My girlfriend is saying that the government office in Nongkhai is charging 16,000 baht for them to transfer rice farm land from her dad to her mom/uncle. She said the land being transfered is worth maybe 250,000 baht. Is this the proper rate? Internet websites say there is a 0.5% stamp duty and .01% transfer tax...is someone not correctly moving the decimal when multiplying?

She also mentioned something about the government needing to survey the land. Is this one time, or will an additional cost be done when land is transfered again?

--matt

Transfer fee is 2%. There are other taxes that are applicable too. One of these will depend on whether the transaction is eligible for stamp duty (0.5%) or specific business tax and municipal tax (3.3%)

So it sounds to me like the land department has decided that you fall into the latter category.

Specific Business Tax

Specific business tax is levied on the sale of the following types of real estate for trade or profit.

1. Portions of land that is registered under the regulations regarding the land subdivision.

2. Condominium units

3. Land with buildings constructed for sale

4. Parcels of land & plot in the same manner as statutory land subdivision, the sale of a condominium or the sale of divided building, or the sale of the property without being divided, but could be divided after sale.

5. The sale of immovable property, which is used for conducting business, in order to relocate, except for the sale of land used for agriculture but not including the building on such land.

6. The sale of the immovable property that does not fall within the descriptions of 1-5 but is made within 5 years from the date of acquisition of such immovable property.

Survey fees are also occasionally required to verify boundaries etc this should be a one-off though.