sojourner007

A pet cafe in Asoke (https://www.asokpethouse.com/) has regular cat adoption sessions.

4 hours ago, Will27 said:

I think you're getting confused with the records that you have to keep.

 

The ATO will have all of your details either online or on microfiche.

 

You generally only get one TFN.

You will need to phone them.

According to this it's generally only 7 years:
https://community.ato.gov.au/s/question/a0J9s0000001Gs5EAE/p00041155

I submitted my tax return in Australia last time more than 15 y ago, and then moved to Thailand, where I've been living since then.  Now I'm considering returning to Australia and becoming a tax a resident there again. According to online information, the ATO keeps individual's tax records for only 5 years.  I've lost my TFN and tax paper records and so I wonder if I'll need to apply for a new TFN. Or should I try to resurrect the old one somehow, if it still exists in the ATO's database?

If one cannot produce documents proving that one's money come from a job, can sale of an investment, such as a property, serve as an acceptable source? When the 'know your customer' craze started among Western financial institutions a few years back, I was suddenly asked by my stock brokers, where I held my investments for years, to explain the original source of the funds. And while some demanded evidence of former wages that I received, others were satisfied with account statements showing that the money to fund my account came from sold previous investments. So if I move my offshore EUR 1M to Thailand and buy a property here, sell it a short while later, hopefully without a significant loss on commission and tax, then transfer the sale proceeds to Australia, would the sale agreement document likely to satisfy my Australian bank as evidence of a legitimate source of the money received?

5 hours ago, Inala said:

If you've been living in Thailand for many years then you're deemed by the ATO to be a 'non-resident for tax purposes'. This is further reinforced as you state yourself to be a tax resident of Thailand. As a non-resident for tax purposes, the ATO are not interested in how you earned the money and in law, they have no claim over it anyway. However, you need to transfer it back PRIOR to landing back in the country with the intent to resume residency. Anything AUD10k or more that hits your bank account after you arrive back (to take up residency) is logged with Austrac and the ATO then have a two year time frame after those transfer dates in which they can query the transactions and potentially deem them to be funds earned as a tax resident.  

 

The money you mentioned was earned in Australia could potentially be taxable (did you not pay tax on it at the time?) This would depend on your tax residency status at the time of earning it. Be careful with this point, because becoming a non-resident for tax purposes is actually harder than it sounds. You need to the demonstrate to the ATO a clear intent to break ties, such as cancelling Medicare, selling off cars, boats etc, cancelling club membership. If you don't own a house and have no Australian sourced income, it's much easier to prove no enduring relationship that would lead to failing the domicile test. In any case, the ATO has a kind of unwritten point which is when you're out of the country for 2+ years they will more easily view you as a non-resident. It sounds like you easily pass this. 

 

For the property transaction, buy the house whilst still overseas as a non-resident. You will be required to transfer the funds to the RE agent's trust account, thus insulating yourself a further step from any possible queries from the ATO about these funds. Perfectly legal, and in any case this is the same step you would be required to do if you were a resident purchasing in Australia. 

 

DO NOT, under any circumstance, declare yourself a tax resident of Australia and then move the funds from offshore. This is the exact opposite as to what you should do. As a tax resident, you'll be liable to pay tax, plain and simple. You will lose about 450k of those Euros... In any case, you cannot just declare yourself a tax resident from overseas. Tax residency comes with certain benefits (such as tax free threshold, lower tax withholding on earnings etc) and after such a long time away you need to land back in the country with the intent to permanently reside (i.e. not just coming back for a 2 or 3 week holiday) before you regain tax residency.

Thank you, Inala, for your insightful and very helpful comments on my problem.
While the focus of your comments is tax implications of bringing offshore funds to Australia, I'm also concerned about the money being simply frozen by a bank on their receipt for money-laundering screening. Do you think that there is a risk of that happening if one makes an international transfer to an Australian RE agent's trust account for a property purchase?
After reading your post, I've come across the following in an online article by Austrac, Strategic analysis brief: Money laundering through real estate 2015,: "The following indicators may assist to identify potential money laundering...Deposits to buy a property have been sourced from an offshore bank...Transactions in which the parties are foreign or a non-resident for tax purposes".
Taken that into account, do you think that it is then safer to move the money first to a Thai bank, which would not be considered as a typical offshore one, and then pay the Australian RE trust account?

I initially thought that Australian banks are perhaps less vigilant, in regards to money-laundering screening, towards large incoming international payments, if the account holder is an Australian tax resident. The above Austrac reference may seem as confirming somewhat my view.  However, as you point out, that such a transfer may incur a huge Australian tax liability if one is already a tax resident. I guess, to avoid the liability, one would have to prove to the ATO that the money transferred have been earned, and paid tax on, in Australia or in a country which has a double taxation treaty with Australia? That would be difficult for me to prove, as I mentioned in my original post.
 

6 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

As it would be the one to decide, have you thought about asking your Australian bank about any potential problems?

