@William *******

The problem is, potentially, you are 'living' in Thailand without a valid visa to do so. You are right to seek a solution, in my view

There is always a risk, perhaps small, of meeting an Immigration Officer who is having a bad day. Any one of them can decide to pull you out of line, question you and, maybe, deny you entry. Multiple Entry Tourist Visa comes to mind

@Graham *****

I realise this Graham. But the OPs question was well within the scope of an embassy to answer

Wise costs very little in fees for transfer in seconds (usually), about £7 for £1000. HSBC (UK) Global Money account costs nothing, but it can take 1-2 days and my Bangkok Bank account steals 100 baht of every transfer. Not sure why, it's already in Baht and they don't have to do anything

Agent will open bank account and arrange visa. Unless your embassy in Thailand will provide an affidavit confirming your income, I think you have gew other options. Shop around. In Pattaya it's possible to find an agent to do this for 12,500 but some will quote many thousands more

Personally I'd only trust the Thai Embassy website for my country, if I needed to know something my holiday depends on

@David ********

I don't know, sorry David. I imagine it's between the countries and their governmental tax departments. I don't think nation states would seek information exchange agreements with anyone other than another nation state

@Patrick **********

yes. As of January 2024. The first tax return of assessable income will be due in April 2025. To understand the impact on you, read your country's DTA with Thailand. Many countries agreed their pensions would be exempt from Thai income tax, although other income, capital gains etc would be assessable. But the UK agreement exempts only pensions paid by 'government'

@Pat *****

After 180 days in Thailand he becomes a Thai tax resident. Required to submit tax return in April. Thai government will then liaise with Australian government.

cc

@David ********

@Tony ********

Same same, my life in UK would be minimal, dull, just awful