Thailand · Tax regime
Taxation of remitted foreign-source income (Por. 161/2566 and Por. 162/2566)
IN FORCE and unchanged in substance since 1 January 2024. The widely reported two-year remittance exemption has not been enacted. It was drafted during 2025, never approved by Cabinet, never reviewed by the Council of State, and never published in the Royal Gazette. Reporting that Thailand has relaxed the rule is wrong as at July 2026.
Until the end of 2023, foreign income remitted to Thailand in a calendar year after it was earned went untaxed. That is why a generation of expatriates stuck to a January-remittance discipline. Departmental Instruction Por. 161/2566 ended that from 1 January 2024. Remitted foreign income is now taxed in the year it is remitted, regardless of when it was earned. Por. 162/2566 then carved out an exception for income earned before 1 January 2024, which remains permanently untaxed on remittance. That pre-2024 pool is the single most valuable planning asset a long-standing Thai resident has, and it is finite.
Qualifying routes
180 days or more of physical presence in Thailand in a calendar year makes you a Thai tax resident. There is no monetary threshold. Presence alone is the trigger.
The facts
- Total landed cost
- Up to 35% of remitted foreign income, minus any foreign tax credit available under an applicable treaty.
- Route type
- Tax regime, not a visa
- Physical presence
- 180+ days in a calendar year triggers Thai tax residency.
- Permanent residency
- Not applicable
- Citizenship
- Not applicable
- Language test
- Not applicable
- Dual citizenship
- Permitted
- Requirements
- Spend 180 or more days in Thailand in a calendar year and you become tax resident.Tax residents are taxed on foreign-source income in the year it is remitted to Thailand, provided they were tax resident in the year the income arose.Income earned before 1 January 2024 is permanently exempt on remittance, under Por. 162/2566.Royal Decree No. 743 exempts qualifying LTR visa holders from tax on remitted foreign income.
- The two-year exemption is not law. It was drafted in 2025 and expected to apply from the January–March 2026 filing season, but the dissolution of the House of Representatives ahead of the February 2026 general election paused all pending legislative business. Nothing has been published in the Royal Gazette. Any adviser telling you that income remitted within two years is now exempt is wrong.
- Because the amendment was so widely reported as imminent, some families remitted funds on the assumption it had already passed. Those remittances are taxable. This is a costly mistake, and it is still happening.
- Por. 162/2566 protects income earned before 1 January 2024, not accounts opened before then. You must be able to prove when the income arose. A commingled account destroys the carve-out. Segregate pre-2024 capital into a separate account now, if you have not already.
- The rule bites on remittance, not on earning. Living in Thailand on pre-2024 capital, or on capital rather than income, is the standard response. But it requires documentation you may not have kept.
- Foreign tax credit mechanics under Thailand's treaties are unclear in practice, and the Revenue Department's guidance is thin. Do not assume double taxation relief will go smoothly.
- This changed once by administrative instruction rather than legislation, which means it can change again the same way. A departmental instruction is not a statute and carries no transitional protection.
- LTR visa holders in the Wealthy Global Citizen, Wealthy Pensioner and Work-from-Thailand Professional categories are exempt from this entirely under Royal Decree No. 743. For a wealthy family, that is not a footnote. It is the entire reason to hold an LTR.