mamborobert

Does anyone know how accurate and reliable these figures are for CMIS (or indeed all CM sites when they can go down for 24 hours easy).  It seems that it (CMIS)  is consistently much higher than Yupparaj Wittayalai.  They are not  that far away from each other (say max of 2.5km straight line) and no significant topographical features between each other, bar the river .  Is it possible to get so different readings in such a relatively short distance given measure is purely generalised burning rather than something always happening at one site?

As an example in the last 48 hours CMIS  for PM 2.5 has a min of 91 and a max of 370 whereas Yupparaj has a min of 53 and a max of 196.

It certainly looks bad in the city but as at a afew minutes agothe  http://aqicn.org site for Chiang Mai Municipal City Hall and Yuparaj has not been updated from 3.00pm yesterday.  The GAIA station which is cited above at 207 (now 298 so nearly in the Hazard area) is Phrao about 100km away.  Would be good to get some current city figures, but as said, looks really bad now.

59 minutes ago, bdenner said:

Only hope that in my case they have a CPA on the consular staff who understands my tax return (I can barely make head nor tale of it) and they understand that the days of paper bank statements are long gone. Being a Thai witnessing the Stat Dec wouldn't surprise me if she doesn't ask for my Aussie Bank Book!! 5555555

 

Looks like I'll have to take my NoteBook PC with me next year.

 

The gods of bureaucracy and hoops are alive and well.

The three times I have used the Stat Dec method and the Consular Outreach program have all had a DFAT A based officer ( that is an Oz official on a posting) witness and issue seal on a Stat Dec.  These officers are specified under the Act on the Stat Dec form.  Locally Engaged Staff (Oz or Thai) are not specified.

As a further example the Hon Consul in Chiang Mai despite the title, Thai govt accreditation, and the issued polo "uniform" cannot witness the Stat Dec.

This has also been my experience at other Oz embassies in the PI, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia

4 minutes ago, bangkokorbust said:

I have income from property rental but have no idea what they want as proof.
A copy of the lease maybe

or a copy of the bank deposits for the rent...or a copy of your tax return showing declared rental income.  It has the potential to get very ugly if the next move is to link data with ATO or Centrelink.  Best flick an email to consular outreach.  They reply pretty quickly.

11 minutes ago, Stevemercer said:

Thus requirement sounds dubious to me (although I guess it is not possible to challenge). As many posters have said, you sign a stat declaration to testify that this is a true version of events (at least from your perspective). There is no need to provide proofs unless challenged in court. I assume the embassy staff will not check with whomever the money is coming from to verify your 'letter of proof'. Most banks, super funds, financial institutions etc. are not going to provide this information to a third party. If they did, then there could be all sorts of privacy/tax/pension implications.

 

 

I would have thought you must obtain the desired document...not the third party, and you must present it when you want Stat Dec signature witnessed (as in present to the third party).  You cannot appeal to say an  Administrative Tribunal or an Oz court for someone failing to witness a Stat Dec in Thailand, apart from no grounds there are jurisdictional issues. A Stat Dec is legal in Australia or legal when submitted to receive an Australian benefit or with submitted with say an Australian Visa application.   It is not a legal document in Thailand (as such) but a document that is accepted by Thai Immigration as proof of income in lieu of the alternate bank balance method.  Thai immigration could just as easily ask to see some other evidence or source documents but the Stat Dec makes it easier all round.

4 minutes ago, Evilbaz said:

Your pensioner allowance card is not valid overseas.

It was a joke...that humour stuff.  I am self funded.  The only thing I get from the OZ govt is a fresh air sandwich.

53 minutes ago, logon1 said:

it is gone blissfully. it is a subsidised venture from the owners of classic burgers which is closed as well.

Classic Burgers is due to reopen tomorrow.  Not sure about the link to the kitchen you allude to.  Did not think Craig and his wife had any links to that at all.

They had signs on the rolladoors and on their web site for quite a while advising of temp closure (see below from FB)

Classic Burgers

24 February at 16:26 · Chiang Mai · 

17 minutes ago, Preacher said:

 

As has been mentioned, a stat. declaration  is no more just witnessing a signature. Thailand has complained to the embassies and now demands that embassies check the income and just witness the signature. Another problem is, at least for Dutch citizens, the declaration will now state nett income, not gross. I understood that was on agreement with the Thai government.  With the low Euro and now going to nett, I imagine that will put a few persons in trouble.

