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Property ownership in Thailand comes with several tax obligations, from transfer fees and withholding tax to annual land and building tax. Here’s what to expect before you buy or sell.
Whether you’re planning to buy a property in Thailand or you already have one, you might be obligated to pay taxes to the Thai government. There are a variety of taxes that they charge and conditions under which they’re applied.
It’s always a good idea to go through the list of taxes that you’re obligated to pay both with your real estate agent and your lawyer or go to the local district office themselves and ask them.
Here is a list of the various taxes that you’ll be obliged to pay when either selling or buying a property in Thailand.
Contents
- Key Takeaways
- First Things First: Get to Know the Declared Value of Your Property
- Transferring a Property
- How to Pay Taxes When Transferring a Property?
- Annual Land Tax
- How Land and Building Tax Rates Actually Scale With Your Property's Value
- The 50 Million Baht Exemption: Who Actually Qualifies
- Rental Income Tax
- Tax Payment
- When Do You Pay Property Taxes?
- A Word of Warning
- Frequently Asked Questions
- What happens if I pay the annual Land and Building Tax late?
- Can I check a property's official appraised value before I buy or sell?
- Do foreigners pay higher property tax rates than Thai nationals?
- What happens to property tax when I inherit or leave behind property in Thailand?
- Has the "banana tree" loophole for avoiding agricultural land tax been closed?
- Now, on to You
Key Takeaways
- Property taxes in Thailand vary depending on whether you’re buying, selling, or holding a property.
- When transferring a property, you may owe up to four taxes: transfer tax, stamp duty, withholding tax, and specific business tax.
- Transfer tax is 2% of the registered value and is typically split equally between buyer and seller.
- Specific business tax of 3.3% applies if the seller has owned the property for less than five years.
- The annual Land and Building Tax is based on government-appraised value, with most owner-occupied primary residences exempt up to THB50 million.
- Rental income from Thai property is treated as personal income and must be declared as income tax.
- Cash payments are no longer accepted at the Land Department; pay by QR code instead.
- Consult a tax adviser or accountant before buying or selling, as withholding tax calculations in particular are easy to miscalculate.
First Things First: Get to Know the Declared Value of Your Property
The calculation for your property tax is based on the declared value of your property.
The declared value of the property is the price paid for the property, and it can be used on the transfer documents.
Be aware that the terms ‘’assessed value’’ and ‘’declared value’’ can both be used to express the same thing because they are often recorded as being the same value on transfer documents.
The declared value should be a reflection of the true market value. In many cases, it’s going to be higher than the assessed value, which is the official government reckoning of the value of your property.
However, in case the assessed value is higher than the declared value, the property tax is going to be calculated by the assessed value instead. Property tax is calculated based on the higher of the two.
Transferring a Property
When you transfer a property in Thailand, there are 4 related taxes:
- Transfer tax
- Stamp duty
- Withholding tax
- Business tax
Transfer Tax
Transfer tax is set at 2% of the registered value of the property.
Stamp Duty
This is levied at 0.5% of the registered value of the property and it’s payable if you are not liable for Business Tax. The seller is likely responsible to pay this tax at the time of the sale of the property.
Withholding Tax
Withholding tax works differently depending on whether the seller is a company or an individual.
If the Seller Is a Company
A company selling a property must pay 1 percent of the higher of:
• the registered (declared) sale value, or
• the Land Department’s appraised value.
If the Seller Is an Individual
For individuals, withholding tax is treated as personal income tax, calculated using a special formula that the Land Department applies.
Please note that the withholding tax rate for transferring a property is easily miscalculated. You can visit the Department of Land for the exact calculation.
Business Tax
If a seller, not a company, owns a property for less than 5 years, he/she is obliged to pay this tax and it’s levied at 3.3% depending on whether the registered sale value or the appraised value is the higher value.
The obligation is the same if you’re an individual or a business.
Another exception for a business is if a seller lives in the property and has their name registered in the house registration book for longer than a year.
