AOW, pension and tax in Thailand: two treaties help, and a third is missing

If you live in Thailand, your occupational pension is taxed in Thailand, an ABP pension from government service in the Netherlands, and the Netherlands withholds wage tax on your AOW (the tax that comes straight off your benefit). Your accrued AOW does come along in full.

Three things to know up front:

• That is governed by two treaties: the tax treaty of 1975, which the AOW falls outside of, and the export treaty of 2002.
• Since 2024 Thailand taxes what you bring into the country.
• On 21 November 2025 a new tax treaty was signed. It is not yet in force, and will give the Netherlands the taxing right over pension, annuity and AOW.

Part 1 — the tax treaty: which country may tax?

Article 18 — pensions and annuities. "Taxable only in that State": the state of residence. So your occupational pension is taxed in Thailand as soon as you are a tax resident there. Apply to the Belastingdienst for an exemption from wage tax. Without that statement your fund withholds wage tax, and you claim it back afterwards.

Article 19 — government service. The paying country may tax: an ABP pension from government service remains taxed in the Netherlands.

And the AOW? That falls outside the treaty. The 1975 treaty has no article for social security benefits, and no residual article for income that falls under no other article either. So the Netherlands withholds wage tax on your AOW; there is no exemption. Thailand may tax what you bring in of it, with a credit for tax paid abroad.

Income	Treaty of 1975 (now)	New treaty (not yet in force)
Occupational pension and annuity	Thailand only (art. 18)	the Netherlands too (art. 18(2), Protocol VII)
ABP pension from government service	the Netherlands (art. 19)	the Netherlands (art. 18)
AOW	outside the treaty: the Netherlands withholds wage tax, Thailand taxes what you bring in	the Netherlands (art. 18(2)); Thailand credits (art. 22(2))
Lump sum	—	the Netherlands (Protocol VII)

What does the new treaty of 21 November 2025 change?

Until the new treaty (Tractatenblad 2025, 94) is in force, everything above applies.

The new article 18 lets pensions, annuities and social security payments be taxed, in paragraph 2, "also in the first-mentioned Contracting State". The Protocol (part VII) calls a pension or lump sum Dutch in so far as the contributions or entitlements qualified for tax relief here. The new article 19 no longer mentions pensions and applies "subject to the provisions of Article 18". So an ABP pension falls under it too. Thailand keeps taxing what you bring in. But under article 22, paragraph 2, it credits the Dutch tax, up to the Thai tax on it.

When. The Council of State had no comments on 1 April 2026. In September 2026 the government submitted the treaty to both Houses for tacit approval. After that Thailand must approve it too. Under article 30 it enters into force on the last day of the month following the month in which both countries have notified approval. It then applies from 1 January after that. That is 1 January 2027 at the earliest, if those notifications are in by November 2026.

Part 2 — the export treaty: does your accrued AOW come along in full?

Yes. The Netherlands and Thailand concluded on 11 November 2002 in Nonthaburi a treaty on the export of social insurance benefits, in force since 1 November 2005. Article 4 sets aside every provision that restricts payment because you live in the other country. Article 9a of the AOW Act, which outside treaty countries grants at most the rate for married persons, therefore doesn't apply.

A single person keeps the 70% rate, a couple the 50% rate per person. In 2024 the minister confirmed that Thailand is among the 36 countries with full AOW export.

The price is the enforcement, with suspension if you don't cooperate with verification within three months. The SVB checks whether you really live alone. Whoever runs a joint household falls back to the married rate and repays AOW received in excess.

In full means: what you've built up. If you don't receive AOW yet, your accrual stops as soon as you're no longer insured in the Netherlands. Every year until your AOW age then costs 2%. Voluntary continued insurance is possible, for ten years at most, provided you apply within a year: how that works and when it pays off.

What does stop is your insurance for the survivor's benefit (Anw). The treaty exports a running benefit, but it doesn't keep your insurance alive. Your partner cannot claim it, unless you continue the insurance voluntarily. You apply for that within a year as well. The child benefit is expressly excluded by article 4 paragraph 2.

Arrange your DigiD and Berichtenbox before departure. The SVB writes to you through the Berichtenbox and has no counter of its own in Thailand. Also respond quickly to a proof of life, the proof that you are still alive. Otherwise payment is suspended.