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MrBanks

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About MrBanks

  • Birthday 05/08/1956

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    Pong, Bang Lamung, Chonburi

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  1. I used to kill any snakes that came around our house, then I came across a great Facebook group called “Snakes of Pattaya”, virtually everyday somebody posts a photo of a snake that they have come in contact with, then people say what they think it is, however, the only opinions that I bother with are the ones from the admins, who all seem to be very knowledgeable. Because the posts are coming up regularly, it is like a really easy learning curve and it has helped me firstly to stop regarding every snake as something that needs to be exterminated, secondly to be a lot calmer when I do encounter a snake. I see that many posters advise the OP to look the snake up on google, not really very helpful, in the moment, that is why the Snakes of Pattaya group is so good, it teaches you and prepares you for these encounters. Nobody should criticise any man for defending his own space and family, part of living here is learning about different things and if the OP comes from a place where there are no snakes, how does he know what is safe and what is not?
  2. Hi thanks for your reply. I am going to email elite visa today and ask the question directly, I will let you know what they say. Sorry, I screwed up the “quote” function, so posted twice, ah well, me and technology, not the best of friends 😂
  3. I also received the email from them. I bought the 20 year visa for 1 million baht, I don’t see anything in the upgrades that interests me, or justifies the increased cost. The one thing that I am unclear of, is where we stand regarding the change in income tax, I bought my visa, in great part because of this: ”Tax exemption on any income earned outside Thailand” direct quote from their website (at the time I was applying) https://thailand-elite.com/thailand-residence-visa-ltr-visa-vs-elite-visa-comparison/ I understand (hearsay only), that in the past when they changed the benefits, if an existing one was taken away from the new “offer”, it was left “grandfathered in” for the people who had bought the visa with that benefit. I am trying to find out if that is the case, regarding tax, do you have any insight on this?
  4. Whops, forgot the link…… senior moment ????: https://www.aesinternational.com/blog/the-differences-between-qrops-qnups-and-sipps
  5. Open this link and read the comparison between QROPS, QNUPS and SIPPS.
  6. The main difference between you and I is that you are not married to your lady, I am married to mine, however, there are similarities in our situation. I am currently going through a similar exercise, here is what I have discovered and the path I am following: Firstly, even if you marry, as your girlfriend is not a UK citizen, the only part of your wealth that she can inherit tax free is the first £325,000.00, everything after that is subject to 40% IHT. I am married to a Thai citizen, in order for her to inherit tax free I can: 1. Help her become a UK citizen, meaning going back to live there for at least 5 years etc……….. not going to happen! 2. I can become non-domiciled, do not confuse non resident with non-domiciled, they are 2 very different things when it comes to HMRC. There is 1 huge snag with this path and that is HMRC will not make the final decision on your domicile until after you pop your clogs. You can do all you that you can, but if they determine that your “heart” never really left the UK, they will class you as UK domiciled. If you want to try that path it is essential to get advice from an expert lawyer, also make sure that you formally state in your will that you want your body / ashes disposed of in the foreign country that you are residing in. The classic example that is used to demonstrate this is the case of Richard Burton, the famous actor. He lived outside of the UK for 20 or so years, his life was based totally abroad. When he died his estate was £5,000,000.00, which his benefactors believed would be tax free. it turned out that he had bought a burial plot in Wales and his wishes were to be buried there, apparently (allegedly), that was enough for HMRC to decide that his “heart” had never left the UK, he was still domiciled there (in their opinion), his estate got clobbered for 40%. I was going down the non-domiciled path, however, I then found out about QNUPS, which another poster has mentioned. For an over view of QNUPS, check out this link. https://www.expertsforexpats.com/expat-resources/british-expats/finance/qnups-for-british-expats/ Please note, I am not a financial advisor, I am just sharing my experiences Please also note that I am not recommending the people in the link, I am sharing that to give you insight into QNUPS, I have not contacted them. I believe that you will find that if you choose the QNUPS path, you will be able to eliminate your IHT worries. I am not certain if you have to be resident outside of the UK to set one up, but once it is done you are allowed to live there, if you want. The QNUPS that I am going with is with a company in Guernsey and I am being helped by a financial advisor. I found my UK accountant to be of not much use in this matter (you need a specialist), my UK solicitor, whilst being knowledgeable about it, could give no guarantee that no matter what we did that HMRC would not go after my estate once I was gone. Good luck, I hope what I have shared is helpful and gives you food for thought and an alternative to explore.
