Special Tax reduction when selling your condo with Tabien Baan (Yellow / Blue House Book) after 1 year of ownership?

[dugrasu]

Hi wise people on Thai Visa forum, 

 

I'm a non-Thai expat working in Bangkok. I have recently purchased a condo (resale) in Bangkok where I currently live.  The original Thai owner handed me his Blue House Registration book (Tabien Baan) and recommended me to put my name in it if I planned on selling my condo within 5 years to reduce special business tax of 3.3%. 

 

For those who are familiar with buying/selling condos in Bangkok, the seller has to pay 3.3% special business tax plus some other additional tax/expenses when selling your condo. However, that special 3.3% special business tax gets reduced down to 0.5% (stamp duty) if you sell after having owned your condo for more than 5 years.  

 

According to my Thai realtor friends and the original condo owner, for Thais who registered their name in the blue book for their condos can sell their primary condo (primary residence) after just 1 year of ownership with this special discount (from 3.3% special business tax -> 0.5% stamp duty)

 

I was told by my lawyer/district office that unless I have Permanent Residence book, I can only register my name on the yellow book instead of the blue one.  My question is, can foreigners get this special tax discount (after 1 year of ownership instead of 5 year of ownership) by registering their name on the Yellow House Registration book (yellow Tabien Baan)?  

 

Anyone has experience with this?  Any info or help would be greatly appreciated.  (as non-Thai speaker (only basic Thai), do you recommend applying for this yellow book on my own (seems like not many people speak English at those district offices), or hire a laywer/agency to handle the paperwork for a small fee?)

 

Thank you so much!

TJ

[Peterw42]

SPECIFIC BUSINESS TAX AND STAMP DUTY

Specific Business Tax is a tax applicable on property sale/transfer fixed at a rate of 3% on the higher value between the declared purchase price and the appraised value (Whichever is higher), plus a local tax of 10% on the specific business tax, bringing the total tax to 3.3%. The sale/transfer is not subject to the specific business tax if;
1.      Selling property by an individual who has acquired the property for more than 5 years. 
2.      Selling property to the government under the expropriation law.
3.      Selling inherited property.
4.      Selling property by an individual who has his name recorded in the house registration book for not less than 1 year.
5.      Transferring property as gift to a child but exclude adopted child.
6.      Transferring property by inheritance to heirs.
7.      Transferring property as gift to the government.
8.      Exchange property with the government’s property.

http://lawonline.weebly.com/property-transfer-tax-and-fee.html

Nothing says its only for Thais. However, In some areas its hard to get a yellow book (house book for foreigners) to be recorded in.

[Langsuan Man]

14 hours ago, dugrasu said:

I was told by my lawyer/district office that unless I have Permanent Residence book, I can only register my name on the yellow book instead of the blue one.  My question is, can foreigners get this special tax discount (after 1 year of ownership instead of 5 year of ownership) by registering their name on the Yellow House Registration book (yellow Tabien Baan)?  

 

Blue book -Yellow book makes no difference sound like  you are getting information as if you are a Thai so they assume you have a Yellow or Blue book in you name

 

Sounds to me you don't own anything , unless the condo is in the 49% foreigner quota, or it is owned via a company 

 

If the Chanote is in your name under the foreigner quota then a future sale has nothing to do with what kind of book you have, yellow or blue, they only show who is the house master, not the owner 

 

Same is true if the Chanote is in a company name , house book means nothing for a sale and that is a Thailand  rule, not something special for Bangkok

 

But would make you eligible for the Business rate you describe above or a zero transfer fee if the entire company is transferred  

 

 

 

 

 

[dugrasu]

Thank you both for your help!  :)

 

4.      Selling property by an individual who has his name recorded in the house registration book for not less than 1 year.

 

And yes!  this was exactly what I was looking for.  Thank you Peter!  (I asked another agent friend today who deals with many foreign condo owners.  From his experience, the below holds true for all blue book holders but for yellow book holders (foreigners), there's 70:30 chance you will get the 3.3% tax deduction (but not guaranteed) ... like most things in Thailand, it depends on which district and the person in charge at the land office.  

 

 

I think I will still go ahead and register my name for that 70% chance of getting that discount.  : )