Mortgage Fee
If a buyer takes a mortgage to purchase a property, there is a 1% mortgage fee based on the registered value of the property.
Who Pays for Which Tax When Transferring a Property in Thailand?
This totally depends on the negotiation. Sometimes, a seller can cover all of the fees. In rare cases, if a property price is very low, a buyer pays everything.
However, in many cases, it goes like this:
- Transfer tax: equally split between a buyer and a seller
- Duty stamp: a seller
- Withholding tax: a seller
- Business tax: a seller
- Mortgage fee: a buyer
How to Pay Taxes When Transferring a Property?
You can pay directly at the Department of Land via QR code payment. Cash payments are no longer accepted.
Annual Land Tax
The building, housing, and land taxes are collected annually under the Land Tax Cut.
There are other taxes worth considering. The Land and Building Tax (2019) assesses taxes based on the value appraised by the government as follows:
- Agricultural 0.01% – 0.1%
- Residential 0.02% – 0.1%
- Commercials 0.3%-0.7%
- Vacant/Unused 0.3%-0.7%
There are exemptions.
- If your first property is a residence and you own the land and the building and it is worth less than 50 million baht, then you’ll be exempt.
- If you’re the owner of agricultural land that is worth less than 50 million baht you’ll be exempt.
Because of this, you’ll see people start planting banana trees on their empty land to avoid this tax. However, the Revenue Department knows about this and is stricter about it now.
The easiest way to pay an annual property tax is at a district office or through mobile banking.
A change of ownership or purpose needs to be notified to the SAO or the sub-district administration within 60 days. Your tax obligation will begin on January 1st of the next year.
How Land and Building Tax Rates Actually Scale With Your Property’s Value
The percentages above aren’t flat rates. Within each land category, the rate rises in steps as your property’s appraised value goes up.
- Residential. Starts near 0.02% just above the exemption threshold and climbs toward 0.10% for a much pricier home.
- Commercial and vacant land. Work the same way, climbing from 0.3% toward 0.7% as the appraised value rises.
For example, take two properties both appraised at THB70 million.
- Your primary residence. Tax applies only to the THB20 million above the THB50 million exemption, at the lowest residential band of 0.02%, roughly THB4,000 for the year.
- A vacant plot. Taxed on the full THB70 million at the vacant-land rate instead, since the residential exemption doesn’t apply to unused land.
From 2020 through 2025, the tax came with big discounts: the government cut it by as much as 90% during the pandemic, then trimmed those breaks gradually to ease everyone back to full rates. 2026 is the first year owners pay the full amount with no discount.
The 2026 timetable also shifted later in the year:
- Bills go out in April.
- Payment is due by the end of June.
- Bills over THB3,000 can be split into interest-free installments through August.
Individual local offices can move these dates, so check the exact schedule with the district office (or SAO) that covers your property.
The 50 Million Baht Exemption: Who Actually Qualifies
The residential exemption isn’t automatic for every homeowner. To claim it, your name needs to be on both the title deed and the house registration book (the Tabien Baan) for that address as of January 1 of the tax year, and it has to be the home you actually live in.
- You own the land and the building. The exemption covers the first THB50 million of appraised value.
- You own only the building. This is the position most condo owners are in, since a condo unit doesn’t come with land ownership. The exemption drops to the first THB10 million of appraised value.
- You own a second home. Only one property per owner qualifies as the exempt primary residence. Any additional home is taxed from the first baht of appraised value, even if your main residence is fully exempt.
This matters more for foreign owners than the headline numbers suggest. Foreigners can buy a condo outright in their own name, within the building’s 49% foreign ownership quota, but getting listed on a Thai house registration book isn’t always straightforward for a non-citizen, and many foreign owners never complete that step. Without it, the unit doesn’t qualify as an exempt primary residence, and the Land and Building Tax applies from the first baht of appraised value, at the lowest residential band (0.02%). In practice that’s still a modest bill on most single condo units, but it’s easy to wrongly assume the THB50 million exemption automatically covers a small unit, so budget for it separately.
