natee1

RE: feed him his own medicine!

I like to quote from this poll in a letter to various Thai newspapers. Does someone know how to translate this into Thai?:

According to a recent survey conducted by HUSKI POLLS, the P.M.'s popularity is at an alltime low. More than 22% of the respondents think he should wear a warning label on his forehead, 13.33% felt that he only opens his mouth to change his feet, whereas a minority of 6.67% is convinced he is frequenting illegal gambling establishments to play Solitaire.

in Bkk I personally have no sense of danger, other than all the hungry trafficpolice roaming the streets. For visiting women I can only repeat advise given in most travel guides: it is very safe here, but use your common sense, unwanted attention can be attracted by "misappropiate behavior", i.e. don't stroll along on your own in miniskirt and deep-cut blouse at 3 in the morning(goes for any country, really).

when asked how long I want to stay in Thailand, my reply is:

-as long as they let me.

And, yeah, right, no surplus money to send anywhere. If or when I finally won't get a new visa, it will be joining the unemployed and, most likely after my long absence, unemployable somewhere in Europe, where I have a right to stay.

whenever I label "the guy" with one of these Thai words concerning the feet, I get embarrassed smiles and/or change of subject. Unlike talking about Bush, who is really unpopular now, Toxin is very favored in Thailand!

I have found it very frustrating looking for English-Thai dictionaries, since I can't read Thai. The one to get for people like me is Mike Simpson - The English-Thai dictionary 3 in 1 English-pronunciation-Thai.

I think I got it at Asia Books

How to help yourself:

1. the old fashioned way:

a) -pick up any travelguide to Thailand, preferably latest edition, and look up the visa section

-contact a Thai consulate in the UK, if by phone preferably during office hours

2. the clever way:

a) -do a websearch with any searchengine using the words "travel", "Thailand" and "visa"

-move the cursor to the bottom right hand corner of this page and keep going down until you notice the lettering saying "tourist visa". Move your cursor there, leftclick and off you go

Tip: Be warned that many of the local customs are quite different from what you are used to in Bristol !!!

3) I've also read the taxing stuff with great interest. Since Thailand does tax income less than most western countries, wouldn't it be great to have one pay taxes here and not in the home country? How can one do that, regarding that there is already a company set up in the home country, generating a list of projects to be handled? I guess that Thai government would be happy to receive the extra taxes and the foreigner who wants to lay in the sun over here would be more than happy to pay them over here, so what is possible, what are the pitfalls and how to start this off?

Again, technically, you could do that BUT you still cannot avoid paying taxes in your country of citizenship. As a US citizen, what happens is that when it comes tax time in the US I fill out a form that tells them how much I paid in foreign taxes. They then subtract that amount from what I owe in US taxes on my income and I pay the difference.

That's why this is not a tax scheme. You're not doing this to avoid paying taxes. In fact, you save exactly $0 dollars via this method. If you wish to do that then go incorporate in some Caribbean nation that is friendly to that sort of thing but I have not nor would I suggest such a plan.

What this all comes down to is where did you earn the money. My argument is that if your corporation earns the money in the US that is who lays claim to the revenue for revenue tax purposes and thus Thailand has very poor position in attempting to argue that the funds were earned in Thailand. Now, the entire reason I suggested transferring from a US personal savings account to a Thai personal checking/savings account is that it raises even less eyebrows because it simply appears that you're drawing from savings funds which is not income.

Moonman has made a very good point but if I was a US citizen, and had a brokerage account at Charles Schwabb with $1,000,000 USD invested in US Treasurey bonds earning me something like 5% if I were to move to Thailand and live off my interest INCOME would I need a work permit to collect my interest? It is income and investing is using knowledge to make money and I am located in Thailand so do I need a work permit or not? I'm guessing the answer is no and if the answer is no to this then simply collecting money from your investment in a US company would not require a work permit either. In fact, if we follow this logic, technically, if you come to Thailand while on vacation and you have paid vacation . . . you're in violation of Thai law as you're earning money while in Thailand without a work permit. According to Moonman, if your employer in the US direct deposits your salary into your bank account while you're in Thailand on vacation, you have just violated Thai work/tax laws. I know Moonman hasn't made that specific assertion but I'm just following the logic and that's exactly where it leads.

Someone asked if the mods require work permits. They are in Thailand, working in Thailand for a company in Thailand and being paid in Thai baht (I'm assuming this based on their answers). Totally different. I would 100% agree that they are indeed working in Thailand.

If the Thai authorities grabbed one of the ThaiVisa mods and asked them where they got the X baht that was deposited in their account and why there was a monthly deposit of roughly the same amount they would have no excuse and the Thai authorities would correctly assume that they had been earning money while in Thailand. On the other hand, if they pulled a person who has done as I've recommended and ask him where he is getting his funds, he can say that he's semi-retired and that he's living off his investments in the US. Since he can show regular transfers of funds from US personal accounts to his Thai personal account the only way they could then prove otherwise would be to actually catch him in the act (which is why I recommend laying low rather than having an apartment full of servers). I still argue that what he's doing is technically legal but even if it weren't, Thai authorities would have to go to a great deal of trouble to prove anything because his affairs have been set up in such a way as to fully support his claim to be living off of investments. If you want an extra measure of protection purchase some good encryption software and encrypt your hard drive so they would never be able to find any information.

