Most expats think Thailand's foreign income tax rules got easier this year. They didn't. There was a relief window drafted inside the Revenue Department at one point, quietly shelved somewhere between one government and the next, and nobody has picked it back up.

That's fairly typical of how this whole thing has gone since it landed on January 1, 2024. Little warning, inconsistent explanations, and almost two years later, the questions a lot of expats have still don't have a clean official answer. 

The rule, briefly

Before 2024, foreign income was only taxable in Thailand if you remitted it the same year you earned it. Wait a year, transfer it, and it arrives tax-free. Two Revenue Department orders, Por.161/2566 and Por.162/2566, issued on September 15 and November 20, 2023, closed that door for good.

Since January 1, 2024, any foreign income you remit is taxable in the year you bring it in, regardless of when you earned it. Spend 180 days or more in Thailand in a calendar year, and you're a tax resident, full stop. Bank transfers, e-banking transfers, cash carried across the border, it all counts as a remittance.

Income earned and held offshore before that date is still exempt when remitted, but only if you can prove it. That's where a lot of retirees are stuck right now, and the most common complaint is that nobody in government has ever actually spelt out what "proof" is supposed to look like.

The relief that never arrived

In mid-2025, Revenue Department officials floated a fix. A window that would let foreign income escape tax if it was remitted within a year or two of being earned, reportedly aimed at coaxing an estimated 2 trillion baht of Thai money sitting offshore back into the country. Reporting at the time pointed to a start date in early 2026.

It never became law. Never published in the Royal Gazette. Parliament dissolved in December 2025, a new coalition government took over after the February 2026 election, and the proposal just isn't on anyone's agenda anymore.

So if an accountant, a forum post, or a friend at the golf club told you to hold off remitting because relief was coming, that advice was wrong the moment it started circulating, and it's still wrong now. 

Until something actually shows up in the Royal Gazette, the 2023 rules are the only rules that exist. The people who built a wait-and-see plan around a proposal that quietly died are the ones now scrambling.

Nobody's been caught, which isn't the same as nobody looking

The first filing season came and went quietly. Practitioners in Bangkok reported modest expat filing rates and no visible crackdown, and a lot of forum chatter has treated that as proof that the whole rule has no teeth. 

A late 2024 reader survey by Thai Examiner tells a different story: 58% of expat respondents said they didn't plan to file at all, and 55% said they were weighing staying under 180 days a year just to avoid the question entirely.

That quiet first year is doing far more work in these conversations than it deserves. Thai banks have started asking long-term foreign account holders for Tax IDs. Thailand automatically shares account data with more than 120 countries under the OECD's Common Reporting Standard, so the paper trail for a future audit is already piling up, whether or not anyone acts on it yet.

A soft first year looks a lot like a system finding its feet, not an amnesty. Treating it as one is a bet a lot of forum regulars seem happy to make with someone else's retirement savings.

The traps that catch even careful expats

Most of the general discourse around this rule covers the same basic mechanics. Three narrower points still catch people out.

The first is what counts as a remittance. Foreign card spending and ATM withdrawals in baht can count, not just bank transfers, so someone carefully timing wire transfers while running a foreign debit card day to day may not be doing what they think.

The second is the commingled account problem. There's no published Revenue Department method for splitting a remittance between pre-2024 and post-2024 money in the same account, so a December 31, 2023, closing statement only helps if the funds it describes haven't mixed with anything newer since.

The third is the gap between exempt and exempt from filing. LTR holders and treaty users often assume no tax owed means nothing to declare, but an exempt position usually still needs to be recorded on a return. Skipping the filing doesn't make the exemption more real; it just removes the proof of it.

Where the Long-Term Resident visa fits

For expats with substantial foreign income, the Long-Term Resident (LTR) visa is the one legal way around this entirely. Wealthy Pensioner and Wealthy Global Citizen holders can bring in qualifying foreign income tax-free, under an exemption written into Royal Decree No. 743.

It's a narrow door. Built for people with real assets or pension income behind them, and it comes with conditions you have to keep meeting every single year the exemption applies. That includes holding health insurance covering at least US$50,000 (roughly 1.8 million baht), or maintaining a bank deposit of US$100,000 (roughly 3.6 million baht) instead.

