Welcome to Hoxton Wealth, the new home of Hoxton Capital
Moving to South East Asia: What Happens to Your Pension, Tax and Investments
Hoxton Blog • Moving to South East Asia: What Happens to Your Pension, Tax and Investments
South East Asia has become one of the most popular regions for British expatriates, retirees, and internationally mobile professionals.
Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia each offer their own mix of lifestyle, career opportunity and lower cost of living - but a move to any of them raises the same core financial questions: What happens to my UK tax status? Can I still access my pension? Will my ISA still work? And how will the local tax system treat my income?
Drawing on Hoxton Wealth's 2026 country guides, here's a practical overview of what changes, and what doesn't, when you relocate to South East Asia.
Your UK Tax Residency Doesn't End the Day You Leave
A common misconception is that leaving the UK automatically makes you a non-resident for tax purposes. It doesn't. The UK determines residency through the Statutory Residence Test (SRT), which weighs the amount of time you spend in the UK, your employment arrangements, and your ongoing ties to the country. Your circumstances during the tax year of departure determine how the rules apply to you.
Two things are worth reviewing before you go:
- Split-year treatment - For some people, the tax year of departure can be split into a UK-resident period and a non-resident period, which affects how income and gains are taxed during that year. Whether this applies depends on individual circumstances, so it's worth checking before you leave.
- Ongoing UK tax obligations - Becoming non-resident doesn't end all UK tax liability. You may still be taxed in the UK on rental income from UK property, certain pension income, some employment income, and dividends or investment income, depending on your situation.
It's also worth reviewing your National Insurance contribution record before departure. Making voluntary contributions can help preserve entitlement to UK benefits, including the State Pension, and closing any gaps early supports long-term retirement planning.
Pensions: They Stay Put, But How You Use Them Needs a Plan
For most British nationals, pensions are the single largest asset they take into a move overseas, and the good news is that relocating doesn't affect ownership of them. Most UK workplace and personal pensions can simply remain where they are, and you can keep managing them from abroad.
A few things do change in practice, though:
- Accessing benefits - UK pension benefits can generally still be accessed while living in Thailand, Vietnam or the Philippines, subject to UK pension legislation. How withdrawals are taxed depends on your residency status, the relevant UK double taxation agreement, and local tax rules in your new country.
- Continuing contributions - Depending on your circumstances, it may still be possible to contribute to UK pension arrangements after you've left, though eligibility and available tax relief depend on your residency status.
- QROPS - Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Schemes remain an option in some circumstances, but overseas transfer charges may apply depending on where the receiving scheme is based and where you're resident. This isn't a decision to make lightly or quickly.
- The abolition of the Lifetime Allowance - Since April 2024, the old Lifetime Allowance framework has been replaced with new limits governing tax-free lump sums and death benefits. Anyone with a sizeable pension pot should review how this affects their retirement strategy.
ISAs Survive the Move — But Lose Some of Their Purpose
Existing ISAs generally remain open once you become a non-UK resident, and the UK tax advantages continue to apply to them. The catch is that you can no longer pay into an ISA while you're non-resident, so it effectively becomes a frozen (if still tax-efficient) pot rather than an active savings vehicle.
What happens next depends heavily on where you land:
- In Thailand, income or gains remitted from overseas investments, including an ISA, may fall within the scope of Thailand's foreign-income rules depending on your residency status and the timing of remittances (more on this below).
- In the Philippines, the ISA isn't recognised as a distinct tax wrapper at all. Instead, the tax treatment of income and gains depends on the nature of the underlying investments and your residency status.
- In Vietnam, the ISA's UK tax benefits are generally preserved, but if you become a Vietnamese tax resident, you'll need to understand how ISA income and gains are treated under Vietnamese rules.
This is also a natural moment to review your wider investment structure, tax efficiency across jurisdictions, currency exposure, reporting obligations and how flexible your arrangements are if you move again. Some internationally mobile individuals consider offshore investment structures as part of this review, though suitability always comes down to residency, taxation, accessibility and long-term goals.
