A seemingly daunting task

[watgate]

I have been wintering in Chiang Mai the past 4 years from 1 month initially to 4 months the past 2 winters. I am planning on staying 5 months next winter and would like to try living in Thailand for a full year after that. It seems quite daunting to me because for one, I have a condo back in the U.S which would be vacant for the whole year I was gone. I couldn't rent it out because all my belongings are there and it would be a real pain to try and move everything to a storage center and then have to move everything back after my year was up in Thailand. Secondly, I get quite a bit of mail and I guess I could have it forwarded to a relative for the year I was gone. Thirdly, I don't know how I would be able to do my income tax return because all the documentation is mailed to me in the U.S. and I would be in Thailand for the year. I have some health issues but fortunately I found a great place that suits my needs so that wouldn't be a problem. I am a very organized person and I don't like it when I can't have all my ducks in a row, so to speak, so I am having trouble coming up with a game plan so that I could take care of any business back in the U.S should the need arise while I was in Thailand. Any ideas or suggestions would be much appreciated.

[beachproperty]

Sounds like you taken everything into consideration and have it resolved EXCEPT for how to do your taxes. My suggestion is do what I do....fly home for 10 days, get everything organized and get it done!

The 10 day respite from Thailand is energizing and makes me appreciate what I'm missing in Thailand.

So, Hey.....good luck!

[ikory]

Why don't you rent your condo furnished so you don't have to move anything. Seems like you could also work something out with your tenant about mail as well. Perhaps have a prepaid box ready to go and they just throw mail in there until you ask them to send it.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[benalibina]

Have done this in past as well. Rent ur appt out, forward all mail to a trusted person and off u go. When need arises u fly back to sort matters out.

U think too mutt !

[maccaroni man]

At this rate you will focus on all the blocks to the point you will no longer see your vision.

[yourauntbob]

i print all the forms online and get any bank info from online as well. Dont know why anyone would need to be in the US to do their taxes.

As said above, rent your place furninshed.

And about the mail.......seriously? first, cancel any mail, get everything online (see a patern here). I am not trying to be rude, but other than junk mail, what mail do you possibly get?

in all sincerity, these issues seem pretty small. if you want to move here just do it.

Good luck

[BarnicaleBob]

I agree with the others about renting your condo furnished. About your mail; there are re-mailing services at a lot of the private mail box stores (U.S. Pack N Ship) that provide a service where you have your mail forwarded to a box there and they then open and scan your mail then e-mail it to you. About taxes, I use an accountant in the U.S. and she does my taxes for me, she then e-mails me the filled out form and I sign it then e-mail it back, she files electronically and I follow up by snail mailing (regular mail) the hard copy of the tax form back to her for her records.

[advancebooking]

i ended up packing everything up and putting into a storage container. I used a removalist truck to assist. It was costly but was then able to be free. your parents or friend could forward your mail from a box.

all your issues are trivial. Its hard work to get it all organised but you get to live in LOS and thus worth it. In 7 to 10 days of hard work you could organise everything if you have good attention to detail.

[qdinthailand]

I do my taxes from Thailand via internet. I get all my tax forms - my Soc. Security statement and 1099's on interest and investments from several sources electronically. These business entities would rather do business electronically - saves them money on printing and mailing costs.

Since everything can be filed electronically, you don't need hard copies of anything in order to complete and submit taxes.

Now if I had an employer mailing me a W2 I suppose this might be an issue - but can't you have your relative mail you such documents? Or, if you don't care that they see the info, they only have to open the mail, take a digital photo/scan and email it to you.

Edited March 19, 2014 by qdinthailand

[Benmart]

You seem to have some good ideas already. I do taxes electronically, have a relative get my one letter a year from the post and keep things as simple as possible.

With computers, scanners, faxing, Skype, etc., I've yet to loose sleep living in the LOS. Then again, I sold everything, to include the car back home. Just "stuff" and I do nicely without it

Good luck my friend.

[mickjn]

Have done this in past as well. Rent ur appt out, forward all mail to a trusted person and off u go. When need arises u fly back to sort matters out.

U think too mutt !

That about sums it out your going to Thailand think like a Thai as far as relax goes you are thinking to much.Rent your place out. Some you know will know someone.The main thing is someone that will take care and pay the bills electricity etc you do not want to make a lot out off rent just someone to take care of the place.

Mail get a post office box .Most bills can be paid online.

Tax I do not know but I wouldn't give a shit about it.Do it on line or when you come back or leave it with an accountant.Now get 2 big suitscases and fill the 2 big suitcases up with your stuff.Then get a small suit case and put everything you need from from the 2 big suitcases into the small suit case and just bring the small suitcase.Have a great holiday.Relax

[ironhorse10]

I live in Chiang Mai too, everything I get, can be done on-line, I email all my tax info to my accountant in the States, my bank is in the states, nobody sends me any mail, its all done on the computer, the only problem I see is with your condo, like many have said rent it out, but good renters are hard to find, my step daughter broke me of renting to family. So if you can't find someone you can trust, just leave it vacant.