Fall out of compliance on the insurance side, and you're not just short on cover, you're potentially putting the whole visa, and the tax exemption riding on it, at risk. This is the part that most tax discussions skip, probably because it doesn't feel like a tax question. It's an insurance question sitting underneath a tax exemption. 

Cigna Global plans, including Close Care℠, clear the US$50,000 threshold, and pair it with direct billing at hospitals like Bumrungrad International and Bangkok Hospital, so there's no upfront deposit if something goes wrong while all this paperwork is still being sorted out.

The bigger picture

Thai tax returns (PND 90 or PND 91) are due by March 31 of the following year on paper, a bit later if you file online, and you'll need a Tax ID first. None of this is hard once someone actually walks you through it. 

Nearly two years since Por.161 and Por.162 came into force, proving what's exempt still rests almost entirely on the taxpayer, with no official checklist and no published answer for the messiest cases, while a relief plan that would have made all of it easier was allowed to expire between one government and the next.

That's the real story here. Not the tax rate, not even the confusion, but the gap between how simple this could have been and how badly it's actually been handled. 

Sort out what's within your control: keep your pre- and post-2024 funds separate, know whether your income needs to be filed even when it's exempt, and make sure your visa and insurance obligations are being met rather than assumed.

Get a free quote from Cigna Global today,

and make sure your visa, your health cover, and your tax filing are all working from the same page.

*Tax rules and visa requirements reflect conditions as of July 2026 and are subject to change.

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It's no problem at all,

I don't report anything to anyone, and if they send me a bill I'll just leave.

There's no significant money here for them to take.

Edited July 16Jul 16 by BritManToo

Well formulated fear-to-safety sales pitch.

18 hours ago, CharlieH said:

Sponsored content

By whom?

10 minutes ago, Wuvu2 said:

By whom?

Cigna global health (no tax) insurance. 😄

18 hours ago, BritManToo said:

It's no problem at all,

I don't report anything to anyone, and if they send me a bill I'll just leave.

There's no significant money here for them to take.

Exactly my plan. It’s my money tax already paid. Even though this subject is brought up all the time, I’m still yet to hear that someone actually paid any tax!

The first filing season came and went quietly. Practitioners in Bangkok reported modest expat filing rates and no visible crackdown, and a lot of forum chatter has treated that as proof that the whole rule has no teeth. 

The usual. Make rules and then not enforce them. That's exactly what makes Thailand so attractive to many, including the very people that Thailand says it doesn't want here.

7 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

The usual. Make rules and then not enforce them. That's exactly what makes Thailand so attractive to many, including the very people that Thailand says it doesn't want here.

Well if Thailand ever becomes Singapore in terms of law enforcement, I'd definitely rather be in Singapore.

24 minutes ago, Yumthai said:

Well if Thailand ever becomes Singapore in terms of law enforcement, I'd definitely rather be in Singapore.

I hear you. But it's more humid than Thailand and one of the most expensive places in the world to live. I think I read recently it's the 6th.

I decided that it's better to be upfront about these things than to stick my head in the sand. I like living in Thailand and have no wish to jeopardise that arrangement.

I obtained a TIN (tax identification number). My local tax office seemed confused about why I wanted one as they didn't think I needed it but they issued it.

I filed my online tax return last month with the help of an accountant. I paid 800 Baht tax. I paid 300 Baht for a late submission fine. The accountant charged 1,500 Baht but was worth it to me for peace of mind.

This is my experience and my views, not tax advice.

5 minutes ago, IsaanT said:

I decided that it's better to be upfront about these things than to stick my head in the sand. I like living in Thailand and have no wish to jeopardise that arrangement.

I obtained a TIN (tax identification number). My local tax office seemed confused about why I wanted one as they didn't think I needed it but they issued it.

Lesson learned. In Thailand you absolutely SHOULD stick your head in the sand and pretend like nothing's happening. Even the local the tax office has their heads buried but you decided to wake sleeping dogs. Hopefully this doesn't come to bite you later but I would keep quiet and try to forget about it until it demands your attention in no uncertain terms.

21 hours ago, CharlieH said:

Thailand automatically shares account data with more than 120 countries under the OECD's Common Reporting Standard, so the paper trail for a future audit is already piling up, whether or not anyone acts on it yet.

