Tax and fee for selling and buying in Thailand

Every person residing in Thailand, regardless his/her nationality shall be responsible to pay taxes and fees when buying or selling property. These taxes and fees are as follows:

1. TRANSFER FEE

The transfer fee is 2% of the registered value of the property. Normally the buyer pays for this fee. This fee will be paid to the land register office, upon the day of the transfer of ownership.

2. STAMP DUTY

Buyer or seller is subject to a 0.5% Duty Stamp from either the appraised value of the property or actual purchasing price, whichever is higher. Stamp Duty is to be imposed unless the Specific Business Tax [SBT] is paid.

3. SPECIFIC BUSINESS TAX

This tax will only be imposed if you are selling your property, which you have own less than a period of five years. The tax rate is 3.3% of the selling or assessed price of an asset [whichever is higher].

4. WITHHOLDING TAX

Individuals selling their property: the withholding is determined under Revenue code of Thailand. The seller shall withhold such tax and pay to the Revenue Department, when he/she earn an income from the sale of immovable property [including condominium unit]. Withholding tax rate are calculated based from government assessed price with a deduction of possession year, which are varied depending on the year of your possession [the more year of possession, the more the deduction] and calculate that amount based on the income form the progressive tax rate [range from 0 – 37%].

Company selling their property: the withholding tax of 1% from appraised value of property or actual selling price, whichever is higher, must be paid by the Seller.

However, there are no property taxes as such in Thailand that are exactly equivalent to the property taxes in the West. Commercial properties incur a small tax which is collected infrequent.

In term of registering a lease agreement, a registration of a lease for duration of more than 3 years required to pay a registration fee rate of 1% plus 0.1% rate of stamp duty. Rates are calculated from the total amount of the rental fee or the key money or both.