Cheers to common sense. I nver understood who would pay crazy amounts for Elite for the mere right to be spending more of her / his mones in Thailand, then. Elite never had enough benefits to justify the price. No tax exemption. No work permit. No land ownership. Nothing. Just a golf cart at the airport.
That depends on your location / the requrements of the Thai consulate closest to you. For German citizens for example, the Thai consulates in Germany accept a copy of our national ID card as proof of current location. Other consulates in other countries would also accept electricity bills etc. You need to check with them.
You can optionally extend once with every entry. But you are also free to leave and immediately return after every 180 days. See my detailed posts from yesterday.