[piewarmer]

My old landlord forwarded all my mail to Chiang Mai from Australia. we had to stop, too much junk addressed to me.

Then my credit card renewal was overlooked, separate letters with card and pin. That was a real headache.

I really didn't want him to open all my mail but it was unavoidable.

[Tony125]

All your US tax forms and booklet can be downloaded and printed online ,can also do it with Turobo Tax or some other tax company. Could also have your relative put in large envelope and mail to you. Other bank cards and stuff can be paid or done online as well. Family--- friends can be given your address here in Thailand or just e mail you.

As far as condo get a realtor to rent for you. They collect and oversea property. Take personal items you don't want damaged or stolen and put in storage.

[rollrunna]

sounds to me that you see only obstacles and probably dont really want to move, certainly not a pioneering spirit, and when here you will probably find many of the oddities of thai life too irrational and too much to suit your insecure back ground ( ducks in a row )... you like other peoples dream and wish it was yours.. Chai Mai.?

[PhillyBoy]

yourauntbob beat me to it! I have been living in LOS since April 2013. Arranged all mail to go to my sister, changed all credit cards, bank statements, mortgage statements, health care to be sent ONLINE. No paper. You will be saving the earth to boot! I have a house back there and rent it out, do business with a management company and they take care of all rents, issues, problems, late payments (if any) and send you a 1099 at the end of the year. Filed my taxes online and e-signed.

They can't make it any easier than that. If its a problem....then you really don't want to live here.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

The odd thing is, the OP didn't seem to mention what probably is the most important issue he'd face: what kind of immigration status he'd be using to stay in Thailand, if he planned on staying for a full year. No mention of age or retirement eligibility.

Otherwise, everything else is easy:

--Mail forwarding services like USA2Me will give you a U.S. mail forwarding address to substitute for your current home, and send all your paper mail to you monthly in Thailand, along with giving you online control over what's sent, what's trashed and when. That means no missed bank card renewals etc. There also are other companies that will scan and email your mail, but some things, you need the originals for.

--There are tons of Americans in Thailand, and many do their own taxes online or via computer using programs like TurboTax. There are a few U.S. oriented tax preparers in Thailand as well. But if you don't like either of those option, tax business can be transacted between the U.S. with your regular tax preparer and Thailand via email or other similar means.

--I have a variety of bank and other financial accounts, and these days, there isn't a single one that doesn't have the option -- and in fact encourages their customers -- to switch to paperless monthly or quarterly statements that are then delivered via email. I get ZERO monthly bank statements in the postal mail. About half of my annual 1099 type forms also come via email/download, and the other half go to my U.S. mail forwarding address.

If you're thinking about living yearround in CM, you'd better also be thinking about how you're going to fare during its infamous burning/smoke/pollution season, especially for someone with pre-existing health issues.

Also, get a U.S. phone number you can use in Thailand, by getting one via Google Voice or another service like MagicJack or Skype or Net2Phone. That way, contacts in the U.S. will be able to easily call you, and you'll have unlimited free calls back to numbers in the U.S.

Also make sure how you're going to handle health care expenses while in Thailand. Generally, travel insurance won't cover year-long stays, and neither will a lot of regular U.S. insurance policies. Everyone has a different situation. But make sure, one way or the other, that you'll be able to access decent quality medical care in Thailand should you need it.

BTW, you really do want to keep and use SOME U.S. mailing address, because you definitely don't want to switch over all your bank accounts and credit cards and such to Thailand, unless you enjoy the prospect of some, perhaps many of them canceling you, once you list a Thai address with them.

Edited March 19, 2014 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[watgate]

Some excellent replys and suggestions. I can be a nervous Nellie if I let myself get overwhelmed. I really am an adventurer and just need to decide how to best proceed. As the replys have shown, there are different ways to achieve your desired results. My challenge is to not let inertia stop me from going ahead with my desire to live full-time in Thailand. I have been staying in Thailand on tourist visas but would go for a retirement visa to stay full-time in Thailand. My health plan pays for emergency or urgent care so I would just private pay for less serious medical issues if I needed to. A question I do have is if I opted to have my mail forwarded to me in Thailand, is it reliable and safe or do you have to worry about someone opening up your mail in Thailand?

[wym]

You don't have to worry about paper - bills, letters and stuff, although stuff can always go missing. Have them send it with a tracked service for important stuff.

Lots of these services will open and scan to email for you.

