curtklay

I need a little clarity regarding filing a FBAR form with the US IRS. I read lots of info here that says you have to file this form if you have Thai bank accounts that total over $10,000.

However, on the FBAR instructions, it says if the accounts didn't earn any income, you can satisfy the reporting requirement by checking the box on part 3 of schedule B when filing your 1040:

"Reporting and Filing Information

A person who holds a foreign financial account may have a reporting obligation even though the account produces no taxable income. Checking the appropriate block on FBAR-related federal tax return or information return questions (e.g., on Schedule B of Form 1040, the "Other Information" section of Form 1041, Schedule B of Form 1065, and Schedule N of Form 1120) and filing the FBAR, satisfies the account holder's reporting obligation."

So, I filed my 1040 even though I owed no tax for 2010, and I checked the box on Schedule B. Does this mean I do not have to send in a FBAR even though I do have Thai bank accounts with a total of over $10,000? I have one regular savings account in my name only, with a balance of 800,000 baht ($26,000) to satisfy my retirement visa extension, and a joint account with my wife (US citizen) that varies in balance, but has had over $10,000 in it during 2010. I don't think either accrues any interest to speak of. I am wondering if I still need to send in a FBAR before the June deadline, or have I satisfied the requirement by informing IRS of my foreign bank accounts on my 1040 B.

In the interest of covering my butt, I am considering sending in the dam_n form anyway, but just wonder if this is overkill.

Yes, I'm pretty sure an endorsement is still required. Thanks.

My U.S. banks have always required my signature on a check being deposited (which I think is a stupid policy).

This is why I just had an old tax return check mailed to me in Thailand, so I could deposit it in SCB, rather then signing and mailing back to the U.S.

My current banks in the States are Chase and Bank of America.

A few years ago my uncle was going to deposit a check for me but Washington Mutual required my signature and he was unable to duplicate my chicken scratch.

So might want to check with your bank first.

You aren't funny, Dude. Keep your day job.

The bad news is that last night the city of Chiang Mai was completely submerged by the river.

The good news is that now Chiang Mai has become a river resort.

In Chiang Mai, the Yacht Club and the Beach Club Resorts are both located a short walk from the flooded areas. Many consider the pool area (Chiang Mai), with its shipwreck theming, the Taepae road which is now a huge water slide and muddy bottom pool to be the best of any Northern Thailand resort. Boat services now travel directly from Bangkok and Chiang Mai`s theme parks (water taxis are available for transportation to the other parks). Restaurants and entertainment at the Boardwalk are also conveniently close.

Hi All,

An insurance company in the US owes me a fairly large sum of money. They say they can't wire transfer the funds to my US bank account as I requested, and will only mail me a check to my Thai address. My question is how long does it typically take for a US check to clear after deposited in Kasikorn Bank. I don't need the money immediately, but don't want to wait months before accessing the funds. Any current experience with this will be appreciated.

The teller has the ability to make an entry regardless of last transaction which will be current balance with current date. But as I stated am not sure all banks can do this.

Kasikorn Bank updated my passbook the same day I got the letter. I went to the bank 3 days prior to Immigration. They simply entered a zero amount deposit with the date and current balance. My letter and passbook then agreed on date and balance, and I had no problem at Immigration.

Anyone know where I could buy new or used, a reel to reel tape deck?

I see them on Ebay, but most won't ship to Thailand.

Thanx.

We sent a shipment to Thailand earlier this year in my wifes name, who qualified for duty free status based on being a returning resident. Customs just laughed at her and said "Impossible.... everyone must pay". 3 days later we had tried about 5 different logistics companies and the best we could negotiate was down from the original 65000B to about 30000B. We were getting nowhere trying to explain it should be duty free, even with the web page printed out for them. They make the police look like amateurs when it comes to extortion. The majority of the fees they wanted to charge were handling and clearance fees so even if you somehow manage to get "Duty Free" you will still pay over 15000B in other charges. We shipped our dog over with us on the plane as excess baggage and had an official stamped import certificate from the Thai Ministry granting approval. It had taken 3 months and about $500 to get the approval. Customs refused to acknowledge it, told me it was impossible to bring a Rottweiler into thailand, despite having written approval to import " One Live Rottweiler Male" unless I paid a bribe of 30000B to the Head Veterinarian of the Dept of Livestock to "change" the paperwork. I managed to get it down to 15000B. So in all I paid 45000B for what should have cost nothing. Good Luck.

