Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are talking about tax issues plaguing retirees here in Thailand. I want to preface this video by saying I'm making a long-form video for our new private news network, Integrity News Service. I'm making a new long form video pretty much contemporaneously with this one. I am going to make it shortly after we get done wrapping up doing these. So in a sense, this video is kind of a preview to that. 

That said, it goes to retirees, and I do like to get out some general information to the retiree community and for that reason, that's why I make the video on here but in a sense, it's a trailer for the long form content, but it also is sort of a standalone video in its own right.

I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Retiring abroad in an uncertain world: What Frank's story in Pattaya teaches us about global policy and local risk. Quoting directly: Quote: "I left the US for a quiet retirement, but somehow the paperwork followed me." Frank, (name changed for privacy)' a 17-year-old former physics teacher from Arizona, moved to Pattaya almost a decade ago." Yeah, one thing - Pattaya, I do still get the feedback from people who kind of criticize me on how I pronounce it. So maybe I will just move around the pronunciation scale as I go along when I make these videos. That said, quoting further: "Like many expats, he was drawn by the relaxed pace of life, friendly locals, and affordable healthcare. Over the years, he built a community - coffee groups with fellow retirees, a local condo, and simple routines by the beach. But in early 2024, he received a letter from the IRS - one that mentioned FATCA and FBAR violations related to his Thai Bank accounts. His peaceful retirement was suddenly clouded by anxiety."

I would urge those who are watching this video go check out that article on the Pattaya Mail website, it's worth reading; there's some good stuff. Again, I've got that and two other articles that I am going to be doing a deep dive into regarding tax more sort of in-depth in my long-form video on the Integrity News Service. Those who would like to subscribe to that, these are going to be videos that are going to be sent out via email to subscribers, and those who would like to subscribe - it is a paid news service - but you can email us at [email protected] and we can get you on the list to receive our video updates on our paid news service. 

That said, back to this specifically. Yeah look, I don't know what to say. The Tax Authorities around the world - here in Thailand to some degree as well - but the American, the IRS, I don't know what they are doing. They seem to be almost grasping at straws it seems like because they are trying to sort of cast a net out there to get as much money as they possibly can basically. There also seems to be this sort of how do I put it? It's kind of an assumption or presumption in the minds of these folks that seems to be that expats have a lot of money, and they are hiding something. If you go back to tax changes under the original Trump Administration and you get into GILTI, Global Intangible Low Tax Income, it's basically this notion legally that "oh you exist or a company exists, therefore we are just going to say, it has a bunch of money sitting around and therefore we are going to tax you with some rate. We're just going to arbitrarily say that you owe us. 

Again, I think it's, to use an Orwellian term, “wrong think”, but you have to deal with it, so that's where we're at. FATCA and FBAR are basically disclosure requirements from the IRS that come with offshore bank accounts, offshore banking. So for that, it's a little bit different than being assessed on maybe something that has an income generating component to it. It's purely just a disclosure issue when you are dealing with that type of thing. That said, you may or may not need to deal with it depending on the circumstances of your case. Now if you are using for example a bank account here in Thailand to support a Retirement Visa - again depending on the underlying circumstances - but there's a pretty good chance you are probably going to have to deal with disclosure under FBAR and FATCA. The point I am trying to make with this, especially for Americans, yeah look you are probably going to want to have assistance from somebody that can assist you with tax disclosures, tax filings etc., if you are going to be here in Thailand retired, especially if you have got pensions and things like that coming in. You may or may not have liability or assessability here in Thailand, again depending on the facts of your case. But the tone of the article is almost kind of like directing the onus if you will at Thailand for these issues, but the fact the matter is for Americans, we are just kind of followed around no matter what. It's not really Thailand's fault that FATCA exists, or the FBAR requirements exist. It's the fact that oh, you're an American and you are abroad, and you may be banking abroad; you may have to deal with these things.

That said, as we have seen and I'll get into in-depth analysis in our paid new service, but in other videos forthcoming as well I imagine, the fact is you also have to deal with taxes just getting more complicated as time is going by and I don't see it getting simpler, frankly. It could but I kind of doubt it. So those who have concerns about this stuff, it is probably a good idea to contact a legal professional, gain some insight and guidance into how best to proceed.