What Happens to Your US Taxes and Benefits If You Stay Abroad Permanently

Moving abroad permanently doesn’t cut you off from Social Security, and it doesn’t end your US tax filing obligation either. Both of those facts surprise people in opposite directions — some assume they’ll lose benefits they’ve earned, others assume that once they’re gone, the IRS loses interest. Neither is true, and understanding what actually continues, what changes, and what recently got fixed matters a lot more once “long term” starts meaning “permanently” rather than “for now.”

Here’s what actually happens.

Social Security: it follows you, with real exceptions worth knowing

If you’ve earned 40 work credits — roughly 10 years of qualifying US employment — you keep receiving Social Security retirement benefits regardless of where you live, including the Philippines and Thailand. Moving abroad doesn’t cancel, reduce, or pause payments for US citizens who qualify. The 2026 average monthly benefit sits around $2,071, with a maximum of $4,152/month at full retirement age.

The one program that does stop: Supplemental Security Income (SSI), which is needs-based, not earned through work credits, generally stops after 30 days outside the US. That’s a different program from standard Social Security retirement benefits, and the two get confused constantly in expat forums. If you’re relying on SSI specifically, permanent relocation genuinely changes your situation. If you’re relying on earned retirement benefits, it doesn’t.

A recent, genuinely important fix: the Social Security Fairness Act, signed into law in January 2025, repealed the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO) — provisions that previously reduced Social Security benefits for people who also received a foreign pension. If you have both a US Social Security history and a pension from another source, this repeal may materially improve what you’re entitled to, and it’s recent enough that older articles or forum advice may not reflect it.

Taxes on the benefits themselves — this doesn’t disappear either

Up to 85% of your Social Security benefits can remain taxable at the federal level even while living abroad, depending on your total combined income. This income is not eligible for the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion — the FEIE only shelters earned income (wages, self-employment income), and Social Security is neither. If you’re drawing significant Social Security alongside other income, the FEIE won’t touch the Social Security portion regardless of how much of your other income it excludes.

Medicare: the part that actually does change meaningfully

This is the genuinely disruptive one for permanent expats, and it doesn’t get enough attention in general “can I keep my benefits” content. Medicare generally does not cover healthcare received outside the United States, with narrow exceptions. If you’re relying on Medicare as your healthcare plan and you’re moving abroad permanently, you need a real alternative — private international health insurance, a local healthcare plan, or self-pay through a lower-cost local system — because Medicare itself won’t be functioning as your coverage while you’re actually living in the Philippines or Thailand.

Self-employment tax abroad: still applies, and totalization coverage matters

If you’re self-employed and earning over $400 net, US self-employment tax (15.3%: 12.4% Social Security, 2.9% Medicare) still applies regardless of where you live, the same as covered in how taxes work when you earn US income while living abroad. Totalization agreements between the US and about 30 other countries can prevent double Social Security taxation for people paying into both systems — but it’s worth being direct here: neither the Philippines nor Thailand currently has a totalization agreement with the US. If you’re self-employed and living in either country, you don’t get that particular relief, and this is a detail some general expat-tax content glosses over or doesn’t specify by country.

Reporting obligations that continue regardless

A few things you’re still on the hook for as a permanent expat, easy to lose track of once “abroad” starts feeling like the new normal rather than a temporary state:

• Annual US tax filing continues indefinitely, regardless of whether you owe anything after exclusions and credits are applied
• Reporting major life changes to the SSA — marriage, divorce, changes in work status — since failing to report can lead to overpayments you’ll later need to repay, or a halt in benefits
• FBAR reporting if your foreign financial accounts exceed relevant thresholds, a separate filing requirement from your standard tax return

None of these depend on how long you’ve been gone. A permanent move doesn’t create a point where US reporting obligations quietly end — that’s a common and costly misconception.

Where this gets specific to you

Whether the Fairness Act repeal changes your specific benefit calculation, how to actually structure healthcare coverage once Medicare stops functioning for you, and how your particular mix of earned income, Social Security, and any pension income interacts across US and local tax rules — these depend on your specific work history, age, and income structure in ways this article can’t calculate for you.

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We’ll help you understand what actually changes for your specific situation and what questions to bring to a CPA or benefits specialist before you commit to permanent status.

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References

• Greenback Tax Services — Do Expats Get Social Security? Eligibility, Payments, and Tax Rules (2026)
• Social Security Fairness Act, signed January 2025 — WEP/GPO repeal
• TaxesForExpats — US Social Security Benefits Abroad for Expats, 2026 Guide
• MyExpatTaxes — Are Social Security Payments Taxed After Moving Abroad?

This article explains general federal benefit and tax frameworks as currently published; it is not financial, tax, or benefits advice. Confirm your specific entitlements with the Social Security Administration and a CPA experienced in expat taxation.