I think Rottweilers are considered a dangerous breed in Thailand.

RE: recommending a shipper. I highly recommend SIAM INTERNATIONAL FREIGHT based in Los Angeles. Earlier this year, I shipped 33 large boxes from Sacramento, CA to our home in Northern Thailand. Door to door cost was $2500 including all customs and other fees. Check their website or call Frank for a quote.

www.siaminternational.com

At Nan apply on reasons for retirement. For extensions based on marriage to a Thai they will require you to pay for the cost of the visit to your home. You will not get a receipt for this.

Nan is one of the few offices that still requires a medical certificate from the doctor, just go to a local government hospital. Will cost something like 50 baht.

Nan might also indeed want to see the report by the homeowner. You can download the form from internet and have the homeowner report you at the local police office. Take a copy of the proof of reporting with you, just in case.

Thanks to you too, Mario. I will get the medical report, and take care of the address reporting.

Don't know what I'd do without you guys!

June 20 or later visit Nan immigration office with the above plus TM.7 with photos taken within last six months (4x6cm) (you can download/print on one A4 or do at office). You will need probably two copies of everything. You should have proof of address (if wife house her blue book) and by law you must have been reported as staying at that location by home owner so could be small fine for her if no report was made (most Thai take a very casual view of such items). You should also make arrangements for making 90 day reports (address to mail/TM.47 forms).

Address verification letter will probably bring out the fine for homeowner not reporting your presence, if not mentioned before, but that may not even be an issue. Yes it would be a good time to take care of it. Can't answer DL requirements as mine was obtained some 40 years ago (they had lifetime option then).

Thanks, Lop! As always, you are extremely helpful. When you say "blue book", I assume this is the same as the "house registration"? We will immediately report my staying at this address.

Hi All,

I need a little clarification on my next step to retirement in Thailand. I am an American and have been in Thailand since 01/21/2010.

I have a Type O multi entry visa which will expire on 07/19 unless I do another border run. I want to apply for the one year extension based on retirement. I am 60 years old, and have 800,000 baht in a Thai bank account for more than 90 days.

My questions are:

1. When applying, will I need to bring anything other than my passport, visa, bankbook, and verification letter from the bank. (and of course, the fee) Previous information talks about photographs and a TM-7 form, but recent info seems to indicate these are no longer required, or will be provided at the office.

2. I am a resident of Phrae province. Am I correct that I should apply at the NAN Immigration Office?

3. I will be applying for a one year Thai driver's license shortly after in Den Chai. Should I get the required address letter of verification while at the Nan office, or should this be obtained from the local office in Phrae? I have a current US and International driver's license. What else will be required when applying for the Thai license?

BTW, I am married to a Thai citizen, but decided this would be the easier route for the visa extension since I have the 800,000 baht in a Thai bank and can leave it there.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Best I've found. About 90 baht a box. Drink a full pot every morning.

I agree. Get it at Big C. Almost like home.

however they giva offer also thai tourism want to take more step to get peoples

Well said!

lol

I know of German guy, really nice guy, living up there outside of town w/ his Thai wife whom he met in PTY. He's got a nice comfortable house and built a small house for her parents. But he's content to mess around w/ his computer, surf the net, and raise orchids. Last I heard he was starting to talk to his orchids . . . .

he speaks orchidish now?

Hey, this guy is a friend of mine, and he doesn't talk to his orchids. Besides it's only when the orchids start talking back that you have to worry.

Hi all,

Can anyone direct me to an Ophthalmologist in the Phrae area? Or can you tell me if the Phrae Christian Hospital has an Ophthalmology or eye specialist Dept?

This is in regard to follow up exams for acute close angle glaucoma for which surgery was performed. I need to monitor the eye pressure and was on 3 month recalls in the US.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

Hi All,

I have begun my retirement to Thailand process, and need a little help with the next steps.

I entered Thailand on January 20, 2010 on a multi entry type O visa, valid for 1 year in 90 day segments.

I deposited more than 800,000 baht in a joint savings account I share with my Thai wife on January 27.

My first visa segment is due to expire on April 19. I would like to apply for the annual extension based on retirement before the expiration date and avoid having to do border runs. I believe I have a few options and would appreciate opinions from the experts at Thai Visa.

