Thailand property tax for UK buyers.

On a freehold condo bought by a foreign individual, the purchase costs are modest by UK standards. There is no equivalent of stamp duty land tax on the buyer.

• Transfer fee: 2% of the Land Office's appraised value, split between buyer and seller as the contract says. A 50/50 split is common, and some developers pay all of it as an incentive.
• Seller's taxes: Specific Business Tax (3.3%), or stamp duty (0.5%) where SBT does not apply, plus the seller's withholding tax. These are the seller's costs by law, but check that the contract does not pass them to you.
• Legal fees: your independent lawyer's fee for due diligence, the contract and the Land Office. Agree it in writing at the start.
• Money transfer: bank charges and the exchange-rate margin on sending sterling. On a six-figure transfer the margin can easily cost more than the fee.
• Furniture and fit-out: off-plan units are sometimes sold with a furniture package, sometimes without.

Two points catch UK buyers out. First, the 0.01% transfer fee cut running from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027 is for Thai individuals buying at ฿7m (£157,300) or less. It does not apply to foreigners or companies. Second, on a leasehold villa, registering the lease attracts a registration fee and stamp duty calculated on the total rent for the term. Your lawyer will quote it before you commit.

If you are buying off-plan, the transfer fee is paid at completion on the appraised value at that time, not on reservation.

• Land and Building Tax: an annual local tax on the appraised value. A condo you live in as your main home, registered in the house book, is exempt on the first ฿10m (£224,700). A second home is taxed from the first baht at 0.02% up to ฿50m, rising in bands to 0.10% above ฿100m. On a £250,000 (฿11.1m) condo, that is about ฿2,200 (£50) a year. There is no across-the-board discount for 2026.
• Short lets change the rate. The Finance and Interior ministries have said that a unit let as a home stays residential, but one let through Airbnb or as a homestay is taxed at commercial rates. The "other use" rate starts at 0.30%, fifteen times the residential rate.
• Common area fees: charged per square metre by the building's juristic person, monthly or annually. Rates vary widely by building, so ask for the current figure and the last two years' accounts.
• Sinking fund: a one-off contribution on purchase, again set per square metre by the building.
• Insurance: the building's policy covers the structure. Contents and liability cover for your unit is yours to arrange.
• Management: if you let, a rental manager typically charges a percentage of rent, more for short lets than long lets.
• Utilities and upkeep: electricity, water, internet and air-conditioning servicing in a tropical climate.
• Thai tax filing: if the unit earns rent, an accountant to file your Thai return.

Thailand taxes rent from Thai property whether or not you live there, at the same progressive rates for residents and non-residents.

• Progressive rates of 0–35%. Net income up to ฿150,000 is exempt, then 5% to ฿300,000, 10% to ฿500,000, 15% to ฿750,000, 20% to ฿1m, 25% to ฿2m, 30% to ฿5m and 35% above ฿5m.
• A 30% standard deduction. You can deduct 30% of gross rent with no receipts, or claim actual documented expenses instead.
• 15% withholding at source. Rent paid to a non-resident is commonly subject to 15% withholding, deducted by a company tenant or the rental operator. That is not a final tax. File a Thai return and the withholding is credited, with any excess refunded on request. On modest rents, the refund is usually most of what was withheld.
• The calendar year. Thai tax runs on the calendar year. The UK year runs from 6 April. Keep monthly records so both returns can be built from the same numbers.

You will need a Thai tax ID to file. Your accountant or rental manager can arrange it.

Short lets need their own warning. A let of under 30 days needs a Hotel Act licence, which an individual condo owner will not normally have, and many condo bylaws ban short lets. Reform bills are in committee, and a draft Accommodation Establishment Act was published on 29 September 2026, but neither is enacted. Our rental yields guide explains the position in full.

The seller's Thai costs are collected at the Land Office on transfer day.

• Specific Business Tax (SBT): 3.3% of the higher of the sale price and the appraised value, if you sell within five years of acquiring the property. It is exempt once your name has been in the house book for a year.
• Stamp duty: 0.5%, payable only where SBT does not apply.
• Withholding tax: for an individual, progressive income tax calculated on the appraised value, with a deduction that grows the longer you have owned the property. For a company, 1% of the higher of the price and the appraisal. Your lawyer can calculate the exact figure from the Land Office appraisal before you agree a price.
• Your share of the 2% transfer fee, as agreed with the buyer.
• Agency fee, if you sell through an agent.

Getting the money home is straightforward if you kept the paper trail. When you sell and send the proceeds abroad, your Thai bank will want to see how the money came in, which means the FET forms and credit advices from your purchase. Keep them with the title.