Actual merchandise - and you should select a mail forwarding service that will accept UPS/FedEx packages and repack them for you as if second-hand via regular surface post to avoid duties - can go missing occasionally.

Safer to send with a carrier like DHL, but then you WILL have to pay sometimes crazy duties on merchandise.

[bangkapi]

You need a good friend or relative to help. Finding someone you can trust is the hardest thing to do.

Change your mailing address to the friend's place.

Take all of your belongings and make 4 piles:

Give/Donate

Sell

Toss

Keep

Keep the minimum that you need and store it at the place of a friend or relative and then sell or rent the condo.

The only real consideration, is money.

Your income stream and savings need to be enough to make the move.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

A question I do have is if I opted to have my mail forwarded to me in Thailand, is it reliable and safe or do you have to worry about someone opening up your mail in Thailand?

The service I use, the Just Mail plan from USA2Me, sends their monthly mail packages via USPS Global Priority flat rate envelope holding up to 4 lbs. Those are delivered locally by the regular mailman from ThaiPost. Never yet had one go missing or any tampering at the Thai end.

As a general rule, no one's going to be especially interested in a bunch of paper envelopes inside. But you could, if you chose to, instead have those envelopes delivered by one of the couriers like FedEx or DHL. But that's going to be more expensive, and basically a waste of paying for express courier service.

I wouldn't use USA32ME, though, for packages (as opposed to letters). Shipito.com is a better choice for forwarding packages. And likewise, never had a package from them go missing or any tampering with the contents here (although rarely some packages are opened/checked by Thai customs)..

PS - Setting up any mail forwarding is something you definitely want to do while still in the U.S., because you will get to fill out and submit notarized USPS forms to authorize that, and getting documents notarized in Thailand is an expensive hassle, not to mention then having to send them back to the U.S. Definitely take care of that just before any future departure.

Edited March 20, 2014 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Safer to send with a carrier like DHL, but then you WILL have to pay sometimes crazy duties on merchandise.

I regularly use the Priority Airmail service offered by Shipito.com. Have sent dozens of packages through that means, and never yet had one go missing, nor have I ever paid any duty on almost any of those packages.

If, by comparison, I had been sending them via DHL, my shipping cost alone would have been at least double the price, and I would regularly then also being hit up for both 7% VAT tax and a lot of added customs charges, with the amount depending on the items being sent.

For a lot of reasons, it's VERY hard to recommend DHL as a method for sending regular shopping packages from the U.S. to Thailand.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

You need a good friend or relative to help. Finding someone you can trust is the hardest thing to do.

Change your mailing address to the friend's place.

Take all of your belongings and make 4 piles:

Give/Donate

Sell

Toss

Keep

Keep the minimum that you need and store it at the place of a friend or relative and then sell or rent the condo.

The only real consideration, is money.

Your income stream and savings need to be enough to make the move.

The OP mentioned he was going to "try" living in Thailand, for the first time, for a full year period. It doesn't exactly sound like a full-fledged commitment.

In my case, I was pretty sure I was going to stay, but still, you never really know for certain until you've done it. So to ease the transitition, I for the first year kept a rented public storage room back in the U.S. for my key household things that I wasn't going to donate or trash.

That way, if something went very wrong here in terms of my expectations, I'd still have most of my bigger ticket essentials to return to. As it turned out, everything was fine here. So then, on periodic trips back to the U.S. I gradually sold off and otherwise disposed of those items over time, and eventually closed out the rented storage space.

If you shop around, you can find decent deals on public storage. And of course, one way or the other, it's not going to be for the long-term... just a bit of insurance on your planned relocation. And also a way to be able to sell off things you want to sell without having to do so in a rush just prior to one's departure.

This approach, of course, assumes that you expect to make a trip or two back to the U.S. during your first year in Thailand to finish unwinding things, or that you have a relative or other such person who can do the gradual unwinding for you -- assuming you're contented to stay in Thailand.

Edited March 20, 2014 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[watgate]

Lots of great advice and information. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences. I have been staying in Chiang Mai during the winter months the last 4 years and now, once again, the air has turned foul and is causing many health problems for the unfortunate folks who are there. Is the air better down south, and if so, maybe that is a solution, to head down there for 4-6 weeks until the air quality improves in Chiang Mai. Any input into what folks do during this period to deal with the foul and insipid air would be appreciated. Maybe it isn't an issue for folks living in southern Thailand?

[wym]

Even in the north, it's only certain areas and for a limited time of the year.

Elsewhere very sporadic.

Unless you're very sensitive, allergy or respiratory condition, then the bad pollution all along BKK and the Eastern Seaboard may affect you, I've got a friend gets terrible migraines every time he comes to visit me for more than a few days in BKK.

Just remember - only rent, never buy.