Rental Income Tax
The money that you collect from the rent is regarded as income and will be paid as personal income tax. You can check our article on Thailand Income Tax for Foreigners for additional information.
Tax Payment
You can pay your taxes online through your Thai bank account to the Revenue Department.
Bangkok Bank and Krungthai Bank both allow tax payments to be made at their branches.
If you do it at Krungthai Bank, there are four steps.
- The company such as a tax lawyer issues the tax slip.
- You can physically bring the tax bills to the bank. Your relevant company can print these out for you.
- The bank itself can issue you with the tax slip.
- Your company can then provide you with the tax receipt.
Alternatively, here are other payment options that are open to you:
- If the amount that is owed is small you can pay via an ATM.
- Another option is to pay via the internet through the bank’s website.
- Your payment can be paid through the juristic person.
It is up to you to assess which method is best for you in order to legally pay your taxes. The payment process normally starts with the owner reporting a self-declaration to the SAO for land and building taxes.
When Do You Pay Property Taxes?
Since there is no general property tax in Thailand the time to pay varies.
Taxes under the Land Tax Act are collected annually by the local government. The tax year runs from January 1st through to December 31st and the taxes for this period are due by March 31st.
A Word of Warning
The local authorities periodically become pro-active and look for non-payers and you can be fined. If you own a property through a Thai company, the fine and the assessed tax bill will be sent to you directly.
Prompt payment will curtail further investigations into your tax obligations.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens if I pay the annual Land and Building Tax late?
Local administrations apply a penalty on top of the tax owed, and it grows the longer you wait.
- Before a written warning arrives. Pay late but before a warning notice reaches you and the penalty is 10% of the unpaid tax.
- After the warning, within its deadline. The penalty rises to 20%.
- After that deadline too. The penalty climbs to 40%.
On top of whichever penalty applies, a separate surcharge of 1% per month applies to the unpaid tax (any part of a month counts as a full month), capped at the amount of tax owed.
Can I check a property’s official appraised value before I buy or sell?
Yes. The Treasury Department runs a free online lookup called D-Value, available through its website and the TRD Property Valuation app, which sends a certified appraisal document by email in about 10 minutes once you verify your identity through ThaiD or the Paotang app. It’s worth checking before you negotiate a sale price, since several of the taxes on this page (transfer tax, business tax, withholding tax) are calculated on whichever is higher: the appraised value or the price you actually agree to.
Do foreigners pay higher property tax rates than Thai nationals?
No. The Land and Building Tax rates and the transfer-time taxes apply the same way regardless of nationality. The practical difference for foreign owners is usually the exemption, not the rate: since most foreign buyers own a condo unit rather than land, and many aren’t listed on a Thai house registration book, they’re less likely to qualify for the full THB50 million (or THB10 million) exemption described above.
What happens to property tax when I inherit or leave behind property in Thailand?
Annual Land and Building Tax keeps running once ownership transfers to an heir, and it becomes the new owner’s responsibility from that point. Separately, Thailand’s Inheritance Tax Act taxes estates worth more than THB100 million, at rates that vary by relationship to the deceased. A surviving spouse is exempt regardless of the estate’s size. See our guide to writing a will in Thailand for how property passes to heirs if you don’t leave one.
Has the “banana tree” loophole for avoiding agricultural land tax been closed?
Largely, yes. Planting a few token crops on empty land no longer reliably requalifies it as “agricultural” for tax purposes. The relevant ministries have tightened the criteria for genuine agricultural use in recent years, and local administrations now check land use more closely before granting the agricultural rate. If land isn’t genuinely farmed, budget for the vacant-land rate instead of assuming a nominal planting will requalify it.
Now, on to You
The property tax in Thailand is complicated and often overlooked by many people. If you own a property in Thailand, it is a good idea to check with a tax adviser or a tax lawyer to find out whether or not you are liable to any property tax.
Failing to do so can give you a large amount of fines.
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