I've spent the last 30 minutes trying to find information on here but am still not sure, sorry if this subject has been covered before.

Just got back from spending the day in the land office where we were quoted 178.500B for changing from one Thai name to another on a house sale of 4.2 million. The seller has lived in the house for the past 7 years.We were trying to beat the 26th March deadline and keep the costs down, does this seem a lot or about right?

Many thanks.

Seems more like a rip off, seller to pay all costs, amazing Thailand indeed.

Quoted by whom?

Two months ago, maybe three, transferred a house with a Land Office price of 1.7 million for 31,000 baht. It was approx. 3 years old.

Was there not a massive hike in their fees at the beginning of this month?

If the fees are that high then the owner has not lived in the house for the last 7 years.

Because if you lived/owned it less than 5 years you have to pay SBT which is like 3.3% (which is would be 138,600THB). When this is added to the transfer fee + stamp fee then 178,000 sounds about right.

But you should not be paying the full SBT (specific business tax) for the seller, generally the seller would pay all of this, or at most the buyer would pay half.

Paying this full SBT amount would be a real sucker move.

Seems more like a rip off, seller to pay all costs, amazing Thailand indeed.

Quoted by whom?

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It's the land office that have quoted that price.The owner has owned the house for 7 years but there's been a lease agreement on it for the past 6.Would that mean that mean that those 6 years don't count, could that be the reason why SBT has to be paid?We were just expecting to pay the transfer tax on 4.2 million plus fees ,we'd thought it would be about 56.000.

Royale,

was the land office saying this was the total cost to transfer house to your name eg, SBT + transfer fee + stamp fee?

Or was the land office saying you as the buyer should pay the SBT?

Either way its a moot point, thats the total fee involved.

Is the house worth 4.2 to you?

Is so what I would advise is, you pay all costs, and give the seller a cheque for 4 million.

I would also advise stating the true price paid at the land office, if not it may lead to problems if you decide to sell in the future.

When the wife bought the house she had a similair problem, the seller didnt have any money to pay the fees involved, loss of face etc etc.

So the wife did as I have suggested above, you pay all costs, but knock the fees off the cheque amount you give the seller.

Should be correct, total fees and taxes including personal income withholding tax of the seller. Specific Business Tax is not charged. They don't rip you off at the land department and you get a receipt for these payments.

The land office didn't explain how the total was reached, just that that was the total fee for the whole procedure.The computers suddenly crashed so we were told to come back on Monday morning. I just wanted some more understanding of it all before i went back.Thanks though to everyone, i think i'm getting a clearer picture of how it all works and who should pay what.

Just be warned at the end of the month the tax holiday will end and you can expect to pay a lot more...

OP, who pays the different taxes should be part of the sales contract. Usually the SBT is paid by the seller and often the transfer fee is shared 50/50.

http://www.thailandlawonline.com/transfer_tax.html