gk10012001

I was not aware about a date. I actually filed my first SS 44 last November expecting it to reduce my IRMAA in 2025 as the form asks you to estimate income for 2025 which I did. Instead they said I did not have any income reduction which made no sense and they did not even consider doing anything for 2025. So it seems like a catch 22. I have spoken to three SSA agents now, two on the phone and one in person. And no matter how I phrase things I always get incomplete answers. Siiiiigh. I did not file a SS 44 this year yet as I was waiting until I met with a SSA person in person. His position was black and white in his mind. File the form this year at any time and it will reduce my IRMAA for 2026. Nothing can be done for 2025. And he said nothing could ever have been done for 2025. Makes no sense. Seems like they are going to whack you for one year no matter what. Now, after 2025 ends, and taxes are filed they will clearly show I paid too much IRMAA for that year if and I mean if the final intent is to really have people pay a IRMAA that applies directly to the MAGI for that year. I will broach that at that point and see about getting credit or refund applied. But I am not hopeful

I will add that when I have stayed for two month periods I have gotten bored and did return to the USA to work or do other things. As an engineer I still like to keep my brain busy doing technical things. But it is hard to beat Thailand for monthly relaxation and a break

if you meant why am I in Thailand or go to Thailand? Loved the place from my first trip. I loved the modern yet small city character of Pattaya. I love to walk all over. I love the convenience of the baht bus. I love the food. Daily foot massages or weekly oil. love pools on a hot day. Love the scenery. Love the country bus system and being able to tak trips to Korat, or Sukhothai or wherever. Love visiting phuket and karon beach. Love Ao Nang and the limestone stacks offshore, the jungle, sea and cliff right there are beautiful. So much more to see and do. Have had a fine time with a few ladies over the years. I like Issan music. I don't care for the more modern malls. I got those here in the USA and don't need the marble floor places like the gardens mall in Palm Beach. Terminal 21 is ok for a change. Love the Tuk La Dee lunch counter short order food experience. Bangkok BTS really is great except so crowded at times. I do appreciate the tenets of buddhism. I thought the level of education of the general population was good in that they could read and write their own language and do basic math. The USA by the numbers has gone down in those areas. So many more things to explore in Thailand. It is a convenient stepping stone to some other Asian countries. In general when I am there, I fell no need to rush or to do anything. I have no money issues and every day the biggest decision might be whether to turn left or right when leaving the hotel!

if asking why here on the forum, I go because I have been to Thailand 15 times since 2004 and always planned to semi retire there or at least spend much time there between my contract jobs. So getting as much information as possible. The changes in immigration, no more USA embassy income letter, expat's experience with immigration, monthly money transfers for retirement extensions, 800k baht using agent, new TDAC requirement, and most recently information on tax implications and filing if staying in country more than 180 days. This tax thing is of concern to me as I retire and like things simple and have no desire to deal with a foreign country about what monies of mine are reportable, assesable, or taxable. And many other things.

Yes but the devil is in the details. They do little if anything automatically. One has to make requests. The key words are initial determination. If one pays too much for one year, I am sure based on my recent meeting, that nothing will happen without a person doing something. But, this is all new to me and I will find out as the years progress. I did just start my SSA. Figured at age 68 enough is enough. I will get 4,000 a month right now which is plenty for Thailand as needed. And I won't be touching any of my IRAs until the RMDs require it. They are doing quite well. My ROTH IRA of course will be tax free. My traditional IRA withdrawals will be taxable, which is fine.

Thanks for the link

I love salt water pools. My sister has one here in the USA. where are the salt water pools in Jomtien or Pattaya that maybe allow pay for day use in case I am not a guest in that hotel?

ah. thank you

what do you mean wind up? When is money withdrawn? Doesn't one's account have to show monies in there for a certain amount of time? Or do they just somehow skip over that and every year, say at the next renewal, they get around that again?

oh so a short term thing. But wouldn't that show the account is not seasoned enough going forward? or do they keep it in the account enough to satisfy those 3 or 4 month rules or whatever they are? Thanks

yep. heck my mother in her 80s when I would visit and we all would eat, she would say "good boy, you ate it all"! sheesh!

My first visit was in 2004. 15 trips since. Last trip was 2019. Oh yes many many more overweight Thais and here in the USA same here. Processed foods, soda! Fast food, KFC, McD's etc. I get it, I have done it. And as monies get tighter people eat cheaper which means more fast food, microwave Tyons chicken fingers etc. The amount of salt and sugar and high fructose corn syrup (whatever that is) .