CRS has nothing to do with the changes announced so far, which are all related to the taxation of remittances into the country and, unless I missed something, there has been no official mention at all of Thailand trying to tax your income and investments overseas (global taxation, as it's called).

There's also no mention of the complicated issue of double-taxation treaties. I have friends and relatives in the UK who worked for HMRC at senior levels and they told me that as soon as things like DTA's got involved in case they had to bring in specialist legal experts from outside to advise them, at great expense, so they had to be pretty sure there was a lot of money at stake to justify the time and cost. In the case of the vast majority of expats here, I really don't see the potential reward from some extra tax on pensions ever justifying the TRD paying for legal experts to get involved.

The pessimists on this issue apparently think that at some future date TRD is going to realize that Pattaya Gary has never filed tax on his UK pension and haul him in front a Thai judge to receive a sentence or block him from extending his NON-O.

It’s a silly fear, it isn’t going to happen. Which is why the TRD keeps telling retirees over and over again that they don’t need a tax ID number. Yet for some reason nobody believes them.

As far as what “could,” happen, much wiser to pay attention to the daily ways one breaks the law in Thailand, and there are so many. A big one is paying an agent to sidestep the 800k baht in an account rule. That is definitely illegal. You would think people would be paranoid about that.

22 hours ago, CharlieH said:

Income earned and held offshore before that date is still exempt when remitted, but only if you can prove it. That's where a lot of retirees are stuck right now, and the most common complaint is that nobody in government has ever actually spelt out what "proof" is supposed to look like.

An official statement of your assets by year end 31st December 2023 — for example the annual property statement from your home country's tax report — should be proof of you savings by that date, and what can be transferred free of income tax into Thailand.

It has worked for me — I attached such a statement to my tax return — so, later transfer of pre 2024-savings has been accepted. And yes, my tax return for 2024 has been audited by the local revenue office, where I had to meet and show detailed bank statement for all transfers into Thailand and proof of the taxes paid abroad, including transferred savings from before January 1st.

If you are not excluded from income tax — LTR visa or whatever other exclusion may apply — the online eFiling of a tax return is actually not that difficult. And you can deduct any foreign withheld taxes for each kind in transferred foreign income. For us in a more normal in come level, having some income tax withheld in our home country, we might not be taxed at all. Furthermore, because of deductions — like 60,000 baht in personal deduction, 50% up to 100,000 baht income deduction and 150,000 baht exempt before taxation — gives us 310,000 baht tax free income on top; and additional 190,000 baht if you are retired.

And if you are a high income earner, you might be able to "always look on the bright side of life": The maximum tax rate in Thailand is only 35% — and it applies only for income over 5 million baht — in my Nordic home country the lowest tax rate is 38%; and it's stepping up to over 50% when reaching little less the equivalent to modest 4 million baht, and even more if you are a real high income earner...

Shhhhhhhh, don't tell anybody.......

My strategy of doing nothing is working nicely so far.

3 hours ago, NorthernRyland said:

Lesson learned. In Thailand you absolutely SHOULD stick your head in the sand and pretend like nothing's happening. Even the local the tax office has their heads buried but you decided to wake sleeping dogs. Hopefully this doesn't come to bite you later but I would keep quiet and try to forget about it until it demands your attention in no uncertain terms.

I'd hope it won't come back to bite me if I've already submitted my annual accountant-approved tax filing but anything's possible here, of course.

I thought the original article made an important observation when it said:

"... the gap between exempt and exempt from filing. LTR holders and treaty users often assume no tax owed means nothing to declare, but an exempt position usually still needs to be recorded on a return. Skipping the filing doesn't make the exemption more real; it just removes the proof of it."

Edited July 17Jul 17 by IsaanT

6 hours ago, Wuvu2 said:

By whom?

Cigna Global are referenced in the posting.

14 minutes ago, Thingamabob said:

Cigna Global are referenced in the posting.

Thanks. I was so overwhelmed by the fear-mongering that I missed that detail 🙄

The big issue from a uk perspective is for someone who only receives a state pension and no private pension.Because of the personal allowance they pay no tax on their pension.So any money remitted to Thailand will be taxable because uk pension is not covered by the DTA

Until some bright spark ties all this into visa extensions, I'm all for ignoring it and hoping it goes away.

