Ask what a Thai property transfer costs and you get a percentage. Ask what the percentage is charged on and the answers stop agreeing.
The second question is the one that matters. The rates are fixed and easy to find. What moves the number is the value the Land Office uses, whether specific business tax applies, and who has agreed to carry what.
This article sets out the charges, where each comes from, and how they are worked out. Where something is office practice rather than law, it says so.
What are the real taxes and fees when land is transferred in Thailand?
Five, from three different laws: a registration fee of 2 per cent, specific business tax of 3.3 per cent, stamp duty of 0.5 per cent on sales where specific business tax is not paid, withholding tax on the seller, and separate stamp duty on any lease that is registered.
The registration fee is a Land Office fee rather than a tax. It is 2 per cent of the appraised value on a transfer of ownership, it is set by the schedule to the Land Code, and it falls on the person applying to register [Land Code B.E. 2497, section 103 and schedule item 7].
Specific business tax is a Revenue Code tax charged instead of VAT on the sale of property in a commercial or profitable way. The rate is 3 per cent of the gross receipt, plus a local tax of 10 per cent of that, which is where the familiar 3.3 per cent comes from [Revenue Code, section 91/2(6)]. Whether a given sale counts as commercial is set by a royal decree, and a company selling property is inside it.
Stamp duty falls on the receipt rather than the deal, at 1 baht for every 200 baht, which is 0.5 per cent. It is exempt where specific business tax is paid on the same money, so a sale never carries both [Revenue Code, stamp duty schedule, instrument 28].
Withholding tax is taken at the counter, and the rule depends on who is selling. A company seller has 1 per cent withheld and remitted at registration [Revenue Code, section 69 ter]. An individual seller pays income tax worked out under the Code's own formula, explained below [section 50(5)]. A transfer for no money does not escape it.
| Charge | Rate and base | Where it comes from | Who the law puts it on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registration fee | 2 per cent of the appraised value | Land Code, sections 103 and 104, schedule item 7 | The applicant for registration |
| Specific business tax | 3 per cent of the receipt plus local tax of 10 per cent of the tax, so 3.3 per cent, on the higher of the appraised and declared value | Revenue Code, section 91/2(6) | The seller |
| Stamp duty on the sale | 1 baht per 200 baht, so 0.5 per cent. Not payable where specific business tax applies | Revenue Code, stamp duty schedule, instrument 28 | The person issuing the receipt |
| Withholding tax, company seller | 1 per cent, remitted at registration | Revenue Code, section 69 ter | Deducted from the seller |
| Withholding tax, individual seller | Worked out under section 48(4) after a fixed deduction, spread over the years held | Revenue Code, section 50(5) | Deducted from the seller |
| Stamp duty on a registered lease | 1 baht per 1,000 baht of rent and key money over the whole term, so 0.1 per cent | Revenue Code, stamp duty schedule, instrument 1 | The landlord pays, the tenant cancels the stamp |
The last column is where the law puts each charge. Contracts routinely move the cost somewhere else.
How is the value of the land and house set for transfer tax?
By the government's appraisal list, and the contract price only matters if it is higher.
Since 2562 the registration fee on a transfer of ownership has been calculated on the appraised value in the official property appraisal list in force on the day of registration, the list kept under the law on property appraisal for state purposes [Land Code B.E. 2497, section 104, as replaced by the Amendment Act (No. 15) B.E. 2562]. That is the Treasury Department's list, and the Land Office applies it as it stands.
The Revenue Code then borrows the number. On a transfer of land, with or without payment and whatever the property would fetch on the market, the assessment official takes the appraised value used for the registration fee as the sale price [Revenue Code, section 49 bis]. The practical effect is a floor. The Land Office works out specific business tax, stamp duty and the company seller's 1 per cent on whichever is higher, the appraised value or the price the parties declare. A declared price above the appraisal raises the base. A declared price below it changes nothing.
- Appraised value
- The figure in the official appraisal list on the day of registration. It is the base of the registration fee and the floor for the tax charges.
- Sale price
- A Revenue Code term. It includes the price the assessment official fixes from the appraised value, so it is never lower than the appraisal [Revenue Code, section 39].
Who pays the transfer taxes and fees, the buyer or the seller?
The law puts the registration fee on whoever applies to register, and specific business tax and withholding tax on the seller. The contract can move the cost of any of them, and in a negotiated villa sale it usually does.
Two questions live inside that one. Who does the law make liable, and who has agreed to carry the cost. On liability, the last column of the table is the answer, and those duties sit where the law puts them whatever the contract says. Withholding tax is deducted from what the seller receives and handed to the registering officer. A contract can shift who bears that cost. It cannot stop the deduction at the counter.
