Can I still buy SSF for the tax deduction?

No. Tax year 2567 was the last year for the SSF deduction, and new SSF purchases from tax year 2568 onwards cannot be claimed. For tax year 2569 the remaining deductible funds are RMF and Thai ESG (including Thai ESGX).

What should I do with SSF units I already own?

Nothing, and there is no need to sell in a hurry. Deductions already claimed are not clawed back. The original rules still apply: hold for a full 10 years counted day-to-day from each purchase date, and the gain on sale is tax-exempt. Sell before the 10 years are up and you repay the tax benefit with a surcharge.

RMF or Thai ESG — which should I choose?

Under about 45, Thai ESG is clearly better: it locks money for five years where RMF locks it until you turn 55. The deduction per baht is identical; the lock-up is not. From about 50 onwards RMF is also down to a five-year lock and has the higher ceiling, so it becomes attractive again.

How does Thai ESGX differ from Thai ESG?

Thai ESGX exists mainly to receive transfers from old LTF holdings. New money from 2569 shares Thai ESG's allowance — together no more than 30% of income and 300,000 THB a year. Both require a five-year hold counted day-to-day.

What happens if I sell before the conditions are met?

You repay the tax you were exempted, plus a surcharge of 1.5% per month backdated to April of the year after you claimed it, and the gain may be taxed as income. Only buy what you can genuinely hold to term.

What counts inside the 500,000 THB retirement ceiling?

RMF, provident fund, GPF, the private teachers' welfare fund, annuity life insurance and the National Savings Fund — all together capped at 500,000 THB a year. Thai ESG and Thai ESGX sit outside it with their own 300,000 THB allowance.

SSF, RMF and Thai ESG 2026: SSF is gone — which fund now?

If you are researching "SSF vs RMF" to decide what to buy this year, the shortest possible answer is that the question is out of date — SSF is no longer tax-deductible.

⚠️ SSF is no longer deductible. Tax year 2567 was the final year for the SSF deduction. New SSF purchases from tax year 2568 onwards cannot be claimed. Units you already hold continue under the original rules and nothing you already claimed is taken back.

So this article answers the three questions people actually have now: what to do with the SSF units you hold, whether to choose RMF or Thai ESG, and the one almost nobody works out — what the tax break is actually worth per year once you account for how long your money is locked up. That last number changes the answer completely for anyone under 45.

For every deduction ceiling in tax year 2569, see our personal income tax guide, and put your own numbers into the tax calculator.

Do you need to do anything with the SSF you hold?

No, and there is no reason to rush to sell. The deduction ending for new money does not reach back and affect units you already bought and claimed.

What does still apply is the original holding rule, which has not gone away:

Hold for a full 10 years counted day-to-day from each individual purchase, not from the calendar year. Buy on 1 February 2563 and the ten years are up on 1 February 2573, so you can sell without breaching from 2 February 2573.
Hold to term and the gain on sale is tax-exempt.
Sell early and you breach the conditions: repay the tax you were exempted, plus a surcharge.

⚠️ The trap here is that the clock runs per purchase, not per account. If you bought SSF monthly for five years you hold dozens of separate lots, each maturing on its own date. Hitting "sell all" on the day the first lot turns ten breaches every other lot instantly. Check your purchase history with the asset management company before selling.

Two options remain: RMF and Thai ESG

The Stock Exchange of Thailand building on Ratchadaphisek Road Photo: Yu tptw — CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

For tax year 2569 two fund families still carry a deduction, and they differ in the places that matter most.

	RMF	Thai ESG (incl. Thai ESGX)
Deduction ceiling	30% of income, up to 500,000 THB	30% of income, up to 300,000 THB
Inside the 500,000 retirement ceiling	Yes	No — its own allowance
Holding period	until age 55, and at least 5 years invested	5 years, day-to-day from purchase
Must you buy every year	Yes, skipping at most one year in a row	No — claim in whichever year you buy
What it invests in	wide choice, Thai and overseas	Thai securities meeting sustainability criteria
Selling early	repay tax + 1.5% per month	repay tax + 1.5% per month

The two rows to read carefully are holding period and the combined ceiling — both change the answer more than the headline ceiling everyone looks at first.

Identical deduction, very different price

This is the part tax-fund articles almost never calculate, and the part the decision should rest on.

RMF and Thai ESG deduct identically per baht. Put in 100,000 THB and the tax saved is the same either way, set by your bracket.

Monthly salary	Tax saved on 100,000 THB invested
30,000	1,975 THB
50,000	10,000 THB
70,000	15,000 THB
100,000	21,475 THB
150,000	25,000 THB
250,000	30,000 THB

But the price is not the same, and the price here is not money — it is the number of years the money is locked up. Thai ESG always locks for five years. RMF locks until you turn 55, which for someone aged 30 is 25 years.

Spread that same tax saving across the years it is locked for, and the picture inverts.

RMF — the tax break as an annual return

Age at purchase	Years locked	10% bracket	20% bracket	30% bracket
25	30	0.32% a year	0.61% a year	0.88% a year
30	25	0.38% a year	0.73% a year	1.05% a year
35	20	0.48% a year	0.92% a year	1.32% a year
40	15	0.64% a year	1.22% a year	1.76% a year
45	10	0.96% a year	1.84% a year	2.66% a year
50+	5	1.92% a year	3.71% a year	5.39% a year

Thai ESG — five years at any age

Bracket	Tax break as an annual return
10%	1.92% a year
20%	3.71% a year
30%	5.39% a year
35%	6.19% a year

The numbers are blunt. A 30-year-old in the 20% bracket buying RMF gets a tax break worth 0.73% a year across the 25 years the money is tied up. The same person putting the same amount into Thai ESG gets 3.71% a year, because it unlocks in five — more than five times as much, from an identical amount of tax saved.

