Thailand Foreign Income Remittance Tax: What Actually Applies in 2026

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.

Last updated on août 22, 2026

La règle qui régit vos transferts de 2026

Thailand taxes foreign-sourced income on a remittance basis. Two conditions must both be met before the Revenue Department can tax money you bring in.

1. Residence in the year the income arose. You were a Thai tax resident, 180 days or more, in the tax year the income arose, and that income arose on or after 1 January 2024.
2. The money enters Thailand. You bring that income into Thailand, in that same tax year or in any later one.

It is then taxed for the year you bring it in, not the year you earned it. Miss either condition and the charge does not arise. Note which year the residence test attaches to: it is the year the income arose. Someone who earned abroad while not resident in Thailand can remit those funds later, after moving here, without the charge biting.

Section 41 of the Revenue Code sets the residence test at 180 jours ou plus dans une année civile. The count is cumulative, not continuous. Twelve separate trips of sixteen days each will make you resident just as surely as one long stay. If you are working out where you stand across several countries, our guide to Impôt sur le revenu des personnes physiques en Thaïlande sets out how the threshold interacts with treaty tie-breakers.

Ce que la por. 161/2566 a modifié

Before September 2023, a well-known planning technique existed. Foreign income brought into Thailand in a later calendar year than the year it was earned escaped Thai tax entirely. Earn in 2022, remit in 2023, pay nothing. Practitioners called it the deferral rule, and it was the backbone of most expat tax planning in Thailand.

Departmental Instruction Por. 161/2566 ended it. The Revenue Department reinterpreted Section 41 so that foreign income earned by a Thai tax resident becomes assessable whenever it is remitted, regardless of which year it arrives. The timing gap closed. The instruction applies to remittances from 1 January 2024.

One point is routinely misunderstood. A departmental instruction is not a new tax. It is the Revenue Department stating how it reads existing statute. The charging provision is still Section 41. That distinction matters if you ever need to argue your position, because the department’s reading binds its own officers but does not bind a court.

Ce que protège la Por. 162/2566

A second instruction, Por. 162/2566, carved out a significant protection. Income earned avant 1 January 2024 falls outside the new interpretation. Remit it whenever you like and the reinterpretation does not reach it.

This makes the boundary between pre-2024 and post-2024 wealth the single most valuable line in your financial records. It is also the line most people cannot evidence when asked, because they never expected to be asked.

L'exemption que tout le monde attend n'est pas une loi

Since mid-2025 the Revenue Department has signalled a relaxation. The concept is straightforward. Foreign income remitted in the same calendar year it is earned, or in the year immediately following, would be exempt. Earn in 2026, remit in 2026 or 2027, pay nothing.

It is a genuine proposal from a real source. It is also, as at 1 August 2026, Pas une loi.

Thai tax instruments follow a fixed path. A draft must clear Cabinet, pass Council of State review, and then appear in the Gazette royale. Publication is what makes it binding, and publication has not happened. Until it does, nothing about your liability has changed. The proposal has now been pending since mid-2025 with no instrument published and no timetable announced, so plan both the 2025 and 2026 tax years under Por. 161/2566 and Por. 162/2566 as they stand. Some reporting links the delay to the 2026 election cycle rather than to the drafting process, which we have not seen confirmed by an official source, and either way the planning answer is the same.

Be careful with what you read elsewhere. A great deal of commentary describes this measure in the present tense, as though it already governs. It does not. Treat any article that fails to name the gazettal date with suspicion, because there is no gazettal date to name.

Annoncé, approuvé, en vigueur : trois choses différentes

Scène	What it means	Does it change your tax bill?
Announced or proposed	A department states an intention. Press reports follow.	Non
Cabinet approved	Government agrees to proceed. Drafting and Council of State review follow.	Non
Published in the Royal Gazette	The instrument becomes binding on its stated effective date.	Oui

Avant et après : ce que le changement de 2024 a réellement fait

How the remittance basis works

Situation	Until 31 Dec 2023	From 1 Jan 2024 (current)
Income earned abroad in year 1, remitted in year 2, you are Thai tax resident in both	Not taxable	Taxable on remittance
Income earned abroad and remitted in the same year	Taxable	Taxable
Savings accumulated before 1 January 2024	Not taxable	Not taxable (Por. 162/2566)
Income earned in a year you were in Thailand under 180 days	Not taxable	Not taxable
Money that never enters Thailand	Not taxable	Not taxable

Ce que cela signifie en pratique

Retraités

A pension remitted monthly is foreign income arriving in Thailand. Whether Thailand may actually tax it depends on the double tax agreement between Thailand and the country paying it. Several treaties assign taxing rights over government-service pensions exclusively to the paying state. Others do not. Read your specific treaty rather than a general summary, and factor the answer into the budget set out in our guide to the cost to retire in Thailand.

