Selling a property in Thailand is taxed at the point of transfer. The seller's taxes are calculated and collected by the Land Office when ownership is registered, so the sale cannot complete until they are paid. A foreign seller then has a second task: sending the proceeds abroad, which a Thai bank will do on sight of the right documents.
What the seller pays
| Charge | Rate | Calculated on | When it applies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transfer fee | 2% | Appraised value | Every sale. Split between buyer and seller as the contract provides |
| Specific business tax | 3.3% | Higher of appraised value and sale price | Sale within five years of acquisition, and sales by developers and businesses |
| Stamp duty | 0.5% | Higher of appraised value and sale price | Only where specific business tax does not apply |
| Withholding tax, company seller | 1% | Higher of appraised value and sale price | Every sale by a company |
| Withholding tax, individual seller | Formula | Appraised value | Every sale by an individual |
The appraised value is the Land Department's official assessment. It is usually below the market price, which matters because two of the charges use it alone.
Specific business tax or stamp duty
You pay one or the other, never both.
Specific business tax is 3% plus a municipal surcharge of one tenth, making 3.3%. Royal Decree No. 342 treats a sale as commercial, and therefore taxable, where the property is sold within five years of the date it was acquired. Developers and companies selling property used in their business are caught regardless of holding period.
The decree lists exceptions to the five-year rule. Two matter to private sellers:
- property acquired by inheritance;
- the seller's principal residence, where the seller's name has been entered in the house registration for at least one year. Few foreign owners are entered in a tabien baan in the way the decree requires, so check before relying on this.
Where specific business tax does not apply, stamp duty of 0.5% is charged.
The practical point is timing. A sale in year four costs 3.3%. The same sale after the fifth anniversary of registration costs 0.5%. On a THB 20 million sale that is THB 660,000 against THB 100,000.
How withholding tax is computed for an individual
Thailand has no separate capital gains tax for individuals. A sale is taxed as income, collected as withholding tax at the Land Office. The calculation ignores what you paid and what you sold for. It works from the appraised value and the number of years you held the property.
- Start with the appraised value.
- Deduct the standard allowance for years of ownership.
| Years held | Deduction |
|---|---|
| 1 | 92% |
| 2 | 84% |
| 3 | 77% |
| 4 | 71% |
| 5 | 65% |
| 6 | 60% |
| 7 | 55% |
| 8 or more | 50% |
- Divide the remainder by the number of years held.
- Apply the progressive personal income tax rates to that annual figure.
- Multiply the result by the number of years held.
Years are counted by calendar year, from the year of acquisition to the year of sale, so a part year counts as a year.
A worked illustration
Take a condominium with an appraised value of THB 10 million, held for four years.
- Deduction at 71%: THB 7,100,000. Remainder: THB 2,900,000.
- Divided by four years: THB 725,000 a year.
- Tax on THB 725,000: 5% on the first THB 300,000 (THB 15,000), 10% on the next THB 200,000 (THB 20,000) and 15% on the last THB 225,000 (THB 33,750). Total THB 68,750.
- Multiplied by four: THB 275,000, or 2.75% of the appraised value.
In Land Office practice the 5% rate applies from the first baht: the THB 150,000 exempt band in the annual tax tables is not normally given on property sales. If it were, the figure would be THB 245,000. Practice is not uniform, so treat this as an estimate and ask the Land Office or your lawyer for the calculation before transfer day.
Three consequences follow.
- It is not a tax on gain. Because the base is the appraised value, the tax is due even if you sell for less than you paid.
- Longer ownership does not remove it. The deduction falls as the years rise, and the annual tax is multiplied back up.
- It may not be the end of the matter. The Land Office amount is a withholding. Whether you must or may include the sale in an annual Thai return, and whether your home country taxes the gain with credit for Thai tax, depends on your residence and treaty position. Take tax advice in both countries. Our buyer pages for the United Kingdom, United States and Australia outline the home side.
If the seller is a company
A company has 1% withheld on the higher of the appraised value and the sale price, as a prepayment of its corporate income tax for the year. Specific business tax of 3.3% applies to sales by companies.
Selling the shares of a company that owns Thai land, in place of the land itself, raises the nominee issues set out in Thai company ownership risks. Take legal advice before considering it.
Repatriating the proceeds
Thai exchange rules allow investment capital to be returned abroad through commercial banks. The bank sending the money must be satisfied about what it is, which is a matter of documents.
Expect to produce:
- the original Foreign Exchange Transaction Form or bank letters from your purchase;
- the original purchase contract;
- the Land Office sale agreement and transfer receipt for the sale;
- receipts for the taxes paid at transfer;
- a copy of the title deed showing the transfer, and your passport.
The bank compares the outgoing amount with what you brought in, plus the gain shown by the sale documents. Banks set their own requirements, so visit your branch with the file before you sign a sale contract and ask what it will need.
Two cautions. If your buyer is also foreign, they will remit foreign currency of their own, and since October 2026 banks must obtain source-of-funds documents for inflows of USD 200,000 or more connected with Thai property sold to foreigners. That can slow a buyer's payment. And if you hold the proceeds in a non-resident baht account before sending them, the end-of-day balance is capped at THB 200 million a person.
A leasehold seller needs the same kind of file, built on the lease assignment and receipts. See sending money to Thailand.
Timescales
No statute fixes how long a sale takes. The periods are set by the contract and by how prepared the seller is.
| Stage | What sets the time |
|---|---|
| Before marketing | Assembling the purchase file. A duplicate FET from the bank takes time, so request it early |
| Offer to contract | Negotiation, the buyer's due diligence and, for a condominium, the juristic person's letters on foreign quota and unpaid fees |
| Contract to transfer | The date agreed in the contract. A foreign buyer needs time to remit funds and collect evidence |
| Transfer day | Registration and payment of all fees and taxes take place together at the Land Office |
| Remittance abroad | The bank's review of your documents |
For a condominium, the juristic person must certify that no common-area fees are outstanding before the Land Office will register the transfer. If the unit sits in the foreign quota and the buyer is foreign, the allocation passes with it. See the condominium foreign quota.
Selling Thai property and repatriating the proceeds: what to consider
- Check the fifth anniversary of your registration date before agreeing a completion date.
- Agree in the contract who pays each fee and tax. Custom is not law.
- A declared price below the appraised value saves nothing, because the charges use the higher figure or the appraised value. Under-declaring the true price is unlawful.
- The full picture of buying and holding costs is in property taxes and buying costs. Take independent legal and tax advice before you sign.