The two converge at age 50 and above, where RMF's lock-up is also down to five years. From there RMF becomes the better instrument again, because its ceiling is higher.

How to read this correctly. It is not the fund's investment return — it is the value of the tax break alone, spread over the years your money is committed. Your real return is this plus whatever the fund itself earns. The point is that if the tax break is only worth 0.73% a year, the reason to buy RMF at 30 has to be the fund, not the tax.

Your 500,000 ceiling may already be full

Siam Commercial Bank's Talat Noi branch, the first bank building in Thailand Photo: กสิณธร ราชโอรส — CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

The 500,000 THB ceiling is not RMF's ceiling. It is the combined ceiling for every retirement vehicle:

RMF
the provident fund (PVD) your employer deducts each month
GPF and the private teachers' welfare fund
annuity life insurance
the National Savings Fund

Employees paying into a provident fund usually have no idea how much of the quota is already gone. This table assumes contributions at the maximum 15% of salary.

Monthly salary	PVD for the year	Room left for RMF
50,000	90,000	180,000
80,000	144,000	288,000
120,000	216,000	284,000
200,000	360,000	140,000
300,000	500,000	0

Someone on 300,000 THB a month contributing the maximum has used the entire 500,000 ceiling before buying a single baht of RMF. Buy RMF anyway and that portion is not deductible — and breaches the fund's conditions too.

⚠️ "Room left for RMF" is the lower of (500,000 minus PVD) and 30% of income, which is why the 80,000 and 120,000 rows come out so close: the first is capped by the 30% rule, the second by the 500,000 ceiling.

This is exactly why Thai ESG matters to higher earners — its 300,000 THB sits outside that ceiling, so someone already at 500,000 can still deduct another 300,000. For employer schemes see our provident fund guide.

What Thai ESGX is, and how it differs

Thai ESGX was created mainly to receive transfers out of old LTF holdings. For someone investing new money, the practical difference is minimal.

New money from 2569 shares its deduction allowance with Thai ESG — together no more than 30% of income and 300,000 THB a year.
Money transferred in from LTF has its own separate allowance of up to 50,000 THB a year across 2569 to 2572.
The holding period is the same five years day-to-day, counted from the transfer date for transferred money.

In short: if you have no LTF sitting around, treat the two as a single 300,000 THB allowance and choose on the fund's investment policy instead.

What happens if you sell early

Krungthai Bank's head office in Bangkok Photo: Chainwit. — CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

The penalty is heavier than most people assume, and it is not merely handing back what you received.

Repay every baht of tax you were exempted.
Add a surcharge of 1.5% per month, backdated to April of the year after you claimed — roughly 18% a year, higher than some credit cards.
The gain on sale may be taxed as income in the year you sell.

For RMF, if you have invested more than five years but sell before 55, you repay only the last five years of benefit — but the surcharge still applies.

The only exemptions are disability and death.

⚠️ This is why the first rule of buying deductible funds is buy only what you can genuinely hold to term, not buy up to the ceiling. Filling 300,000 THB in a good year and having to sell the next because cash ran short costs far more than never buying. Build an emergency fund first.

Choosing by age and bracket

0% bracket (below roughly 26,700 THB a month) — do not buy for tax reasons; there is no tax to reduce. If you want to invest, use an ordinary fund you can sell any time. See mutual funds for beginners.
Under 45 — Thai ESG, clearly. Five-year lock, far more flexible, and its 300,000 THB is outside the combined ceiling.
45 to 50 — genuinely close. RMF's lock is down to five or ten years, and if you intend to use the money at retirement anyway it costs you nothing.
50 and over — RMF is attractive again: the same five-year lock, with a higher ceiling.
High earners already at 500,000 — use Thai ESG as additional headroom; this is not an either/or.

Mistakes people make

Looking at the ceiling and ignoring the lock-up. RMF's ceiling really is higher, but at 30 it comes with 25 more years of your money being unavailable.

Forgetting the provident fund. See the table above — higher earners may already be at the ceiling.

Buying it all in December. Fund prices are not lower at year end, and a single purchase is a bet on one day's price. Spreading purchases gives a better average — see DCA investing.

Choosing a fund by name rather than policy. RMF ranges from bond funds to overseas equity, which are worlds apart in risk. Buying more risk than you can sit through ends in an early sale.

Not telling the asset manager you intend to claim. Since 2565 investors must notify the fund company so purchase data is sent to the Revenue Department. Without that the deduction cannot be claimed, however real the purchase.

Selling all your SSF the day the first lot matures. Each purchase matures on its own date.

Summary

SSF is finished for new money, but hold what you have: ten years day-to-day and the gain is tax-free.
RMF and Thai ESG deduct identically per baht. What differs is how long the money is locked.
Under 45, Thai ESG wins by a wide margin — 3.71% a year against RMF's 0.73% in the 20% bracket.
Check the 500,000 combined ceiling before buying, especially with a provident fund, and remember Thai ESG's 300,000 sits outside it.
Buy only what you can hold to term. A 1.5% monthly surcharge costs more than the break was worth.

Work out your full year's deductions in our personal income tax calculator, and see every 2569 entitlement in the personal income tax guide.

Sources

Tax savings were computed with tetono.com's own tax engine under tax year 2569 rules. The "annual return" figures for the tax break are (1 + tax rate) ^ (1 / years locked) − 1. Figures as of September 2026. Fund conditions and tax law change — check with your asset manager and the Revenue Department before acting. This is general information, not personal investment advice.