How your US retirement income is taxed here.
These come straight from the same country data the Glidepath engine uses to calculate your tax. Not a marketing summary.
By default we model the ordinary long-stay retirement visa (O-A/Non-O), which most retirees actually hold: foreign income you bring into Thailand is taxed on a rising scale from 0 to 35% (a 2024 rule change).
The LTR (Long-Term Resident) Wealthy Pensioner visa exempts foreign income from Thai tax entirely, but it needs $80,000/year in passive income, or $40,000-80,000 plus a $250,000 Thai investment - eligibility this plan does not verify. Turn its toggle on only if you actually qualify.
US Social Security is taxed only by the US, never by Thailand, under the US-Thailand tax treaty.
Roth accounts are not tax-free in Thailand. By default Thailand taxes what you bring in with no recognition of Roth's US tax-free character, so the plan taxes the full remitted Roth withdrawal at 0-35%. Under the LTR visa (opt-in) all remitted foreign income is exempt, Roth included. Whether the contribution portion could count as untaxed capital is unsettled outside LTR; a toggle models that favorable case.
Without the LTR exemption, the plan subtracts Thailand's personal allowance (THB 60,000) and, from age 65, the THB 190,000 senior exemption before taxing what you bring in. It counts one set of allowances, not your spouse's - so a couple's real bill can be a little lower than shown.
What could change this.
If you never get the LTR visa, or lose it, Thailand can tax the IRA and pension money you bring in at 0-35%.
When: Rule in force since 2024; changes discussed but not enacted
Compliance traps that catch US retirees here.
Investment products that look ordinary to locals can be tax traps for US citizens. These are the ones specific to Thailand.
Thai retirement and savings funds (RMF, SSF, ESG, LTF) are PFICs to the US
The US treats each of these Thai funds as a PFIC, which wipes out the Thai tax break and adds costly yearly paperwork.
Thai Provident Fund may not defer US tax, and may be reportable
Your Thai employer pension may not grow US-tax-free - the treaty protection is unsettled, and it may trigger extra US reporting.
LTR foreign-income exemption does not change US worldwide tax
The LTR visa cuts your Thai tax, not your US tax - you still owe full US tax on your worldwide income.
Remittance timing is a live, shifting rule
Without the LTR exemption, your Thai tax on IRA and pension money depends on timing rules that are not yet settled.
Healthcare as a retiree.
Thailand has no public health coverage for retirees. Its public schemes - Social Security and the 'gold card' Universal Coverage plan - are tied to formal jobs, so retirees on O-A, O-X, or LTR visas cannot join. You must carry private or international insurance. Visa rules require it too. The O-A and O-X visas need $100k (or THB 3M) of cover, required under the official guideline since October 2021. The LTR Wealthy Pensioner needs $50k of cover, or a $100k deposit.
Premiums rise steeply with age. A healthy retiree in their early 60s often pays about $2,000-4,000/year for a solid local or regional policy. Comprehensive international cover for ages 65 and up commonly runs $4,000-8,000+/year. Many expats partly self-insure routine care, since out-of-pocket costs at private hospitals are low by US standards. This is not an official rate table - Thailand has no regulator- or insurer-published premium schedule by age, so treat these numbers as an estimate, not a quote.
This models a couple with comprehensive insurance, roughly 200,000-460,000 THB/year in total. Plans that cover only hospital stays, with a high deductible, cost far less. Fully self-insuring is common past about age 75-80. It trades roughly 30,000-80,000 THB/year in routine costs for the risk of a big hospital bill, from 300,000 to over 1,500,000 THB. These figures are not an official rate table: no Thai regulator or insurer publishes one by age, so this is an estimate built from several market quotes, not a quoted price.
The retirement visa route.
Thailand's LTR (Long-Term Resident) Wealthy Pensioner visa is a 10-year route for well-off retirees 50+, and it exempts foreign income you bring in from Thai tax. A simpler O-A retirement visa is the common alternative for anyone 50 or older.
- LTR Wealthy Pensioner income: $80,000/year in passive income, or $40,000-80,000/year plus a $250,000 investment in Thailand.
- LTR Wealthy Pensioner health cover: $50,000 in health insurance, or a $100,000 bank deposit.
- LTR visa lasts 10 years (issued for 5 years, renewable for 5 more) and exempts foreign income from Thai tax.
- O-A retirement visa (age 50 and over): 800,000 THB in a Thai bank, or 65,000 THB per month in income.
