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Etaoin Shrdlu

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Everything posted by Etaoin Shrdlu

  1. If the foreign father had PR and did not bring the funds to purchase the condo from abroad, then I can see that there would be an issue. There may be other aspects of the particular case as well, including a Land Department office not following the rules or not having proper paperwork. I would certainly recommend that anyone in a similar situation get proper legal advice specific to their situation.
  2. My understanding is this: If the testator was a foreigner who brought money into Thailand for the purpose of purchasing the condo, and this was duly documented at the Land Department at the time it was transferred to the testator, then the testator's foreign beneficiary would not need to have permanent residency in order to be able to register and keep the unit in their name. The foreign beneficiary inherits not only the condo itself from the foreign testator, but also the foreign testator's right to own the condo by virtue of the funds having been brought in from abroad. If the testator is a Thai, then the foreign beneficiary will need to have PR or sell within 12 months. I don't think there is a work-around involving money from abroad for this scenario. But I suggest you get this clarified by a lawyer.
  3. Opened a checking account at 13 while earning money delivering newspapers and mowing lawns. Lied about age to get weekend work in a fast food joint at 15. At 16 got a full-time job on the evening shift in a factory making polyethylene drainage tubing while still going to high school. Worked as a security guard midnight to 8 am shift while in college and sold books door to door in the summer. My kids haven't had to do what I had to do, and I'm glad that they haven't. They do understand money and are very responsible. I don't think hardship and having menial jobs are the only ways to instill good values and habits.
  4. My experience is the same as yours, but with four kids instead of two. All got into good universities or colleges in the US. Two have now graduated and have good jobs in the US and two are still studying. I was also born an expat. I think my children benefited greatly from being born and raised here compared to most of their peers in the US.
  5. Perhaps the three-cylinder two-strokes they used in the 96 back in the day. If so, they'll need to throw in the freewheeling transmission.
  6. Regency is itself another broker or intermediary and the actual coverage is provided by the insurance companies they have distribution or agency agreements with. Claims-paying attitude and ability is largely a function of the insurer and not the broker/intermediary, so it can be difficult to comment unless one knows the identity of the underlying insurer. Regency's brochure for health insurance does not disclose the identity of the insurer or insurers they use. Personally, I'm a bit leery of insurers that are incorporated in Caribbean tax havens or other places with lax regulatory oversight as well as insurers that don't have AM Best or Standard and Poor's financial strength ratings.
  7. In addition to needing a re-entry visa, a PR holder needs an endorsement in their TM16/TM17 booklet (certificate of residence). This is also valid for one year and can only be obtained at immigration. I do not know if it would be possible to get a non-quota immigrant visa at the airport if one still had validity on the endorsement but had used up a single entry visa. I have always gotten a multiple entry non-quota immigrant visa at the same time I got an endorsement. Getting these stamps at CW has never been difficult. There is a separate section for this and there are usually only a handful of applicants present. I hand my documents in by 9 am and have them back around 11. There are a couple of forms to fill out, photos to present and fingerprints go give, but it is painless and the officers have always been courteous. There is no requirement to submit any financial documents, proof of marital status, proof of employment or anything like that. Just the application forms, photos and fingerprints along with passport, TM16/17 and red police book. Oh, and the fees.
  8. PR holders need a re-entry visa (non-quota immigrant visa) in order to be able to retain PR if they wish to travel abroad. This visa is good for one year and the PR holder has to be back in Thailand before it expires.
  9. I think the info contained in the link is correct and fairly comprehensive. The summary in the post omits the possibility of inheriting from another foreigner.
  10. My understanding: If your girlfriend is a Thai citizen, you would have to have permanent residency or be here under a promotion scheme (BOI or other investment) in order to inherit and not have to sell within one year. If your girlfriend is a foreigner and brought the money into Thailand for the purpose of buying the condo, then you would inherit from her the right to own the condo without having to sell it.
  11. I think the link that TigerCat provided earlier explains this fairly well: https://bangkoklegal.com/bangkok-foreign-condo-ownership-condo-inheritance-laws-in-thailand/
  12. I'm not sure the Land Department will transfer ownership of a condo to a foreigner other than a PR holder without the foreigner showing that funds were transferred into Thailand. I don't think there is an exception for inheritances.
