Transcript of the above video"

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing a "Devilish Plan" regarding taxes in Thailand. What are we talking about here? I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Visa policies threaten soft power hippos, gay marriage and gambling. Interesting kind of eclectic article; I urge those who are watching this video, go check that out. We're going to quote this one section regarding Tax. Quoting directly: "Not to mention the policy to tax some overseas income transmitted to Thailand since January 2024 and the devilish plan (which requires a change in the law) to tax worldwide income from next year, whether transmitted or not. The current panic and confusion about taxation for residents - living here for 180 days or more in a calendar year - is arguably without precedent in Thai immigration history. Soft power is always at serious risk when bad news is the headline talking point." Yeah good point. Thailand is quite, I hesitate to say obsessed, but enamoured with the notion of soft power and rightly so. Thailand kind of embodies in many ways soft power: the food, the culture, the tradition, the music, including the people. Many people come here and they just find a person that they either fall in love with or they just make friends with, so again Soft Power. Thailand doesn't lack soft power. 

Meanwhile, the notion that this is a devilish plan, I have got to say I disagree with that. In fact the problem I think we have here is that nobody has a plan. It's just folks end up, for example Government people will end up saying something - sometimes sort of spontaneously or off the cuff - or maybe they're saying something because they're conveying a policy that their particular agency wants to pursue but it may not be a policy that the overall Government is looking to pursue, and that can cause confusion and consternation within the expat community and I completely understand why. 

That said, I don't think it's prudent to presume you're going to see a great deal of clarification coming from any Authorities especially the Tax Authorities because that's just simply not exactly what they do. Tax Authorities like things to be at least somewhat opaque because they want to maintain their ability to tax you. So at the end of the day, that's why they kind of do that. They don't mind their own rules being somewhat obfuscated albeit not intentionally, but just they don't necessarily go out of their way to clarify things because they want to leave open the possibility that under certain circumstances where they need to apply the law certain way, they will do so in order to garner tax money. This is why I constantly get so upset about people being on the internet handing out one size fits all advice regarding tax for foreigners here in Thailand, as that simply not the way that the system works. 

So the thing to take away from this video is ‘is there a Devilish Plan to change Thai Tax Law?’ I'm not so sure. I think more than anything, this is a byproduct of Thailand looking at joining the OECD and they are kind of taking initial measures to align their rules with the OECD. Whether or not that ultimately comes to pass, their membership in OECD remains to be seen. As discussed in prior videos, it's a five year process and look I've seen similar circumstances with the TPP versus the RCEP system that we saw, that was a trade issue some years back. I think I commented on it a little bit on this channel but that was so long ago that we were just getting started. But that said, again it reminds me a lot of that and Thailand is just going to kind of pursue her own interests. Whether or not she joins OECD remains to be and therefore I think it remains to be seen whether or not Thailand will fundamentally change her laws regarding tax, but as of yet, we have yet to see any change with regard to Thai Tax Law here in the Kingdom of Thailand.