Benjamin Hart from Integrity Legal has put up a video about anecdotal evidence of some immigration office requiring tax documentation from the retiree's home country.

I've only ever dealt with the US tax authorities, but to obtain official tax documentation from those people would be akin to obtaining the Wicked Witch of the Wes's broomstick. You may eventually get what you ask for, but it won't be without much grief and it will take time.

Anyway, if that requirement ever comes to pass, I'm looking for another country.

Didn't read past first two words.

7 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Didn't read past first two words.

I think the guy is worth listening to. You may not always agree with the message, but don't blame the messenger. You have to consider his background. Do you have a law degree from an American University?

In this regard there really is nothing to worry about.

Yet.

Nobody can predict the future.

On a related note I read from Bangkok Insider that Thailand is working on a data sharing technical structure between banks, immigration, and hospitals.

Not specifically about tax per se, but in my view, possibly more concerning overall than the video which is little more than a nothing burger.

Edited August 20Aug 20 by Jingthing

2 minutes ago, jas007 said:

I think the guy is worth listening to.

What's the point of your thread.

To kick around an idea of what could happen.

10 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

What's the point of your thread.

To kick around an idea of what could happen.

Exactly. Something that could happen. And the issue is worth paying attention to. It seems far fetched to me, but stranger things have happened, I'm sure. It's not as if there isn't a trajectory. Stricter banking regulations, stricter immigration controls, the integration and analysis of data from various sources. It's happening.

39 minutes ago, jas007 said:

Benjamin Hart from Integrity Legal has put up a video about anecdotal evidence of some immigration office requiring tax documentation from the retiree's home country.

I've only ever dealt with the US tax authorities, but to obtain official tax documentation from those people would be akin to obtaining the Wicked Witch of the Wes's broomstick. You may eventually get what you ask for, but it won't be without much grief and it will take time.

Anyway, if that requirement ever comes to pass, I'm looking for another country.

Official tax documents you say? to me that means my USA federal tax return. Pretty simple. along with all the forms and attachments, W-2s, 1099s etc. I would never produce that to a foreign entity, but I won;t be staying over 180 days in any calendar year either so it;s not an issue at the moment

20 minutes ago, jas007 said:

I think the guy is worth listening to. You may not always agree with the message, but don't blame the messenger. You have to consider his background. Do you have a law degree from an American University?

Did his mention his restaurant or is it a coffee place in the video?

There is nothing at all wrong with having in the back of our minds that it is a possibility that immigration extensions could be linked to taxation documentation in the future.

Nobody is saying it's time to panic.

But stranger things have happened.

Indeed there is a certain logic to this happening from the Thai officials POV.

5 hours ago, jas007 said:

Benjamin Hart from Integrity Legal has put up a video about anecdotal evidence of some immigration office requiring tax documentation from the retiree's home country.

I've only ever dealt with the US tax authorities, but to obtain official tax documentation from those people would be akin to obtaining the Wicked Witch of the Wes's broomstick. You may eventually get what you ask for, but it won't be without much grief and it will take time.

I feel like this is out of context (not unusual for his videos). There ARE some immigration offices that want proof of source of your retirement income if you are using the monthly deposits method for your extension. Most often this is something like a pension benefits letter or social security statement. It would not be difficult to confound this with tax documents, but I doubt any immigration office is specifically requiring or demanding your tax documentation for an extension.

7 hours ago, jas007 said:

I think the guy is worth listening to. You may not always agree with the message, but don't blame the messenger. You have to consider his background. Do you have a law degree from an American University?

Yes, the vast majority of his reports are about what media is printing or what a viewer has sent to him.

In the case of this episode, the foreigner is from Sweden; but there was no mention as to what Immigration Office was making the request.

Getting official copies of your returns and whatnot from the IRS is cheap and easy, as I remember.

I e-file since I retired, so I have copies saved of my filings.

7 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

Getting official copies of your returns and whatnot from the IRS is cheap and easy, as I remember.

I e-file since I retired, so I have copies saved of my filings.

That would be easy, if they accepted your copies, but sometimes, they want certified copies. And from my experience, you don't get those overnight.

17 hours ago, jas007 said:

Benjamin Hart from Integrity Legal has put up a video about anecdotal evidence of some immigration office requiring tax documentation from the retiree's home country.

