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Okay. Deep breath, no panic on the Titanic... when I took another look at the new Thai tax law, it says that foreign funds brought to Thailand are now taxable, but the US social security income is exempt from taxation. Since my monthly soc security check (as it is projected now, unless something changes with soc security payout) should be substantially higher than the monthly cost of the nursing home which I have in mind, it seems I may not need to file tax returns in Thailand despite the new law. I need to keep an eye on that.
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Nursing homes are probably the last stop in this world so why is money and taxes such a concern?
You need to improve your attitude to taxes They are needed for the services you will be using. I don’t know very much but I think your concern about taxes in Thailand is likely overblown. Read up on Foreign Tax credit: you can claim tax credit for up to $112,000 per year for taxes paid to foreign government while living abroad. I don’t think your Thailand taxes will add up to that much.
I don’t know how much the health insurance is but you might use some of it while living in the nursing home/equivalent in Thailand.
Now, I’d not visit, let alone, move to Thailand as I find it too hot and uninteresting. But, I don’t see why you couldn’t stick to your original plan.
PS: We are considering moving to France and spending some years as expats - leaving the return question open. The US tax treaty with France is quite good.
OP, is establishing residency now an option? Getting your foot in the door now might work out better for you if the rules change again
I don't think so. New Thai tax rules affect the expats who already reside there same as they will affect those moving to Thailand in the future. Establishing residency earlier gives more options for expat health insurance (since most insurance companies do not offer new international insurance enrollment after a certain age), but earlier residency does not affect taxation.
Anything can happen, but I don't have a major concern that nursing homes in Asia will become comparably priced as those in the US in my lifetime. Even the nursing homes in Western Europe (which is fairly developed) are cheaper than in the US.
Probably not, but we stayed in Singapore when it was a poor country. We were there in February and could not believe how expensive it is now. In two generations 1.5 billion people in the Asian Pacific region have been lifted out of extreme poverty. Correspondingly, the middle classes are growing rapidly.
I would imagine the nursing homes in Western Europe, like those here in Australia, are highly subsidised by the governments. Which is why, speaking just of here, retirement visas are very difficult to obtain and very expensive.
The issue with planning to retire to Asia is that area is the part of the world developing the fastest. So the economic advantages for westerners are likely to keep diminishing as their economies and standard of living continue to advance.
Anyone considering being an Ex-pat for lower costs needs to put some thinking into the low fertility rate that's engulfing the world. Mexico, with its 2.0 fertility rate. Thailand with its 1.4 fertility rate. And there's hardly a country in South America with a fertility rate higher than 1.9.
Nursing homes are probably the last stop in this world so why is money and taxes such a concern?
Not so much money as administrative complications. It is one extra tax return to file, in a country in which there hasn't been much administrative complexity so far ... but when an administrative problem DOES arise, I was told that it pretty much never will be solved, and I can believe that.
My plan with retirement was pretty much to streamline everything. That is why I have annuities rather than finances about which one has to think. That is why I had
a small home condo on each coast that always waited for me as a ready accommodation. My immigration and professional life were extremely complex; that is why i needed and wanted smooth sailing in my private life. Now I no longer have professional complexity, but I do have a view of progressively older age, and I don't want to burden that with paperwork, or deal with immigrational complexity AGAIN.
Also, even not taking into account the cost, nursing homes in the US are truly awful. I simply don't want that setup; I want to be in some place where the simple aesthetics of leisure are better understood. It would have to be a Buddhist country, or at least a Catholic one :-).
You need to improve your attitude to taxes They are needed for the services you will be using. I don’t know very much but I think your concern about taxes in Thailand is likely overblown. Read up on Foreign Tax credit: you can claim tax credit for up to $112,000 per year for taxes paid to foreign government while living abroad. I don’t think your Thailand taxes will add up to that much.
I don’t know how much the health insurance is but you might use some of it while living in the nursing home/equivalent in Thailand.
Now, I’d not visit, let alone, move to Thailand as I find it too hot and uninteresting. But, I don’t see why you couldn’t stick to your original plan.
PS: We are considering moving to France and spending some years as expats - leaving the return question open. The US tax treaty with France is quite good.
I actually don't mind paying taxes if I get something for them; I only mind when my money is stolen for something that doesn't benefit me and even actively harms me. I mind when taxes are diverted into theft and corruption. For example, I could have lived in a tax-free state when I was a high earner, but the flat 5% state income tax in Massachusetts was of totally reasonable size, fair (ie, non-progressive, same % for everyone, though that has now slightly changed - but only slightly, and at very high income levels), I got the benefit of a well-governed city with functioning infrastructure of crime control, public transportation etc. (Boston) in return for the tax, and the tax money was not generally vanishing in unknown directions. I DON'T mind that kind of taxation at all.
Regarding Thailand, I am not concerned about the size of the tax, but the fact that I would have to file a tax return at all to start with. Thailand has been generally a country without problems for foreigners, but it is unfortunately also a country in which there is no hope of resolving a problem when it does arise. I can't accept to have in Thailand something that can become administratively tangled.
International insurance is not much higher than Medicare B + D + supplement, but there are to my knowledge only 3 insurance companies which offer new enrollment after the age of 70, and only one of them offers enrollment until unlimited age. Again, the cost of insurance is not an issue, but the fact that after certain age it may be impossible to get it at any cost - and yet the new Thai regulations require that a foreigner must carry it.
I can understand the reluctance to have complexity in tax filings. But, you will not want to be self-filing at 99 from a nursing home. You engage professionals to do the filings, and Thailand will offer that due to expats living there.
OP, is establishing residency now an option? Getting your foot in the door now might work out better for you if the rules change again
Thailand's immigration requirements are very clear. Amongst others language proficiency.
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They are needed for the services you will be using. I don’t know very much but I think your concern about taxes in Thailand is likely overblown. Read up on Foreign Tax credit: you can claim tax credit for up to $112,000 per year for taxes paid to foreign government while living abroad. I don’t think your Thailand taxes will add up to that much.
