Buying property in Phuket from Hong Kong

Lyubov FortunovaFounder of Fortunova Capital Group. I have lived on Phuket for over five years and handle every purchase myself. About me

Hong Kong buyers arrive with a question the British and Australians never ask: is there anything for me to pay at home? For most individuals the answer is no — and that changes the arithmetic of a Phuket apartment more than any rental guarantee a developer can offer. It also means the whole risk sits on the Thai side, which is where I would rather your attention was anyway.

Hong Kong taxes almost none of this

Property tax in Hong Kong is charged on the owners of land and buildings in Hong Kong. A Phuket apartment is not in Hong Kong, so it is outside the charge. Salaries tax reaches income from an office or employment arising in or derived from Hong Kong; profits tax reaches profits arising in or derived from Hong Kong, and the Revenue's own guide states plainly that a resident may derive profits from abroad without being charged to tax. A private individual letting one apartment overseas falls outside all three heads, and there is no remittance charge to worry about either.

• No tax on the offshore rent for a private individual.
• No capital gains tax. Profits tax expressly excludes profits from the sale of capital assets, and Hong Kong has no separate CGT.
• No estate duty. It was abolished for deaths on or after 11 February 2006 — no estate duty, no affidavits, no clearance.

The treaty exists and is worth nothing to you

Hong Kong and Thailand signed a comprehensive double taxation agreement in 2005. Article 6 lets Thailand tax income from immovable property situated there; Article 13 lets Thailand tax gains on its disposal; Article 22 allows Thai tax paid as a credit against Hong Kong tax on the same income, capped at the Hong Kong tax. Since Hong Kong charges nothing on that income, the credit has nothing to attach to. I would rather say that plainly than let you think a treaty is doing work it is not.

So your effective tax on Phuket rent is the Thai tax, full stop. Which makes the Thai calculation worth understanding properly rather than accepting a headline percentage.

What the Thai tax actually comes to

The 15% you will see quoted as 'the non-resident rate' is a withholding at source under section 50(3) of the Revenue Code, taken by whoever pays you. It is not the tax. Section 60 credits it against the liability computed on the Thai return, and the liability is computed on the progressive scale after the 30% standard expense deduction for rent from a building. For a single apartment let at ordinary residential rents, the return usually recovers a large part of the withheld amount. Filing costs a few thousand baht and is worth doing.

Then there is Land and Building Tax while you hold it, which is small on a residential unit and materially higher on anything assessed as hotel or commercial use — a point that matters if the plan involves nightly letting.

What Thailand takes, whatever your passport

This half does not change by nationality, and it is worth having straight before you look at the tax position at home.

• On purchase. A transfer fee of 2% of the appraised value at the Land Office. The reduced 0.01% fee that appears in Thai news coverage — extended, as reported, to 30 June 2027 — is limited to Thai nationals. A foreign buyer pays the full 2%.
• On the rent. Rent from Thai property is taxable in Thailand wherever it is paid. Where a tenant or agent pays a non-resident owner, 15% is withheld at source under section 50(3) of the Revenue Code. That is not a final tax: under section 60 it is credited against the liability calculated on the Thai return, and for most owners a large part of it comes back.
• The Thai calculation itself. The progressive scale runs from nil below THB 150,000 to 35% above THB 5,000,000, and rent from a building carries a standard expense deduction of 30% under Royal Decree No. 11, or actual documented expenses instead. The annual return is due by the end of March, with a half-year return for rental income by the end of September.
• While you hold it. Land and Building Tax, assessed by the municipality on the position at 1 January. On a residential unit that is not your registered home the rate sits in hundredths of a percent of appraised value; property assessed as hotel or commercial use is charged materially higher.
• On sale. 2% transfer fee again, plus specific business tax of 3.3% if you sell within five years of acquiring — or stamp duty of 0.5% if you do not, never both — plus the seller's withholding income tax, computed at the Land Office on the appraised value after a deduction that scales with the years you held it.
• On death. Thailand has an inheritance tax, but the threshold is high: THB 100 million per heir, with tax only on the excess, at 5% for ascendants and descendants and 10% for others. A spouse is exempt. The return is due within 150 days.

Why Hong Kong money is looking at Phuket at all

It is not because buying at home became impossible. The opposite: on 28 February 2024 the Special Stamp Duty, the Buyer's Stamp Duty and the New Residential Stamp Duty were all abolished, so non-permanent residents and non-residents now pay the same ad valorem duty as everyone else. Since 26 February 2025 the scale starts at a flat HK$100 up to $4 million and rises through the bands to 4.25% at the top, with the top residential rate raised again from 26 February 2026 on consideration above $100 million. Mortgage limits went back to 70% loan-to-value with a 50% debt-servicing ratio in October 2024.

In other words the entry cost at home is no longer the argument. What Phuket competes on is ticket size and yield — a one-bedroom here is a fraction of a Hong Kong flat, and the gross rent against the price is a different order of number. Against that you should weigh what you are giving up: no bank mortgage realistically available to a foreign buyer, a thinner and slower resale market, a 49% quota that constrains who can buy from you, and currency. how to calculate a net yield here is where I set out what the real net figure looks like once management, sinking fund and vacancy are in it, rather than the number on the brochure.

What still has to be checked, carefully

Because nothing at home taxes this, the entire outcome depends on the asset. Check the foreign quota on your specific unit and not on the project. Read the juristic person's accounts and the sinking fund, not just the brochure. Establish whether that building holds a hotel licence before you accept any nightly projection. And send the money as foreign currency for conversion in Thailand, because the bank's evidence of that is what your freehold is registered against — how the money has to arrive covers the mechanics.

One more, for families: Thailand does have an inheritance tax even though Hong Kong does not, and although the THB 100 million threshold means most estates pay nothing, the eligibility rules for a foreign heir are a separate matter from tax and do bite. how a Thai apartment passes to your heirs sets out what to arrange in advance.

In short

For a Hong Kong individual a Phuket apartment is about as clean as cross-border property gets: one jurisdiction taxing, no estate duty on either side of any consequence, and a treaty in place even if it has nothing to do. That puts all the weight on choosing the right building and the right paperwork, which is the part I actually do. None of this is tax advice — if the holding is anything other than one apartment in your own name, take it to a Hong Kong adviser first.

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Lyubov Fortunova

Investment strategist and founder of Fortunova Capital Group. I have lived on Phuket for more than five years and run every deal myself: I select the property, calculate the net return, check the developer and hold the process together until the keys are handed over. Lawyers, visa and tax specialists come from my own circle.

“I count net, not dreams”

I am in Hong Kong and would like to see specific units with the real net numbers rather than a brochure yield

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