Do other embassies now demand proof of nett income?

 

For the Americans it might be a little bit different, because of the difference between the federal governments and the different states. The individual states do not like it when the federal government treads in their jurisdiction. For them it might  be the case that they will have to provide evidence at immigration instead of at their embassy.

 

t

The Oz have been ok with declaring a Gross Income.  Now that they want evidence I do not know what type of info you get on a Centrelink statement for example where the OAP may just put you into the initial income tax threshold.  It would be odd to do net as for OZ most would only know that from the annual tax return statement from the ATO.  You could conceivably be paying tax on a gross income and then get it all or partially back through rebates or franking credits or deductions etc when you put in your tax return.  Some with multiple sources of income would not know their true net until after their tax return is done, having said that those people are more than likely not to have an issue with the 65k per month.  

Guess this will become fine tuned as people apply.  Maybe even best if Embassy provided a sample or template Stat Dec in teh future...fill in the numbers and source and sign type thing.

50 minutes ago, lensta said:

My friend did his in Bkk last week and no such documentation was needed

As far as I can see the "change" only came through on the embassy web site in the last few days of the week.

Now includes :

"If you are signing a Statutory Declaration in support of a retirement or other visa, you must provide proof of income such as a bank, Superannuation or Centrelink statement. "

http://thailand.embassy.gov.au/bkok/Notarial_Services.html

It was certainly not required by Embassy staff before and in fact the DFAT related site has not been updated and still reads the "old" understandingof Stat Decs:

"By witnessing your signature, the consular official is simply confirming your identity as the person claiming to make the declaration. The consular officer is in no way attesting to the truth or veracity of the content of the statement. "

http://smartraveller.gov.au/services/legalising-documents/pages/overseas.aspx

There is no mention of supporting evidentary documents being required.

Still, its changed, and that is the reality.   Its is certainly going to affect the single fully dependant OAPs and prospective retirees in Thailand.

I always thought this was a rather meaningless measure after the initial visa...I mean it does not confirm that you are actually spending that money in part or total in Thailand.  Perhaps another boom in some of the creative accounting and borrowing by some agents in Pattaya will be spreading further afield as people opt for the bank balance or combination method.

2 minutes ago, evenstevens said:

all mine (stat decs) so far , have been done in thaibaht (65.000 ),not A.U.D.

its a Midnight Oil good morning to all

 

Same here

If you  have received no notice for the lottery through your father cannot see how you would be up for consideration, as you would have had to be registered several years earlier for the candidate pool.  So unless some over zealous Immigration guy wants to make a lot of work for himeself by actually enquiring of a Thai national shich seems hiighly unlikley you should be ok.....

It would be interesting how far they would go if you maintained you could neither speak or read/write Thai.   No hablo Thai, cannot see how you could be inducted/trained etc.  Worse comes to worse pick out a padded bra and a nice frock, that will get you out as well here  ..

Completed conscription myself...loved it....but just as it makes some people there were a few that it broke entirely.  Having seen that, and known how fragile some of my extended family were, could never advocate for it even though it really did a world of good for me personally.

At the moment it just seems that there is a very substantial gap between the lowest concrete step and the bamboo floats..... so a bit of rain may help.

Saw the Fire Brigade lopping trees at Warrorot yesterday....and a squad of ladies in garbage bags with a hose truck washing away the distinctive smell from the defacto Songtaew driver urinal that the steps near the market have become.  It gets a bit odourous when it is hot/humid.  So preparations are in full swing....although the event itself maybe somewhat subdued as far as ancillary activities.

11 minutes ago, balo said:

I think the rain has stopped for good this year , yesterday I was out cycling and it looked like it was going to rain but it never happened , that's a good sign .

 

Funny you mentioned this...the forecast for the next three days has it clocking up nearly 20mm a day startinng tonight.  A few Thai media publications have alerts out.

The river is certainly low....I notice that bamboo  floats are being prepared near US consulate just to allow people to get to the water level.  Crazy stuff as I imagine with the weight and waterlogging they will not last the first night of Loy Kratong.  One good thing, the water management/flood gate control seems better this year.

