Property Transfer Fees and Taxes in Thailand: What Buyers Actually Pay

Search “property tax Thailand” and the results blur two different things into one. Some warn about a mysterious annual bill. Others explain condo transfer costs that have nothing to do with an annual bill at all. In our closings across Hua Hin and Pattaya, the confusion we see from Northern European buyers is rarely about the size of any single tax. It's about not knowing which of four transfer costs applies to their specific purchase, and how that differs from the small annual tax that arrives later, every year they own the property. This guide walks through what buyers and sellers actually pay at the Land Office, what changes if a seller has owned the property for less than five years, and one government discount that headlines love to mention that does not apply to foreign buyers at all.

What “Property Tax in Thailand” Actually Covers

There is no single Thai property tax. What buyers usually mean by the phrase splits into two separate systems. The first is a set of one-off costs collected at the Land Department the day ownership changes hands: a transfer fee, a business tax or stamp duty, and a withholding tax. The second is the Land and Building Tax, a modest annual bill that lands every year the property stays in your name. Our in-house legal team walks every buyer through both before a contract is signed, because conflating the two is where most surprises come from.

The Transfer Fee: The One Cost Every Buyer Will See

Every property transfer in Thailand carries a 2 percent registration fee, charged on the Land Department's official appraised value rather than the price written into the sale contract. Custom, not law, splits this 50/50 between buyer and seller, and it is one of the few line items genuinely open to negotiation. On new-build purchases, developers across our Hua Hin and Pattaya listings frequently push up to half of this fee onto the buyer inside the sale and purchase agreement, so our complete guide to buying a condo in Thailand as a foreigner covers what to check in that contract before signing.

A temporary discount cut this fee to 0.01 percent for houses and condos priced at 7 million baht or under, and the Cabinet extended it through 30 June 2027. It sounds like good news for anyone buying under that threshold, but the fine print matters: the reduced rate is written for Thai national buyers only. A Scandinavian or German buyer purchasing the same condo at the same price still pays the standard 2 percent. That extension was confirmed by Nation Thailand's coverage of the June 2026 Cabinet decision, which sets out the eligibility rules in full.

One practical note from our closings: cash is no longer accepted at the Land Office. Every fee, however it is split, is now paid by QR code on the day of registration.

Specific Business Tax or Stamp Duty: The Seller's Five-Year Test

Sellers face a second cost that depends entirely on how long they have owned the property. If it has been under five years, Specific Business Tax applies at 3.3 percent of the appraised value or the actual sale price, whichever is higher. That figure is made up of a 3 percent business tax plus a municipal surcharge equal to 10 percent of that amount. Hold the property for five years or longer, and Specific Business Tax is replaced by a considerably lighter 0.5 percent Stamp Duty instead. The two are mutually exclusive; a seller never pays both.

This is where new-build purchases catch buyers off guard. A developer selling a freshly completed unit has, by definition, owned it for less than five years, so Specific Business Tax almost always applies to a first-hand sale. In our experience, the sale and purchase agreements developers use across both coasts typically state that the developer absorbs this cost, but it is worth confirming in writing rather than assuming, particularly on smaller or newer development projects without an established track record.

Withholding Tax: The Number That Depends on the Seller

Withholding tax is the trickiest line item to estimate because it is not a flat percentage. If the seller is a company, the calculation is simple: a flat 1 percent of the appraised value or sale price, whichever is higher, credited against that company's annual corporate tax bill.

If the seller is an individual, foreign or Thai, the Land Department runs a three-step formula. First, it applies a lump-sum deduction to the appraised value based on the number of full years owned, ranging from 92 percent after one year down to 50 percent after eight years or more. Second, it divides the remaining amount by the number of years owned to reach a notional yearly income. Third, it applies Thailand's progressive personal income tax rates to that yearly figure, then multiplies the result back by the years owned.

The longer an individual seller has owned a property, the larger the lump-sum deduction, but a longer hold also pushes the sale past the five-year Specific Business Tax threshold. The two rules interact rather than simply adding up, which is exactly why we run the numbers for a seller before pricing a listing.

Worked Example: A Hua Hin condo appraised at 5,000,000 baht, sold by an individual owner after two years. The two-year deduction is 84 percent, leaving a taxable base of 800,000 baht. Divided by two years, that is 400,000 baht of notional yearly income, taxed at 5 percent on the first 300,000 baht and 10 percent on the remaining 100,000 baht: 25,000 baht per year, multiplied by two years of ownership, for a total withholding tax of 50,000 baht. On a 5,000,000 baht appraised value, that is an effective rate of exactly 1 percent, well below the flat rate a corporate seller would pay on the same property.

Because this withholding tax is treated as a final settlement of the seller's personal income tax on the gain, per the Revenue Department's guidance on personal income tax, it does not need to be reported again on an annual return.