  7. Hi, thanks for your input, what do you base your opinion of IIMG Ltd, being crooks?
  8. Hi, this is aimed mainly at UK citizens, but all knowledge on the subject will be greatly appreciated. As many Brits. will be aware, if you are married to a lady who is not a UK citizen, if you die before her and you are leaving her your estate, apart from the £325,000 tax free allowance, the rest of the estate will be subject to 40% inheritance tax. Which is grossly unfair, because if she were a UK citizen there would be zero tax. There are (as far as I know) 3 ways around it: 1. She can become a UK citizen. in my case, that is not going to happen, we don’t want to go and live in the UK for the 5 years required. 2. I can become non-domicile, however, that is not a very good solution because HMRC will not give a final decision as to your domicile until after you die, obviously then it is too late to do anything, if they decide that you are still UK domicile. 3. Move your wealth into a QNUPS, in an offshore jurisdiction. It is number 3 that I come here seeking knowledge about: I am finding it very hard to find out any reviews, recommendations or comparisons of the various QNUPS providers, or the financial advisor company that suggested this to me. Do any of you have any “real” knowledge of QNUPS providers? Does anyone have any good or bad reviews about any particular QNUPS provider? The provider that has been recommended to me is Overseas Trust and Pension, Guernsey, but apart from finding that they are registered with the Guernsey equivalent of the FCA, I cannot find any independent reviews of them. The financial advisor is IIMG Ltd, again I cannot find much out about them, apart from the fact I have a friend, who unbeknown to me has dealt with them for several years. When I mentioned them he gave me a very good review. Any help, sharing of knowledge, based on fact, will be very helpful.
  9. I got the 20 year one for 1 million. Really glad I did. To date it has been hassle free, no need to prove finances, no need to prove insurance, I do the 90 days on line, takes5 minutes. The next test will be the 5 year renewal. We get a monthly newsletter with any appropriate information that we would require regarding our visas. Regarding how long they have been going, 2003, sounds about right, back then there were different benefits, some better than the current ones. As I understand it the people who have the older versions have never lost any of those benefits, they are just not available on the new visas. In summary, for me, great value for money.
  10. I went to do my 90 day report a couple of weeks ago in Jomtien, filled out my TM47, made sure that the TM6 was in the passport together with the receipt from the last 90 day report. At Jomtien they now have a separate queue for the 90 day reporting, you hand in your passport to an officer receive a number and take a seat in a tent, with fans blowing to keep you cool. An officer takes everything inside and a short while after a pile of passports return, your number is called, you collect your passport, check all is done and you are on your way. This time I had a nice surprise, the officer that I handed in my passport and paperwork to, looked at the receipt from my last 90 day report, she saw it had a bar code on it, she handed me back the TM47 and said this is not needed because you have the bar code. Certainly seems like things are getting simpler, however, I have Thai Elite visa, not retirement, so I don’t know if it makes a difference.
  11. If you cannot come to an arrangement with your neighbour, there might be a way to stop the dampness from your side. I had a similar problem with a house in Cyprus, only the adjacent property was owned by 8 different family members who were all fighting each other and I could not get any sense out of them. I found a company called Sika who make damp proofing and have various solutions for differing problems. A quick google of Sika shows that some of their products are on Lazada. I think that you can email Sika, tell them your problem and then they offer advice. Worked for us, damp problem solved, property sold! Good luck.
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