Thai Property Taxes and Fees in 2026: What a Foreign Buyer Actually Pays at Transfer and Every Year
When a condominium unit or a house with land changes hands in Thailand, three charges are settled at the Land Office on the transfer day: a 2% transfer fee, either a 3.3% Specific Business Tax or a 0.5% stamp duty (never both), and the seller’s withholding income tax. By law most of these fall on the seller. In practice the split is negotiated and written into the sale and purchase agreement, and a 50/50 split of the transfer fee is common. The reduced 0.01% transfer fee you may read about applies only to Thai individual buyers, so a foreign buyer pays the standard rate.
After transfer, the main recurring tax is the Land and Building Tax. For a holiday home or a rented-out unit it is charged at 0.02% of the official appraised value per year on values up to THB 50 million, which on most foreign-owned condominiums comes to a modest sum.
Figures below are as of mid-2026 unless stated. They are not tax advice, and the exact amounts for a specific property come from the Land Office and a Thai tax adviser.
The transfer-day costs in one table
Unless noted, the base for each item is the higher of the registered sale price and the Land Office’s official appraised value.
| Item | Rate | Base | Legally borne by, and usual practice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transfer (registration) fee | 2% | Official appraised value | Not fixed by law; commonly split 50/50 between buyer and seller by agreement |
| Specific Business Tax (SBT) | 3.3% (3% plus a 10% local surcharge) | Higher of price and appraised value | Seller; applies to companies and to individuals selling within 5 years of acquisition |
| Stamp duty | 0.5% | Higher of price and appraised value | Seller; payable only when SBT is not |
| Withholding income tax, company seller | 1% | Higher of price and appraised value | Seller, withheld at the Land Office |
| Withholding income tax, individual seller | Progressive (see below) | Official appraised value | Seller, withheld at the Land Office |
“Legally borne by” and “actually paid by” are different questions. Palmera quotes the split stated in each developer’s SPA rather than a general rule, and we suggest you read that clause before anything else in the contract.
The 2% transfer fee, and the discount foreigners do not get
The transfer fee is 2% of the official appraised value. The law does not say who pays it; the parties decide, and splitting it equally is common.
You will see headlines about a 0.01% transfer fee. On 1 July 2026 Thailand extended reduced transfer and mortgage-registration fees of 0.01%, instead of 2% and 1%, for homes priced up to THB 7 million, until 30 June 2027. The reduction is available only to buyers who are Thai individuals. Foreign buyers pay the standard 2%. If a cost estimate shows 0.01% on your purchase, ask for it to be corrected.
Specific Business Tax or stamp duty
These two are alternatives. A sale attracts either SBT at 3.3%, which is 3% plus a 10% local surcharge on it, or stamp duty at 0.5%, depending on who sells and how long they held the property. Both are the seller’s taxes by law.
SBT applies to companies, and to individuals who sell within five years of acquiring the property. It does not apply to an individual who has held the property for five years or more, or who sells a home that was their principal residence with their name in the house registration for at least one year. Other exemptions exist, for example for certain inherited property, and are confirmed case by case with the Land Office. When SBT does not apply, the 0.5% stamp duty does.
For a buyer, this matters in two ways. If the contract shifts some seller taxes onto you, the difference between 3.3% and 0.5% is significant. And it will apply to you when you sell: a resale within five years normally means SBT on the higher of the price and the appraised value, unless an exemption such as the principal-residence one applies.
Withholding income tax on the seller
Thailand has no separate capital-gains tax on an individual’s sale of property. Instead, income tax is withheld at the Land Office on transfer.
For a company seller, the withholding is 1% of the higher of price and appraised value. For an individual seller, Thai or foreign, the calculation is more involved. Take the appraised value, subtract a standard deduction that depends on the years held (92% of the value after one year, falling to 50% after eight years or more), divide by the number of years held (up to ten), apply the personal income tax rates, then multiply by the years held. The total may not exceed 20% of the sale price. Under the 2014 tax bands, a THB 10 million unit carried roughly THB 82,500 to 430,000 of withholding, depending on how long it was held. Treat that range as an illustration of the method, not a current quote.