It's not proof of tax, but proof of income from pensions some IO's request, and in my experience they request 'original' documents.

@BrandonJT nailed it.

12 hours ago, BrandonJT said:

I feel like this is out of context (not unusual for his videos). There ARE some immigration offices that want proof of source of your retirement income if you are using the monthly deposits method for your extension. Most often this is something like a pension benefits letter or social security statement. It would not be difficult to confound this with tax documents, but I doubt any immigration office is specifically requiring or demanding your tax documentation for an extension.

1 hour ago, jas007 said:

That would be easy, if they accepted your copies, but sometimes, they want certified copies. And from my experience, you don't get those overnight.

Better order them all now

You can also just download and print copies of old returns.

4 minutes ago, Liquorice said:

It's not proof of tax, but proof of income from pensions some IO's request, and in my experience they request 'original' documents.

@BrandonJT nailed it.

21 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

Better order them all now

You can also just download and print copies of old returns.

I can download copies of old returns from Turbotax. Anyway, I'm not going to worry about it until there's something to worry about. It may well be that the immigration officer who was dealing with the guy from Sweden was just trying to verify income. That makes sense.

If they ever start demanding tax returns for every O visa retirement extension, I'm afraid that would be a nightmare for a lot of people.

6 minutes ago, jas007 said:

If they ever start demanding tax returns for every O visa retirement extension, I'm afraid that would be a nightmare for a lot of people

Not possible, won't happen

6 minutes ago, jas007 said:

I can download copies of old returns from Turbotax. Anyway, I'm not going to worry about it until there's something to worry about. It may well be that the immigration officer who was dealing with the guy from Sweden was just trying to verify income. That makes sense.

If they ever start demanding tax returns for every O visa retirement extension, I'm afraid that would be a nightmare for a lot of people.

I can't imagine why they would want a tax return for anyone that already satisfies the financial requirement. Who there could read it?

The revenue department is a different story. They are competent, and relentless.

18 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

Didn't read past first two words.

👍

10 minutes ago, jas007 said:

If they ever start demanding tax returns for every O visa retirement extension, I'm afraid that would be a nightmare for a lot of people.

It's not tax returns Immigration are interested in, it's evidence of pension payments, the type of annual notification letter you'd receive from a pension provider, or may have to supply to your Embassy to issue an Embassy Income letter.
Fortunately, most IO's don't enforce this requirement using the monthly transfer method.

There have been recent reports when using Embassy Income letters, of IO's requesting proof of actually transferring sufficient income to meet the requirements.

1 minute ago, Liquorice said:

It's not tax returns Immigration are interested in, it's evidence of pension payments, the type of annual notification letter you'd receive from a pension provider, or may have to supply to your Embassy to issue an Embassy Income letter.
Fortunately, most IO's don't enforce this requirement using the monthly transfer method.

There have been recent reports when using Embassy Income letters, of IO's requesting proof of actually transferring sufficient income to meet the requirements.

As I recall, the monthly transfer method and money in the bank method came about as a result of embassies that did not provide income verification.

If one satisfied the financial requirement, why would verification of income be required? Or is it possible to use income verification letter to avoid the transfer and or money in the bank?

24 minutes ago, jas007 said:

Anyway, I'm not going to worry about it until there's something to worry about.

With the subsequent clarification on what income (not tax) documentation may be required, as you are the OP and are no longer concerned, you can ask the thread be closed. If only to prevent an endless loop of Jonny come lately's jumping in with more irrelevant conjecture and rumor.

9 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

As I recall, the monthly transfer method and money in the bank method came about as a result of embassies that did not provide income verification.

If one satisfied the financial requirement, why would verification of income be required? Or is it possible to use income verification letter to avoid the transfer and or money in the bank?

It's just the way some immigration offices have interpreted it. They specifically want that income to be "retirement" income, so want to see proof that the source is some type of retirement payment.

24 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

With the subsequent clarification on what income (not tax) documentation may be required, as you are the OP and are no longer concerned, you can ask the thread be closed. If only to prevent an endless loop of Jonny come lately's jumping in with more irrelevant conjecture and rumor.

OK. Can the moderator close this thread? Anyone interested in the topic can always start a new one.

Thread closed at OP request