Property Transfer Fees and Taxes in Thailand.

Property transfer fees in Thailand: what you pay at the Land Office

Property transfer fees in Thailand are paid in one visit. When a condo, house, or plot of land changes hands, the buyer and seller (or their lawyers holding power of attorney) meet at the local Land Office, and the official transfers the title only after the fees and taxes are paid in full, usually by cashier's cheque or cash on the day.

Four items can appear on the bill:

• Transfer fee: 2% of the official appraised value.
• Specific business tax (SBT): 3.3%, mostly for sales within 5 years of ownership.
• Stamp duty: 0.5%, payable only when SBT does not apply.
• Withholding tax: 1% for company sellers, a progressive calculation for individuals.

Depending on how long the seller has owned the property, the combined cost typically lands somewhere between roughly 2.5% and 6.3% of the value. Who actually pays each item is set by the contract, which is why the fee clause deserves attention before you sign. A lawyer reviewing your property purchase agreement will normally calculate the exact figures and confirm the split in writing.

This guide walks through each charge, the customary splits, and the reduction programs the government runs from time to time. It covers transaction costs only. Annual land and building tax, rental income tax, and expat income tax are separate topics.

The 2% transfer fee

The transfer fee is the one constant. It applies to virtually every transfer of ownership and is charged at 2% of the appraised value: the official valuation the Treasury Department assigns to the property, not the price the parties agreed.

The appraised value is often lower than the market price, which works in your favour. If you buy a condo for 5 million THB and the appraised value is 4 million THB, the transfer fee is 80,000 THB, not 100,000 THB. The Land Office uses its own figures, so you can ask the office (or have a lawyer check) what the appraised value is before transfer day rather than estimating from the sale price.

Specific business tax: 3.3% on quick resales

Specific business tax exists to tax property dealt with as a business. The rate is 3.3% of the higher of the sale price or the appraised value (3% tax plus a 10% municipal surcharge), and it generally applies when the seller transfers the property within 5 years of acquiring it.

There are exceptions. Under the Revenue Department's rules, SBT generally does not apply where, for example:

• the seller had their name in the house registration book (tabien baan) for at least one year before the sale,
• the property was acquired by inheritance, a route with its own rules for foreign heirs, or
• the property is transferred to a legitimate child or expropriated by the state.

The details matter here, and the exemption conditions have more fine print than a buying guide can responsibly cover. If the seller has owned the property for less than 5 years, treat SBT as payable until the Land Office or the Revenue Department confirms an exemption applies.

SBT is legally the seller's liability. In practice some sellers, especially developers, try to pass part of it to the buyer in the contract. More on that below.

Stamp duty: 0.5% when SBT does not apply

Stamp duty and specific business tax are alternatives. If the sale is subject to SBT, no stamp duty is due. If it is exempt from SBT, typically because the seller has held the property for more than 5 years or qualifies for one of the exemptions, stamp duty of 0.5% is charged instead, on the higher of the sale price or the appraised value.

For the buyer, this is the single biggest reason transfer costs vary between deals. A seller who has owned for six years triggers 0.5%; a seller flipping after two years triggers 3.3%. On a 10 million THB property, that is a difference of 280,000 THB. Worth knowing before you negotiate.

Withholding tax: how the seller's income tax is collected

Withholding tax is an advance collection of the seller's income tax on the sale, deducted at the Land Office on transfer day. How it is calculated depends on who the seller is.

• Company sellers pay a flat 1% of the sale price or the appraised value, whichever is higher.
• Individual sellers pay under a progressive calculation. The Land Office starts from the appraised value, applies a standard deduction that depends on the number of years of ownership, spreads the result over those years, and applies the personal income tax rates. Longer ownership generally means a larger deduction and a lower effective rate.

The individual calculation is mechanical but fiddly, and the result can surprise sellers who assumed a flat percentage. The Land Office computes it on the spot, but any competent property lawyer can run the numbers in advance so both sides know the figure before transfer day. If you are buying a resale condo, the same review usually happens alongside the condo title transfer checks. If you are the seller, the guide to selling Thai property as a foreigner covers your side of the counter, including repatriating the proceeds.

Who pays what: customary, not fixed

Thai law assigns the taxes to the seller, but nothing stops the parties agreeing a different split for the overall bill. Common market practice looks like this:

"Customary" is doing a lot of work in that table. Developers selling new condos often push more of the costs to the buyer; private sellers in a slow market sometimes absorb everything to close the deal. The only version that counts is the one written in the sale and purchase agreement. If the contract is silent, expect an argument at the Land Office counter, which is the worst possible place to have it.

Government fee reductions: real, but temporary

Thailand's government periodically cuts the transfer fee and the mortgage registration fee to stimulate the housing market, sometimes to a fraction of the standard rate for qualifying residential purchases under a price cap. These programs are genuine and can save buyers six-figure sums in baht.

They are also temporary, conditional, and they change. A reduction in force when you reserve a unit may have expired by the time you transfer, and the conditions (property type, price ceiling, buyer nationality or residence) are specific. Do not budget around a reduced rate you read about online. Confirm the current rates and conditions with the Department of Lands or the Land Office handling your transfer shortly before the transfer date.

A worked example

Say you buy a resale condo for 6 million THB. The appraised value is 5 million THB, and the seller, an individual, has owned it for 7 years and lived there.

• Transfer fee: 2% of 5 million = 100,000 THB, commonly split 50,000 THB each.
• SBT: not applicable (owned more than 5 years), so stamp duty of 0.5% of 6 million = 30,000 THB, paid by the seller.
• Withholding tax: calculated by the Land Office on the 5 million THB appraised value with the 7-year deduction schedule; the seller pays the result.

Your side of the bill is around 50,000 THB plus minor administrative charges. If the same seller had owned the condo for only 3 years and not registered residence there, stamp duty would be replaced by SBT of 198,000 THB, and the negotiation over who absorbs it would look very different. The broader legal checklist for buying property in Thailand covers where this fee conversation fits in the overall purchase timeline.

Where these fees fit in the bigger picture

Transfer costs are one piece of a foreign buyer's homework. If you are buying a condo, the foreign quota and the foreign-currency remittance paperwork matter as much as the fees; the guide to buying a condo in Thailand as a foreigner covers both. If you are still working out what you can own at all, start with the overview of whether foreigners can buy property in Thailand.

One quiet advantage of getting the numbers right early: the fees are calculated on official appraised values you can verify in advance, so there is no reason to be surprised at the counter.

Get the numbers checked before transfer day

The rates in this guide are the standard published ones, but the bill on the day depends on the appraised value, the seller's ownership history, any reduction program in force, and what your contract says about the split. Each of those is checkable in advance.

When you are ready, compare property lawyers in Thailand on Justenda, message a few directly, and ask for a transfer-cost calculation alongside the contract review. It is routine work for them and cheap insurance for you.

A note on what this guide is

This is general information about transfer fees and taxes on Thai property transactions, not legal or tax advice. Rates, exemptions, and reduction programs change. Confirm the current figures with the Department of Lands, the Revenue Department, or a qualified Thai lawyer before you commit to a purchase or sale.