Thailand tax data show narrow income-tax base

Thailand's personal income-tax base remains heavily concentrated among a relatively small number of earners, with only 5.14 million of 12.57 million people who filed returns for the 2024 tax year required to pay tax.

Budget Committee data, based on P.N.D. 90 and P.N.D. 91 returns filed in 2025, have put government revenue collection under fresh scrutiny as Thailand considers how to make its revenue structure more balanced and sustainable.

Most filers had no tax liability

Of the 12.57 million people who submitted personal income-tax returns, 7.43 million - or 59.1% - had no tax liability. Their net income fell within the 0-150,000 baht bracket, which is exempt from tax under Thai law.

Those who did pay tax represented 40.9% of all filers. The figures highlight how small the pool of actual personal income taxpayers is, both compared with total tax filers and the wider working-age population.

Total calculated personal income tax for the period was 278.18 billion baht. Tax refunds for overpayment came to 46.99 billion baht.

Higher earners carry much of the burden

The data show that the burden is particularly concentrated among people at the highest income levels.

Just 30,000 filers had net income above 5 million baht. That group represented only 0.2% of all filers, yet paid 71.52 billion baht in tax - 25.7% of all personal income tax collected.

When they are combined with filers earning net income between 2,000,001 and 5,000,000 baht, another 0.8% of filers, just 1% of people filing returns accounted for 50.1% of personal income-tax revenue.

The figures underline the challenge for the government: most people remain below the taxable threshold, while a small high-income group supplies a substantial share of revenue from personal income tax.

The government faces a broader fiscal challenge in expanding the number of taxpayers while managing the national budget and seeking a more sustainable revenue structure.

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3 August 2026

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