Moderator

Fact check this statement

"Revenue Department orders, Por.161/2566 and Por.162/2566, issued on September 15 and November 20, 2023, closed that door for good.

Since January 1, 2024, any foreign income you remit is taxable in the year you bring it in, regardless of when you earned it."

According to Grok AI, and other reputable websites and YouTube posts

POR 162 Allows Foreign Sourced Accessible income earned prior to 2024 to be remitted in any subsequent year Tax Free.

Grok AI

Clarification in POR 162/2566 (issued 20 Nov 2023): The new remittance-based taxation does not apply to income derived before 1 January 2024

Just run my figures through Co-Pilot and on 600,000 a year I'd only pay 7,000.......and then I can claim tax credit having been taxed in the UK......so not going to lose any sleep over this.

It has been universally overlooked that prior of the repealing of the so called 'one year rule', pensioners (and I'm only referring to that group) have, in theory, always been liable to taxation by the TRD.

For the simple reason that no pensioner, in his right mind would have delayed the remittance of his payments by one year in order to avoid taxation. Indeed I doubt whether there was a single pensioner out there who even knew about that rule!

And as they didn't make any attempt to tax us back then, I see no reason why they should start to do so now.

I've always believed from the start, that the best policy regarding this topic is to 'let sleeping dogs lie'. And that applies on both sides of the fence,.

1 hour ago, Wuvu2 said:

Thanks. I was so overwhelmed by the fear-mongering that I missed that detail 🙄

I think that was the intention. Stay cool, have a nice day.

3 hours ago, Moonlover said:

And as they didn't make any attempt to tax us back then, I see no reason why they should start to do so now.

Use AI and research who funds the

Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS), also known as the "30 Baht scheme,"

Source Gemini AI

"The Total Labor Force: Approximately 40 million people."

"90% of the workforce doesn't pay it. PIT Personal Income tax.

"This means only about 10% of the Thai working population actually pays any personal income tax."

Source Bangkok Post via Gemini AI

"As a result, salaried corporate employees bear roughly 80% of the entire personal income tax burden in Thailand."

I agree Thailand has a lot of work to do collecting Tax from a higher percentage of the work force.

I believe they made to change in hopes a windfall from wealthy Thai's remitting money, and a steadier income stream from long stay Foreigners.

Additionally the Scare tactic to get more people Registered in the System for future tracking.

42 minutes ago, J Branche said:

I agree Thailand has a lot of work to do collecting Tax from a higher percentage of the work force.

You're describing the ultra minority Thai elite point of view. From the vast majority of the population POV, I think they wish the tax collection efforts should focus on the wealthy in charge of the country (which will never happen).

39 minutes ago, Yumthai said:

You're describing the ultra minority Thai elite point of view. From the vast majority of the population POV, I think they wish the tax collection efforts should focus on the wealthy in charge of the country (which will never happen).

Thailand has millions of people working in the cash economy. The only way to get some tax out of these people would be to raise the VAT.

7 hours ago, IsaanT said:

but an exempt position usually still needs to be recorded on a return.

That's not what two different Thai Tax Attorneys have told me.

"If your deductions result in you owing no tax, you do not need file anything."

1 hour ago, Ricohoc said:

That's not what two different Thai Tax Attorneys have told me.

"If your deductions result in you owing no tax, you do not need file anything."

I've seen that advice too. Perhaps it's good. You might be surprised at how many people in Thailand earn so little that they don't have a TIN, have never filed a tax return and thus have never paid any tax in their lives**, but expats aren't typically in that financial bracket.

For me, not filing prompts the question "As an expat, how will the Thai tax authorities be aware that I owe no (or little) tax if I don't tell them?" If I was in the Thai tax authority, I'd want to explore all opportunities for sources of potential revenue, and I expect they will too one day.

** Out of a total Thai workforce of roughly 40 million, an estimated 36 million workers (90%) do not pay personal income tax. Many fall below the statutory net income exemption threshold of 150,000 THB/year, working in the massive informal economy or agriculture without formal Taxpayer Identification Numbers (TINs).

Edited July 17Jul 17 by IsaanT