Buying property in Phuket from Serbia

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

Serbia is the one market on this list where I have to lead with a warning rather than a number, because there is no double taxation treaty between Serbia and Thailand. That does not make a Phuket apartment a bad idea, and Serbian law does give you a credit anyway — but it changes the filing discipline and it removes some protections you would have elsewhere. This applies equally to Serbian nationals and to the large Russian community now tax-resident in Belgrade and Novi Sad.

First, are you a Serbian tax resident?

It matters more than your passport. Under the Personal Income Tax Law you are resident if your domicile or your centre of business and vital interests is in Serbia, or if you spend 183 days or more in Serbia within any twelve-month period, continuously or with breaks. A resident is taxed on worldwide income; a non-resident only on Serbian-source income. For anyone who moved to Serbia in the last few years and stayed, the answer is almost certainly yes, and that answer is what brings a Phuket apartment into the Serbian tax net.

The rent: 20%, and a filing every time it arrives

Rental income is taxed at 20% on the gross, after a standardised cost deduction of 25% — so an effective 15% of the rent — or after actual documented costs if you prefer and can evidence them. No social contributions apply.

The part that catches people is the procedure, not the rate. Foreign income of a resident is self-assessed: you file form PP OPO within thirty days of the day the income is realised. Not annually. If rent arrives monthly, that is a filing every month. I have watched people discover this in year two with twenty-odd missed filings behind them, and it is a tedious thing to unwind. Decide the rhythm with an accountant before the first tenant moves in, and consider whether quarterly or annual rent suits you better for that reason alone.

Separately there is the annual income tax for higher earners. For 2025 income the non-taxable threshold was RSD 5,439,096, with 10% above it and 15% above roughly twice that, filed on form PP GPDG by 15 May. Rental income — including foreign rental income — enters that calculation. Capital gains do not.

No treaty. Here is what you have instead

Thailand is not among Serbia's double taxation treaties. The practical consequences are specific, so let me list them rather than generalise:

• No reduced Thai withholding. The 15% withheld at source under section 50(3) of the Thai Revenue Code applies without treaty modification — though it remains a prepayment credited on the Thai return, not a final tax.
• No mutual agreement procedure. If the two administrations take inconsistent positions, there is no treaty mechanism to resolve it. You are managing two independent systems.
• But there is unilateral relief. Article 12 of the Personal Income Tax Law gives a resident a credit for income tax paid in the other state, capped at the Serbian tax that would be due on that foreign income. Any excess is not refunded.
• Net effect: you pay the higher of the two. Thai tax on an ordinary let apartment, after the 30% standard deduction, is usually below the Serbian 15% effective rate, so expect to top up in Serbia rather than to have Serbian tax wiped out.

Selling, and the ten-year rule

Capital gains are taxed at 15% for a Serbian resident, on the sale price less the adjusted purchase price — and they are exempt where the asset was held for more than ten consecutive years. That is a genuinely favourable rule for a buy-and-hold investor and worth building into the plan from the start. There is also a relief where proceeds are reinvested in resolving your own or your family's housing need within ninety days; whether a dwelling abroad qualifies for that particular relief is not something I can confirm, and it is a question for a Serbian tax adviser rather than a line to rely on.

Thailand will tax the sale as well — transfer fee, specific business tax if within five years, and the seller's withholding computed at the Land Office — and that Thai tax is creditable against the Serbian 15% within the cap.

Inheritance: better news than you would expect

Serbian inheritance and gift tax reaches rights over immovable property located on the territory of the Republic of Serbia. A Thai apartment is not on it, and so falls outside Serbian inheritance tax altogether. Note the asymmetry, though: for movable property — cash, bank deposits, monetary claims — a Serbian resident is taxed on items located in Serbia or abroad. So an inherited Thai bank balance is in scope where the apartment is not. Rates run at 1.5% for the second hereditary line and 2.5% for the third line and unrelated heirs, with spouse, children and parents of the deceased exempt.

Thailand's own inheritance tax starts above THB 100 million per heir, so it rarely bites. What does bite is eligibility: whether your heir may keep a Thai apartment at all depends on the Condominium Act and the building's quota. how a Thai apartment passes to your heirs sets out what to put in place now.

Moving the money

The Law on Foreign Exchange Operations is permissive here: payments made for the purpose of acquiring ownership of real estate abroad by residents are made freely. There is no National Bank filing prescribed for the purchase itself. One caveat I would rather flag than skip: if you open a Thai bank account — which a purchase usually involves — reporting obligations on residents' foreign accounts may apply, and Serbian practitioners do not agree on whether they bind every resident individual. Ask your bank and your accountant that specific question before opening the account, not after.

On the Thai side the money must arrive in foreign currency and be converted in Thailand, and the bank's evidence of that is what your freehold is registered against — how the money has to arrive and the bank document the Land Office needs cover the mechanics and the document by name.

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.

For context, what you are comparing

Belgrade asking prices averaged around €3,271 per square metre in the second quarter of 2026 and Novi Sad around €2,833, on portal data across all stock; new-build asking ranges run well above that. Serbian transfer tax on a second-hand purchase is 2.5%, and the first transfer of a new residential unit carries 10% VAT instead. Phuket starts at roughly 4.5 million baht for a studio of 35–40 square metres and around 6.5 million for a one-bedroom, with a 2% transfer fee. Different markets, different liquidity, and a rental season that runs opposite to the Serbian one — which for some buyers is precisely the point.

In short

A Serbian resident can own a Phuket apartment without difficulty, pay an effective 15% on the rent in Serbia with credit for the Thai tax, and pay nothing on the gain after ten years. The two things to take seriously are the thirty-day filing rhythm and the absence of a treaty, both of which are handled by getting an accountant involved before the purchase rather than after the first rent. I am not a tax adviser and this is not tax advice — but I will make sure the Thai half of the paperwork gives your adviser something to work with.

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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 tax resident in Serbia and would like to understand the numbers and the paperwork on a specific unit

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