Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing "Man Traps" associated with Immigration. So I've been talking about this going back now to what, I would say it was early '24, yeah early 2024; we did videos at the time. Then the Srettha Government - which quickly thereafter became the Paetongtarn Government - was and I think largely at the behest of stuff like the World Economic Forum as well as getting "advice" from the OECD, started moving - the DTV all sort of came out at this same time, and the LTR Visa sort of came out at this same time - they were rolling out new Thai tax policy namely about 180 days spent in-country which attached Tax Residency and then they were going to roll out this whole new automated Immigration System. Now that was forestalled because the then Interior Minister who is now the Prime Minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, rolled out TDAC, the Thailand Digital Arrival Card and essentially pushed this on to the back burner. But it has been moving forward, it has been sort of incrementally coming and when I say "it", the notion of Immigration Checkpoints turning into like “Man Traps” if you will and then folks having their tax situation assessed in the airport. I think this is coming online quickly and it wouldn't shock me if this wasn't in effect by 2030, if not sooner. That said, you kind of have to draw together a number of things to understand what's going on here.

First things first, from the Thai Enquirer posting on X, quoting directly: "Don Mueang International Airport Launches 24-hour Automated Passport Control for Departures. Immigration at Don Mueang International Airport has officially launched Automated Border Control passport gates for departing passengers, aiming to reduce queues and improve travel convenience. After a trial period in mid-February, the system is now fully operational. The ABC gates are currently open from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. with 24-hour service set to begin on March 5. Authorities are also installing additional machines to reach a total of 31 gates across the airport by April."

Now, put that data point together with this one. The Head of our Immigration Division that handles, sort of coordinates all matters pertaining to Immigration within our office, told me something the other day. This person also happens to coordinate with our folks in the tax division here in the firm, and we also deal with banking matters. They basically told me, hey, it's now possible, Immigration can now see on their screens, a person's banking history from their terminals at Immigration. Now this is anecdotal; this is not being exactly reported but this is what we are hearing from our contacts within the Immigration. This is what I have been talking about for quite some time. Notably, they are rolling out these automated, these sort of automated checkpoints. On top of it, the Thai Tax Code was changed, well it wasn't changed, there was actually a memo that was promulgated that changed the way in which it was being applied, let's put it that way. Meanwhile as I discussed in prior videos Tax Clearance Certificates remain a tool in the sort of toolbox if you will of the Revenue Department to gain, to claw back if you will tax on folks that have been in Thailand and may be liable for tax. 

Again going back to the '90s and before, it used to be when you left Thailand, you actually had to buy a Tax Clearance Certificate. If you talk to old timers, they can actually remember there were these like vending machine things at the airport, you had to put in it was like X number of Baht and you got this little ticket thing and then you can leave; what you were doing was basically getting a Tax Clearance Certificate. 

Those have never gone away. VAT they sort of put it on the back burner when VAT rolled out because it wasn't real popular and it did dampen Thailand's Tourism Sector, obviously, for reasons that don't need a lot of explanation. That being said, the prerogative to use Tax Clearance Certificates again is there, and as I have discussed at the time, some two years ago, it looked to me like they were trying then - and it got kind of pushed back - they were trying then to roll out an automated version of the Tax Clearance Certificate which basically would work like this. You would go to one of these immigration checkpoints, what I call "man traps" - I'm kind of being facetious, you can have a little fun with this stuff - but it's kind of what they are too. Once you are like in the automated booth, I go through it using my Thai passport, and you get into a booth, they check your Biometrics and then they pass you on through. Once you are in that booth, the AI now can basically correlate, they can cross reference, "have you been in Thailand 180 days?" Now let's cross reference your bank account; "have you had any foreign inbound remittances?" If so, and you are tax resident, “what is going to be your tax liability associated with that?” I know this sounds a little bit far-fetched but based on the trends that we are currently seeing, and the information we have at our disposal, it looks to me like that's exactly what's being rolled out. Now exactly how this plays out remains to be seen, but we will certainly be keeping you updated on this channel as the situation evolves.