Budget for withholding on every sale by an individual, however long the property was held. The figure for a specific sale comes from the Land Office or a Thai tax adviser. For a non-resident individual the withholding is normally the final tax. We explain what that means for a later sale in our guide to tax for foreign owners.
Other one-off costs
- Lease registration for a villa. A 1% registration fee plus 0.1% stamp duty on the total rent for the whole registered term, 1.1% in total.
- Mortgage registration. 1% of the loan amount, capped at THB 200,000, though few foreign buyers borrow in Thailand.
- Sinking fund and advance common fees. Developers commonly collect a one-off sinking fund and advance common-area fees at transfer. The amounts are project-specific and there is no standard rate, so ask for the figures in writing before you reserve.
The annual Land and Building Tax
The Land and Building Tax Act B.E. 2562 has been in force since 1 January 2020. The local authority charges it to whoever owns or holds the land or building on 1 January each year. Assessment notices go out around February and tax is normally due by April, though local deadlines are sometimes extended. In 2026 the deadline was June.
The Act sets ceilings of 0.3% for residential property, 0.15% for agricultural land, and 1.2% for commercial and vacant land, with vacant land rising by 0.3% for every three years of non-use up to 3%. The rates actually applied to homes are lower and are charged on the official appraised value:
- Main home, land and building owned by an individual whose name is in the house registration: the first THB 50 million is exempt; above that 0.03% to THB 75 million, 0.05% to THB 100 million, and 0.1% above.
- Main home, building only (for example a house on leased land), owner’s name in the house registration: the first THB 10 million is exempt; then 0.02% to THB 50 million, followed by 0.03%, 0.05% and 0.1% in the higher bands.
- Other residential property, which includes second homes and rented-out units: 0.02% up to THB 50 million, 0.03% from 50 to 75 million, 0.05% from 75 to 100 million and 0.1% above, from the first baht.
A typical foreign-owned holiday or rental condominium falls into the last group. As illustrative arithmetic, not a quote, a unit appraised at THB 5 million would pay about THB 1,000 a year. Where a property is used commercially, for example operated as a hotel, the commercial scale starting at 0.3% can apply.
Two other recurring costs belong in the same budget. The common-area fee is the recurring charge paid to the building’s juristic person for the upkeep of common property; it is set by each building, so ask for the current fee in writing before you reserve. And if you let the unit, the rent is income earned in Thailand and taxable there whether or not you live in the country.
Whether a foreigner listed in a yellow house book (Tor Ror 13) qualifies for the main-home exemption is not settled, so check it with the local authority before relying on it.
A worked illustration
To show how the pieces fit, take a hypothetical new condominium unit bought for THB 5 million from a developer that is a company, and assume, for simplicity, that the appraised value equals the price. This is illustrative arithmetic only; the appraised value is set by the Land Office and can differ from the price.
- Transfer fee at 2%: THB 100,000. If the SPA splits it 50/50, the buyer’s share is THB 50,000.
- Specific Business Tax at 3.3%: THB 165,000, the developer’s tax because the seller is a company. No stamp duty is due, since SBT applies.
- Withholding tax at 1% for a company seller: THB 50,000, also the developer’s.
- Sinking fund and advance common fees: set by the project; no standard figure.
- Land and Building Tax from the following 1 January, as a second home: about THB 1,000 a year.
If the SPA instead asks the buyer to bear some of the seller’s taxes, the numbers change sharply, which is why the cost clause deserves your lawyer’s attention.
What to check before you buy
- The SPA clause that allocates the transfer fee, SBT or stamp duty and withholding tax between you and the seller.
- That no estimate applies the 0.01% Thai-buyer fee to your purchase.
- The sinking fund, the advance common fees and the monthly common-area fee, in writing.
- For a villa, the 1.1% lease registration cost on the total rent.
- If you plan to sell within five years, that the 3.3% SBT is likely to apply to your sale.
- If you will let the property, the rental income tax rules in our owners’ tax guide.
The step-by-step purchase is covered in our guide to buying a condo in Thailand, and current projects are on our Thailand properties page.