 

I can't imagine that any bank would have any issue accepting investment funds from an established stockbroking account.

 

 

I will ask the bank, but its customer service staff nowadays is located in the Philippines or India and whatever their answer is on the phone carries no significance to what will actually happen when the funds arrive.  The current money-laundering regulations make banks paranoid about incoming transfers from overseas.  Plenty of reports on the internet about banks accounts in Anglo-saxon countries being frozen when receiving large international transfers.

I'm an Australian who has been living in Thailand for many years. I'm thinking of leaving Thailand for good and returning to Australia. I have about EUR 1M in an account with a European stock broker and I'd like to transfer the funds to Australia. Has anyone had a recent experience of moving similar, or larger amounts, to their home countries from abroad? I'm primarily concerned about my Australian bank freezing the funds and asking questions about their origin and how they were earned. I've not worked for more than 15 years and I'm not running any business. Originally I earned the money from jobs in Australia and overseas but unfortunately I did not keep much documentation from those years proving my employment and salaries in contract roles that I had then.
Would it result in fewer questions if I first transfer the money to a USD account in Thailand and then move it to Australia, rather than directly paying the funds from an offshore financial centre to an Australian bank? A lot has been written on this forum about problems and limitations of transferring smaller amounts from baht accounts to banks in home countries. Are local banks' foreign currency accounts subject to the same limits and documentary requirements for international transfers?
I'm planning to use the money to buy a property in Australia. Perhaps, if I find a suitable property,  I could then pay the money directly from my offshore broker's account to the real estate agent's escrow account towards the purchase, bypassing my own Australian bank account?
I'm currently a tax resident of Thailand. Will my Australian bank ask fewer questions if I first declare myself a tax resident of Australia and then move the funds from offshore?

I've recently purchased a new Samsung mobile phone on ebay, to be shipped from Taiwan. I assumed the seller would use China Post or similar. Instead it was delivered by DHL in a couple of days. I paid the seller $250 for the phone and delivery. Thai DHL charged me almost 800 baht before handing over the shipment. 600 baht in VAT, and 200 for "Disbursement", whatever it might be.  

I just wonder how hot it needs to get here for falang to start rethinking their plans for holidays and future retirement in Thailand and eventual exodus of whites from this country. Who want after all to live in an oven.

I've just returned to Thailand from an overseas trip and was surprised to see a such a huge concentration of luxury imported vehicles (Mercs, BMWs, Porshes, etc) tightly parked in the airport car park building, many with red registration plates. The number of luxury cars there has increased dramatically over the last few years. This sight immediately reminded me of 1997, just before the Asian financial crisis when I arrived in Bangkok from Australia and was shocked to see so many Mercs on the roads in Bangkok with much higher frequency than I saw them on the streets of Sydney, a supposedly much wealthier city. It looked like Thailand at the time took a giant leap in prosperity and had overtaken Australia.

I was also unpleasantly surprised then that girls in Pat Pong asked for thousands of baht for their services, totally unlike what I encountered a few years before that.

Also what seems to me a sort of anecdotal evidence of a sudden jump in local wealth was when I talked to my condo manager, who was wearing a gold watch and lots of gold rings, about a quote for a door mosquito screen mesh replacement and he mentioned 2000 baht. I said I expected only a few hundred and he just looked at me with a sort of indignation and said that 2000 was a just a "small money". So there you go, somehow I don't feel 2K is that small but to a Thai person now it seems like just a pocket change.

So on the basis of the similarity of the current impressions with what I remember from just before the crisis hit in 1997 and later when it turned out that most of those Mercs were leased, ended up repossessed by the dealers, and quickly disappeared from the roads, I feel that perhaps there might be another financial crisis coming to this country soon. We know that history tends to move in circles and after excessive wealth (on credit?) creation bad times usually come. I'm not sure though from what direction it may arrive. Currency devaluation seems unlikely, as the country has formidable foreign reserves. Rising interest rates may prick the bubble (if there is one) but the central bank is actually cutting rates now. Perhaps some serious problems in China?

I just wonder, if men in those Nordic countries are so happy to live at home why so many of them are moving to Thailand?

Why do so many Thais live in Europe?

I doubt the numbers are even remotely comparable.

I just wonder, if men in those Nordic countries are so happy to live at home why so many of them are moving to Thailand?

Looks a bit like she is pointing to the policeman on her right. She needs to learn better pointing techniques while in Thailand.

“The Acting Assistant Regional Director who supervised the two special agents in [Colombia] was also alleged to have solicited prostitutes” in Thailand, the report states. “In that case, the AARD allegedly engaged in sexual relations with prostitutes at a farewell party in the AARD’s honor. There were also allegations operational funds were used to pay for the party and the prostitutes who participated.”

In Thailand, DEA agents patronized prostitutes “on a regular basis,” held several loud parties with prostitutes that occurred at an agent’s government-leased quarters, and frequented a brothel. One of the agents was accused of assaulting a prostitute following a payment dispute. The DEA management in the country did not report the accusations up their chain of command or to OPR, “treating these allegations as local management issues,” the report found.

