Thailand Property Transfer Fees and Taxes

The purchase price is not the cost of buying property in Thailand: transfer-day charges, ongoing holding costs, and tax on any rental income or eventual sale sit on top of it. This article explains the structure of each cost so a buyer understands what they’re for and who conventionally pays them. No rate, percentage or threshold in this article should be treated as a current figure: rates change with government policy, and the only reliable source for what applies to a specific transaction today is the Land Department, a Thai lawyer, or a licensed Thai accountant.

The costs at transfer

Thai property transfers involve several distinct government charges, assessed and collected by the Land Department at the point of registration. Understanding what each one is for makes it much easier to ask the right question of a lawyer or accountant, even without knowing the current number.

Transfer fee

A registration fee charged by the Land Department for recording the change of ownership, calculated against the property’s official appraised value rather than the agreed sale price. By long-standing market custom this fee is commonly split between buyer and seller, though the contract can allocate it differently, and it is worth confirming in the sale and purchase agreement rather than assuming the custom applies.

Specific business tax or stamp duty

One of these two applies to a given sale, not both, and which one applies typically turns on how long the seller has held the property before selling: a shorter holding period generally falls under specific business tax, a longer one under the lower stamp duty instead. Both are calculated against the higher of the appraised value or the declared sale price. The exact holding-period threshold and both rates should be confirmed for the specific transaction, since these are exactly the kind of figures that shift with government policy, including temporary reductions introduced from time to time to stimulate the property market, which apply for limited windows and then lapse.

Withholding tax

Charged against the seller and withheld by the Land Department official at the point of transfer, calculated differently depending on whether the seller is an individual or a company, and for an individual, typically adjusted for the number of years the property was held before sale. This is ultimately part of the seller’s income tax obligation on the sale, collected in advance at transfer rather than assessed later.

Who pays what

Thai market custom allocates these costs between buyer and seller in fairly consistent patterns, but none of it is set by law as a fixed split: it is a matter of negotiation, reflected in the sale and purchase agreement. A buyer should treat the allocation of each of these charges as a specific clause to check in the contract, not an assumption to carry over from a previous purchase or from what a friend paid.

Confirm current rates, the SBT holding-period threshold, and any active temporary reduction directly with the Land Department or a Thai lawyer before budgeting a transaction: figures published in older articles or by an agent may be out of date.

Holding costs

Land and building tax

An annual tax, administered locally, that replaced Thailand’s older property tax system. It is assessed against the property’s official appraised value and its declared use, with different treatment for a property used as the owner’s residence versus one held for rental or investment purposes: a unit that is actively let out is generally treated less favourably than one used as a primary residence. The specific bands, thresholds and any exemptions change by policy and are set annually; confirm the current structure and how a specific unit’s intended use will be classified with a Thai accountant or the local administrative office responsible for collection, rather than relying on a fixed figure quoted elsewhere.

Common fees and sinking fund

Separate from any government tax, a condo owner pays the building’s common fee (typically charged periodically against the unit’s floor area) and periodic sinking-fund contributions for major building maintenance and capital works. These are set by the juristic person, not the government, and vary widely by building, reviewed during due diligence, as covered in buying a condo in Bangkok, step by step.

Insurance

Building insurance is typically arranged collectively by the juristic person and funded through common fees, covering the structure; contents and personal liability insurance for the unit itself is the owner’s own decision and cost, and worth arranging separately, particularly for a unit that will be rented out.

Tax on rental income

Rental income earned by a non-resident foreign owner from a Thai property is generally subject to Thai income tax, with a withholding mechanism that can apply to payments made to a non-resident landlord depending on how the income is paid and by whom. The mechanics (what gets withheld, by whom, and how it reconciles against any annual filing obligation) depend on the owner’s residency status and how the letting is structured, and should be set up correctly with a licensed accountant from the point the unit is first rented out, not worked out retroactively after a tax problem appears.

Double-tax treaties

Thailand has double-tax treaties with a number of countries that can affect how rental income or gains are taxed for a resident of that country, potentially offering relief from being taxed twice on the same income. Whether a treaty applies, and what it actually changes, depends entirely on the owner’s country of tax residence and the specific treaty’s terms. This is not something to assume applies favourably without a professional check against the specific treaty text and the owner’s situation.

Tax on sale (capital gains)

Thailand does not have a separate capital gains tax regime for individuals in the way some countries do; a gain on selling property is generally treated as part of the seller’s income and taxed accordingly, which is part of what the withholding tax collected at transfer (described above) relates to. How long the property was held affects the calculation. For a non-resident seller, repatriating the sale proceeds out of Thailand afterward is a separate step from the tax itself, with its own banking documentation to arrange. Plan this with a bank and lawyer before the sale completes, not after.

Inheritance: what happens to a foreign-owned condo when the owner dies

This section describes the structure only, in outline. Inheritance involving a foreign-owned Thai asset touches Thai succession law, the deceased’s home-country law, and often both at once. It is not an area to plan informally, and a licensed Thai lawyer, ideally one with cross-border succession experience, should be involved well before it becomes urgent. The inheritance tax threshold and spouse exemption that apply to a foreign-owned Thai asset are covered in rental withholding tax refund and inheritance tax.

A foreign-owned condo remains within the foreign freehold quota question even on inheritance. The building’s overall quota of foreign-owned units (covered in can foreigners buy a condo in Thailand) doesn’t disappear because ownership passes by inheritance rather than purchase: a foreign heir generally needs to fit within that same quota framework to hold the unit in their own name, and the juristic office and Land Department are involved in confirming this at the point of transfer.