On cost, the Civil and Commercial Code supplies a default and nothing more. The expenses of a sale are shared equally between buyer and seller, and the fees of making a lease are shared equally too [Civil and Commercial Code, sections 457 and 539]. Those rules apply only where the contract is silent. In practice the parties agree line by line, and a "borne by" column in the sale agreement is the normal way to do it.
How much tax is payable when a Thai company transfers land and a house to an individual?
On an appraised value of 5,000,000 baht, 315,000 baht: a 100,000 baht registration fee, 165,000 baht of specific business tax and 50,000 baht of withholding tax, with no stamp duty. The figures are illustrative and are not taken from any matter.
| Charge | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Registration fee | 2 per cent of 5,000,000 | 100,000 baht |
| Specific business tax | 3.3 per cent of 5,000,000 | 165,000 baht |
| Stamp duty | Exempt, specific business tax paid | Nil |
| Withholding tax | 1 per cent of 5,000,000 | 50,000 baht |
| Total | Sum of the three charges | 315,000 baht |
That total is 6.3 per cent of the appraised value. The 6.3 per cent is not a rate in any Act. It is the sum of three charges from two Acts, and it holds for this combination of facts only.
Change the seller and the shape changes. Where an individual sells a home they were not in the business of dealing in, specific business tax usually falls away and stamp duty of 0.5 per cent takes its place. The withholding tax then follows the Code's formula for individuals: a fixed deduction from the sale price, the balance divided by the number of years held up to ten, tax at the personal rates on that figure, and the result multiplied back by the years held. For an inherited or gifted property the deduction is 50 per cent, and the tax on a sale outside a trade is capped at 20 per cent of the sale price [Revenue Code, section 48(4)].
Every line in that table is a percentage of the appraised value. None of it is a percentage of the price the parties agreed between themselves.
What does it cost to register a thirty-year lease at the Land Office?
A Land Office fee of 1 per cent of the total rent for the whole term, plus stamp duty of 0.1 per cent on the same figure.
Both are worked out on the rent for the entire term, including any key money, and not on one year's rent. The stamp duty is in the Code: 1 baht for every 1,000 baht of rent and key money over the whole lease, paid by the landlord, with the tenant cancelling the stamp. Where the lease fixes no term, three years is assumed [Revenue Code, stamp duty schedule, instrument 1]. The registration fee sits in a ministerial regulation under a ceiling of 2 per cent of the value the applicant declares, and the Department of Lands' own guide to lease registration puts the fee at 1 per cent of the rent over the term [Land Code B.E. 2497, schedule item 7].
Why register at all is answered by the Code. A lease of more than three years is enforceable for three years only unless it is written and registered, and thirty years is the ceiling [Civil and Commercial Code, sections 538 and 540].
When is the tax paid, and can the transfer go through without it?
At the counter, at the moment of registration, and no.
Specific business tax on a property sale is filed and paid to the officer registering the transfer. The Land Department collects it for the Revenue Department, and the officer is forbidden to sign, allow or record the transfer until the tax has been paid in full [Revenue Code, section 91/10]. Withholding tax is deducted at the same moment. Nothing completes ahead of the money.
What this means in practice
Three layers sit between the Act and the receipt, and most of the confusion comes from mixing them up. The Act fixes the charge and a ceiling. A ministerial regulation or a royal decree fixes the rate inside it. The Land Office applies the appraisal list in force on the day. A figure that was right last year, or right at another office, can be wrong today without a word of legislation changing.
Reduced registration fees appear from time to time. One running to 30 June 2027, made by Ministry of Interior notifications published on 1 July 2026, cuts the transfer fee from 2 per cent to 0.01 per cent, but only where the buyer is an individual of Thai nationality and both the price and the appraised value are no more than 7 million baht. A foreign buyer, or a company, pays the full rate. The measure that counts is the one in force on the day of registration.
One charge never reaches the counter at all. Under the Land and Buildings Tax Act, whoever owns or possesses the property on 1 January is liable for that year's tax, payable to the local authority within April, and the Land Office reports every transfer and lease registration to the local authority by the fifteenth of the following month [Land and Buildings Tax Act B.E. 2562, sections 9, 10 and 46]. Nobody has to tell them the property changed hands.
Proviso advises foreign owners and investors on Thai property transactions, including the documents a transfer requires and the charges that fall due at registration. If you would like a transaction costed against the current schedules before you commit, get in touch.
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Every statement in this article rests on one of the 20 provisions below, each named by Act and section so it can be checked against the legislation itself.
- Land Code B.E. 2497, section 103. Fees and expenses for registering rights and juristic acts are charged as prescribed in a ministerial regulation, but not exceeding the rates in the schedule annexed to the Code.