If you are UK resident, you pay UK income tax on your worldwide income, including rent from Thailand. The Thai tax does not replace UK tax. It is credited against it.

• Report it on SA106, the foreign pages of your Self Assessment return. Thai rent is a separate overseas property business, distinct from any UK lettings.
• Use UK rules for the profit. You deduct actual allowable expenses under UK rules (management, common area fees, insurance, repairs, Land and Building Tax, accountancy), not the Thai 30% standard deduction.
• Convert to sterling, at the rate on the day or at HMRC's published average rates, applied consistently.
• Losses are ring-fenced. A loss on overseas property can only be carried forward against future overseas property profits, not set against UK rent or salary.
• Finance costs on a loan used to buy the property get relief only as a basic-rate tax credit, the same restriction that applies to UK buy-to-let. The credit is 20% now and 22% from 6 April 2027.
• Rates rise in April 2027. Finance Act 2026 creates separate property income rates of 22%, 42% and 47% from 6 April 2027 for taxpayers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and its definition of property income includes the profits of an overseas property business. Thai rent is caught. Scotland and Wales can set their own property rates later.

The UK–Thailand double taxation convention dates from 1981 and has since been modified by the multilateral instrument. Article 7 lets Thailand tax income from property situated there. Article 23 then requires the UK to allow the Thai tax as a credit against UK tax on the same income, capped at the UK tax. You claim the credit on SA106.

A single year's rent, with illustrative figures at ฿44.5 to £1:

Thai side

• Gross rent: £14,000 (฿623,000), on 12-month tenancies
• Less 30% standard deduction: ฿186,900
• Net taxable: ฿436,100 (no personal allowance applied)
• Thai tax: 0% on the first ฿150,000, 5% on the next ฿150,000 (฿7,500), and 10% on ฿136,100 (฿13,610), giving ฿21,110 (£474)
• If 15% was withheld at source: ฿93,450 withheld, so ฿72,340 is refunded when you file

UK side

• Gross rent: £14,000
• Less actual expenses (assumed): management at 10% £1,400, common area fees £1,500, insurance and sundries £300, Land and Building Tax £50, Thai accountant £400, totalling £3,650
• Taxable profit: £10,350
• UK tax at 40% (higher-rate taxpayer, 2026/27): £4,140
• Less credit for Thai tax: £474
• UK tax to pay: £3,666

Total tax is £4,140, the higher of the two countries' bills. The Thai tax moves part of the bill from HMRC to the Thai Revenue Department rather than adding to it. From 2027/28 the 42% property higher rate applies, so UK tax becomes £4,347 and the top-up £3,873. A basic-rate taxpayer pays £2,070 at 20% (£1,596 after the credit), or £2,277 at 22% from 2027/28 (£1,803 after it).

Two limits apply. The credit can never exceed the UK tax on the same income. And HMRC expects you to take all reasonable steps to reduce the foreign tax, so withholding you could have reclaimed in Thailand is not creditable. File the Thai return.

Yes, if you are UK resident when you sell. Gains on residential property are taxed at 18% for basic-rate taxpayers and 24% for higher-rate taxpayers in 2026/27, after the £3,000 annual exempt amount.

The currency rule is the one most buyers miss. HMRC computes the gain in sterling. The cost is converted at the exchange rate on the day you bought, and the proceeds at the rate on the day you sold. You never work out a baht gain and convert it. So:

• If the baht strengthens while you own the property, you can have a sterling gain, and pay CGT, even if the baht price has not moved.
• If the baht weakens, a baht profit can become a sterling loss, which is an allowable capital loss.

Allowable costs include your share of the transfer fee, legal fees on purchase and sale, the agency fee and capital improvements, each converted at the rate when paid.

Article 14 of the convention lets Thailand tax the gain on Thai property, so the Thai withholding tax on the sale can be credited against UK CGT on the same gain, up to the UK tax. The 60-day UK property CGT return applies to UK residential property. A sale of Thai property is reported on your Self Assessment return for the tax year of the sale.

Since 6 April 2025, UK inheritance tax depends on residence, not domicile. If you have been UK resident for at least 10 of the previous 20 tax years, you are a long-term resident, and your worldwide estate, including your Thai condo, is within UK IHT. Tax is charged at 40% above the £325,000 nil-rate band, which is frozen until April 2031. Leaving the UK does not end the exposure straight away. Long-term residence continues for between three and ten tax years after you go, depending on how many years you were UK resident.

Thailand has its own inheritance tax, but it only applies to the portion of an inheritance above ฿100m (£2.25m), at 10%, or 5% for descendants and ascendants. Spouses are excluded. A non-resident foreign heir is taxed only on Thai assets. Few UK buyers come near the threshold. Where both countries do tax the same asset, UK law allows credit for the foreign tax.

