Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Thai Tax issues yet again. Unfortunately, the interlopers and illegal folks - what I'm calling the illegal foreign tax stamp-pimps - have all run around here and stirred up a great deal of consternation here in Thailand over the issue of taxes, and one thing that comes up with regard to tax analysis here in Thailand pertains to 180 days physically present here in the Kingdom. What are we talking about? 

Well, as we have discussed in other videos - actually it's 183 days if you go in and actually read the underlying rules - but let's use 180 as sort of our rule of thumb. The question posed by this sort of new situation, if you will or new discussion on this - it's really not a new situation, nothing's really fundamentally changed - there's been no actual tax law promulgated. I'm not really interested in the nonsense interpretive dance of a bunch of tax stamp-pimp charlatans as well as a bunch of bureaucrats who cannot promulgate relevant Thai Tax Law unilaterally. If you want to promulgate new tax law here in Thailand, promulgate it through Parliament, okay? You can't do an interpretive dance and just create an affirmative duty regarding taxes out of thin air. This isn't alchemy; that's not how it works. 

That said, back to the point of this video which is this 180 days. So, the question posed is, 'does 180 days spent physically in Thailand, in and of itself require filing of a tax ID?' Again, it depends on the circumstances of the underlying case but again as I've discussed in other videos, and I discussed at the Pattaya City Expats Club here recently, physical presence in Thailand in and of itself is what it is. It's just physical presence here in Thailand. And not to be inappropriate here, as I am well aware that due deference needs to be paid to the Institution of Buddhism here in Thailand, but here's an example, just one example. What happens if a monk is in Thailand for 180 days - Thai or otherwise - and is doing their basic routine, but they don't earn any money, no taxable events are accruing towards them and look at that; we can use the US-Thai Treaty of Amity's national treatment provisions to then create a parallel analysis. Imagine if there was a man of God from America here in Thailand, a preacher if you will, an itinerant preacher that was going from Church to Church to preach the Word of God every week and he wasn't making any money or anything. Each church that he went to was taking care of him, giving him room and board and in exchange he might help provide services preaching or something of this nature. Again, these are hypotheticals, but they are worth pointing out because you can spend 180 days in Thailand and not earn any income, okay? And if you don't have any income, what does that mean? Well, it might mean nothing; you might not have to do anything. Again, everybody's case is different and anybody who is out there giving one-size-fits-all advice should be taken with a major grain of salt, if not ignored completely.