How the Local Tax Systems Actually Work
This is where South East Asia stops being a single story and becomes three (or four) quite different ones.
Thailand
You become a Thai tax resident if you spend 180 days or more in Thailand in a calendar year. The big change to know about is the rule introduced from January 2024: foreign-sourced income is potentially taxable if it is remitted into Thailand, regardless of when it was earned or transferred. That's a meaningful shift from the old system, and it makes the timing of remittances an important planning consideration. Thailand also taxes certain capital gains (depending on asset type and source) and has a limited inheritance tax regime with thresholds and relationship-based rates.
Philippines
The Philippines works differently to most countries in the region: it generally taxes residents and non-resident aliens on Philippine-sourced income rather than worldwide income. However, individuals who spend extended periods there while carrying on business activities may fall under different rules. Capital gains tax applies to certain disposals, including real property and some share transactions, and an estate tax regime applies depending on residency and where assets are located, worth coordinating carefully with UK estate planning if you retain UK assets.
Vietnam
Vietnam considers you tax resident if you spend enough time there in a calendar year or a rolling twelve-month period. Once you're tax resident, you can become liable to tax on worldwide income, overseas employment income, investment income and other earnings, not just what you bring into the country. Vietnam doesn't currently levy a separate inheritance tax, but certain inherited or gifted assets can still attract personal income tax or registration-related obligations, and UK inheritance tax may still apply depending on your domicile and long-term residence status, regardless of what Vietnam does.
The common thread
Across all three, the same principle holds: tax residency status is the switch that determines what gets taxed, and getting it wrong (or not planning around it) is where people get caught out. Thailand's remittance-basis rule, the Philippines' source-based system, and Vietnam's worldwide-income exposure are three very different outcomes from what looks, on the surface, like a similar move.
The Practical Side Matters Just as Much as Tax
Tax planning is only one part of a successful move. Across all the guides, the same practical themes come up again and again:
- Estate planning - Relocating is a natural trigger to review your will, beneficiary nominations, Lasting Powers of Attorney, domicile position, and how succession works across two jurisdictions.
- Protection planning - Life insurance, income protection and medical cover should all be reassessed before and after the move, including whether you need additional international cover.
- Currency and remittance - Managing money across sterling and Thai baht, Philippine pesos or Vietnamese dong introduces exchange rate risk and timing decisions that benefit from a structured approach rather than ad hoc transfers. (In the Philippines, many transactions are also conducted in US dollars, adding another layer.)
- Banking - Opening local banking facilities is usually one of the first priorities after arrival, and most people retain UK banking relationships alongside it for flexibility.
- Visas, residency and property rules - Each country has its own visa and property ownership regime, and these should be understood before any property purchase or long-term commitment.
Bringing It Together
Tax residency, pensions, investments, remittance strategy and estate planning don't operate in isolation — they interact, often in ways that aren't obvious until you're already living in your new country. A pension that makes sense to draw down one way in the UK might make far less sense once Thailand's remittance rules or Vietnam's worldwide-income rules are factored in. An ISA that's tax-free at home can become an ordinary taxable account abroad, depending on how the destination country treats it.
The common advice across every one of these guides is the same: plan before you relocate, not after. Reviewing your UK tax position, pension arrangements, investment structures and estate plans ahead of the move gives you the chance to make informed decisions, rather than unpicking problems once you've already left.
This article is based on Hoxton Wealth's 2026 "Moving to..." guides for Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam. It is for general information only and does not constitute personal financial, tax, legal or investment advice. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and may change. Anyone considering a move should seek regulated financial advice and independent tax/legal advice specific to their situation before making decisions.
How Can We Help You?
If you would like to speak to one of our advisers, please get in touch today.
Contact Hoxton Wealth
We are available to discuss how Hoxton Wealth can help you achieve your financial goals. Together, we can help you build a brighter financial future.
