@Nongnuch *******

Thousands of applicants did not.

@Manas **********

It does, provided you also show a residence certificate from immigration.

I’ve been told the same thing at one SCB branch. Went to another office and opened an account. (Some?) SCB branches require approval from HQ in Bangkok. That took three weeks in our case because they kept asking for documents.

At the first day I also walked in to Kasikorn and the supervisor instantly opened an account for me. Done in 60 minutes.

Ymmv…

@Graham ******

I am not an admin of this group, if that’s what you were trying to write! 🤣🤣🤣

@Graham ******

I don’t see an admin of this group in the discussion. Where did you see one of the admins participate?

@Graham ******

Switzerland had banking secrets for decades, until the EU made a deal and all bank balances are now reported.

The Dutch tax office gave people 6 months or something to voluntarily report their balances and catch up their taxes due over the past xx years (dunno how many years they went back) and scored hundreds of millions in unpaid taxes.

The reporting time limit has passed and now they are chasing the rest, but charging everyone found with a 100% fine.

It’s incredibly naive to make tax evasion decisions based on IT capabilities in 2024.

@Graham ******

Exactly. Maybe Thailand is not capable of putting all that information together today, but that doesn’t guarantee that they won’t be able to do it in five years.

Who knows, some RD employee might consider to look back five years to find all the Andys, Grahams and Peters which may have been sitting on a bar stool.

Only time will tell, but thinking an ATM withdrawal hides your presence from governmental curiosity is very nearsighted and extremely 20th century.

1984 is already 40 years in the past and still people think they have any privacy… 😏

@Shannon *****

That’s right. It’s PA insurance and robbing a bank doesn’t count as accident. 🤣

I tried FWD who have it all covered but I did it through the local SCB and they f-ed up the application so today they returned my payment.

Then I did AXA online and solved it without issues. But AXA is too expensive for my purpose so next year I’ll try FWD again. By then I’ll be fully established here and won’t have any problem like now.

PS They don’t do rehab, though.

@Nick ***********

PS You might be better off just reporting 18k taxable income and keep the savings (while documented) as they are.

I bet your tax rate in UK is higher than the tax charge in Thailand and Thailand offers various reductions. Maybe you will want to keep those savings (for tax purposes) in UK so you can bring the whole amount in when some day you have unexpected cost.

Bringing it in in a single year will probably put you in the highest tax bracket, so still having that tax free reserve will come handy.

You need to calculate whether or not bringing savings or reporting taxable income is better for you.

YOU choose “which” money you bring in at which point, not the tax department. I have not seen any guidelines that such and such origins must be reported first.

But, whatever you choose, make sure you have properly documented it (according to *their* standards).