New 2020 Property Tax Questions

[Crash999]

My wife received through the mail this morning a guideline to the 2020 property tax. It was dated November and said she had two weeks to respond if any questions. Oops.

 

She and I have been trying to read up on the new law in English and in Thai today and haven't had much luck figuring out for certain what applies to our situations:

 

a) Her parents bought a house in Rayong worth about 3m Baht to use when they retire soon. They put it in my wife's name. This was about five years ago. My wife's mother is on the tabien baan, my wife is on the tabien baan at our condo in Bangkok. From what we read it seems that because my wife is not on the tabien baan of the Rayong house she will have to pay tax, which we found two rates- 0.2% or 0.3% per year per different articles we read. Also a possible increase after two years.

 

Rather than paying this tax my wife would prefer to transfer the property to her parents, maybe the mom as she is on the tabien baan. But then we may need to pay property tax on the value of 3% (4%?) based on an assessed value so it seems a 10-year or more break-even on that.

 

b) We moved last year to our current condo from a smaller one worth around 7m Baht. The smaller one was initially up for sale until my father decided he would move here in July this year so we took it off the market and kept it for him. Now the property is vacant. He will eventually get a non-O and I guess be put on the tabien baan of that condo. As I'm the owner and that's a second property it seems I'll have to pay tax on that condo too.

 

Is our understanding correct? It has come as a bit of a shock as we are not deriving any income from these properties and it seems we may need to start paying THB30k or more per year in addition to the common area fees, maintenance etc. Property ownership is starting to seem even less attractive than before here.

 

Thank you!

[BritManToo]

New property tax is for houses valued at 10MBht+.

No need to worry.

[Crash999]

Thanks Britman. Do you have a source for that? My wife had received papers from the government saying that her property was eligible even though it is only worth 3m. The letter was dated November so I’m not sure if things have changed since then as I read there have been changes a few times already. 

[fulhamster]

My wife received a letter from the local council with an attachment showing details of our house (in her name) including area and the structural materials (concrete)

A call to the council confirmed that she only need respond if any of the details are incorrect, however all looks in order.

The house is probably worth 3 - 3.5m, so am I safe to think that she would not be liable for tax ?

 

Just to complicate matters, she also has her name as minority shareholder on a couple of friend's (farang) company structures for houses worth about 2 and 3 million.

Would these be added to her records ??

[Crash999]

On 2/20/2020 at 7:54 PM, fulhamster said:

My wife received a letter from the local council with an attachment showing details of our house (in her name) including area and the structural materials (concrete)

A call to the council confirmed that she only need respond if any of the details are incorrect, however all looks in order.

The house is probably worth 3 - 3.5m, so am I safe to think that she would not be liable for tax ?

 

Just to complicate matters, she also has her name as minority shareholder on a couple of friend's (farang) company structures for houses worth about 2 and 3 million.

Would these be added to her records ??

I’ve been digging into this a bit. That letter as you said only is to confirm details. If all correct then no need to respond. 
 

Around April or May they said another letter will be issued that will say how much she needs to pay. 
 

If that is the only property in her name then she shouldn’t need to pay. 
 

There is a phone number at the bottom of the first letter she received that she can call to ask questions. They were very helpful but only speak Thai. 

[longball53098]

This article explains the new tax stuff..

https://www.bdo.co.th/en-gb/insights/tax-updates/new-property-tax-law-in-thailand