Years ago I used to baht bus down to Jomtien and swim and it was ok. Now, neglecting likely big runoff from these heavy rains, is the water there safe for swimming? I know now and then I have read about discharges and stuff, but in general is it safe, maybe further down the stretch of beach? One of my friends finally booked his Thailand trip and liked the idea of pattaya but he really wanted some beach time without traveling to Phuket Karon beach, or Krabi Ao Nang, or other places. I told him day trips to Koh Larn would be OK as maybe a few days down on Ko Samet.

what actually happens when you use an agent for this? Do they put 800,000 in a bank account which you can then show as in that account to immigration? Is this 800,000 basically a loan and you are paying the agent interest on that in the way of a fee? Along those lines, I don't see this 800k method as being that odd. Nothing in the immigration wording really says what 800k you must put in an account or where it comes from. Gosh it might be one's life savings, it might be a free loan from a friend, etc.

So I went to the local SSA office in Palm beach. On a side note I hear more english spoken at the Thailand immigration office than at this Palm Beach office. Anyway. Surprisingly the reduction in IRMAA will NOT and can NOT be for this year regardless of any proof. The SS 44 form is so poorly constructed. All it will do, is reduce the IRMAA for 2026, which normally would be based on the MAGI from 2024 (2024 is still a high MAGI year). So they only give you one year relief basically. So while they recognize that you should pay a proper premium based on your MAGI, they on the other hand stick to the rule that they initially base the IRMAA on the tax year MAGI from two years earlier. So say you made 300 k in 2023, and 300k in 2024, retired in December 2024. In 2025 you are stuck paying the big IRMAA no matter what form you file as they will base that on 2023 MAGI. In 2026 you would normally be still paying big IRMAA based on 2024 but the SS 44 form will let you estimate your 2025 income, and they will then use that to calculate your IRMAA for 2026, instead of using that big MAGI from 2024. Why one can't get the immediate reduction makes no sense to me and seems grossly unfair to the whole idea that IRMAA should be based on income for a given year. Any look back initial rates is just used for convenience as that is the tax forms they have automatically in front of them. Why we can reduce one year based on an estimate you supply but not the actual year.... So stuck with a high IRMAA for one year. Well its better than two, but the form and agents in no way explained how that works and why one can't get a low IRMAA for the year you are now retired. What was interesting is that absolutely could not get clear answer on what happens if you under pay your IRMAA. Say you under paid based on your income estimate you submit, it seems they will bill you later to collect that. Also, if one somehow overpays IRMAA, it was not clear at all the process to get that either refunded or credited. The SSA website mentions some policy documents but following the links gives no actionable intelligence as we say in the military.

My life changing event is that now this year I am not working and am not making much money. Why SSA didn't understand my SS 44 is beyond me but I am working on that. I clearly will not be making the income this year that I am paying IRMAA for due to previous years so it seems like a reduction should be clearly allowed. Oh well, we shall see. But it does not seem that when the dust clears and if I do nothing that credit will be given for paying so much this year even though when the tax years are completed and filed it will be clear I was paying too much. That does not seem right. Thanks for the response

Somebody suggested WRLIFE . I went to their website and the price quote and coverage seemed reasonable for Thailand. Does anybody have any usage comments on it, how it worked in Thailand (I am an American and am looking to suspend my Medicare for one year as I travel abroad). How did the claim process work? What if any illness or injury did you claim? Was this insurance generally accepted in Thailand at decent hospitals? I expect to be mostly in Chon Buri Pattaya or Bangkok. Thanks

Does Medicare/SSA automatically refund or give credit for overpayments? For example, right now in 2025 I am paying 670 a month which is ridiculous but is based on past income years which were in the 350,000 range (slot machine jackpots and high engineer pay). I understand that and I am trying to work with the SSA to get that reduced to a more reasonable level now since I just retired and my MAGI income this year will be in the 150,000 range at most. I know this same situation happens to thousands of people every year. They retire from a high paying job but are still paying high IRMAA. I know people have gotten their IRMAA reduced but my first attempt with filing a SS-44 failed either I did it wrong of the SSA drones don't understand their own forms. Anyway.. So my question is after this year when my 2025 taxes are filed and also after 2026 when my taxes are filed the SSA will see my income for those years is in the 150,000 range which is much lower than the 350,000 years. So for 2025 I would have paid way too much IRMAA. Will the SSA automatically issue me refunds or credits for having over paid for this year? Try as I might I can not find any official text about that on all my internet searches.

