Transcript of the above video: 

So in this video today I am talking about, I have done videos in the past where I excoriated the so-called stamp pimps, these charlatans, these foreign charlatans that are running around Thailand claiming to be able to provide advice and advisory services regarding Thai Tax, and they are frankly all just illegal and shouldn't be doing what they are doing, and they are causing damage in my opinion to the public. I have done a number of videos I'm making contemporaneously with this one, where I am discussing a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, pattayamail.com, we'll put this up on screen: Thai lawyer updates retirees on personal income tax. I'm not going to cite anything; I'm just going to put this up on screen because I want people to be aware. I am not a big hater of other professionals; I am a hater of fakes and frauds that are causing the public damage in Thailand. Other legitimate professionals, colleagues if you will, I'm quite open to, and if you read this article, there's a Thai professional talking about Tax Matters. If you read in the article, you will find he is saying a lot of the same stuff I have been saying for years, in a general way; he's talking generally. 

As I have discussed in other videos, we have Thai Attorneys, we have Thai accountants here at the firm. I'm an American Tax Attorney, I'm an American Attorney, not a Thai Attorney as I have said this in many other videos many, many times. I'm a naturalized Thai; I provided assistance to folks who need help sort of putting together or reconciling if you will the American Tax System and the Thai Tax System. We have Thai tax professionals here at the firm to assist folks if they need it; we're legit. This guy is in this video is in my opinion legit too; he is a Thai lawyer. 

Now a couple of things. The reason for the thumbnail is precisely the reason I didn't like the charlatans, is because they ran around and told a bunch of people that, they whipped up a big fury and got everybody to go out and file tax returns that in my opinion were not necessary. As this person points out in that article and I get to in other videos, he basically says what I have said before is the vast majority retirees are not going to have to worry about anything. It is case specific if you want full detailed analysis of your situation regarding tax but at the end of the day most people aren't going to have to worry about this. The charlatans ran out and whipped up a fury and got people to file things and now they are sort of seen if you will by the Eye of Sauron. I don't mean to be sort of hyperbolic about the Revenue Department, but once you file a return, they do see you. If you haven't filed one, they don't necessarily see you in the same way. I'll get into further details in upcoming videos regarding that. The purpose of the thumbnail though was these charlatans can lead people into things where they are doing something they don't necessarily need to do, like file a return in the first place, which could then lead to taxes paid that they didn't need to necessarily pay; again depending on the underlying circumstances. 

There is also kind of a joke involved with this clip or with this thumbnail; I'll put a link to the clip that it is drawn from in the description below. It's from Big. There's the film Big with Tom Hanks, there is this great scene where John Lovitz is sitting in the cubicle next to him; I think he's like a 14 year old kid that magically becomes an adult overnight, and he has to go get a job, and he's sitting there and he's plugging away doing his job and then the guy in the cubicle next to him, it's like "hey, hey, what are you doing? You trying to get us all fired? Pace yourself. Slowly, slowly." It's kind of a joke. He is like, 'hey, we are all working here, but you don't have to do too much, make us all look bad" kind of thing. It is a funny little scene; it's a great scene from John Lovitz. The point I am trying to make with that though is one, these charlatans lead people, "hey what are you trying to do? get us all taxed?" You are leading people down the primrose path, the file path to file things that they don't necessarily need to file, which could lead to tax assessability or liability that they might not have otherwise had to become subject to. So that is part of the reason for the thumbnail. Another kind of reason for it is I noticed that in the article, and again I am all one for colleagues, I am not trying to think that we are the only firm out there. There are plenty of folks out there that need tax assistance and things. This guy seems to say that there's a 15-minute free consultation. I, just as another professional, think you might come to regret that. I used to do free consults. It takes up a lot of time doing those and it's a lot of things that you think it might lead to something else; it doesn't necessarily. The public may get angry about this, but part of the thumbnail is also like, "hey what are you trying to do? get us all not paid?" Nobody in the profession is ever going to be upset that another guy is charging; it drives all of our quote up if you will. That said the public can hate me for making that statement but it's a fact at the end of the day.

And that said, I'm not against other colleagues. There's plenty to do in Pattaya, there's plenty to do up here in Bangkok, there's plenty to do throughout Thailand. There are legitimate Thai professionals who have English language capability that can provide Tax Services. You don't need to go to the fake farang who shouldn't be doing it in the first place and maybe leading you into tax liability you don't otherwise need. That's the point of the video; that's why I'm making this and that is why I get so concerned about the public at large.