Tax on rental income in Thailand for foreign owners

Thailand taxes rent from Thai property at source. If you are not a Thai tax resident, 15% is withheld from rent paid to you from Thailand. If you are a resident, the rent goes on your annual return and is taxed at progressive rates after a standard deduction. Which of those applies depends on one count: the number of days you spend in the country in a calendar year.

The residency test: 180 days

Section 41 of the Revenue Code treats anyone who stays in Thailand for a period or periods adding up to 180 days or more in a tax year as a resident. The tax year is the calendar year. The days are cumulative, the test is applied afresh each year, and your visa has no bearing on it. A Long-Term Resident visa holder who spends 100 days in Thailand is a non-resident for tax. A tourist who spends 200 days is a resident. See tax residency.

Residency changes two things. It moves your Thai rent from withholding to the progressive scale, and it brings foreign income that you remit to Thailand into the Thai tax net.

Non-residents: 15% withholding

Rent is assessable income under Section 40(5) of the Revenue Code. Section 50(3) requires a payer in Thailand to withhold 15% when that income is paid to a person who is not resident. In practice the deduction is made by corporate tenants, hotel operators and rental managers, who then pay it to the Revenue Department and should give you a withholding certificate. See withholding tax.

Three points are often missed.

• The 15% is charged on the gross rent, before any expenses.
• If a private tenant pays you without deducting anything, the income has not become tax free. It remains Thai-source income that should be declared.
• Whether filing a Thai return then increases, reduces or simply confirms the bill depends on your figures. Take advice from a Thai tax adviser before treating the 15% as the end of the matter.

Residents: the progressive scale

A resident adds rent to other assessable income on the annual return. For rent from a building the Revenue Department allows a standard deduction of 30%. Rent from land carries a lower standard deduction (20% for agricultural land, 15% for other land). You may claim actual, documented expenses instead. A personal allowance of THB 60,000 then applies, and the balance is taxed on this scale:

A worked example

Take a condominium let at THB 100,000 a month, or THB 1,200,000 a year, to an owner with no other Thai income.

The resident's tax is THB 7,500 on the 5% band, THB 20,000 on the 10% band, THB 37,500 on the 15% band and THB 6,000 on the first THB 30,000 of the 20% band. The gap narrows as income rises: a resident with a large salary or several properties will find rent taxed at 25% to 35% at the margin.

Where the tenant is a Thai company, it withholds 5% from rent paid to a resident landlord, which is credited against the annual bill.

Filing dates

The annual return is due by the end of March following the tax year. Rental income also triggers a half-year return, due by the end of September, covering the first six months. Put both dates in the diary when the first tenancy begins.

The 2024 change: foreign income remitted by residents

Until the end of 2023, a Thai resident paid Thai tax on foreign income only if it was brought into Thailand in the year it was earned. Money remitted a year later escaped. That gap is now closed. A resident is taxed on foreign-source income earned in a tax year starting on or after 1 January 2024 when it is remitted to Thailand, wholly or partly, in the same year or any later one.

For a property buyer the consequences are practical.

• Non-residents are not caught. If you spend fewer than 180 days a year in Thailand, money you send to buy or maintain a property is not taxed by this rule.
• Residents should plan remittances. Rent from a house at home, dividends, pensions and gains earned from 2024 can be taxable in Thailand when brought in. Income earned before 2024 is outside the rule.
• Keep the paper trail. Bank statements that show when funds were earned are the evidence you will need. This sits alongside the foreign currency evidence required to register a freehold condominium, explained in sending money to Thailand.
• Some visas may change the answer. Check with the BOI whether your category of Long-Term Resident visa carries any tax privilege.

The interaction between this rule and each treaty is still being worked through in practice. If you expect to be resident, take advice before the year in which you move, not after.

Double taxation agreements in outline

Thailand has agreements with 61 jurisdictions. Three principles cover most property owners.

1. Rent is taxed where the property is. Treaties generally give the country where the land or building sits the first right to tax income from it. Your Thai rent stays taxable in Thailand.
2. Your home country gives relief. If you remain resident at home, you normally report the Thai rent there too and claim a credit for Thai tax paid, or an exemption, depending on the treaty and domestic law.
3. A treaty decides residence when two countries claim you. If both treat you as resident, the tie-breaker tests in the treaty settle which one prevails for treaty purposes.

A treaty does not reduce Thai tax on Thai rent to nil, and the detail differs country by country. Our pages for buyers from the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and Singapore summarise each position. See also double taxation agreement.

Short lets and operator-run schemes

Tax follows the legal form of the letting. A lease of 30 days or more is ordinary rent. Nightly and weekly lets are accommodation services that need a hotel licence, and accommodation services attract 7% VAT once turnover passes THB 1.8 million a year. In a hotel-managed scheme the operator usually handles withholding and reports your share. Ask for the tax treatment in writing before you join. See short-term rental rules and hotel-managed and rental pool schemes.

What tax does to your return

Income tax is one of several deductions between the advertised yield and the money you keep. On the worked example it takes 5.9% of the rent for a resident and 15% for a non-resident, before common-area fees, management and vacancy. Rental yields in Thailand puts the pieces together, and property taxes and buying costs covers land and building tax.

Thai tax practice changes and individual facts matter. These are the rules in force in November 2026. Take independent advice from a Thai tax adviser, and from one in your home country, before you rely on these figures.