- Land Code B.E. 2497, section 104. The applicant for registration pays the fee, calculated on the appraised capital value for a transfer of ownership or of a possessory right, and on the value the applicant declares as true in other cases.
- Land Code B.E. 2497, section 105. Constitution of the committee that fixes appraised capital values.
- Land Code B.E. 2497, schedule of fees and expenses, item 7. Registration of rights and juristic acts at 2 per cent of the appraised capital value where there is a value, and 1,000 baht per plot where there is none.
- Revenue Code, section 39. Definition of sale price, including a price determined by the assessment official under section 49 bis.
- Revenue Code, section 49 bis. Determination of the sale price of immovable property by reference to the appraised capital value in use on the date of transfer, whatever the ordinary market price.
- Revenue Code, sections 48(4) and 50(5) and (6). Withholding of income tax where the seller is an individual, including on a transfer made without consideration.
- Revenue Code, section 52. Tax withheld under section 50(5) and (6) is remitted to the official registering the right and juristic act, who may not record the act until it is paid in full.
- Revenue Code, section 69 ter. Withholding of income tax at 1 per cent where the seller of immovable property is a company or juristic partnership, remitted at registration and credited against its income tax.
- Revenue Code, sections 91/2(6), 91/5(6) and 91/6(3). Specific business tax on the sale of immovable property in a commercial or profitable manner, the base, and the rate of 3.0 per cent.
- Revenue Code, sections 91/8 and 91/10. Specific business tax on such a sale is calculated and paid at registration, the Land Department collects it for the Revenue Department, and the act may not be recorded until it is paid in full.
- Revenue Code, stamp duty schedule, instrument 1. Lease of land, building, other construction or floating house at 1 baht per 1,000 baht of rent or key money over the whole term. The lessor pays and the lessee cancels. No term fixed means three years.
- Revenue Code, stamp duty schedule, instrument 28. Receipt for the transfer of, or creation of a right in, immovable property registered by law, at 1 baht per 200 baht, exempt where the amount bears value added tax or specific business tax.
- Civil and Commercial Code, section 457. The expenses of a contract of sale are borne equally by buyer and seller.
- Civil and Commercial Code, section 538. Written evidence and registration requirements for a hire of immovable property, enforceable for only three years without registration.
- Civil and Commercial Code, section 539. The fees and expenses of making a contract of hire are borne equally by both parties.
- Civil and Commercial Code, section 540. Immovable property may not be hired for more than thirty years, and renewal is for not more than thirty years from the date of renewal.
- Sap-Ing-Sith Act B.E. 2562, sections 4, 16 and 17. The right may run for not more than thirty years, and fees are set by ministerial regulation within the rates in the schedule annexed to the Act.
- Land and Buildings Tax Act B.E. 2562, sections 9, 10, 44 and 46. Liability of the owner or possessor on 1 January, notification of transfers and lease registrations by the Land Office by the fifteenth of the following month, assessment within February, and payment within April.
- Department of Lands, published procedures and fee schedules for transfer of immovable property, with and without a thirty-day public proclamation. Cited for the 3.3 per cent specific business tax including local tax, the 0.5 per cent stamp duty, the 1 per cent withholding for a juristic transferor, and the rule that these are computed on the higher of the appraised and declared value.
Section numbers are given so you can check every statement in this article against the legislation itself. Statements about administrative practice are labelled as practice and carry no section number, because there is none. Where a provision exists only in Thai, the section number and the name of the Act are stated so the Thai text can be located.
Is withholding tax payable when a Thai company sells property to an individual?
Yes. When the seller is a company, 1 per cent of the higher of the appraised value and the declared price is withheld and handed to the registering officer at the moment of transfer. That the buyer is an individual makes no difference.
Does stamp duty apply to a registered lease?
Yes. It is 1 baht for every 1,000 baht of rent and key money over the whole term, which is 0.1 per cent. The landlord pays it and the tenant cancels the stamp. Where the lease fixes no term, three years is assumed.
Is VAT charged on a property transfer?
No. A sale of property in a commercial or profitable way carries specific business tax instead of VAT, and stamp duty is exempt on money that has borne specific business tax, so the same sale never carries both.
Is transfer tax payable on a house that is not finished?
The registration fee is calculated on the appraised value of what is being registered. Whether an unfinished building carries an appraised value at all depends on the appraisal list the office applies on the day, which is office practice rather than a question the Land Code answers.
When is the tax paid?
At the counter, at the moment of registration. Specific business tax and withholding tax are paid to the officer registering the transfer, and the officer is not allowed to record the transfer until the money has been received in full.
This article is general information about Thai law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create a lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legislation as reviewed on 2 September 2026. Thai law and administrative practice change, and practice varies between offices and provinces. For advice on a particular situation, get in touch. See our editorial standards and disclaimer.
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