Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing whether or not there will be any sort of link between Thai Immigration, in this case Visa Extensions, Visas generally, and taxes here in Thailand.

I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Pattaya retirees targeted in latest in scam calls scandal. I urge those who are watching this video, go check out that article in detail. It goes in a different direction from what we are going to talk about but it's interesting and there are many data points of great use to foreigners who are here in Thailand, both retirees and otherwise. That said, quoting directly: "Chonburi Immigration adds that there is no plan to link visas to income tax or to require a Tax ID number to qualify for an extension, but please don't forget to do your 90 days report."

Yeah, I have been talking about this for a while. Folks have been freaking out a lot about tax policy, especially retirees, and something I have said constantly is, "hey, until this stuff gets linked to the Immigration - especially the extension process - until they start requiring tax documentation there, this is not something to fret about. My personal opinion is that it will probably never happen. I'm not saying it's a foregone conclusion, but I doubt it for a variety of different reasons. Most notably it would create a huge onus on Immigration and an onus they are not really qualified to handle. I mean they are Immigration; they are not tax authorities. They don't know that kind of thing, and that's not their function either. So again, all these people that are trying to scaremonger folks to try, again folks that are operating illegally here in Thailand in violation of the restricted occupations, only a Thai national can provide tax consultations regarding Thai Tax Law, and I would argue how it interacts with other bodies of law. But that being said, again regarding Thai Tax law exclusively, only Thai nationals can advise regarding that, so if you are talking to somebody who isn't Thai, take it for what it's worth and that is nothing, because first of all they are a criminal and do you really want to take tax advice from a criminal.

That being said, I think it's worth pointing out and reiterating this fact that again, despite all the scaremongering and folks that are trying to get people into the Tax System, in my opinion unnecessarily and oftentimes to their detriment financially as well, as sort of in the future, that being said, at the end of the day or at least for now, again tax documentation is not a requirement as part of Thai Immigration. So at least for the purposes of the immediate future, and I think for probably longer than that, again this is not something that the vast majority of expats in Thailand need to fret over especially in the retiree community.