Inheritance Tax in Thailand: Who Actually Pays, and How Much

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 29 août 2026

Tax is only one part of an estate: the distribution rules are in our guide to Droit des successions en Thaïlande.

Thailand has taxed inheritances since the Loi sur les droits de succession BE 2558, published in the Government Gazette on 5 August 2015 and in force 180 days later, in February 2016. It reaches very few estates, and the people it does reach are usually not the ones who think it applies to them. What follows is the Act itself, section by section, with the English translation published by the Revenue Department linked at the end.

Are You a “Resident” for Inheritance Tax? Almost Certainly Not

This is the question that decides whether Thailand taxes your worldwide estate or only what you leave in Thailand, and it is the question the English-language web answers worst. Most pages say “residents are taxed on worldwide assets, non-residents on Thai assets” and stop there, leaving the reader to assume that “resident” means the 180-day test they have been reading about since the remittance-tax changes. It does not.

What Section 11 Actually Says

Section 11 lists the people who are liable, and it does so in three categories:

• a person of Thai nationality;
• a natural person of non-Thai nationality “but having a domicile in the Kingdom according to the law on immigration”;
• a person of non-Thai nationality receiving an inheritance which is an asset situated in Thailand.

A juristic person is treated as Thai if it is registered in Thailand or established under Thai law, or if Thai nationals hold more than 50% of its registered and paid-up capital, or if more than half of those with managerial power are Thai.

The phrase that does the work is “according to the law on immigration”. The Act does not create its own residence test and does not borrow the Revenue Code’s. It points at the Immigration Act, under which residence is granted by the Immigration Commission and evidenced by a residence certificate. That is Permanent Residence, the quota-limited status capped at a small number of grants per nationality each year.

Permanent Residence Is Not the 180-Day Test

The 180-day rule that determines whether you are a tax resident for impôt sur le revenu des personnes physiques lives in the Revenue Code and governs income. It has nothing to do with section 11, which points somewhere else entirely.

The practical consequence is worth stating plainly, because we have not found a competitor page that states it:

A foreigner who has lived in Thailand for twenty years on annual retirement extensions, a marriage extension, an LTR or a DTV is a non-resident for inheritance tax. Thailand reaches only the assets they leave situated in Thailand. A house abroad, a foreign pension and an offshore brokerage account are outside the Act entirely, however long they have lived here and whatever their income-tax residence status is.

One anti-avoidance rule travels with the third category and is easy to miss. Where the inherited asset was situated in Thailand at the date of death, section 11 deems it to remain situated in Thailand “even if it has been transformed into any form”. Converting a Thai asset into something else after the death does not move it out of the charge.

Who Is Exposed on Worldwide Assets

The worldwide-versus-Thai-situs split is not in section 11 at all. It is in the second paragraph of section 14, and it is short: a recipient in category (1) or (2), the Thai national or the immigration-law resident, pays on assets situated in Thailand or outside Thailand. A recipient in category (3) pays on assets situated in Thailand only.

So the group genuinely exposed on a worldwide estate is small: Thai nationals, and foreigners holding Permanent Residence. Even then, only above 100 million baht per recipient.

What Is Taxed, and What Is Not

Section 14 lists the taxable assets exhaustively:

• immovable property;
• securities under the law on securities and exchange;
• deposits, and other money of the same character that the deceased could have withdrawn or claimed from a financial institution or another person;
• registered vehicles;
• financial assets prescribed by Royal Decree.

What is absent from that list matters as much as what is on it. Cash in a safe, jewellery, art, gold and unregistered movables are not named. Neither is foreign real estate for a category (3) recipient, which follows from the situs rule above rather than from the list.

The Threshold and the Rates

Section 12 sets the threshold, and its wording repays attention. Tax is charged on a person who has received an inheritance from each deceased person, aggregating everything received from that deceased person “whether on one or several occasions”. If the aggregate exceeds 100 million baht, tax is due on the excess only.

Two consequences follow and are routinely misreported. The threshold is per recipient, per deceased person, not per estate. And the value is the value of the assets inherited less the liabilities assumed with them, so a mortgaged property does not count at its gross value. Section 12 also requires the figure to be reviewed every five years against the consumer price index, with any revision made by Royal Decree.

Section 16 sets the rates. The tax is 10% of the taxable portion, except that where the recipient is an ascendant or a descendant it is 5%. The 10% is the residual rate for everyone else, not the headline rate.

Un exemple résolu

A foreign father dies leaving Thai assets worth 140 million baht. His two adult children each receive 70 million baht. Neither pays anything, because the threshold applies to each recipient separately and neither has received more than 100 million baht from him.

Had he left the whole 140 million to one child, that child would be taxed at 5% on the 40 million above the threshold: 2 million baht. Had he left it to a nephew, the rate would be 10% on the same 40 million: 4 million baht. Had he left it to his wife, nothing would be payable at all.

