Property Tax Overview in Thailand

What is Thailand's recurring annual property tax?

Thailand replaced the old House and Land Tax and Local Development Tax with the Land and Building Tax Act B.E. 2562, effective 1 January 2020. Administered by local administrative organisations (municipalities, sub-district administrative organisations, and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration), the tax is assessed each year on the Treasury Department's official appraised value of land and buildings as of 1 January. Owners of record on that date are the liable taxpayers, whether individuals or juristic persons. Tax assessments are issued by April of the relevant year, with payment due no later than April 30 (the Ministry of Interior extended the B.E. 2569 / 2026 payment deadline by approximately two months). Late payment attracts a 10% surcharge if settled within the notice period, rising to 20% if settled after formal warning, and 40% if unpaid thereafter; an additional 1% monthly interest accrues on outstanding amounts under Section 68 of the Act.

The Act establishes four property-use categories: agricultural, residential, other (commercial/industrial), and vacant/unused. Actual use on the assessment date determines the category, not the zoning designation or the form of title. A company-owned condominium rented short-term to tourists is assessed under the commercial/other category even if zoned residential.

What are the Land and Building Tax rates for residential property?

The Act sets a statutory maximum of 0.3% for residential properties; ministerial regulations within the Act then set the progressive brackets applied in practice. For natural persons whose names appear in the household registration (tabien baan) as of 1 January, the primary-residence exemption is significant: the first THB 50 million of assessed value on a land-and-building combination is fully exempt. Only the amount exceeding that threshold is taxed. For a building-only residential interest (for example, a condominium unit registered without co-ownership of land), the exemption threshold drops to THB 10 million.

Second homes and properties owned in the household-registration category but not used as the primary residence face the same bracket structure but without the THB 50 million exemption: the 0.02%-0.10% progressive tiers begin from the first baht of assessed value. The statutory ceiling of 0.3% is the hard cap; the actual practice rates are well below it [LBTA-TH].

What rates apply to agricultural and commercial property?

Agricultural land used in actual farming, orchards, aquaculture, or related activities by natural persons is fully exempt up to THB 50 million of assessed value (a three-year introductory exemption for 2020-2022 gave way to this permanent exemption for individual owners). The progressive agricultural brackets above the threshold run from 0.01% up to 0.10% at values exceeding THB 1,050 million for natural persons. Juristic person owners of agricultural land receive no base exemption and face the lower band (0.01%) beginning from THB 1. The statutory agricultural ceiling is 0.15%.

Commercial, industrial, hotel, office, and other non-residential use property falls under the other purposes category. The ministerial regulation brackets run from 0.30% on the first THB 50 million of appraised value, rising through 0.40%, 0.50%, and 0.60% at higher value bands, to 0.70% on amounts above THB 5,000 million. The statutory ceiling is 1.2% [BENOIT-LBTA].

Vacant or unused land is assessed under the same bracket schedule as commercial property (0.30%-0.70%). Section 43 of the Act adds a vacancy escalator: after three consecutive years of non-use, an additional surcharge of 0.3% applies, compounding every subsequent three-year idle period, up to a hard ceiling of 3%. This escalator creates a meaningful incentive to bring idle land into productive use.

How is assessed value determined?

The Treasury Department's Property Valuation Office sets official appraised values for land and buildings, referenced in the Land Code as the basis for registration fee collection. These valuations follow a cycle reviewed approximately every four years; the current cycle covers 2023-2026. Actual market transactions above the official appraisal value are not automatically reassessed mid-cycle. The official appraised value can be checked through the Treasury Department's property valuation portal at https://property.treasury.go.th [TREASURY-TH]. For tax-payment purposes, no independent assessment by the taxpayer is required; the local authority issues the annual bill based on the Treasury appraisal.

What taxes and fees apply when selling Thai property?

Property transfers at the Land Office trigger up to four levies, administered partly by the Revenue Department (under the Revenue Code) and partly by the Land Department. The four components are:

Transfer fee: 2% of the official appraised value or the declared sale price, whichever is higher. By convention, buyer and seller frequently split this fee 50/50 in the sale-and-purchase agreement, but no statute mandates any particular split; negotiation governs. A Cabinet resolution of 22 April 2025 temporarily reduced the transfer fee to 0.01% for residential properties (detached, semi-detached, townhouse, condominium unit) where both appraised value and sale price are at or below THB 7 million and the buyer is a Thai-national individual; foreign buyers must budget the full 2% [FORBES-TH-TRANSFER].

Specific Business Tax (SBT) vs stamp duty: Sellers face either SBT or stamp duty, never both simultaneously. SBT at 3.3% (comprising 3% SBT plus a 10% local surcharge on the SBT amount, not on the property value) applies where the seller has owned the property for fewer than five years, or has not been registered in the house registration at the property for at least one year. Calculation is based on the higher of official appraised value or actual sale price. Where SBT applies, stamp duty is waived. If the seller has owned the property for five or more years AND maintained tabien baan registration for at least one year (or inherited the property), SBT drops away and stamp duty of 0.5% applies instead [SIAM-LEGAL-TH].

Withholding tax on the seller: The Land Department deducts withholding tax from the seller's proceeds at the time of registration and remits it to the Revenue Department as an advance against the seller's annual income-tax liability (Section 48(4) Revenue Code). For individual sellers, the calculation follows a two-step formula: (1) a graduated deductible-expense percentage is applied to the official appraised value based on years of ownership (1 year = 92% deductible; 2 years = 84%; 3 years = 77%; 4 years = 71%; 5 years = 65%; 6 years = 60%; 7 years = 55%; 8 or more years = 50%), then (2) the remaining taxable amount is divided by years of ownership to compute an average annual income figure, progressive personal income tax rates are applied to that annual figure, and the result is multiplied back by the number of years held. For inherited or gifted property, a flat 50% deduction applies regardless of holding period. The effective withholding tax rate for individual sellers typically lands in a 1%-5% range of appraised value. Corporate sellers face a flat 1% withholding on the higher of appraised value or sale price, treated as an advance corporate income tax payment [RD-TH-S48].

For most individual sellers, the withholding computed at the Land Office is the final settlement of personal income tax on the disposal; no separate capital-gains disclosure in the annual return is required if the withholding was computed correctly at source. Total closing costs at the Land Office typically range from 2.5% to over 6% of appraised value depending on holding period, buyer nationality, and property classification.

Is there any other recurring property-related tax in Thailand?

No. Thailand abolished the old Local Development Tax and House and Land Tax when the Land and Building Tax Act took effect in 2020. There is no separate Thai capital gains tax regime on property disposal, no wealth tax on real estate holdings, and no inheritance tax specifically targeted at property (Thailand has a general Inheritance Tax Act B.E. 2558, but its THB 100 million per-heir threshold means most residential-property disposals via inheritance are unaffected). VAT at 7% does not apply to straightforward residential property transfers between private individuals; it can apply to commercial-property transactions by VAT-registered businesses, in which case it substitutes for SBT. Rental income is treated as ordinary income taxed under Section 40(5) Revenue Code with a 10-30% standard deduction available by property category [RD-TH-CHAPTER3].

For the broader Thai tax context see the Thailand country overview; for income-tax treatment of rental receipts see the Thailand self-employed tax crossover. Given the YMYL weight of property decisions and the interaction of withholding-tax mechanics with annual PIT filing, working through the specific numbers with a qualified tax professional registered with the Thai Revenue Department or the Federation of Accounting Professions is the reliable path to an accurate Land Office calculation.