Where are the best jobs for expats in LOS?

[samak]

those offshore oil guys with no long term visa and less than 180 days in LOS coming only for R&R are certainly not obliged to pay taxes!

but there is a fairly large grey zone!

according to the law, actually anybody traveling to LOS for a business meeting or even just bringing his PC and answering a couple of business mails would need a work permit and pay taxes. of course this is not practicable at all and just would scare off any foreign investments!

but this broad grey zone gives a lot of power to the authorities to draw they line where they want!

[LookieLookie]

Asking what field is best is a strange, but common, way Farangs think about jobs in Thailand. I don't know, but it seems as though some Farangs think like this: "I was a pizza maker in Des Moines, but here in Thailand I will be an accountant, lawyer or plant manager or whatever."

 

actually i cant make pizza :content: :nahnah:

[bibblies]

Regarding how people get caught; we should all learn from the background details of the recent fall of New York's Gov. Spitzer.

 

His case illustrates the ease with which banks and "interested" officials can pull up and track an individuals financial paper trail; or, more accurately, digital trail.

A couple of keystrokes and your entire life is laid out before them.

Hard to escape.

 

I think of this often whenever I use my cards to pay.

 

"What if I wanted to murder someone in the vicinity now?", I usually think. :grin:

 

For ultimate flexibility, always pay by cash.

 

[RayRay]

Many offshore oil guys do this, maintain a home in LoS that is.

 

 

[Mekong]

Not exactly correct. If you are resident here more than 183 days in any year' date=' you are a tax resident, and obliged to pay income tax.[/quote']

Fair enough. But my example was offshore oil guys. They are not in-country 183 days a year. Likely no more than 100 days.

 

Cheers,

SD

 

Not sure of your figures SD, I know quite a few guys who are on a 28 / 28 rotation and with vacation time spend more than 183 days in Thailand. 28 / 28 is the Normal for offshore and the "Stans" whereas Middle East is closer to 3 months on 3 weeks off.

 

For years I lived here working overseas and / or offshore spending at least 6 months a year in Thailand and never gave the Tax a second thought so maybe I was lucky and slid under the radar. Nowadays its all different, in fact I have just finished filling in my I.T. 91 form for 2007.

 

TAX the only 4 letter word spelt with 3 letters!

 

[Gadfly]

I have no idea how many days a typical person in the oil industry spends in Thailand, but the other problem - and someone mentioned this above - is the broad definition of work. If you attend even a single business meeting, you need a work permit. Unlike most other countries, there is no such thing here as a business visa that allows you to attend meetings, etc. Technically speaking, you are supposed to separately apply for an 'urgent work permit' after you enter the country, and that urgent work permit is good for up to 15 days.

 

Somebody else above (I think Samak) said thousands of Farangs enter Thailand every day, violate Thai work permit rules and nothing happens to them. I have no doubt this is true. To me, that says this is very foolish rule. It invites selective enforcement. And if you have lived in Thailand long enough, you know what that means.

 

It means that if you annoy someone, or if your company (without you even knowing about it) annoys someone, or you have a competitor who thinks you are too effective, or anyone has an interest in creating problems for you for whatever reasons, problems will likely happen. And this happens more often than many realize.

 

The Revenue Department doesnâ??t seem to be all that interested in the guy making a single business trip, unless he is procuring big orders of business from Thailand on his trips (which creates a permanent establishment (PE) in Thailand for tax purposes), in which case the Revenue Department is very interested in the company that business guy works for since that company is now earning taxable income in Thailand even if it is located outside of Thailand, and the easiest way to collect that money is to go after someone in Thailand â?? uh, say, the foreign business guy when he tries to leave the country.

 

This is a bit of digression, but there was a very interesting matter involving a tax claim arising out of the formation of a PE a few years back that didnâ??t involve sales orders, but having Americans in the country for more than 90 days (this also creates a PE). They were shooting a movie, had a falling out with an influential local person, and got stopped at immigration when they tried to leave the country. They added up the total time, in the aggregate, the entire crew was in Thailand, and it was more than 90 days. (This is under the US-Thai Double Tax Treaty; most other countries get a 183 day period.) Thailandâ??s Revenue Department was therefore entitled to tax the profit the US company would make on the movie from the activities of that company in Thailand. Try to figure out what that would be; impossible to know. But enough was known to prevent the crew from leaving the Thailand until a bond was put up and serious penalties paid.

 

It got a lot of attention in the business community here because it was in the movie industry (as opposed to more boring businesses) and showed how these laws can be used selectively to create serious problems. Even more interesting, the Thai official who is believed to have engineered all of this is herself now in hot water. She was the governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) when that American couple allegedly paid kick backs of over US$1 million to the daughter of TAT for rights to run the Bangkok film festival. You may recall reading about a US couple (the Greens) the FBI arrested back in December for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

 

What is this all â??representative ofâ?� As I see it, the consequences of combining (a) ridiculously broad laws that no one, in practice, can always satisfy and therefore nearly everyone violates and ( serious corruption in the bureaucracy.

 

Getting back to Suadumâ??s original question, if I was working here on a regular basis, even working out of my apartment or condo, I would make damn sure that I was perfectly legitimate on tax and work permit issues. I work here and I am perfectly legitimate (also, because I pay taxes, I figure I have right to grip about tax money is misspent, local policies and ridiculous rules.) You are not to get much sympathy or support from your embassy or the Chambers of Commerce if you are really working here (even from your home) and you donâ??t pay taxes and donâ??t have a work permit. And guys do get caught for doing this. Flying in for a single business meeting is another matter.

[WorldFun]

Gadfly,

 

Thanks for pointing out some interesting factual matters.

 

Cheers

[Mekong]

Gaddy is a good font of knowledge, he may be a little long winded in some of his postings but he delivers the facts. I have picked up a few details from him over the years from what he has posted on this board.

 

Cheers Gaddy, your input is much appreciated.