Let's face it, if you're living in Thailand on the 90 day tourist visas then you're already in violation of the spirit of the Thai law and they can simply refuse to give you a renewal whenever they feel like it. If you don't do anything to draw attention to yourself and take some pre-cautions, you're probably at no more risk than any other ex-pat living off tourist visas.

Hi,

This is all very interesting and relevant in this thread, are you guys talking about me, I only discovered and joined thaivisa 2 days ago?

I have a related question, but first like to comment on what I've just read, in sort of reverse order, if I may:

(sorry, can't work this posting business yet, not even in guided mode, just wiped out my entire essay doin' a preview, so'll do the quotes by copy and paste)

QUOTE

"....technically, you could do that BUT you still cannot avoid paying taxes in your country of citizenship. As a US citizen, what happens is ...."

I have been in several tricky tax situations, the country you work in, the country where you receive the money,i.e. where your bank is, and the country where you are "ordinarily resident", not necessarily that of your nationality, all have something to say. Provided you have all necessary permits and documentation, most countries have agreements as to how to handle this, not always clearcut. You're unlikely to be double-taxed on your income, but one taxoffice might decide you have not paid enough, as you described already, or, depending on the rules of the countries involved, you might be excempt or priviliged from some taxation.

For a small enterprise playing the system, usually the headache isn't worth the potential gain. Being consciencious one would of course submit income declarations as required, or be prepared for trouble further down the line.

QUOTE

"....if we follow this logic, technically, if you come to Thailand while on vacation and you have paid vacation . . . you're in violation of Thai law as you're earning money while in Thailand without a work permit."

While you are not allowed to work whether you get money or not, you are allowed to get money when you're not working here, I believe.

QUOTE

"I guess that Thai government would be happy to receive the extra taxes and the foreigner who wants to lay in the sun over here would be more than happy to pay them over here, so what is possible, what are the pitfalls and how to start this off?"

I guess the "trick" would be not to be resident in and not to receive payment in your homecountry. Pitfall is, it's hardly a "homecountry" anymore, since you will only be able to officially stay there as a visitor for limited periods of time without falling back into the fangs of the dreaded tax office('cuse me). Also, there is the small but hasslesome matter of obtaining bits of paper called permits.

QUOTE

"....However, I've also heard that after a period of time you have to stay outside of the country for a couple of months. Can anyone clarify this for me: a) after how much time, for how long, c) what kind of visas does it apply to ?...."

Citizens of a group of countries, mostly African, need to renew certain visas in their homecountries (sorry, I am not an expert, but remember reading this as I was queueing at immigration). What you heard about sounds like an unfounded rumor, or something one particular embassy dreamt up, rather then an immigration rule.

Now, what I like to relate:

I am also not working in Thailand. I am merely preparing to do business during

my vacation. All transactions are conducted abroad, where I also get paid(no, I am not a drugdealer). As already suggested inthis thread, I arrange everything myself low profile, spending money buying merchandise,not taking away from the people here, believing this is the spirit of the law. But however one might phrase it, it is work in the sense of the law. How could I make this an entirely legal activity without having to wonder whether it is ok to do or not? The answer is: with great difficulties and with alot more money than I am willing to risk (see visa and permits section, there is no room for selfemployed or individual business). I guess there are quite a few people here in a similar situation, judging by the responses to this posting.

Now the next issue is my up to now quite amusing story and resulting question:

What I impatiently anticipated all these years finally happened last months. Some of the staff at Thaiembassy Vientiane are of a similar calibre as that annoying spectacled women at Thonglor Post Office (those who live near know what I mean). It was revealed to me in no uncertain terms that I had been a 2-months tourist in Thailand for long enough and that in future I will have to obtain a long-stay-visa (her words, not mine), requiring a bankstatement and an explanation from the embassy of my country. Curiousity got the better of me and I couldn't help but overstay my allotted time at her desk due to my questioning as to what kind of explanation exactly might be required.

I was handed a leaflet explaining about the retirement visa. It took all my strength and courage to compose myself for a renewed, uninvited approach to her desk on this fateful Thursday morning, pointing out that I am not approaching 50 years of age yet and questioning whether this was really the right visa for me to apply for. All additional information I could secure was that the same applied to me at 45, except I need only have 300.000 Baht and renew the visa every 3 months.

The bankstatement I can provide, what other documentation is involved and what this "long-stay-visa" is supposed to be I still don't know.

Does anybody out there have any suggestions what I could or should do or not do, other than ignore the "advise" I received; or giving the dog and the motorbike to the GF and go home?