A Thai will is a separate question, and the answer is almost always yes.

• Why: to transfer a Thai condo to your heirs, the Land Office will normally want a Thai court order appointing an executor or administrator. A Thai will, in Thai and English, naming a Thai-resident executor usually makes that process quicker than proving a UK will in a Thai court.
• How it fits with your UK will: the Thai will covers Thai assets only. Your UK will should be drafted to exclude them, and neither will should revoke the other. Ask your UK and Thai lawyers to read each other's drafts.
• Leaseholds: a lease passes only as its terms allow, so the succession clause in the lease must match the will.

Spend 180 days or more in Thailand in a calendar year and you are a Thai tax resident for that year.

• The remittance rule. Under Departmental Instruction Por.161/2566, foreign income is taxable in Thailand when a Thai tax resident brings it into the country, in whichever later year that happens. Por.162/2566 excludes income earned before 1 January 2024. UK salary, UK rent, dividends and pension income earned since then are all in scope when remitted. A draft relief has stalled.
• Treaty relief still applies. The convention decides which country may tax each type of income, and the country of residence gives credit. Under Article 19, a UK government service pension is taxable only in the UK unless you are both a Thai national and a Thai resident. The convention has no article on private pensions, so both countries can tax those under their own rules, with credit relief.

You can be resident in both countries in the same year: in Thailand under the 180-day rule, and in the UK under the statutory residence test. The year you move, and which money you remit, deserve advice in both countries before you go. Our visa and residency guide covers pensions in retirement, including the frozen UK state pension.

Every figure below is an illustrative assumption, not market data or a forecast. It is here to show the arithmetic. Exchange rate ฿44.5 to £1 unless stated. Rent, costs and the exchange rate are held flat during ownership to keep it readable. The owner is a UK-resident higher-rate taxpayer who never becomes Thai resident.

Purchase (year 0)

• Price: £250,000 (฿11,125,000), with the appraised value assumed equal to the price
• Buyer's half of the 2% transfer fee: £2,500 (฿111,250)
• Legal fees (assumed): £2,000
• Bank and FX charges (assumed): £500, left out of the CGT base cost to be prudent
• All-in cash cost: £255,000

Rent (years 1 to 5, from 2027/28)

• Net rent after expenses: £10,350 a year, as in the credit relief example above
• Total tax each year: £4,347, at the 42% property higher rate that applies from 6 April 2027
• Net income after all tax: £6,003 a year, totalling £30,015

Sale (just after the fifth anniversary, so no SBT)

• Sale price (assumed): ฿12,500,000, a 12.4% rise in baht over five years
• Seller's half of the transfer fee: ฿125,000
• Stamp duty at 0.5%: ฿62,500
• Agency fee (assumed at 3%): ฿375,000
• Thai withholding tax (assumed): ฿250,000. The real figure is set by the Land Office from the appraised value and the years held
• Net proceeds for CGT: ฿11,937,500
• Cash received after Thai tax: ฿11,687,500

UK CGT and the exchange rate. Base cost £254,500 (price plus transfer fee and legal fees). Three exchange rates at sale:

• Baht unchanged at ฿44.5: proceeds £268,258, gain £13,758. After the £3,000 exempt amount, CGT at 24% is £2,582. The Thai withholding tax of £5,618 exceeds it, so UK CGT is nil, but the £3,036 excess Thai tax is not refunded. Cash home: £262,640.
• Baht stronger at ฿42: proceeds £284,226, gain £29,726, CGT £6,414. Less the Thai tax credit of £5,952, UK CGT to pay is £462. Cash home: £278,274 − £462 = £277,812.
• Baht weaker at ฿48: proceeds £248,698, a capital loss of £5,802. No UK CGT, and the Thai tax of £5,208 cannot be credited. Cash home: £243,490.

Five-year result (net income + cash home − all-in cost)

• Baht unchanged: £30,015 + £262,640 − £255,000 = £37,655, or 14.8% over five years (about 3.0% a year, simple)
• Baht stronger: £30,015 + £277,812 − £255,000 = £52,827, or 20.7% (about 4.1% a year)
• Baht weaker: £30,015 + £243,490 − £255,000 = £18,505, or 7.3% (about 1.5% a year)

Moving the baht from ฿44.5 to ฿42 or ฿48 shifts the five-year result by £15,000 to £19,000, about three years of net rent. Costs at both ends matter too: the agency fee alone on this sale is £8,427 at ฿44.5.

The Thailand desk can run this model on a specific property on a 30-minute call; your own adviser should confirm the tax position. Book a call, and read our buying guide for the purchase steps.