Thailand Land & Property Taxes — Transfer Fee, SBT, Stamp Duty, Withholding Tax & Annual Land Tax

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Last updated 3 July 2026 · Last reviewed 3 July 2026

The one-line version

Every transfer carries a 2% transfer fee plus either 3.3% Specific Business Tax (short-hold or business sellers) or 0.5% stamp duty (never both), plus withholding tax deducted at the Land Office (flat 1% for company sellers, progressive for individuals). After closing, an annual Land and Building Tax of 0.01%–0.7% of appraised value applies every year you hold title, rising sharply if land sits unused. This is general information, not tax advice — always confirm the current rates and thresholds with the Revenue Department, the Land Office, or a licensed Thai accountant before a transaction.

The five costs, at a glance

Transfer fee — 2% of the government-appraised value, paid at the Land Office on every registered transfer.
Specific Business Tax (SBT) — 3.3% (3% SBT + 10% municipal surcharge), charged instead of stamp duty when the seller held title under 5 years or is selling as a business.
Stamp duty — 0.5%, charged only when SBT does not apply.
Withholding tax — deducted at transfer: flat 1% for a company seller, progressive (based on appraised value and years held) for an individual seller.
Annual Land and Building Tax — 0.01%–0.7% of appraised value every year, rate set by how the land or building is actually used.

Transfer fee — 2%, split by negotiation

Rate — 2% of the Land Department's appraised value (not the contract price, which is often higher for prime property), collected and registered at the Land Office on the day of transfer.
Who pays — not set by law; market convention on resales is a 50/50 split between buyer and seller, but new-build developers commonly shift most or all of it to the buyer in the sale contract. Always confirm the split in writing before signing.
Applies to — condo units, houses, land, and leasehold registrations over 3 years (registered leases pay a separate, smaller registration fee, typically 1% of the total rent for the lease term).

Specific Business Tax vs. stamp duty — mutually exclusive

When SBT (3.3%) applies — the seller has held title for fewer than 5 years and the property was not their registered primary residence for at least 1 year, or the seller is a company/developer disposing of property in the ordinary course of business.
When stamp duty (0.5%) applies instead — whenever SBT does not — for example, an individual seller who has held the property 5+ years, or held it under 5 years but it was their registered primary residence for at least a year.
Never both — a transaction pays one or the other, never both, and the SBT rate already includes the municipal tax surcharge (so it is quoted as one combined 3.3% figure, not 3% plus a separate add-on).
Development land — developers and companies selling land or units they hold as business inventory are essentially always in the SBT bracket, not the stamp-duty bracket, regardless of how long the land has been held.

Withholding tax at transfer — flat for companies, progressive for individuals

Company/juristic seller — a flat 1% of the appraised value or actual selling price, whichever is higher, deducted and remitted at the Land Office as an advance against the company's corporate income tax.
Individual seller — progressive: the Revenue Department applies a standard deduction that increases with the number of years title was held (capped after 8+ years), then taxes the remaining appraised value through the personal income tax brackets as if it were spread evenly across the years held. This produces a materially different number than a simple percentage, and the Land Office (or an accountant) should compute the exact figure before closing.
Timing — collected at the moment of transfer, not filed later — it is a hard cost at closing, not something a seller can defer.

Annual Land and Building Tax — four use-based bands

Agricultural use — 0.01%–0.1% of appraised value; individually-owned agricultural land also carries its own multi-year exemption on the first tier of value.
Residential, owner-occupied primary residence — the lowest band, 0.02%–0.10%, with a Thai national's primary residence (name on title and house registration) exempt on the first 50 million baht of value for house-and-land, or the first 10 million baht for a house-only primary residence on land owned by someone else.
Residential, not a primary residence (second homes, foreign-owned condos, buy-to-let units) — taxed from the first baht of value at the same 0.02%–0.10% residential band, without the primary-residence exemption.
Commercial / other use — 0.3%–0.7%, the band that applies to retail, office, industrial and most development-held commercial land.
Vacant / unused land — also starts at 0.3%–0.7%, but increases by an additional 0.3 percentage points every 3 consecutive years the land remains unused, up to a 3% cap — a deliberate anti-land-banking penalty that changes the holding-cost math on speculative land purchases.

How commercial and development land differs from residential

SBT is close to automatic — a developer or company selling land or units as business inventory is essentially always subject to SBT (3.3%) rather than stamp duty, regardless of holding period.
VAT can replace SBT — a VAT-registered developer selling newly constructed units or buildings charges 7% VAT instead of SBT on that sale; resales between individuals and raw land sales stay outside the VAT system and fall under SBT/stamp duty rules instead. This is one of the clearest tax differences between buying a new-build unit from a developer and buying resale or raw land.
Annual tax band is higher — commercial and development-held land sits in the 0.3%–0.7% band (or the escalating vacant-land band if left idle) rather than the much lower residential band, which is a material recurring cost on land held for a multi-year project pipeline.
Withholding tax is flat, not progressive — a corporate landowner's 1% flat withholding rate is simpler to model than an individual seller's progressive calculation, but it applies on the higher of appraised or actual price, so pricing a deal above appraised value increases the cost directly.

