few. Thank God I've found peace in Thailand the last 15 years, but you never entirely get rid of the parasites this side of the grave. Any experts out there who can set us straight?  I do hope the answers are helpful to others.

On 6/13/2018 at 1:38 PM, KhunBENQ said:

Will you have the conditions for application (financial, documents) ready in mid August?

You can apply at least 30 days before expiry. With the consideration period you would have your new extension ready in mid September and then at the same time apply for a new re-entry permit which should be issued directly. Some offices will even allow application 45 days before expiry if you can present good reason.

Help me out here, please. IO's diagram timeline marks ZERO day at the report-back-date (while under consideration) and then he shows the 46th day as the first day for applying for the 1 year extension (and 90 as 90 days after report back day). Thing is, the 90 day visa stamp is valid from 9 days prior to the report back day (when the 90 day application was made) to the 90th day. Tell me that she meant to say the 90 day period starts the day the visa is marked valid, and not the report back day ten days later? Also, it appears, am I right, that anytime from the 46th day until the 90th day is okay for applying for the extension, not that one should wait that long?    

On 6/2/2019 at 9:44 AM, ubonjoe said:

I assume you are asking about the under consideration period given after applying for a extension of stay based upon marriage to a Thai or the parent of one.

Believe a 90 day Non-O conversion from TR based on retirement will sometimes require a consideration period. 

https://www.dradrianmd.com/catalog/resource_library/ORAL CHELATION WITH EDTA.pdf

This is the 2nd year in a row my friend did NOT get the 7162 form. The first year, Manilla said there was no need the first year, but then her payments stopped in Feb 2018. She changed her address with SSA in 2017 before moving to Thailand, but after a few months it appeared she was not getting mail anymore. I helped her call SSA to get the address right, took four different tries and several hours because nobody seemed capable of changing it or reading it back. According the SSA per phone late Feb, it had nothing to do with this form. but they were unwilling to explain what it was really about except at first to say she had no proof of citizenship (she was born in Montana, been on disability SS for 20 years). Only reason she noticed is that Medicare sent her a bill - to the correct address, same one it should be in Thailand, so go figure. Took many calls to straighten this out. We checked over the address and she got one test mail from SSA to ensure it was still or finally correct. Then again this year she did not get her annual statement and once again no 7162 was mailed to her. She filled out a blank one with cover letter asking for an explanation as to why and confirmation, mailed it to W-B, but nothing yet, that was almost four weeks ago.  Not a clue as to what's going on with her. 

On 7/8/2012 at 12:16 PM, jko said:

FOUND the stockist near Big C Don Chan - thanks.

Entering Big C from the Highway, garden stalls are on your right, a bit towards the end of the line, before it bends to the left, you'll find a shop called 'Sam Heng Dee' (written as 3เฮงดี ) Telephone 082-698-8497 Price 3 bags for Baht 100. Will report on results!

Wonder if he's still there. My experience with the bags sold along the highway to Hang Dong is that just about anything you plant in the stuff will die within 3-4 weeks due to reducing conditions. They all sell pretty much the same thing. It's safe to use after about three years, probably less. If you mix with other soil it's not quite so bad and established plants will tolerate it long enough to survive.  Have been struggling for years to build a decent topsoil in my yard. Added 14 bags of a pig manure mixture that helped a little bit. 

On 11/8/2018 at 7:15 AM, gunghang said:

FBU Manila advises sending the form directly to Wilkes-Barre.

 

ssa7162.pdf

Thanks, have spent three hours trying to figure out where to mail the thing, for a friend who hasn't seen one in a year and half, but I always get one around June and send it back in the envelope provided. The address above matches my best guess after hours of digging. One other thing, the EXAMPLE link above gives no example to fill out, just a link to your jpg, nor could I find an example via Google, nor are the instructions adequate for a downloaded (blank) form, so BEWARE: I might have missed this, so check the blank square just under Question 2 (for daytime phone number) and, assuming this is a blank form you downloaded, you MUST input your social security number or it's all for naught. Hopefully, I've got this squared away now. I also see a phone number for the Wilkes Barre address above, 1-800-772-1213 where you might get quicker and more reliable feedback, if you call during the right hours. 

On 11/7/2018 at 11:29 PM, onera1961 said:

I don't think so. Rent from condo may be. But the condo by itself should not fly I think. 

You'd have to research it yourself, but I remember well that if you had $90,000 USD (foreign source) invested in a condo you qualified for a special visa. I know a guy who did it that way because he was in his early 40s.  

On 11/12/2015 at 9:57 AM, manchesterlalala said:

Given my reading of previous instances of "new" processes being reported, I would be surprised if people did not say this is just a case of the rules finally being applied. However, I have been on the triple-entry tourist visa for three years now. I have made several trips to the immigration offices in Saphan Hin (Phuket Town), Chaeng Wattana (Bangkok), and now Jomtien/Chonburi –

and I have never been asked for this proof of address before.

I wonder if this is a surprise to other people?

This is an old post, but the TM30 proof of residence for permanent visas was always a requirement with the stub stapled into the passport same as the last 90 day stub; however, it was not enforced or done at all when I arrived in 2005. Then suddenly only a few years ago it was enforced with a 1600 baht fine if you didn't already have the stub in your passport that you couldn't have had in the first place. My Thai wife stubbornly refused to believe me until I took her to Immigration and she heard if from the horse's mouth. These things just happen, don't let it get under your skin. 

1 minute ago, timendres said:

Your allusions are of a serious enough nature, that your concerns seem valid. If the person in question had any convictions of this nature, they would almost certainly be escorted from the country. In this case, I suspect you would need to communicate the information to immigration - possibly best done by a Thai agent. Short of that, you need to be vigilant, and act when appropriate.

Thank you. Of course, I was referring to situations where victims are in serious peril, not necessarily for that reason but any serious risk being posed. What concerns me is the victim's disadvantage due to the language barrier, perhaps also a lack of sophistication in some police departments though I have utmost respect for the police. Indeed, it isn't easy to report a crime in the states as far as that goes.  In no way either am I suggesting unnecessary hardship for anyone.  

10 minutes ago, catman20 said:

yes the OP sounds like a rat.........................we all know what happens to rats

It's a common perception that many criminals come to Thailand to ply their trade where it's less likely that they be caught. This is especially true of pedophiles. Mr. Swirl was the best known example and was only caught because he published photos and videos of such acts on the internet where Interpol couldn't help but notice. So, you think exposing Mr. Swirl was the work of a rat. That's interesting. The question boils down to a question of safety, and you suggest that I would be rightly harmed for raising that question.