jayboy

Even Bt 13,800 seems on the high side.However having obtained the TIN, subsequent annual filings should be cheaper - say Bt 7000. In your position (and actually it reflects my own) I would probably pay an accountant to obtain my TIN and process the first filing and thereafter do it myself with the first filing as a guide.

We may not know precisely but it's already clear the receipts -never that significant in the scheme of things - will be much less than the figures bandied around.It was never the prime motive anyway,Meanwhile the dullard Education Secretary is intent on rolling back the reforms which have seen English state schools shoot up the global league tables over the past 15 years.

Ending charitable status was on the Labour agenda but was dropped - too difficult and in breach of law.Also politically toxic. Labour's ideal would be to smash the famous schools but these are too financially robust.Therefore they are concentrating on the smaller provincial schools where they can inflict most stress and pain. Yes parents with children in the independent system tend to be better off than average.Not sure of your point. You have become confused on the tax aspect.There is no loophole because education has never been taxed.It is the parents of independent school children who are providing the subsidy, by paying for a state education they do not utilise.In some countries the state reimburses parents for this very reason.

Wrong.It's a spiteful immoral policy which fails to achieve its very modest financial objectives. It's not clear at all (You provided a tainted source as your proof) but in any case that's not the issue. For most people, except leftist zealots, one of the purposes of life is to struggle to obtain a better future for their children.That's why rich middle class parents tend to buy houses in excellent state schools' catchment areas. What else do you want to ban to ensure equality for all - parental attention, reading habits, domestic stability, overseas holidays, extra tuition, excellent genes etc etc? All the things that give middle class children advantages in life? Here's an idea.Instead of spiteful attacks on excellent independent schools, how about encouraging co-operation between the two sectors and above all improving state schools.

It's my understanding that savings ( incurred before 31.12.2023) do not need to be "pre-deposited." In other words such funding can be remitted at any time if they meet the criteria. I think you confirm that later in your post.

What is PEPF that commissioned this poll? Do they have any policy agenda one way or the other? Oh, they turn out to be a left wing pressure group dedicated to end private education. Even if this poll should be discounted - which it should be - I don't disagree that a majority probably favour a toff bashing policy.They probably also favour capital punishment and deportation of immigrants.Government should do what is right not what the crowd is baying for

Your rather crass comment about parents choice probably reflects the government position.They don't care about these children and hate the idea of private education and are motivated by class envy ( to be fair usually chippy lower middle class rather than working class). There is no tax loophole.Education has never been taxed. It is unlikely there will be significant net funds raised.In any case any funds raised are fungible and will go into the Exchequer pot.They will be not be ring fenced and may as well end up in funding more public sector pay increases.

Parents who go private are already paying twice, because they pay taxes for state schools that they don’t use and fees on top of that – which is why school fees are tax deductible in Germany. Spin it any way you want, this is a policy born of cynicism and class hatred.

Every single one - repeat every single one - of the top public schools (ie any independent school that one has heard of) has charitable status.These are the well known schools that Labour hates - Eton, Harrow, Winchester etc.These are the schools that have wealth and influence.These are the schools that will cope with the government's vandalism.The smaller obscurer schools will suffer the most, the ones that educate the children of the struggling middle class. It's class warfare and anything these cretins believe to be "posh" is the target of their envy and nastiness.The Government hates the middle class, hates ambition, hates aspiration and middle class people who want the best for their children.To be fair, I don't think Starmer thinks this but being a weak man, he sees this VAT vandalism as red meat to be thrown to the left.

What would you consider to be a reasonable all in fee for getting a TIN and arranging filing on behalf of an expatriate - assuming there are no particular complications? I'd say Bt 10,000 first year and Bt 7000 thereafter.

None of the major independent schools have a purpose to generate profit.In fact that would be forbidden under their charitable status.It is wrong to suggest they were exempt from VAT because they have never been subject to it.No other country charges VAT on education.The measures being implemented in the UK are just an example of class hatred, spitefully introduced in the middle of the school year to cause maximum disruption and distress.