A typical resale, cost by cost

On a resale condo held 6+ years by an individual as their registered primary residence: 2% transfer fee (commonly split 50/50), 0.5% stamp duty (SBT does not apply — held over 5 years and it was the primary residence), and progressive withholding tax computed by the Land Office on the day of transfer (often a modest figure after the years-held deduction). Going forward, the buyer then owes the annual Land and Building Tax each year, at the owner-occupied rate if it remains a primary residence, or the higher non-primary-residence rate if it becomes a second home or rental unit. A land purchase for a development project instead almost always carries SBT (not stamp duty), and — once held — the higher commercial/vacant-land annual tax band until construction and occupancy begin.

Frequently asked

Do I pay Specific Business Tax (SBT) and stamp duty on the same sale?No — they are mutually exclusive. Specific Business Tax (3.3%, which is the 3% SBT rate plus a 10% municipal tax surcharge on top of it) applies when the seller has owned the property fewer than 5 years and it was not their registered primary residence for at least 1 year, or when the seller is a company/developer selling in the ordinary course of business. If SBT does not apply, stamp duty of 0.5% of the appraised or contract value (whichever is higher) is charged instead. A transaction never carries both.

Who actually pays the transfer fee, SBT, stamp duty and withholding tax — buyer or seller?Thai law does not assign any of these to a specific party; they are all negotiable and set by the sale contract. Local market convention (not law) is a 50/50 split of the 2% transfer fee, with the seller customarily covering SBT or stamp duty and the buyer's withholding tax obligation as a deduction from the seller's proceeds — but new-build condo developers frequently push most or all closing costs onto the buyer, and resale deals are negotiated case by case. Always confirm the split in writing in the sale and purchase agreement before signing, not after.

How is withholding tax calculated for an individual seller versus a company?For a company (juristic person) seller, withholding tax at the Land Office is a flat 1% of the government-appraised value or the actual selling price, whichever is higher. For an individual seller it is progressive and more complex: the Revenue Department first applies a standard deduction based on the number of years the seller has held title (a higher percentage deduction the longer it's held, capped at 8+ years), then runs the remaining appraised value through the personal income tax brackets as if it were one year's income, divided by the number of years held. The Land Office calculates and collects this at the time of transfer — a Thai lawyer or the Land Office itself can run the exact figure before closing.

Do I have to pay the annual Land and Building Tax if I live in my Thai condo or house?Often little or nothing. A Thai national's primary residence (house and land registered in their name, listed on their household registration) is exempt on the first 50 million baht of appraised value; above that, and for a house-only primary residence, the first 10 million baht is exempt. Above the exemption, owner-occupied residential land and buildings are taxed at 0.02%–0.10% of appraised value depending on value tier — among the lowest of the four use-based tax bands. Foreign condo owners do not qualify for the primary-residence exemption categories tied to Thai household registration, so a foreign-owned unit is generally taxed at the standard residential (non-primary-residence) or commercial-use rate depending on how the unit is actually used, such as being rented out.

Why does unused or vacant land get taxed more over time?Thailand's Land and Building Tax Act specifically penalizes land banking: land or buildings left vacant or unused (not used for residential, agricultural or commercial purposes) are taxed at the highest band, 0.3%–0.7% of appraised value, and — this is the part that surprises land-banking investors — that rate increases by an additional 0.3 percentage points every 3 consecutive years the land stays unused, up to a cap of 3%. This is a deliberate policy lever to push idle land into productive use or sale, and it materially changes the holding-cost math for anyone buying land speculatively rather than to build or farm on.

Is VAT relevant to a Thai property purchase, and when?VAT (7%) applies instead of, not alongside, Specific Business Tax on sales by a VAT-registered business — most commonly a developer selling a newly constructed condo unit or house directly to a first buyer. Resales between individuals, and resales of land itself, are outside the VAT system entirely (they fall under SBT/stamp duty rules above). For commercial and development land bought for construction and onward sale, whether the seller is VAT-registered materially changes the tax stack a buyer should model — this is one of the clearest places residential and commercial/development deals diverge, and worth confirming with an accountant before signing a land purchase agreement for a development project.

Keep going

Land & Development Hub Land Title Types Foreign Ownership Structures Land & Building Tax — full guide Rental Income Tax for Landlords Property Lawyers

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General information only — not legal, tax or investment advice. Transfer fee, Specific Business Tax, stamp duty, withholding tax and Land and Building Tax rates, thresholds and exemptions are set by Thai law and Revenue Department regulation, can change, and are applied by local Land Office and municipal officials with some discretion. Always confirm current rates and your specific liability with the Revenue Department, the Land Office, or a licensed Thai accountant before a transaction. BAANLYY never takes paid placement.

Sources & References

Primary and official sources are cited above. Government rules, fees and procedures in Thailand change over time and vary by office; always confirm current requirements with the relevant authority before relying on them. BAANLYY never takes paid placement in editorial content.

Thailand land and property taxes, explained before you sign