Phuket property and tax at home, country by country

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

Almost every buyer I meet has done the Thai research and none of the research at home — and it is the home half that decides what you keep. Thailand's charges are the same for everyone. What changes completely, from a full 40% inheritance charge in one country to nothing at all in another, is what your own tax authority does with the same apartment. This page sets the six markets side by side.

The Thai half is identical for everyone

Before the comparison, the constant. Whatever your nationality, Thailand charges the same:

• 2% transfer fee on the appraised value at the Land Office on purchase. The reduced 0.01% fee reported in Thai news coverage is limited to Thai nationals — a foreign buyer pays the full 2%.
• Rent taxed in Thailand. 15% withheld at source from a non-resident owner under section 50(3) of the Revenue Code, credited under section 60 against the liability on the Thai return — the progressive scale, nil below THB 150,000 up to 35% above THB 5,000,000, after a 30% standard expense deduction for rent from a building.
• Land and Building Tax while you hold it — low on a residential unit, materially higher on anything assessed as hotel use.
• On sale: 2% transfer fee, plus 3.3% specific business tax within five years of acquisition or 0.5% stamp duty if later, plus the seller's withholding income tax computed at the Land Office.
• Inheritance tax above THB 100 million per heir, at 5% for ascendants and descendants and 10% for others; a spouse is exempt.
• Freehold only on condominiums, inside the building's 49% foreign quota. Not land.

United Kingdom

Rent is taxable on the arising basis — the remittance basis went on 6 April 2025 — declared on the SA106 foreign pages with foreign tax credit relief for the Thai tax. Gains are taxable at 18% or 24% from April 2026 after the £3,000 annual exempt amount, reported on the ordinary return rather than the 60-day return. The 1981 convention allocates taxing rights and gives the credit.

The item that changes the decision is inheritance tax. Since April 2025 a long-term UK resident — ten of the previous twenty tax years — is within the UK net on non-UK assets, at 40% above the nil-rate band, and there is no UK–Thailand estate tax treaty. Because Thailand taxes an inheritance only above THB 100 million per heir, there is usually no Thai tax to credit against it. Full detail in buying property in Phuket from the UK.

Australia

Rent is assessable and declared at question 20 of the supplementary return as net foreign source income, with a foreign income tax offset for the Thai tax — uncapped in practice below $1,000, subject to an offset limit above it, with any excess neither creditable nor carried forward. Foreign losses are no longer quarantined, so a bad year reduces Australian taxable income. Gains are taxable with the 50% discount after twelve months, which is exactly why the offset limit can leave Thai tax stranded on a sale. No estate duty. The 1989 agreement covers rent and gains. Detail in buying property in Phuket from Australia.

Hong Kong

Nothing. Property tax applies only to Hong Kong land and buildings, salaries and profits tax only to Hong Kong-sourced income, there is no capital gains tax, and estate duty was abolished for deaths from 11 February 2006. The 2005 treaty gives a credit for Thai tax that has nothing to attach to. For a private individual the Thai tax is the entire tax. Detail in buying property in Phuket from Hong Kong.

Singapore

Also nothing, for an individual not holding through a partnership: foreign-sourced income received by a resident individual is exempt under section 13(7A)(b), capital gains are not taxed, and estate duty was removed for deaths from 15 February 2008. The comparison that actually drives the decision is domestic — 20% additional buyer's stamp duty on a citizen's second Singapore property against a 2% transfer fee here. Detail, including what you give up, in buying property in Phuket from Singapore.

India

Rent and gains are taxable for a resident, with credit under the 2015 India–Thailand treaty. There is no Indian estate duty. The distinctive items are on the way in and the way out: the Liberalised Remittance Scheme limit of USD 250,000 per individual per financial year, clubbing of family limits only where the relatives are co-owners, tax collected at source as a prepayment above an aggregate threshold, and Schedule FA disclosure of the property whether or not it earns income — with non-disclosure falling under the Black Money Act and the small-value relief expressly excluding immovable property. Detail in buying property in Phuket from India.

Serbia

Rent is taxed at 20% on the gross after a 25% standardised deduction, an effective 15%, and self-assessed on form PP OPO within thirty days of each receipt rather than annually. Gains are taxed at 15% and exempt after ten consecutive years of ownership. Serbian inheritance tax on immovable property reaches only property in Serbia, so a Thai apartment is outside it. The critical difference: there is no Serbia–Thailand treaty at all, only a unilateral credit capped at the Serbian tax. Detail in buying property in Phuket from Serbia.

What the comparison actually tells you

Three things, and none of them is a recommendation to pick a country.

• Tax residence, not nationality, decides. A British passport holder who has been non-resident for fifteen years is in a different position from one who has lived in London throughout, and the Australian rule on ceasing residency turns a move into a taxable event with no money changing hands.
• The treaty does less than people assume. Where it exists it allocates and credits; it does not exempt. Where it does not exist, as with Serbia, domestic unilateral relief may still do most of the same work — and where the home country taxes nothing, as with Hong Kong and Singapore, the treaty is decorative.
• Inheritance is the item that hides. Rent and gains get modelled. The estate does not, and it is where a British owner meets a flat 40% with nothing to credit. It is also where the Thai side has its own rules about whether your heir may keep the unit at all, quite separately from tax.

For the Thai half in detail: what a foreigner may actually own in Thailand, the purchase costs and taxes in Thailand, how to calculate a net yield here and how a Thai apartment passes to your heirs.

In short

Thailand charges everyone the same. Your own country decides what the investment is actually worth to you, and the answer ranges from 'nothing further to pay' to 'a 40% estate charge with no relief'. Find out which one you are before you choose the unit, not after. None of this is tax advice — take the figures to an adviser in your own jurisdiction for the year you transact.

Frequently asked

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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”

Tell me where you are tax resident and your budget, and I will set out both halves — the Thai paperwork and what to ask your own adviser

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