The Exemptions That Actually Matter

Two provisions do the work, and they are different sections doing different jobs.

Section 3 takes two situations outside the Act completely: an inheritance from a person who died before the Act came into force, and an inheritance received by the spouse of the deceased. The spouse exemption is unlimited. It is not a threshold or an allowance; the Act simply does not apply.

Article 13 is the public-benefit provision, and it works by disapplying section 12. It covers a person receiving an inheritance from someone who expressed, or appeared to have, an intention that it be used for religious, educational or public-benefit activities; state agencies and juristic persons whose objects are religious, educational or public benefit; and persons or international organisations covered by commitments with the United Nations or by international law, contract or reciprocal arrangement, in each case only as specified by Ministerial Regulation.

Filing: 150 Days, and Who Owes the Duty

Under section 17 the person liable files a return and pays within 150 days of receiving the inheritance that takes them over the threshold, on the Director-General’s form, at any Area Revenue Branch Office. The duty sits on the recipient. There is no estate-level return, and no executor filing on the estate’s behalf discharges it.

The assessment official must complete the assessment within one year of filing, extendable with approval. Section 23 allows the tax to be paid in instalments over up to five years under rules set by Royal Decree, with no surcharge if it is paid off in accordance with them, though a partial surcharge may apply where instalments run beyond two years.

Section 29 sets the penalties: failing to file on time attracts a penalty equal to the tax payable, and an incomplete or false return that understates the tax attracts half of the additional tax. Section 30 allows the Director-General to reduce or waive a penalty, taking the taxpayer’s good faith into account.

If the Revenue Department Disagrees

Section 26 gives a right of appeal to the Commission of Appeal, and the first number is the one that forfeits the right if missed: the appeal must be filed within 30 days of receiving notification of the assessment.

The Commission must decide within 180 jours of receiving the appeal, extendable by not more than 90 days with the Director-General’s approval. If that period lapses without a decision, the appellant may go straight to the Tribunal fiscal without waiting, provided the case is filed within 180 days from the day after the last day of that period. A decision must be communicated within 15 days, and an appellant who is dissatisfied has 180 jours from acknowledging it to file in the Tax Court.

Section 27 adds the practical sting: an appeal does not suspend payment of the tax, unless the Director-General permits it. Budget for paying first and arguing afterwards.

What the B.E. 2569 Will Regulation Changed

One point that causes confusion. The Ministerial Regulation on the Making of Wills B.E. 2569, in force since 24 mars 2026, replaced the 1960 rules for wills made at a district office. It is a will-making procedure, not a tax measure, and it changes nothing on this page. The 100 million baht threshold, the rates and the exemptions are set by the Inheritance Tax Act and are untouched by it. What the regulation did change is the cost and place of making a public will: any amphore ou khet office will now do rather than only the one holding your house registration, the fee is 250 baht (it was 50), and a certified copy is 50 baht (it was 10).

Foire aux questions

Does Thailand have inheritance tax? Yes, under the Inheritance Tax Act B.E. 2558, in force since February 2016. It applies only above 100 million baht received by one person from one deceased person, so in practice it reaches very few estates.

Do foreigners pay inheritance tax in Thailand? Only on what they receive above the threshold, and for most foreigners only on assets situated in Thailand. A foreigner without Permanent Residence falls in section 11 category (3) and is taxed on Thai assets only.

Does the 180-day rule apply to inheritance tax? No. The 180-day test is the Revenue Code’s income-tax residence test. Section 11 refers instead to domicile “according to the law on immigration”, which means Permanent Residence.

Is a Thai condominium subject to inheritance tax? A condominium is immovable property and is on the section 14 list, and it is situated in Thailand, so it counts towards the recipient’s 100 million baht. Whether a foreign heir may keep it is a separate question, answered in our guide to Héritage d'un bien en tant qu'héritier étranger.

Is my spouse exempt? Yes, without limit. Section 3 puts an inheritance received by the spouse of the deceased outside the Act entirely.

How long do I have to pay? 150 days from receiving the inheritance that takes you over the threshold, with instalments available over up to five years under section 23.

Un étranger peut-il hériter de terres en Thaïlande ? Inherit yes, keep generally no. The rules and the leading Supreme Court decisions are set out at Un étranger peut-il hériter de terres en Thaïlande ?.

If your estate is anywhere near the threshold, or you hold Permanent Residence and assets abroad, the planning question is worth taking seriously and is best answered against your actual asset list. We also cover rédiger un testament thaïlandais, administration des successions et des biens, what happens if you die without a will ET the practical steps after a death in Thailand.

• Inheritance Tax Act B.E. 2558, official English translation (Revenue Department). The Thai text is the authoritative version.
• Impôt sur le revenu des personnes physiques en Thaïlande, where the 180-day residence test does apply
• Impôts fonciers en Thaïlande
• Thai Civil and Commercial Code, annotated