If you live in Thailand, or you move money into Thailand to support your lifestyle here, you’ve probably heard a lot of mixed advice about Thai tax filing.
In a recent session run by Expat Tax Thailand, Cal Turner (Expat Tax Thailand) and Khun Wanaphan (Thai barrister, Expat Tax Thailand) broke down the rules in a way that’s actually easy to follow.
This article summarizes the key takeaways from that session, especially the parts expats get wrong most often.
Quick disclaimer: This article summarizes a public session. It is not personal tax or legal advice. For your situation, consult a qualified Thai tax professional. This summary was prepared using transcription tools and reviewed for accuracy before publication.
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Contents
- Key Takeaways
- Who needs to file a Thai personal income tax return?
- How the “180 days” rule works (Thai tax residency)
- What income matters for expats (examples from the session)
- What counts as “remittance” into Thailand
- Minimum thresholds mentioned in the session
- What you need to do if you have to file
- US taxpayers: should you file US first, and can you get extra time in Thailand?
- Pre-2024 savings: “I already had the money before I moved, can I bring it in tax-free?”
- The “one full calendar year” misunderstanding
- Elite visa holders and property buyers: do they need to file?
- Tax credits and double taxation: why tax certificates matter (and “legalisation” may come up)
- Capital gains taxed overseas: can Thailand tax it too?
- Watch the Full Session
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Key Takeaways
If you want a simple checklist after reading the session summary, here’s the practical approach:
- Confirm whether you were in Thailand 180 days or more during the calendar year.
- List your Thai-source income (if any). If you have Thai salary or Thai rent, you likely have a filing requirement regardless of days.
- Track what you used in Thailand from overseas funds, including transfers, ATM withdrawals, and card spending, since these can all count as remittance.
- If you plan to rely on “old savings” (especially pre-2024), keep a clean paper trail and avoid mixing funds unless you can clearly trace the money.
- If you plan to claim foreign tax credits, prepare the supporting tax certificates early, and be aware that legalisation may be requested in some cases.
- Do not assume your visa type decides your tax status. Days in Thailand and income are the real drivers.
If you want, paste your situation in 5 lines (days in Thailand, visa type, Thai income, foreign income types, and how you bring money into Thailand) and I’ll turn it into a simple “likely need to file vs likely not” decision using the same logic from the session.
Who needs to file a Thai personal income tax return?
In the session, they explained there are two main triggers that commonly create a filing requirement. You may need to file if:
- You have Thai-source income (for example, Thai salary or Thai rental income). In this case, it does not matter how many days you spent in Thailand.
- You are in Thailand 180 days or more in a calendar year and you remit foreign-source income into Thailand.
The simplest way to think about it is a quick flow:
- Do you have Thai-source income? If yes, you likely need to file.
- If no, did you stay in Thailand 180 days or more during the calendar year? If no, you likely do not need to file.
- If yes, did you remit foreign-source income into Thailand above the relevant threshold? If yes, you likely need to file.
Related article: Thailand Income Tax for Foreigners: Do You Need to Pay?
How the “180 days” rule works (Thai tax residency)
They emphasized that Thai tax residency is based on days in Thailand in a calendar year (January 1 to December 31). The “180 days” test is typically counted using your immigration entry and exit records. If you hit 180 days or more, you’re generally treated as a Thai tax resident for that year.
Important: being a tax resident does not automatically mean you must pay tax. Filing and tax payable depend on whether you have taxable income and whether foreign income was remitted (and how it’s classified).
What income matters for expats (examples from the session)
They gave common examples of income that can trigger filing when remitted into Thailand (especially if you are in Thailand 180+ days):
- Overseas pension
- Salary paid from overseas
- Dividends
- Bank interest (above minimum thresholds)
- Capital gains
- Rental income from overseas property
What counts as “remittance” into Thailand
One of the most useful parts of the session was how they defined remittance in real life. Remittance is not only a bank transfer. They described remittance as including:
- Withdrawing money in Thailand from an overseas account (ATM withdrawals)
- Using overseas funds via card spending in Thailand (Visa or Mastercard)
- Transferring money into a Thai bank account (your account, your spouse’s, or even a third party’s)
In other words, if overseas income is being used in Thailand, it can be treated as remitted, depending on timing and classification.
Minimum thresholds mentioned in the session
They noted the minimum threshold can be “quite low” in practice. Examples they shared:
- 60,000 THB (example they gave for a single person bringing in certain types of income such as rental income or investment capital gains)
- 220,000 THB (example they gave for a married person bringing in pension income where the spouse has no income)
These numbers were discussed as practical thresholds in their flow, but your actual filing requirement can still depend on your income type and circumstances, so treat them as guidance from the session, not a universal rule for everyone.