All of course subject to change without notice :)

That dishevelled drunk looks like Tezza at the Old Melbourne. If so, went there myself to see the show, distant memory recalls the Old Melbourne but definite venue for boxing with Brad Hardie of Sth Freo who was a pretty gun boxer like most of the Freo boys then as Jacko attests in interview.

I'd have to go look through news articles, but from memory I got the impression that these were somewhat older guys from established, local families. People having worked in government, etc. I don't know if they were actually wealthy by any definition, but definitely well established local Chiang Mai old-middle class. Not any bunch of villagers who would be shy to pursue things in courts or otherwise, or roll over at the first mention of a couple thousand baht.

i don't believe that there is a final resolution in the matter as stated above. yes these where middle-aged men from well-established families and they declined a cash settlement from the girl's family. they demanded a trial and there was something on television only about 10 days or so about an upcoming court date. the families did receive payments from insurance companies but declined any cash from the girl's family.

actually, today's reports state that Ms HiSo gave them 100K each. Maybe they weren't the Getty Family, after all.

She gave 100k each already for the funeral costs only (above what the insurance paid out). That was not sought by families but the offender looks good later in court by making that small additional contribution. Its not like the families suddenly got ex gratia money....it went for the funeral. They are not richer by 100k.

Monetary compensation wise till today she was only 300k in the hole for questionable motives.

A lot more has been paid by insurance, and now ordered by the courts to two of the three families,

As Winnie pointed out the families were affluent enough to refuse monies offered initially to make this go away, and influential enough to see by Thai standards or even Western, a fairly quick court case to a favourable decision, albeit subject to appeal.

Now covered in the Bangkok Post detailing sentence of two years (reduced to this because of admission), bail to appeal, court directed payouts, insurance payouts, and payments made by offender.

A year to get this far, and appeal to take.......

How long before the Red Bull heir option is taken or perhaps the pitter patter of little feet option.?

Just an update to this. Sentenced to two years apparently but bailed on appeal. Handed down today. Waiting for CM108 to update with confirmation of sentence/appeal.

so all those posts before that said she had been to court and been sentenced

http://www.cm108.com/bbb/topic/405-31-%E0%B8%9E%E0%B8%84%E0%B8%A8%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A5%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%94%E0%B8%95%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%94%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%84%E0%B8%94%E0%B8%B5%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A7%C2%A0%E0%B8%82%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%9A%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%96%E0%B8%A2%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%95%E0%B9%8C%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%81%E0%B9%8B%E0%B8%87%E0%B8%8A%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%A5%E0%B8%B8%E0%B9%88%E0%B8%A1%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%9B%E0%B8%B1%E0%B9%88%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%97%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A2%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%B5%E0%B8%A2%E0%B8%8A%E0%B8%B5%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%95/

If you were based in the Melbourne area, we've been with the same firm since 1991 - virtually no chance of ever getting an audit as they are so straight up and won't mess about with any claims for deductions that might attract attention, which to my mind is a good thing. Happy to pass details on and send an email to them by way of introduction if you are interested, just send a pm.

Many thanks. Am currently Freo/Perth as home base so if no joy in CM might combine tax with a quick visit home to family, for a cool change ( 8 degrees in the evening with the heater on per my sister), and get the 2 July election early voting knocked off at the same time.

Thought best to revive this one thread with my query.

But any updated info on practicing CPA or Tax accountant from (or familiar with tax practices of) Oz in CM.

Tax time approaches and I have some ugly complicated issues with capital gains/losses that would like iron out before submitting tax return. So much easier to resolve and explain face to face rather than through emails to unknown quantity in Oz. Thanks.

I'd say it's like watching grass grow except you need that rain stuff to make grass grow....so in a way it's worse than watching grass grow.

Can't the junta just speed things up and make it rain by the sensible use of the all purpose article 44 ?

I see that Fora Bee is mentioned in a few papers today after getting a mention in Twitter and facebook over last few days. Good to see it was just a misunderstanding after all.......

Worked beautifully for me today, as a first time user. Under 4 hours between online lodgement and receipt of email acceptance.