Transcript of the above video: 

As the thumbnail of this video suggests, we have got old Thumper up there saying, “why say anything at all”, that’s the old, “if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all’. Well in the case of ‘if you don't have specific qualification to be talking about Tax matters, why are you talking about tax matters?’ It's really not a hard question. I don't get this.

That said, I thought it making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Pattaya expats highlight income tax ambiguities. There are no income tax ambiguities as per the law. There has been no change to Thai law. The vast majority of people are in the same position they have been in for years. Meanwhile, we have got these charlatans and criminals out running around in total violation of restrictions on foreigners engaging in professions here in Thailand, talking all sorts of nonsense about how people have to go get a tax ID number, and it's a requirement now and this nonsense. Again, everybody's case is different. Anybody that's out there, first of all as a foreigner talking about Thai Tax Law, which is what is going on here, is a criminal. They're operating in violation of restricted occupations; I've gone over this a million times. Why are you listening to that person?

Meanwhile, the next thing to think about is anybody, I don't care if they're qualified or not, that is running around out there giving one-size-fits-all broad proclamations as to how tax law works and how it's going to be applied to everyone, that's someone you shouldn't listen to either. What you need is nearly tailored tax advice and if you feel that you're worried that you may be liable or you may have something that could be assessed and you don't know what the outcome of that would be, it's a good idea to contact a true legal professional, one who is Thai, if it pertains to Thai land and Thai Law - we're talking about Thai tax here - talk to a Thai because anyone else is not only unqualified, they're operating criminally. That said, again I thought of making this video after reading this article in Pattaya Mail, quoting directly: "Pattaya City Expat Club's newsletter has now introduced a tax-related web page to address the financial concerns of members and the wider expat community who clock up in Thailand at least 180 days in 2024. The calendar-year reporting period of potentially taxable income transmitted from overseas will be the first 3 months of 2025." What? "The calendar year reporting period of potentially taxable income transmitted from overseas will be the first 3 months of 2025," - as it is in any year. That is how tax filing works in Thailand. This is all being talked about like it's some new novel thing. No, this is how it's always worked and by the way, the vast majority of retirees in Thailand never had to file before and they never have to file moving forward. But everybody is running around scaring them in order to create some new business opportunities in again, a very illicit manner in my opinion. That being said, quoting further, and this is sort of where I decided to make the video: "PCEC, (that is Pattaya City Expat Club) stresses that it is not qualified to answer the specific tax liabilities of individuals." So why are you where you putting this stuff up? What good is any of this doing? It looks to me like it just creates a platform rife for misinformation. And meanwhile, aren't you the same organization that put a guy on the stage that isn't at all qualified to talk about Thai Tax matters and then gave out a bunch of erroneous advice? Quoting further: “PCEC is keen to hear from any expats..” – well I have said it on air before, I am perfectly happy to come talk to you but I don’t see anybody sending me an email – quoting further: “..members or not (I think they meant ‘or not’ not ‘of not’) who have visited their local tax office or have been given a ruling.” No, that's terrible advice. Just because something happened in one person's case does not mean that's the way it works in all cases. What benefit is gained by that? Again this is the same nonsense of one-size-fits-all thinking, “oh it worked in this case, it didn't work”. We know this from immigration, that's not how this works. And by the way, Immigration Law and Tax Law are very similar. In this case you're not doing yourselves any favours by sitting around comparing notes on, “well it worked this way for me”, “it worked that way for you” blah, blah, blah. You are different people, you are in different situations, different circumstances, and by the way as discussed in a prior video, you may not even need to get a tax ID number anyway. There has been a lot of nonsense from charlatans running around saying you need one in order to put yourself into a position where you have to pay them later. Quoting further: "It appears that some local tax offices have reluctant (I think they mean "are reluctant") to issue TINS (tax identification numbers) to expat pensioners.." - yeah because they probably don't need them. These tax officers know the way things work. Beyond even that, they know there is no liability there or if there is liability, there is a foreign tax credit somewhere and they are never going to see any money, so why go through all the motions of putting together all the paperwork to not get anything. Those officers are just basically saying, “look, just move on, we don't need anything from you”, okay? I don't get why this is so hard. Everybody is running around spinning their wheels on this. Do you have too much time on your hands? Are you trying to run into the arms of a tax authority? Quoting further: "..although this could relate to communication problems if the retiree doesn't speak Thai or is not accompanied by someone who does." Or, it could just be that the officer said no you don't have to do this. It's not always some big folks. Quoting further: "Obtaining a TIN does not automatically commit the individual to filing a tax return, according to the PCEC webpage." Do you mean the very same people that just said they are not qualified to talk about tax liability in the first place? No, it might not necessarily mean there is a correlation not causation type of thing, okay. But what does that mean? Now you have put yourself on the record with the Thai Tax Authority. How about folks that don't know what they are talking about, don't talk about stuff they don't know what they are talking about? Again, that's just completely galling to me that in the same article where they say, "hey, we're not qualified to answer the specific tax liability of individuals", and then they go on to say "well obtaining a TIN does not automatically commit the individual filing a tax return.” Well, it might, depending on that individual specific situation. That's why you leave tax stuff to the professionals.