1. Although I am married to a Thai citizen and could apply for the extension based on marriage which would reduce the amount of money required to be in the bank, other posts have indicated that extension based on retirement is simpler to obtain (less paperwork) as long as the 800,000 baht is not a problem. I am OK with that if in fact it is simpler. My question here is does the joint savings account qualify for the retirement extension, marriage extension, or both?

2. Am I correct that the funds only have to deposited for 60 days prior to the first annual extension, then for 90 days for future extensions? If so, it seems I am OK as 60 days would take me to March 20, well before the April expiration date (as long as the account does not have to be in my name only). If I am not correct about the "seasoning time" or the account name, then I am assuming I would need to do a border run in order to buy another 90 days and open an account in my name only.

Also, is there a specific time frame that the application or border run must be completed within prior to the expiration date?

3. I live in Northern Thailand and plan to apply in Chiang Mai. Can those with experience at this office tell me what I will need in paperwork, etc. to make the extension process hassle free, be it based on retirement or marriage?

4. Am I correct that after I obtain the extension (based on retirement or marriage), my only future requirements are to report to my local jurisdiction every 90 days, and to renew annually in Chiang Mai?

My thanks in advance to all those who can offer me corrections, clarifications, or confirmations.

My US credit cards are sent to me at my Thailand address and activation is done by phone and there has never been a problem.

Any issuers in particular that are receptive to this? I have Cap 1, Bank of America, Citibank, Wells Fargo, and Chase Visa cards, as well as American Express.

Yep, in addition to what Astral advises...

1. Once I was finished the conversion process, I didn't take the VHS-DVD recorder deck here, although I could have and used it with the power transformers in my house. Instead, I gave it to my parents, so my father can record basketball and football games shown on TV to DVD.

2. As I mentioned, I had a broad mix of original VHS tapes...some self recorded, others commercial. And among the commercial ones, some were relatively recent, and others much older. The newer ones, of course, had the VHS copy protection scheme on them. A lot of the older commercial ones did not.

I found that once I got into the whole copying process. But I still wanted to convert the newer commercial VHSs, after all, I bought them and own them. But the copy scheme would cause the DVD recorder to fail any time you'd try to record from a protected VHS. So I ended up having to shell out, maybe another $50 or so to buy, off the Internet, an exernal converter box with S-Video and RCA audio connections that allows the user to bypass the copy protection scheme on the DVD recording deck. And so, once I used that, even the newer commercially recorded VHSs were converted to my own DVDs lickety split...

I've gone down the same road with a couple of boxes of older LPs.... But I've been doing that with a turntable and USB connection to my computer here, re-recording all of them to high quality 320 kbps MP3s... That's a whole lot more time consuming and involved than the VHS-DVD conversion process. For the latter, you just start the VHS, start the recording DVD and let it go... Nothing to edit. No files to mess around with. The DVD recording deck formats everything nicely and burns it to DVD. The only thing I had to do was key in the VHS titles, if I wanted them to show in the DVD's internal menu structure (for example, if I was recording two or three different VHSs to one DVD).

Thanks for the conversion advice, guys. It's definitely the way to go, but with only 3 weeks until departure it looks like I'll be shipping the tapes and VCR, then doing my converting in Thailand. I already have a "black box" that removes copyguard, and a recently acquired DVD recorder. Wish I had more time.

I'm wondering what the best way is to maintain US credit card accounts after retiring to Thailand. I can have my US mailing address and phone number changed to my brother's, but when they send out a new card to replace an expiring one, the sticker usually says "you must activate this card from your home phone". OK, no problem, but usually I will get transferred to an agent who will ask several security questions that my brother may not be able to answer. So, I'm wondering is it better to just call the card issuer and tell them I'm living in Thailand and request they send the card to my Thai address? From other posts, it seems they may not go for that even though I pay online and have a solid history. I would certainly like to keep my cards active for things such as airline tickets and web shopping. Any advice will be appreciated.

Many VHS players bought in Thailand will actually play NTSC tapes on a PAL TV, they output a format called PAL 60 which works with most modern tellys.

Don't bother bringing a TV even if you bring your player, 100% of LCDs here are multi-standard and will happily display NTSC

Thanks for that info, Crossy. I sure don't want to ship a TV if I don't have to.

Wondering if anyone has experience with this:

I have a lot of VHS video tapes made in the US that I want to bring with me when I move to Thailand. Knowing they won't work on Thai TVs or tape players, my plan is to also bring a VHS player, small TV, and a step down power converter. The idea is I would have a playback set up exclusively for these tapes. It seems to me that with the tape player and TV plugged into the power converter, I should be able to view the tapes without problems.

