Short answer? It depends!
This is one of the most common questions we get at Expatsi, and unfortunately there’s currently no fast and easy answer for two reasons:
- Your personal tax liability isn’t the same as anyone else’s
- No one specializes in the tax laws of a variety of countries
There are options, but they’re not quick or “at a glance.” First, you can talk to our partners at MyExpatTaxes to at least determine what you’ll owe to the U.S. Next, you can narrow down you list of countries and talk to tax experts in each to estimate your burden. Our friends at Beacon Global can hit the highlights as they counsel you on your expat financial plan.
That said, I asked my trusty ChatGPT Poppy to create an outline of what you might pay. Fair warning: do not tax advice from robots or marketing girlies, but you can use this as a rough outline to help make decisions. If you’d like to try it yourself, I used this prompt with the Deep Research feature: For the following countries, can you tell me 1) how much they would tax an American expat’s social security, 2) how much (if at all) they would tax an American expat’s wealth, and 3) how much they would tax an American expat’s foreign income. For Spain, note Beckham’s Law and compare autonomous communities.
I chose this list of countries because it’s where we’re offering scouting trips this year. Join us!
| Country | Tax on U.S. Social Security | Wealth Tax | Tax on Foreign Income |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ecuador | None – Not taxed by Ecuador. Foreign pensions (including U.S. Social Security) are exempt. | None – No general wealth tax. Only modest municipal property taxes (~0.025–0.5%). | None – Foreign-sourced income not taxed for retirees; only Ecuador-source income taxed at 0–37%. |
| Ghana | Taxable – Ghana taxes residents on worldwide income; U.S. Social Security taxed at progressive rates up to 35%. | None – No net wealth tax. | Taxable – Worldwide income taxed at 0–35%. Exception: foreign employment income may be exempt if performed abroad >183 days for a non-resident employer. |
| Mexico | None – Under the U.S.–Mexico tax treaty, Social Security is only taxed by the U.S. | None – No general wealth tax. | Taxable – Worldwide income taxed at up to 35%. Foreign tax credits available. |
| Portugal | Taxed – Foreign pensions (including U.S. Social Security) taxed at progressive rates up to 48%. | None – No general wealth tax. Annual property surcharge (AIMI) 0.7–1% on high-value real estate. | Taxable – Worldwide income taxed. |
| Spain | None – Under U.S.–Spain treaty, Social Security only taxed by the U.S. | Yes – Wealth tax 0.2–3.5% on worldwide assets over thresholds (varies by region). Madrid & Andalusia: 100% exemption. State solidarity tax applies over €3M. | Taxable – Worldwide income taxed. Under “Beckham Law,” foreign income exempt for 6 years (Spanish-source taxed at flat 24–45%). Wealth tax still applies. |
