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Tax year and taxable persons
The tax year for individuals is the calendar year ending December 31. Individual tax payers are classified into five categories as follows: natural person; non-juristic body of persons; non-juristic partnership (unregistered ordinary partnership); a deceased person’s assessable income and estate throughout the year in which death occurred; the undistributed estate of the deceased.
Taxable base and scope
The taxable base is determined by deducting expenses and allowances from all assessable income. Tax is levied on the taxable base at progressive rates ranging from five per cent to 37 per cent.
A resident is an individual who lives in Thailand for one or more periods totalling 180 days or more in any tax year. A resident is subject to tax on all income from sources in Thailand and on income derived from sources outside of Thailand, should such income be brought into Thailand. A non-resident individual is subject to tax only on income earned from sources within Thailand.
Section 40 of the Revenue Code describes the various types of income subject to personal income tax. Some types of income entitle the individual to standard deductions. In summary, these types of income and the corresponding standard deductions, if any, are presented in the table below.
| Exclusions from gross income |
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Certain types of income are excluded from the gross income for the purpose of computing income tax. Among the excluded items are:
- Employee moving expenses, or the portion of travelling expenses paid by the employer to the employee for travelling from another location to assume employment for the first time, or for returning to the point of origin at the termination of employment;
- Reimbursement for per diems or transportation expenses of an employee;
- Share of profits obtained from a non-juristic partnership or a non-juristic body of persons subject to personal income tax;
- Income from sale of securities traded in the Securities Exchange of Thailand, not including income from sale of debentures and bonds;
- Reimbursement of medical expenses incurred in Thailand for an employee and his or her dependents;
- Income from sale of investment units in a mutual fund set up under the Securities and Stock Exchange Act 1992.
- Up to 290,000 baht of employee contributions to a registered provident fund.
In addition to the itemized standard deductions, taxpayers are also entitled to the following personal allowances:
- 30,000 baht for the taxpayer;
- 30,000 baht for the taxpayer’s spouse;
- 15,000 baht for each of the taxpayer’s children (maximum three children except those born before 1979)
- 2,000 baht for each child in school in Thailand.
Other allowances
Other allowances are available for the following:
- Life insurance premium, not exceeding 10,000 baht;
- Spouse’s life insurance premium, not exceeding 10,000 baht;
- Interest on mortgage of personal residence, not exceeding 10,000 baht;
- Contributions to a qualified provident fund, not exceeding 10,000 baht;
- Contributions to a social security fund, for the full amount
- The estate of a deceased person, 30,000 baht;
- unregistered partnership or non-juristic body of persons, 60,000 baht (maximum).
After deducting the standard or itemized deductions, and the applicable allowances from gross income, the resulting net income is taxed at the rates shown in the following table:
Net Annual Income (baht) |
Tax Rate |
0-50,000 |
0% |
50,001-100,000 |
5% |
100,001-500,000) |
10% |
500,001-1,000,000 |
20% |
1,000,001-4,000,000 |
30% |
>4,000,000 |
37% |
The tax rate on the joint income of spouses is the same as that applicable to persons filing individual returns; the incomes of both spouses are treated as accruing solely to the husband. However, if both spouses have employment income, each spouse may elect to file a separate tax return. In that event, each employed spouse is entitled to a separate standard deduction and the personal exemption of each spouse will then be Baht 30,000 plus Baht 7,500 for each dependent child (or 8,500 if school allowance is applicable).
the case where an individual has a gross income of more than Baht 60,000, excluding income under Section 40 (1) of the Revenue Code (employment income), the income tax payable must not be less than 0.5 per cent of that gross income.
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