Anyone see anything I might be missing?

I'd like to add to this topic, as follows: When my dual-passport Thai wife and I relocated to Thailand a couple of months ago, we each got Thai Visas from Los Angeles, I got a year O-A, and she got 3 months on an O. She is due to go to Immigration in about a month. Now, we knew she could just come in on her Thai passport, but we hope to live here forever, and being 20 years my junior, she is expected to outlive me and someday be eligible for SS survivor benefits. Now, if she is living overseas long-term, and not traveling on her American passport, she is not behaving like an American citizen and might not be able to get this SS $ sent to her here. Her American citizenship could be called into question. We were advised in America by a county immigration official that it would be wise to get her US citizenship before leaving the country for good, and I did think that implied traveling to Thailand on her American passport. I have to hope that Thai Immigration will see the picture and just keep renewing her visa when they do mine. I wonder if this would be a consideration to the original post, and I'm wondering myself.

Also, I haven't seen Citibank mentioned as an option to get money sent to Thailand bank, in my case Bangkok Bank. I can bring money here anytime for $30 wire transfer fee, all online. When I was in America, it was the easiest to get set up without needing an american address. For what it's worth.

I can't say how survivor benefits will be affected. In our case, my wife has worked for 30 years and has her own retirement benefits she will be collecting. However, I ran your post by her and she thinks that your wife will be able to extend her O visa annually thereby making her eligible for survivor benefits, but may lose her Thai citizenship by doing so. She thinks the best route would have been for her to enter Thailand on her Thai passport. This is only an opinion. Hopefully other posters will be able to provide some facts for you.

Citibank hasn't been mentioned in this post, but has been in others as a preferred bank for transfering funds to Bangkok Bank. Bank of America has recently started online international wire transfers, and I believe Chase does too.

400k in Thai bank for 2 months prior to first application for extension of stay based on marriage.

800k in Thai bank for 2 months prior to first application for extension of stay based on retirement.

Slightly less paperwork in going retirement extension route, and immigration can issue extension of stay immediately. With extension of stay based on marriage, you will be given 30 day 'under consideration' stamp and a date to come back for the rest of your extension. During this time period the local police will 'check out' your marriage is genuine and submit papers to Bangkok for approval. Is up to you which way you want to go.

Be aware that immigration is likely to push you towards retirement extension if you show them passbook with 800k in it, as this option is far less work for them.

Thank you Thaiphoon and Jingthing for clarifying that point. Definitely going for 800K.

I have learned a lot from from your participation and am grateful to all.

I love this website!!

Correct, as above, but the OP is younger than social security benefits age (minimum 62) so unless he has another private pension or other type of income, he will be using the 800K Thai baht in the bank method.

That is correct, I will be depositing 800K upon arrival. It seems that 400K is enough because of my marriage to a Thai citizen, but I'll go the full 800K just to cover my butt. Thanks!

"curtklay," if you are who I think you are, good luck with the house sale and finally moving full-time to Thailand.

My head is still spinning from reading this thread from the beginning, but one thing I don't recall reading above:

If/when you apply for a one-year retirement extension in Thailand, I believe you can go to the US Consulate in Chiang Mai for the income verification letter. No need to make a special trip to Bangkok.

As you now know, there is no need for medical report or police clearance for a retirement extension in Thailand.

You can use your current annual income to get the letter from the consulate in Chiang Mai. If your current income is less than B800,000, you can show that income plus enough savings in a Thai bank to equal B800,000 and get a retirement extension in Thailand without a two- or three-month wait. (The two- or three-month wait is for using only savings. If income is part of the equation, there is no wait.)

My regards to the missus!

wpcoe,

I visited your website and I don't think I'm the person you think I might be. But I wanted to tell you and others that the visa information on your site is very informative and easy to understand. I recommend it to anyone with questions similar to mine. Thanks!

The medical form and police report are not required if doing this in Thailand (an O visa obtained outside Thailand or inside Thailand plus an extension of stay based on retirement); those two are only required if going for an O-A from your home country. For some people from countries like the US, getting the medical report could prove expensive if you don't currently have a good relationship with a doctor and/or the doctor gets all ethical and insists on actually doing lab tests implied on the form (would never be covered by insurance).

Thanks for the clarification. That's 2 hassles I can eliminate.