Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are asking whether or not folks should be trying to escape if you will from Thailand basically for purposes of tax - I hesitate to use the term, it is a term of art, tax evasion - but you're escaping to avoid taxes; obviously, I'm not saying evade taxes. But what I am saying is there's a lot of talk in the Expat Community about all this tax stuff. Quite honestly, thanks to the internet and all the idiots that inhabit that particular realm, there seems to be a ton of misinformation out there about taxes. I've discussed in many other videos, people are really getting too worked up and I am really quite unhappy with the hyperbole that has been promulgated throughout the internet with regard to tax. As I have said, and I'll say again, the vast majority, especially of retirees, you don't think we need to worry about this stuff. 

By the way, I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from The Pattaya Mail, pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Should Thai retirees escape to the Philippines to avoid income tax? I urge those who are watching this video, check out that article. I'm not going to quote an excerpt, I just kind of like the title and I thought it basically allowed me, gave me sort of a springboard to discuss this stuff. 

Look, right now in a large majority of cases as I have discussed in other videos, none of this stuff matters. Again, the law regarding taxes in Thailand has not changed as of the time of this video. As I have discussed at length in many other videos, yes, we saw an intra-departmental memo regarding assessability and timing of fund remittance that came into effect beginning Jan 1 of 2024. That is not a sea change to the Thai Tax System. It may have implications for certain people depending upon their circumstances and depending upon where funds may originate from or their nationality; things like double tax agreements can come into sort of the analysis. Again though, and what I really want to reiterate is please folks take a deep breath, this is not a time to panic and be heading for the doors because quite frankly from a legal standpoint, nothing has changed, okay? The vast majority of folks aren't even going to notice that this is a thing and aren't even going to need to deal with it. Unfortunately there are a lot of folks running around out there again being hyperbolic in an effort to in my opinion drum up a bunch of business that quite frankly puts the people that are their customers - I have no other word for it - because they're not professionals in Thailand as I've discussed before, they are in violation of the restricted occupations, and quite frankly I think what they are doing is appalling but again they are putting people into a detrimental situation because they are scaring them into thinking they need to be in that situation. 

Again, the vast majority of folks here in Thailand as expats are not even going to be affected by the intra-departmental memo okay. It's just not going to be something you need to worry about on a day-to-day basis. Now that being said, some folks depending on their circumstances may need some guidance with regard to tax. Those who are feeling overwhelmed by all of this, it might not be a terrible idea to contact a real professional, not somebody in Thailand operating illegally, and gain some insight and guidance into how best to proceed.