  13. Permanent residents are allowed to purchase condos without having to transfer funds into Thailand. Those without PR must show that the funds to acquire the condo were brought into the country for that purpose. I think this is the issue.
  14. Permanent residency is a separate process apart from acquiring citizenship, but has some similar requirements such as being employed and paying taxes at the time of application among other things. I successfully went through the process of obtaining PR back in the prior millennium. With PR, there is no annual renewal at immigration or 90 day reporting and one's name is entered into the blue tabien baan. It does not allow land ownership or very many other rights associated with citizenship, but it is permanent in that it is not subject to renewal. It can be lost or revoked, but Thai citizenship can also be revoked if one is naturalized.
  15. Even if a court in the UK were to grant jurisdiction, you would have to re-litigate in Thailand, so there is no point in pursuing this in the UK if that was your intent. As Digibeth has stated above, there is no small claims court in Thailand, so again, your best move is to contact the Office of the Insurance Commission and file a complaint.
  16. I have a couple of questions: Where were you when you purchased the insurance policy? What address did you use on the proposal form? Did you pay the premium with funds wired from the UK or with funds already in Thailand? What does the policy say about governing law and jurisdiction? Have you sought legal counsel in the UK? If so, what did they say about a court in the UK agreeing to have jurisdiction over this matter? Depending upon your situation, you may have difficulty getting a court in the UK to accept your case due to jurisdictional issues. Your best remedy might be to lodge a complaint with the Office of the Insurance Commissioner here in Thailand.
  17. I think existing information exchange agreements, often contained in dual taxation agreements, would compel the UK tax authorities to provide relevant information if an investigation rose to the level of Thai authorities formally asking for it. I don't think UK authorities would refuse to cooperate based upon how some people may regard Thailand, but they could decline to cooperate if proper procedures were not adhered to. I agree that a formal request for information exchange is unlikely in the case of Thai tax authorities investigating a pensioner over minor tax affairs. My guess is that the RD would simply present a bill for amounts they believe are due, with the presumption that any overseas credit card use constituted the inward remittance of untaxed funds and place the burden on the taxpayer to prove otherwise. Credit card transaction details can likely be obtained from the Bank of Thailand since they involve foreign exchange. Again, what the RD chooses to do and what they technically can do are often different things. In order for someone to decide on how compliant they wish to be, I think they would need to know both what actual practice is going to be as well as what the worst case scenario is. I don't think we know yet what practice will be under the new interpretation of the rules.
  18. I agree. I think tax authorities are aware of this issue. Those that have the most potential to be affected are those who manage to escape taxation in their home countries due to residency or domicile status and then also manage to escape Thai taxation by threading the needle timing-wise under the old rules. Of course some pensions may be excluded by treaty and there are generous deductions under the Thai tax regime, but for those with significant remittances of untaxed money, this could be an issue.
  19. In the scenario you mention, you're extinguishing a debt that has been imported into Thailand with money that has not been taxed by Thailand. This could cause the payment of the debt outside Thailand with money that hasn't been taxed by Thailand to be classified as assessable income. Same as in the UK: https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/residence-domicile-and-remittance-basis/rdrm33520. I think it is possible that the RD could take the same or a similar position. This is just too easy a loophole for the RD to ignore. Perhaps not with expats' credit cards, but on a larger scale with corporates and wealthy individuals. Problem is that we'd all be swept up by this whether intentionally or not.
  20. Why spoil a perfectly good reply by reading and comprehending the original post first? No fun in that!
  21. I owned a condo in the Thonglor area for many years. I was able to sell it within a few weeks of putting it on the market with a real estate agent. The building was close to thirty years old at the time of sale, so it wasn't new. A Thai bought it. I have now lived in a house in a mooban in in Bangkok for over twenty years. There are always several houses in the mooban with for sale signs visible, often with real estate agents' names and logos on them. Some of the houses have had the signs on them for years. Occasionally one will be sold, but it seems to take a long time. If I were looking to purchase a residence that I wanted to sell at some later date without too much of a delay, I would choose a condo in a popular building near a BTS or MRT station. I think houses are harder to shift for a number of reasons.
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