Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing a possible ‘expat nightmare’ if you will, at least a bureaucratic nightmare in dealing with two Thai tax authorities. 

So I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Foreigners and their overseas income: what next? Quoting directly: "The fact that you may be required to submit forms does not mean you are in fact liable to pay any Thai Tax but expats won't welcome the envisaged bureaucracy and likely registration with two tax authorities; the home country and Thailand." So I urge those who are watching this video, go check out that article, there are some good insights in there. But long story short, what are they talking about when they say two tax authorities?

Well you are talking about, if you are a foreign national here in Thailand, you are talking about the Tax Authority in your home country as well as the Tax Authority here in Thailand. And again there is interaction oftentimes under a double tax agreement, double tax treaty between two given jurisdictions and the interplay between those jurisdictions under the provisions of those treaties will sort of dictate how many of these tax scenarios will ultimately play out. But as I have said in many other videos, the vast majority of foreigners especially retirees here in Thailand, you are not going to have any negative impact from this so please don't freak out. 

I know a lot of people are really kind of up in arms about all of this and they also get very frustrated. I get some serious hate emails saying "you're being too vague about Thai Tax matters and Tax matters generally or how the double tax treaties interact. Well guess what? The reason I'm vague is because there is no broad based one size fits all answer to Tax matters that I am going to go out on YouTube and talk about. That would be ridiculous. Every tax scenario, every person's tax situation is in a very real way unique. It's uniquely driven by the underlying unique facts in that person's given case, and in those scenarios, again I did a video regarding clarification and people are seeking clarification on this. Well you are not going to find broad-based clarification. If you want clarification, you need to contact a legal professional, basically tell them your situation, give them the facts in your case and then basically say "hey what's your conclusion regarding any liability for taxes, if any?" Again if you don't really want to pay for that kind of service you probably shouldn't even worry about it because you probably don't have a big issue. Again at the same time, if you are a person who has a number of financial transactions that occur in any given year and you have sort of income streams in different jurisdictions, yes there is going to be a great deal of value to be found in contacting a confident legal professional who understands the tax situation between different countries and Thailand and basically gain some advice and guidance into how best to proceed.