Révisé par ThaiLawOnline, un cabinet d'avocats thaïlandais agréé exerçant en Thaïlande depuis 2006. Avocate thaïlandaise en charge du dossier : Wichuda Atthamethakon, LL.M., licence du barreau thaïlandais 3149/2556.
Dernière mise à jour le 5 septembre 2026
Foreign-sourced income (เงินได้จากต่างประเทศ, also offshore income or, for the tax on it, remittance tax) is income arising outside Thailand, such as a foreign salary, pension, dividend, interest, rent or capital gain, that a tax resident of Thailand brings into the country. Under Section 41 of the Revenue Code it is assessable in the year it is remitted. Since 1 January 2024 the year it was earned no longer matters, which ended the old practice of parking income abroad for a year and bringing it in tax-free, and it is the single largest tax change most expatriates in Thailand have faced.
Table des matières
The rule before and after 1 January 2024
Two conditions must both be met for the income to be taxable: the person was a tax resident (180 days or more) in the calendar year the income arose, and the income is remitted to Thailand, in that year or any later year. Income earned while non-resident is never caught, however and whenever it is brought in.
Before 2024 the Revenue Department read Section 41 as taxing only income remitted in the same year it was earned. Earn in 2022, remit in 2023, pay nothing. Departmental Instruction Por. 161/2566 withdrew that reading with effect from 1 January 2024: foreign income of a resident is now assessable whenever it is remitted. Por. 162/2566 then carved out the past: income earned before 1 January 2024 remains untaxed when brought in, at any time. Those two instructions are the law in force for the 2024, 2025 and 2026 tax years.
What this means for an expatriate
Remittance is any transfer of the money into Thailand: a bank wire, cash carried in, a foreign card used to pay a Thai merchant or an ATM withdrawal from a foreign account. What is remitted must then be characterised. Savings that existed before 2024, the principal of a loan or a cadeau within the exempt limits are capital, not income, and are not taxed; post-2023 income and gains are. Bank records showing what each transfer was drawn from are the only defence in an audit, so keeping a pre-2024 balance in a separate account is the practical advice.
Tax paid abroad on the same income is normally allowed as a credit under the relevant double tax agreement, so the resident pays the higher of the two rates rather than both, but the credit must be claimed on the return with proof of the foreign tax. Some treaties reserve government pensions to the paying state. Filing is between 1 January and 31 March and needs a numéro d'identification fiscale.
The proposed exemption and what is actually law
Since 2025 the government has discussed a relaxation under which foreign income remitted in the year it is earned, or in the year immediately following, would be exempt, so that money earned in 2026 and brought in during 2026 or 2027 would escape tax. As at 4 September 2026 that measure had not been published in the Royal Gazette. It has no effective date and no legal force, and planning as if it existed produces a tax bill with surcharges attached.
Two exemptions do exist. Income earned before 2024 is protected by Por. 162/2566. Holders of certain categories of the visa LTR are exempt from tax on remitted foreign income by Royal Decree. For everyone else: if it was earned abroad after 2023 while resident, and it comes in, it is assessable.
Foire aux questions
Is foreign income taxable in Thailand if I do not bring it in?
No. Thailand taxes foreign-sourced income of individuals on a remittance basis only. Income left abroad is not assessable, however long the person stays in Thailand. It becomes assessable only when it is brought into the country, and only if the person was a tax resident in the year it was earned.
Is my foreign pension taxed in Thailand?
A pension remitted by a tax resident is foreign-sourced income and is assessable unless a double tax agreement gives the paying country the exclusive right to tax it, which several treaties do for government and public service pensions. Tax already paid abroad on a private pension is generally credited against the Thai tax.
Has the remittance tax exemption been passed in Thailand?
Not as at 4 September 2026. The proposal to exempt income remitted in the year earned or the following year remains a draft that has not appeared in the Royal Gazette. Until it does, Por. 161/2566 and Por. 162/2566 apply: post-2023 income is taxable when remitted and pre-2024 income is not.
Voir aussi : Tax resident, Double tax agreement, FET form, foreign income remittance tax in 2026 ET the live status of the remittance exemption.
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