great conversations everyone. Now to a very related question: How are people handling the "new" taxation reporting rules about being in country for more than 180 days in a year? While I can do almost any of the long term retirement options/stays/visas, I am now more concerned about that taxation and tax resident thing. Anybody having any recent experience or issues with that?

wow. thanks. yes it did seem that google voice might work for what I want to do, i.e. call the USA from Thailand using my computer and wifi. what are some rough rates or charges to use it from Thailand to the USA?

while. I haven't been in Thailand since 2019 but I remember her from years ago. Many posters had commented that their Thai wives had tried talking to her and she was not cogent

Here in the USA I recently helped out a 32 year old women that had just started working at electric Boat. Seemed like she had gotten her act together, just got her computer degree, etc. As we chatted turns out she had a 14 year old daughter so had a child and got married and divorced early . She was getting court order evicted from her Mom's apartment! That should have been a red flag as she was now working and could rent a place. Anyway I had a two story cottage and I never used the bedroom downstairs so I offered to help as she reminded me of my little sister who went through a similar thing and is now doing great, two kids through college, helped my Mom for ten years after Dad died, etc. So I paid an additional 825 a month to my landlord to let her, her daughter and dog stay with me. I didn't mind the company. We went out a few times and of course talked and over the next few months found out how messed up she was. Chronic cannabis user. A closet alcoholic. Delusional etc. Her kid was pretty cool and had a brain and wrote quite well as I often looked over her homework with her. The dog was great. However Olga, almost immediately started coming home at 1 am on work nights, and on some nights not coming home at all. two months on she was saying how broke she was. now mind you she had been working for 4 months now on an 80k USD salary. One of the conditions of her moving in was we go over her finances as I made it clear I would not pay for stupid things. Of course turns out she was buying cannabis, was giving money to this bum of a guy. Finally one night at 1 am she came home and started cooking and waking everybody up. Vodka drink on the counter, smell of weed. I said you got to the end of the month. I will let the daughter finish the December school semester. She went crazy and I quietly sat on my couch recording her rant. She took the dog and drove off! Note leaving the daughter! A few hours later the cops called and made some statement that she has residency there now because she got mail sent there. I said no, while that can be helpful in establishing residency, she is not on the lease, and is just a guest. I said if she even tries to homestead or squat then the landlord will file eviction papers, she will lose her security clearance, and job, etc. So I hear her rambling in the background and saying she will move out immediately. I said great. I helped her move in I will gladly help her move out. Then the cops said her boyfriend's truck won't start. i said I have tools and will happily go and jump start it. Cop said she will move out saturday, it was now Thursday. I said fine. So I stayed away for a day and sunday went back and she had moved out. Did not clean the place of course but I have a cleaning lady so it was no big deal. So offer help but lesson learned about they may not leave easily. Mental issues underlying are a problem. Also once I let a viet girl in Los Angeles stay with me for a while. She was great actually. Cleaned the place top to bottom. After a few weeks she said she had to go to Las Vegas to service some credit accounts. OK. I paid 100 bucks for a plane ticket, dropped her off at the airport. All done I thought. three months later I get a bill from the Peppermil in Reno for a 355 USD phone bill charge to a room! Never been there. I called and asked for details on the room, and who etc. They sent me the details and I saw her initials. I said I never been there and they stopped billing me. A few weeks later I got a similar bill from a different casino. I then told them to call the police about it, and who the person was. The phone bills records were all from a service, i.e. she was a call girl. So case closed. No cost to me. Then a few months later I was at the Commerce casino in Los Angeles where I first met her and asked around if anybody knew her. turns out she had gotten divorced just before we met. Went through her monies, sold her condo, went through that gambling Pai Gow. Now the latest news was she got busted on a drug mule run over in asian. Sad because she did have an accounting degree, was absolutely stunning. this was 1994. She had no left hand and was blind in one eye from an explosive device she touched as a kid while still in vietnam. Bottom line her mind was just off and gambling

So many people jump on a bandwagon and go after some shiny new thing. He is not the mayor yet. It was just a primary.

my IRMAA is high and will come down 18 months from now unless hopefully I can get thes ss 44 reduction form properly submitted and applied. While waiting I am fine with chilling in thailand. So I am just looking at getting thai insurance for about 18 months. I am fine with canceling my Medicare and then 18 months from now paying the 10 % penalty which will be 18 bucks! added to the minimum Part B premium. Mr PIB posted how Medicare applies the 10 % fee only for every 12 month increment which would be fine.

Over 5,000 pedestrian deaths? Amazing Thailand. I do recall slow seasons in Pattaya many years ago when one could actually cross beach road easily