I have not stayed in a hostel for 40 years.I always stay in 4/5 star hotels in Thailand assuming the location has them.My debit card - without my name on it - has been completely acceptable for security deposit and thereafter for making payment, most recently at one of the top hotels in Hua Hin.

It's actually a far better book than the overpraised Private Dancer.

Not in my experience. Can also be used online.Just type in your name.

The likelihood is that it will raise far less than the Government boasted.In any case the measure was introduced not primarily to raise money (relatively small anyway) but to appease its far left supporters who have tended to regard Starmer's administration as Tory lite. Above all it's a policy motivated by class hatred.The Government loathes the middle class and is looking to erase any evidence of what they think of as privilege.The joke is that the schools they particularly detest - Eton, Harrow ,Winchester etc - will do just fine.It's the smaller provincial schools that will suffer.

Money quote "So which side is right? Well, we’ll find out soon enough. But even if there isn’t transitional dislocation, and even if Labour is able to transfer a net £1.5 billion to state education, both far from proven, the policy is still disingenuous and misconstrued. Disingenuous because the motive is primarily political, and Labour should own up to it. Disingenuous because its notion of fairness ignores the often cash-strapped parents paying for state school places in their taxes that they do not take up. Disingenuous too because it makes so much of “fairness” while ignoring the middle-class dominance of places at grammar schools. Misconstrued because, rather than trying to wound and stigmatise private schools, the government should be encouraging them to work more closely with the often excellent state sector. '

https://www.thetimes.com/comment/columnists/article/labour-should-learn-from-private-schools-not-terrorise-them-657w2wfdb

I have no special insight or knowledge.However if I was pressed, I would guess that there will eventually be a tax clearance requirement to secure retirement visa rights.But I could be completely wrong.

I did see them at the timeand the penalties are a matter of record.However my observation was on another matter, namely whether some will fly under the radar.

The penalties are a matter of record.My observation however related to the practical likelihood of any elderly expatriate who simply ignored the requirement to file and pay tax. After all many should have filed tax returns in the past and didn't, without the RD noticing or apparently caring.

I agree with your comment.I wonder however what the consequences will be for those who simply ignore the updated tax regime.It could be, since the Thai tax system works on an honour system, that they continue to fly under the radar with no real world consequences at all.Even a tax link with visa extensions could take a few years to be implemented.I doubt whether the RD regards moderately well off elderly expats as a priority. But i could be wrong and personally am playing it very safe.

One would expect so as it was a spiteful piece of political vindictiveness.The extra tax it was supposed to raise is greatly exaggerated.The famous independent schools - the ones that have all the influence - will manage to cope.No other Western country taxes education. This government hates the middle class and will pay the price in the next election.

"Labour will take false comfort from a divided Right-wing vote, thinking that will secure it a second term. But before 2025 is out Reform might well have established itself as Labour's main challenger. Either that or it will have dawned on Labour that it is caught in a vice similar to the one which did down the Tories in 2024: losing to Reform in the North and the Tories in the South (just as the Tories lost this year to Labour and the Liberal Democrats)." Andrew Neil

I suspect that if Thailand's traditional way of life had been undermined by uncontrolled mass immigration, and Bangkok had become a city where 40% came from ethnic minorities - all done without consultation or popular agreement - the Thai people would be taking action of an ugly but understandable nature.

You are misreading the signals.Throughout the Western world we are seeing a collapse of the moderate centre right and the British conservative party is no exception. The Labour Party won a landslide victory but it was very shallow, and the inept Starmer has the lowest poll numbers for decades. The current government appears to politically incompetent and has shown to be dishonest in its election campaign.It's also clear that political parties have lost their traditional class based support.A second Labour term is definitely not guaranteed and Reform is a very real possibility for government. This makes me as depressed as you I expect.