Travailleurs à distance

Income you earn while physically working in Thailand is Thai-sourced, and it is taxable whether or not it ever reaches a Thai bank. This catches people who assume an offshore employer and an offshore account keep them outside the system. It does not. If you are structuring a long stay around remote work, read this alongside our note on Destination Thailand Visa requirements, because immigration status and tax residence are decided separately and one does not determine the other.

Acheteurs immobiliers

Funds remitted to buy a condominium are frequently pre-2024 capital, which Por. 162/2566 protects. The difficulty is evidential, not legal. Thai banks issue a Foreign Exchange Transaction form on inbound transfers above the reporting threshold, and you need that form anyway to register foreign-quota ownership. Keep it filed with your dated pre-2024 statements. Our guide to moving money to Thailand from abroad covers the mechanics, and achat d'un condominium en Thaïlande explains why the same paperwork does double duty at the Land Office.

Des investisseurs détenant des actifs numériques

Gains on digital assets follow their own rules and interact with the remittance question in ways that catch people out. See cryptocurrency tax in Thailand before you move exchange balances onshore.

Cinq étapes à suivre avant votre prochain transfert d'argent

1. Count your days honestly. Use entry and exit stamps, not memory. The 180-day line decides everything else.
2. Download statements dated 31 December 2023 for every foreign account. This is the evidence that makes Por. 162/2566 usable.
3. Stop commingling. Keep pre-2024 capital in accounts you do not pay new income into.
4. Read your double tax agreement, not a summary of it. Relief is usually a credit, not an exemption, and you generally have to claim it.
5. Register for a Thai tax ID if you are resident and remitting. See registering a tax ID number in Thailand. Filing without one is not possible, and the absence of one is not a defence.

Thai personal income tax runs on progressive rates to a top marginal rate of 35 percent, and returns for a calendar year are filed in the following January to March window. Deliberate non-declaration is a separate and more serious matter, as our page on tax evasion and money laundering in Thailand explains.

Évolutions réglementaires connexes

Two other changes are moving at the same time and affect many of the same people. Thailand’s visa exemption framework is being cut back, which changes how long you can stay without a visa and therefore how easily you cross the 180-day tax line. See our companion article on the 2026 visa rule changes. Separately, proposals to raise the foreign condominium quota continue to circulate without becoming law, covered in our piece on the restrictions sur la propriété étrangère that still apply.

Foire aux questions

Is the Thailand foreign income exemption in force in 2026?

No. As at 1 August 2026 the proposed exemption had not been published in the Royal Gazette, so it has no legal effect. The regime introduced by Por. 161/2566 and Por. 162/2566 continues to apply to the 2026 tax year. Plan on the current law and treat any future relaxation as a bonus.

Do I pay Thai tax on money I bring in if I stay under 180 days?

Not on foreign-sourced income. The remittance charge under section 41 paragraph 2 of the Revenue Code reaches only a person resident in Thailand, and residence means 180 days or more in the calendar year. Income from Thai sources is taxable regardless of how long you stay. Read more in our guide to Impôt sur le revenu des personnes physiques en Thaïlande.

Can I still bring in savings from before 2024 tax free?

Yes. Por. 162/2566 places income earned before 1 January 2024 outside the reinterpretation, whenever you remit it. The practical requirement is evidence. Keep account statements dated 31 December 2023 and avoid mixing that capital with income earned afterwards.

Does a double tax agreement mean I pay nothing in Thailand?

Rarely. Most of Thailand’s treaties give relief as a credit for foreign tax paid rather than a full exemption, so you pay the higher of the two rates overall, and you generally have to claim it. A minority of treaty articles, notably some covering government-service pensions, do assign exclusive taxing rights to the paying state. The answer depends on your specific treaty and the specific category of income.

Is money I transfer to buy a condominium taxable?

The purpose of the transfer is irrelevant. What matters is whether the money is assessable foreign income earned while you were a Thai tax resident, from 2024 onward. Pre-2024 capital remains protected. Keep the bank’s Foreign Exchange Transaction form, which you need in any event to register ownership under the foreign quota when achat d'un condominium en Thaïlande.

What happens if the exemption is gazetted later in 2026?

The instrument will state its own effective date, and that date governs. It may or may not reach back over remittances already made. Because that is unknowable in advance, timing a large remittance around an unpublished instrument carries real risk. We re-verify this page against the Royal Gazette and update the date stamp above when the position changes.