Thai Income Tax on Military Retired Pay, Social Security and Remitted Income

U.S. Social Security: never taxable in Thailand. Article 20(2) of the 1996 U.S.-Thailand income tax convention makes social security benefits and similar public pensions paid by one country to a resident of the other, or to a U.S. citizen, taxable only in the paying country, and Article 1(3)(a) spares it from the saving clause. Military retired pay: exempt, with a condition. Article 21(2) makes a pension paid by a government in respect of services rendered to it taxable only in that country, unless the recipient is both a resident and a national of the other country. Article 1(2) lets Thailand tax its residents as if there were no treaty, and Article 1(3)(b) keeps the Article 21 exemption only for individuals who are neither Thai citizens nor have Thai immigrant status. A retiree living in Thailand on a non-immigrant visa, such as the O-A, keeps it. Thailand's 2024 rule on foreign income. The Revenue Department's guidance under Revenue Department Order P.161/2566 says foreign-source income is taxable in Thailand if it was earned in a tax year from January 1, 2024 onward by a foreigner who stays in Thailand 180 days or more in that calendar year, and it is brought into Thailand, wholly or partly, even in a later year. Income earned before January 1, 2024 is not taxed when brought in later. The treaty still decides first: retired pay and Social Security exempt under it stay exempt however they are brought in. VA disability compensation is not named in the treaty, and no Revenue Department source on it was found. Under the 2024 rule, a resident who brings it into Thailand should ask the Revenue Department or a Thai tax adviser whether any exemption applies before leaving it off a return. It is exempt from U.S. tax under 38 U.S.C. 5301.