What you need to do if you have to file
They summarized the typical steps as:
- Calculate your relevant income sources (Thai income plus foreign income remitted into Thailand)
- Obtain a Thai tax ID number (TIN), which is a 13-digit number
- File the correct annual personal income tax form: PND 90 or PND 91 (depending on income type)
- File by end of March (for the following year after the tax year), with online filing sometimes having a short automatic extension into early April depending on Revenue Department announcements for that year
They also mentioned you can obtain a tax ID and file without physically going to the Revenue Department if you use a service provider with power of attorney arrangements (this was described as part of their service offering).
US taxpayers: should you file US first, and can you get extra time in Thailand?
A common question was from a US citizen who was told to file the US return before the Thai return, but their US documents might not be ready until March.
Khun Wanaphan explained the key points:
- If you are a Thai tax resident (180+ days), you are required to file the Thai return for that year.
- The filing deadline is the end of March, and if filing online there is often a short automatic extension into early April (depending on that year’s Revenue Department announcement).
- If you want to claim foreign tax credits in Thailand (for example, tax already paid in the US), it’s best to have your US tax return documentation and tax certificate ready before finalizing the Thai filing, so you can claim properly.
Bottom line: timing matters because claiming credits usually requires proper supporting documents.
Pre-2024 savings: “I already had the money before I moved, can I bring it in tax-free?”
This is one of the areas that causes the most confusion. They discussed an example: someone had money sitting in a UK bank account at the end of 2023 and wanted to transfer it into Thailand in 2026 while living here.
Their practical guidance was:
- If you want to treat money as “pre-2024 funds” (or funds earned before you became a Thai tax resident), you must be able to clearly document that the money you remit is the same money, with a clear paper trail.
- They described a “first in, first out” concept in practice. Withdrawals from that account reduce the amount of “old money” that can be proven to remain. Even if new money later comes into the same account, it does not automatically restore the old-money balance.
They also clarified an important nuance after a follow-up question:
- If you moved pre-2024 money to another account and then sent it to Thailand (for example through a transfer service), that can be fine if the paper trail is clear.
- The problem is when accounts are mixed with other funds and it becomes unclear which money was actually remitted under a first-in, first-out tracing approach.
Practical takeaway: if you want to rely on “this was savings from before,” keep clean records and avoid mixing funds unless you are confident you can document the full history.
The “one full calendar year” misunderstanding
They directly addressed an outdated idea that still circulates online: the old approach where some people believed you just had to keep money offshore for one full year before bringing it into Thailand.
They stated this “one complete tax year” concept is from the old rules and is not the relevant test under the updated approach discussed in the session. Instead, the key is when the income was earned and whether you can document it as pre-residency or pre-change funds, versus new income that is remitted during a period of Thai tax residency.
Elite visa holders and property buyers: do they need to file?
Another common question was from an elite/privilege visa holder who bought a property from a developer, had not received the unit yet, and had no rental income. They also asked about their children on elite visas.
Khun Wanaphan’s explanation was clear:
- Thai tax liability is not based on visa type. Having an elite visa does not automatically create a tax obligation.
- The key factors are:
- Tax residency (180+ days in Thailand in a calendar year)
- Whether you have taxable income
- Simply owning or purchasing property does not trigger tax. Tax generally arises when there is income (for example rental income) or a capital gain upon sale.
- If you do not have Thai-source income and you are not remitting foreign income into Thailand in the same year it is earned (as relevant for filing), then generally there may be no filing obligation.
- For children: if they do not stay in Thailand 180+ days and do not earn Thai income, there is generally no Thai filing obligation. If a minor does earn income in Thailand, a legal guardian would file on their behalf (but only if there is actual taxable income).
Tax credits and double taxation: why tax certificates matter (and “legalisation” may come up)
A question came up about claiming foreign tax credits under double taxation agreements and whether the Thai Revenue Department now demands a tax certificate that must be legalised.
Their practical answer was:
- If you want to claim a tax credit in Thailand for tax paid overseas, the Revenue Department typically requires documentation, including a tax certificate showing the tax paid in the other country.
- In some cases, they may ask for that document to be legalised.
- This affects whether you file on time or you might consider timing carefully, because claiming credits properly depends on having the supporting documents ready.
Capital gains taxed overseas: can Thailand tax it too?
They addressed a UK capital gains scenario and explained it depends mainly on two things:
- When the capital gain happened (was it during a year you are a Thai tax resident?)
- Whether you remitted the money into Thailand
Their general framework from the session:
- If the gain happened during a year you were a Thai tax resident and you remit the money into Thailand, you may need to file it in Thailand, and you may be able to claim foreign tax paid (for example UK tax) as a tax credit, supported by proper documentation.
- If the gain happened in a year you were not a Thai tax resident and you remit it later, in many cases it may not be treated as assessable income in Thailand (but documentation and facts matter).
- If you do not remit the gain into Thailand, in many cases there may be no Thai filing triggered for that item (again, facts matter).
Watch the Full Session
If you’d like to hear the full discussion, you can watch the complete recording here.
And if you’d prefer to discuss your own situation directly, you can get a free 15-minute consultation with Expat Tax Thailand offers through this link.