A Worked Example: One Hua Hin Condo, One Pattaya Villa

Pattaya sellers are transacting into a shifting foreign buyer base right now, with Nation Thailand's coverage of the Real Estate Information Center's Q1 2026 figures showing Russian buyers overtaking several other nationalities even as overall foreign transfer volumes cooled, which makes getting the numbers right before listing even more worthwhile. Putting the three transfer-day costs together looks different depending on coast, price, and how long the seller has owned the property. The table below compares a resale condo from condos for sale in Hua Hin against a resale pool villa from our Pattaya villa listings, using appraised values in line with current pricing across the Hua Hin market and the latest Pattaya market data.

The Pattaya figure is a range rather than a fixed number because six years of ownership lifts the deduction to 60 percent, but on a higher appraised value the yearly taxable slice still lands in a higher personal income tax bracket than the Hua Hin example above. A seller in this position should expect an effective withholding rate in the low single digits rather than close to 1 percent, and our in-house legal team calculates the exact figure before every listing goes to market.

The Annual Bill After You Own It: Land and Building Tax

Once the transfer is registered, the recurring cost is the Land and Building Tax, introduced in 2020 to replace the old rental-value system. For residential property, the statutory ceiling is 0.3 percent of appraised value, but actual bills for owner-occupied homes typically run between 0.02 and 0.10 percent, billed once a year by the local administrative organisation where the property sits.

The exemption that brings that rate down close to zero requires the owner's name to appear in a Thai house registration book, known as a tabien baan, for a primary residence. Most of the Northern European buyers we work with in Hua Hin and Pattaya hold their condo or villa as a second home or rental asset rather than a primary Thai residence, so this exemption typically does not apply. The rate itself still stays low without it: on a 6,000,000 baht Hua Hin condo taxed in the non-owner-occupied residential band, the annual bill lands somewhere between 1,200 and 6,000 baht, a modest number next to the annual property tax bills many of our clients are used to at home.

Who Actually Pays What: Buyer, Seller, or Split?

The transfer fee is the one genuinely negotiable line item, split 50/50 by custom but open to discussion, especially with a motivated seller or a developer clearing inventory. Specific Business Tax or Stamp Duty, and Withholding Tax, are legally the seller's responsibility, though on a resale deal the net price a buyer and seller settle on often already reflects who is absorbing what. Our in-house legal team drafts every Hua Hin and Pattaya contract with each party's share written out in baht before signing, because the default assumption we hear most from overseas buyers, that the agent handles it, is not accurate. Nobody handles it automatically; it is negotiated, in writing, every time.

Three Mistakes We See Northern European Buyers Make

• Assuming the 0.01 percent transfer fee discount applies to them. It does not; it is restricted to Thai national buyers on properties at or under 7 million baht.

• Not budgeting for Specific Business Tax when reselling a condo bought new within the last five years, which can add over 3 percent of the sale value to the closing costs.

• Believing Thailand has no property tax at all, then being surprised by the first Land and Building Tax bill, small as it usually is, several years into ownership.

Get Your Numbers Before You Make an Offer

Every one of these numbers changes with the specific property, its appraised value, and how long the current owner has held it. A condo two years into ownership and the same condo held for six carry a genuinely different withholding tax bill, and a villa on leasehold land adds a registration fee that a straightforward condo purchase never sees. Rather than working from the general rates in this guide, our in-house legal team pulls the actual appraised value for a listing, checks the seller's ownership history, and calculates the real transfer-day cost before you sign anything.

Before you make an offer on a property in Hua Hin or Pattaya, get in touch with our team for a written breakdown of exactly what you, and the seller, will pay at transfer, so the number on the closing statement matches the one you budgeted for.

Frequently Asked Questions About Property Transfer Fees and Taxes

Does Thailand Have an Annual Property Tax?

Yes. It is called the Land and Building Tax, introduced in 2020, and for residential property it is capped at 0.3 percent of appraised value, with most owner-occupied homes billed well below that ceiling.

Is There a Separate Capital Gains Tax in Thailand?

No. Thailand does not have a standalone capital gains tax on real estate. For individual sellers, the Withholding Tax collected at the Land Department at the time of transfer serves as the final tax on the gain, so it does not need to be reported again on an annual return.

Can Buyers and Sellers Negotiate Who Pays Which Tax?

The transfer fee is routinely negotiated and split in different ways depending on the deal. Specific Business Tax, Stamp Duty, and Withholding Tax are legally the seller's obligation, though the agreed sale price can be structured around who ultimately carries that cost.

Do These Taxes Differ Between Hua Hin and Pattaya?

No. Every rate in this guide is set by national law and applies the same way in Prachuap Khiri Khan and Chon Buri. What differs between the two coasts is appraised value, which follows local Land Department assessments and changes the baht amount, not the percentage, you pay.