Pattaya is dead as a dodo. It was quiet even at Xmas and New Year compared to previous years but it is really dead now.

I don't see much changing in the near future.

A strong thai baht and weaker euro the crash of the rouble and the aussie dollar all mean less tourists coming.

Sex tourists are probably going elsewhere as Pattaya famous for its sex scene is no longer cheap in fact it is damn expensive so punters are going elsewhere like Cambodia, Phillipines.

Unfortunately it's just as expensive in the Phillipines and without all the comforts and conveniences one gets in LOS.

Her again.

Exactly. Just a few weeks ago she was arrested for the same thing. I guess it's just a small fine to pay and off she goes again.

If lots of people respect you and you're known around town as a wise and intelligent person whose opinion matters, then you're esteemed.

I'm glad you appreciated my attempt at mild irony . I wonder why some get apparently so aggressive in response to posts where general,subjective, and non-offensive observations are made about certain nationalities. I was hoping though more for some economic insights that might explain the contradictions I described.

My impression is that Turks have been gaining a significant presence in the local tourist mix. This is puzzling because their currency has been falling, the economic growth slowing significantly, and the stock market stagnating over the last few years. Yet, Turkey recently opened a consulate in Phuket, Turkish restaurants have appeared in Pattaya everywhere, their citizens are now often in the local news (for mainly being drugged and robbed) and the beach road and walking street at night are full of them successfully picking up the best of local talent and Russian stunners (a bit envious, I must admit). I may add to this that Turks now also dominate among foreign customers in adult nightlife scene in many former Soviet republics like Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan, etc. A falling total outbound tourism from that country adds to the puzzle.
While a lot has been commented on the fall in tourism from Russia where the currency took a nosedive last year, I've noticed a few countries with economic troubles which generate significant growth in their tourists in Thailand. Spain is another such example. First a real estate collapse after the GFC, then a banking crisis in 2012, with a very high unemployment to follow. And yet the growth in Spanish tourist numbers in Thailand has been higher than from many more prosperous and stable European countries. We all know about sanctions and the dire economic situation in Iran but I read more and more often stories about Iranian tourists here in Pattaya and I have recently started bumping into some of them even in my condo. Greece is another case in point. A few years back never heard about Greek tourists here, but now they are occasionally in the news and even have joined these forums. This is despite the country being practically bankrupt.
I find this puzzling and would like to know what other esteemed members of the TV community think about my observations.

French speaking, over 50 = the usual "smell bad", "lack personal hygiene" suspects.

IMHO the usual unimaginative French and senior bashing troll post.

No, British were also specifically mentioned.

i have no experience with French or German seniors but i experienced it with British, younger people. ..That didn't bath for weeks or months, in winter. Perhaps something to do with living conditions historically, no hot water.

It is the culture of washing the face only in the mornings and maybe at night. i thought it had changed, "modern times," but apparently not.

oh, yes, and the tube in London in summer! ugh! Disgusting!

Indians are probably the world leaders in body smells (and disregarding the comfort of others in that respect). A Thai friend of mine who worked in a hotel in Pattaya told me that the management reserved specific floors for them to avoid annoying guests of other nationalities with unpleasant odors. Thankfully not many Indian nationals come to the immigration office here yet. As for the French I suspect it might be a cultural thing. I even heard the expression 'French bath' which I think means just a washbasin without a shower or bathtub in the bathroom. That perhaps suggests that French do no regard showering as particularly necessary.

Could it be simply that Mr Medvedev just wants to have a short tropical holiday at government expense and to try the world famous Bangkok nightlife?

Interesting that more tourists come from Spain. I've checked the official statistics on the TAT website and since 2012 tourism from that country has been growing faster than from many other European countries. It's interesting because in 2012 Spain suffered a terrible banking crisis and the unemployment rate shot up significantly. Looks like in some countries the worse the economic situation is the more people travel to Thailand. Iran is another example. Perhaps Turkey too, their currency has been falling for a while but the number of outbound tourists from there has been growing strongly according to my subjective observations, and not only to Thailand. Eastern Europe is flooded with Turkish men looking for brides.

Ive noticed that an increasing number of young people are killing thesmelves in Thailand.

The western world has never been so affluent. Wages and salaries are very high ( except usa) and opportunities abound.

No young generation in world history has had it so good as this current one. .... born after 1985

Most Australian people born in the early eighties wouldnt know what a recession is.

Why are westerners killing themselves?

I would like to make 2 points in response.

First, humans are generally known to be happier when they are doing better in life than others around them. Therefore when all are wealthy, yourself included, it does not add anything to your happiness. The best situation to be in in that regard for maximum happiness is when you're rich and people around you are poor.

Second, due to the rise of feminism the chances of getting an attractive female partner have greatly diminished in the West over the last 25 y. For young men it can be devastating.