- O-A visa also requires health insurance of $100,000 (or 3,000,000 THB) in combined outpatient and hospital cover, required under the official guideline since October 2021.
- In-country Non-O retirement extension: 800,000 THB banked (or 65,000 THB/month income) and no insurance required - the usual route for settled retirees.
What could this cost you?
A fast, illustrative estimate for Thailand - no login, nothing stored. Every country page carries its own, tuned to that country's tax treatment.
Your monthly spending power in Thailand on about $1M
These odds are about a withdrawal this size holding up over time - not about how far that amount goes here.
A modest lifestyle in Thailand
Day to day, that looks like a modest two-bed in an ordinary area, one reliable mid-range car owned outright, home cooking plus regular casual dining. For health, public care plus basic supplemental cover.
As a US citizen, you keep filing US taxes wherever you live.
Thailand: LTR Wealthy Pensioner visa - exempts foreign income (opt-in; not the default visa)
This is a fast estimate, not the full simulation, and not financial advice. It only flags the tax question. The full plan works out what you'd actually owe on each side of the border. It also models real balances, every account type, and healthcare, year by year.
The terms you'll run into.
- LTR (Long-Term Resident) visa
- A 10-year visa (issued for 5 years, renewable for 5 more). Its Wealthy Pensioner and Wealthy Global Citizen categories exempt foreign income you bring into Thailand from Thai income tax.
- Wealthy Pensioner (LTR)
- The LTR category for retirees 50 and over. It needs $80,000/year in passive income (or $40,000-80,000 plus a $250,000 Thai investment) and $50,000 of health insurance (or a $100,000 deposit).
- Por. 161/162
- Thai Revenue Department rules from September 2023, effective for income earned from 1 January 2024. They tax foreign income whenever you later bring it into Thailand, but income earned before 2024 is grandfathered in under Por. 162.
- Remittance basis
- You count as a Thai tax resident if you spend 180 or more days a year in Thailand. Thailand then taxes your foreign income only when you bring it in, not money you leave abroad.
- RMF / SSF / Thai ESG / LTF funds
- Thai tax-deductible retirement and savings funds: RMF (Retirement Mutual Fund), SSF (Super Savings Fund), Thai ESG funds, and the older, now-closed LTF (Long-Term Equity Fund). The IRS treats them all as PFICs, so their Thai tax break means nothing on your US return.
US terms that follow you to every country
- PFIC
- Passive Foreign Investment Company - the IRS label for almost any non-US fund, ETF, or pooled investment. Owning one triggers punitive US tax rates and Form 8621 paperwork. The single most common trap for Americans investing abroad.
- FBAR
- Foreign Bank Account Report (FinCEN Form 114). A yearly online filing that lists your non-US accounts once they total over $10,000. Not a tax - just a report - but penalties for skipping it are severe.
- FATCA
- A US law that makes foreign banks report American customers to the IRS. It is why some foreign banks refuse US clients, and why you may also file Form 8938 with your return.
- Form 8621
- The IRS form you must file for each PFIC you own. Complex enough that most preparers charge per form, per year.
- Form 8938
- The FATCA companion form filed with your US return, listing foreign financial assets above a threshold. Overlaps with, but does not replace, the FBAR.
- Forms 3520/3520-A
- US reporting forms for foreign trusts. Some foreign retirement and insurance wrappers count as trusts, dragging their owners into this heavy annual paperwork.
- UCITS
- The standard European fund format (an EU regulatory label). Fine for Europeans - but to the IRS, a UCITS fund is a PFIC.
- Totalization agreement
- A US bilateral deal that stops you paying Social Security tax to two countries on the same work, and lets work credits in each country count toward one benefit.
- Foreign tax credit
- The US mechanism that stops double taxation: tax you pay to your residence country offsets your US bill on the same income, dollar for dollar. You effectively pay the higher of the two totals - not both.
- Saving clause
- The clause in every US tax treaty that lets the US keep taxing its own citizens as if the treaty did not exist. It is why moving abroad never ends US filing.
- Foreign grantor trust
- The IRS classification some foreign pension and insurance wrappers fall into. It means the owner reports the trust personally, on Forms 3520/3520-A, every year.
Nothing on this page is invented.
Confidence: verified. Last verified July 17, 2026. Every figure above comes from one of the sources below - the same country data the full plan uses to compute your projection.
See the full country-by-country build sheet on the coverage page.