[neindanke]

> We were there on holidays ;-)

No, you stated you were working. From your article's title: "Working Remotely From A Tropical Island In Thailand"

> what we're doing is technically a gray zone

Did you file a tax statement and did you pay any taxes on income earned while you were residing in Thailand?

[znq]

> No, you stated you were working

Noticed the smiley?

Nevertheless, how do you differentiate between holidays and work and where to draw the line? If you're responding to a work emails while being on holidays, does that count towards the taxable income in that country you're visiting?

> Did you file a tax statement and did you pay any taxes on income earned while you were residing in Thailand?

Absolutely. We're not evading taxes. All income is taxed in Spain. And we weren't residing in Thailand. We were only visiting it and happened to also do some things that were related to our business back home in Europe. The work we did had nothing to do with Thailand itself.

I'm not an international tax specialist, but at least from a moral point of view I don't see that we did something wrong.

In European countries for example you only become a tax resident if you spend more than 183 days there.

EDIT: formatting

[ashconnor]

>In European countries for example you only become a tax resident if you spend more than 183 days there.

Pity Thais cannot easily come to Spain and work illegally. Despite what you've said it's blatant public abuse of the tourist visa system in Thailand.

Honestly when I see blog posts like this my opinion of the author and company goes down considerably. Breaking the rules and publishing the fact that you are makes me question what other grey areas you'd operate in.

[geomark]

Yes, what they did violates immigration law in Thailand. And the comments of a senior immigration official don't change the law; they just indicate that at least in that region the enforcement is likely to be rather lax.

But there's really nothing to get bent about. No locals were out of a job. They lived there as tourists so paid a lot more into the local economy than locals, including a lot more taxes in the form of VAT on all their purchases.

The only real issue is that they were at risk even if they didn't sense it, because what happens now and then is someone gets pissed off (usually another foreigner) and rats someone out. Then the police see an opportunity to collect an extortionate "fine" before they get deported.

[hingisundhorsa]

> No locals were out of a job

Could you explain how you formed that conclusion?

> They lived there as tourists so paid a lot more into the local economy than locals

How did you determine that? I've lived as a hippie in India, similar to what Steve Jobs did. I spent 0 money and lived off the temple welfare system. I was exploiting the generosity of people who had a thousandth the resources and welfare that I had. I wasn't alone. There were hundreds, if not thousands of other Westerners doing similar things.

[prawn]

They put more into the Thai economy (renting a house, buying products, paying for services) and didn't take any money out (all earnings were from existing clients abroad).

It might contravene visa issues from a literal read, but I think the intent was fair. Many Australians would call this "the vibe of the thing" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJuXIq7OazQ

[ashconnor]

By that logic. Rental prices would go up, as foreign demand for property increases, pricing locals out of the market in the process, because they cannot compete with foreign earned salaries. Not just rentals, goods and services go up.

Increased strain on policing and hospitals. Strain on Thailand's subsidised public transport system, subsidised diesel fuel, subsidised water utilities.

No tax revenue from foreign workers as they don't declare in Thailand despite being required to do so by law. The only exception being VAT.

The general point of nomads working in Thailand is the ability to lower outgoings beyond what you could do in North America or Europe. Nomads don't spend cash like tourists and that makes them a drain on the economy.

So what's Thailand got to lose from allowing foreigners to set up shop. Well the huge fees required to be legal for one.

[newaccountfool]

> Could you explain how you formed that conclusion?

It appears that Mobile Jazz is a company that caters to western audiences, most of the work they will be doing will be for western clients who wouldn't hire Thai workers. The workers just happen to be out of office when they do their jobs.

[znq]

Actually Thai people can do exactly the same.

While from a legal perspective it might be all correct what you're saying, I think that most people simply have more important matters to worry about.

For example, it's also illegal to cross a red traffic light as a pedestrian at 3am in the night on a deserted street. That doesn't mean that it is immoral or that it causes harm to anyone.

And I wouldn't even want to know all the "illegal" things you're doing that you are not even aware of. Just saying.

[wila]

> Actually Thai people can do exactly the same.

Not really. Thai people do not easily get a tourist visa for visiting Europe. There's a whole bunch of constraints to keep them out.

[ashconnor]

My beef is not that you worked illegally in Thailand. It's the fact that you wrote this up, didn't mention the fact that it's not above aboard, which promotes others to emulate you without warning, and published under your own name which is foolish at best and could end up with you being deported at worse.

There's been around eight of these posts of 'Digital Nomads' working in Thailand and not one of them bothered to mention that they were breaking the law.

[rockyleal]

I wholeheartedly agree with you.

[hingisundhorsa]

> at least from a moral point of view I don't see that we did something wrong.

You did. You lied on your Thai tourist visa application form. It explicitly said: "I hereby declare that the purpose of my visit to thailand is for pleasure or transit only and that in no case shall I engage myself in any profession or occupation while in the country"