Technical article

Thailand: When Thai Tax Applies to Money My Family Trust Sends Me

From 1 January 2024, foreign-source income of a Thai resident is taxed when it is brought into Thailand.

By Neil Solomon · 3 min read

Imagine a retired man from the UK whose family trust pays him each year. He moves to Bangkok and wonders when Thai tax begins. Does it begin the day he lands, the day he passes a number of days, or the day the money reaches a Thai account?

The sources give three clocks.

The first is residence. Thailand treats a person as a tax resident after 180 days or more in a calendar year. PwC, tier B, says the 180 days are added up, and short-term residence is not defined.

The second is the date of the income. From 1 January 2024, foreign-source income of a Thai resident is taxed when it is brought into Thailand. PwC words it this way: the income must be earned in a tax year starting 1 January 2024 or later, and brought in the same year or a later one.

The third is the day the money moves. Income that stays abroad is not taxed under this rule. This is the remittance basis. The top personal rate is 35% on net income above THB 5 million (about US$150,000).

The two big firms differ on the start date, and that matters to anyone whose trust built up income before 2024. PwC reads the rule as covering income earned from 1 January 2024. A second large firm, writing in December 2023 about the Revenue Department's orders, reads the first order as taxing any foreign income brought in from 1 January 2024, whatever year it was earned, and says the second order leaves pre-2024 income uncovered. The two readings differ on income earned before 2024. Both are tier B.

For a trust, that is a practical difference. A trust that earned and held income in 2022 and pays it out in 2025 sits right in the gap between the two readings.

On inheritance, PwC gives 10% on legacies above THB 100 million per person who died (about US$3 million), and 5% when the heir is a parent or a descendant. Sources differ on where the 10% starts for heirs who are not parents or descendants: a news report of the law as published says THB 10 million, and a 2026 law-firm guide says THB 50 million. A spouse is exempt. Heirs pay on the portion above THB 100 million from each person who died, in one or several transfers. It covers real estate, securities, bank deposits and registered vehicles. All of that is PwC. A Thai law firm's article from December 2022 (tier C) adds that foreign heirs who are not domiciled in Thailand are taxed only on inheritance situated, registered, withdrawn or claimed in Thailand, and that a domiciled foreigner has 150 days to pay once over the line. The same firm gives a gift tax of 5% on gifts of movable property from a parent, child or spouse above THB 20 million a year, and 10 million from others.

You might say: "I will leave the money in my trust abroad, so Thailand never sees it." On the remittance basis, that is the very point of the rule: income that stays abroad is not taxed. The sources show the other side too. Money brought in to pay for a house or monthly living is brought in, and the date it was earned then decides which reading applies.

You could keep a record for each payment: the year the trust earned it and the day it reached Thailand. You could also keep two accounts, one abroad and one in Thailand, so the transfers are easy to trace.

This touches the family. A trust that pays a child who lives in Bangkok follows the same clocks. A parent's legacy is taxed only on the part above the large threshold.

If you have moved to Thailand, how do you keep track of what you bring in? Share it here. Another reader may be planning a first transfer.

Figures are estimates for planning, based on public data. Date read: October 2026.