With a will versus without one. A foreign owner with a clear, valid will (ideally one drafted with Thai succession law in mind, not only a home-country will that a Thai court then has to interpret) generally gives their heirs a more predictable path through the transfer. Without a will, the estate is generally distributed according to Thai intestacy rules for assets located in Thailand, which may not match what the deceased would have chosen, and which can take considerably longer to resolve through the Thai probate process.

The probate process, in outline. Thai succession generally requires a Thai court to appoint an estate administrator before a property can be formally transferred to heirs, a process that takes real time even in straightforward cases and longer where there’s a dispute, an unclear will, or heirs based outside Thailand. During this period the unit typically cannot be sold or transferred, which matters for anything time-sensitive: an outstanding mortgage, ongoing common fees, or a property the family wants to sell rather than keep.

Options once the transfer is possible. Heirs generally have the same basic choices an owner would: keep the unit (subject to the foreign-quota question above if the heir is themselves a foreign national), sell it and have proceeds distributed among the heirs, or, where several heirs inherit jointly, agree among themselves how to handle a property none of them may want to hold long-term. Each of these interacts with the sale and transfer-tax structure described earlier in this article, plus the deceased’s own tax position up to the date of death.

Why this belongs in estate planning, not an afterthought. Owners who want a smooth process for their heirs generally address this while everything is straightforward: a will that accounts for Thai-located assets specifically, clarity on which heirs would actually want to keep the unit versus sell it, and a lawyer who can advise both the owner during their lifetime and, later, the estate. None of this is unique to Thailand, but the cross-border element (a foreign owner, an asset subject to Thai property and succession law, heirs who may be in a different country entirely) makes informal assumptions (“my kids will just sort it out”) considerably riskier than they’d be for a comparable asset at home.

What to keep, from day one

The paperwork that makes an eventual sale clean is generated at purchase and along the way, not gathered retroactively:

• The original sale and purchase agreement and all transfer documents from the Land Department
• The foreign-currency transfer documentation used to register the original purchase (see buying a condo in Bangkok, step by step for why this matters at purchase, and it matters again at resale)
• Records of the declared transfer value at purchase
• Every common-fee and sinking-fund payment record
• Rental income records and any tax filings or withholding certificates, if the unit was let
• Receipts for any capital improvements made to the unit, which may be relevant to the eventual sale calculation

Mistakes that create tax problems years later

• Undeclared rental income. Renting out a unit without declaring the income is a compliance failure that can surface years later, with penalties and interest attached, when a sale, a visa renewal, or a routine audit brings the property’s history into view.
• Informal cash sales or side agreements. Structuring part of a sale price off the books, or agreeing an informal side payment outside the registered transaction, creates exposure for both parties and undermines the buyer’s own cost-basis records for their eventual future sale.
• Mismatched transfer values. Declaring a transfer value at the Land Department that doesn’t match what actually changed hands is not a victimless convenience: it distorts the tax calculated at that transfer, and it distorts the record a future seller (possibly the same buyer, years later) will need to rely on.

The declared price at the Land Department is the anchor for a chain of future tax calculations, not a one-off formality: treating it carelessly at purchase creates problems for whoever owns the unit at the next sale.

For prices and listings, see condos for sale in Bangkok.

Disclaimer

This article is general information, not legal, tax or investment advice, and states no current rate as fact. Thai tax law, thresholds and temporary relief measures change with government policy. Confirm current figures directly with the Land Department, and engage an independent Thai property lawyer and a licensed accountant before committing funds to a purchase, a rental arrangement, or a sale.

Checklist: questions for an accountant

• What are the current transfer fee, and specific business tax or stamp duty rates that apply to this specific transaction, and is any temporary reduction active right now?
• How will this specific unit be classified under the land and building tax regime given its intended use, and what is the current annual rate for that classification?
• If I rent this unit out, what is my Thai income tax and withholding obligation as a non-resident owner, and what filings do I need to make and when?
• Does a double-tax treaty between Thailand and my country of tax residence affect how rental income or a future sale gain is taxed, and what do I need to claim it?
• What records should I be keeping now so that a future sale is straightforward?
• What is the current process and documentation for repatriating sale proceeds out of Thailand as a non-resident?

Common questions

Who pays the transfer fee when buying a condo in Bangkok?

By common market custom it is often split between buyer and seller, but this is a matter of negotiation, not law, and should be confirmed as a specific clause in the sale and purchase agreement rather than assumed.

Is there a separate capital gains tax on selling property in Thailand?

Thailand does not run a distinct capital gains tax for individuals; a gain from selling property is generally folded into the seller’s taxable income, with withholding tax collected at transfer forming part of that. Confirm the current calculation with a Thai accountant, since treatment can depend on how long the property was held and the seller’s status.

Do I have to pay Thai tax on rental income if I don’t live in Thailand?

Rental income sourced from a Thai property is generally within scope of Thai tax regardless of the owner’s residency, though the exact filing and withholding mechanics depend on how the letting is structured and the owner’s situation. Set this up with a licensed accountant when the unit is first rented, rather than after income has already gone undeclared.

Does the land and building tax apply to a condo, or only to houses with land?

It applies to condominium units as well, assessed against the unit’s appraised value and its declared use, with different treatment for an owner-occupied unit versus one that is rented out. Confirm the current bands and how a specific unit will be classified with the local administrative office or a Thai accountant.

What documents do I need to keep to avoid tax problems at resale?

The original sale and purchase agreement, Land Department transfer records, the foreign-currency transfer documentation from the original purchase, records of the declared transfer value, all common-fee and rental-income records, and receipts for any capital improvements. Gaps in this record are what turn a routine resale into a slow, expensive one.