Tax on Airbnb and short-term rental income in Thailand (2026): owners, Thai and foreign

What kind of income short-term rent is

Section 40 of the Revenue Code sorts assessable income into eight types. Type 5, section 40(5)(a), is money or other gain from renting out property. In ruling กค 0702/8847 (10 October 2013) the Revenue Department treated the payments a serviced-apartment company made to condominium owners, both a fixed rent and a share of net income, as rent under section 40(5)(a).

Where the owner is and where the money is paid do not change this. A tax guide that an independent law firm prepared for Airbnb (December 2024) says an individual earning income from property in Thailand is subject to Thai personal income tax regardless of where the income is paid and whether the person is a Thai tax resident.

Tax is separate from whether the rental is allowed in the first place. Daily rentals generally need a hotel licence or non-hotel registration, and condominium units cannot get either; see our guide to short-term rental law in Thailand.

Deductions, allowances and the tax rates

For rental income the Revenue Department allows either actual expenses or a flat rate. The flat rate depends on what is rented: 30% for houses, buildings and other structures, 20% for agricultural land, 15% for other land, 30% for vehicles and 10% for other property. Actual expenses must be necessary, reasonable and backed by documents; the Airbnb guide adds that if you can prove less than the flat rate, you can deduct only what you can prove.

After expenses, individuals deduct allowances. The basic personal allowance is 60,000 THB, the figure used in both the Airbnb guide and HLB Thailand's worked example. The rest is taxed at progressive rates, which the Revenue Department has applied since tax year 2017 and which PwC still listed as current in August 2026.

There is also a minimum-tax check. Under section 48(2), if assessable income other than salary is 120,000 THB or more, the tax cannot be less than 0.5% of that income. For most owners with real expenses and allowances the progressive calculation is higher, but run both.

Which returns to file, and when

Thailand's tax year is the calendar year. An owner with rental income usually files twice:

1. 1

   Half-year return: PND 94

   Section 56 bis requires a September return covering only January–June income under sections 40(5) to 40(8), which includes rent. Half the allowances are deducted and any tax due is paid with the return, then credited at year end. Paper returns are due by 30 September; online returns by 8 October.

2. 2

   Annual return: PND 90

   The full year's income goes on the annual return, due by 31 March of the following year on paper or 8 April online. PND 91 is the form for people with employment income only, so an owner with rent normally uses PND 90. Tax paid with the PND 94 and tax withheld by payers are credited here.

3. 3

   Claim any refund

   HLB Thailand notes that refunds of over-withheld tax are not automatic: you request them on the return, and you need a Thai tax ID number to file.

Withholding when a manager pays the owner

When a Thai company pays rent to an owner, it usually has to withhold tax first. The rate depends on where the owner is resident.

The payer must give the owner a withholding certificate, the 50 Tawi. Section 50 bis says that for this kind of income it is issued immediately every time tax is withheld, not once a year. Without those certificates an owner cannot credit the tax.

Withholding is not the owner's whole bill. HLB Thailand estimates that gross rent would have to reach around USD 140,000 a year before the tax due outgrows the 15% withheld, so many non-resident owners who file get money back. A resident owner with other income may owe more than the 5% withheld.

Tax residence and money brought into Thailand

• The 180-day test. Section 41 treats a person who stays in Thailand for 180 days or more in a tax year as resident. The Revenue Department's English summary says "more than 180 days"; if you are close to the line, ask an adviser which reading applies to you.
• Thai rent is taxed either way. Residence decides your withholding rate and whether foreign income counts, not whether Thai rent is taxable.
• Foreign income brought in. PwC's summary (reviewed 24 August 2026) says residents are taxed on foreign-source income earned from 1 January 2024 onwards when it is brought into Thailand, in that year or later.
• The proposed exemption is not law yet. A draft royal decree would exempt foreign income brought in during the year it is earned or the following year. A Thai law firm's tracker, updated on 2 November 2026, says it has not been published in the Royal Gazette. Do not plan transfers around it until it is.

Worked example: one villa owner's year

A Phuket pool villa, registered for short-term letting, is run by a Thai management company. For 2026 the company pays the owner 840,000 THB in rent after its fee, OTA commissions and cleaning. The owner has no other Thai income and claims only the 60,000 THB personal allowance.

Classification moves the bill by several thousand baht, and a non-resident who does not file loses a refund worth over 11% of the year's rent. At half-year the same owner files a PND 94: on 480,000 THB of January–June rent, net income after 30% and half the allowance is 306,000 THB, tax is 8,100 THB, and the 24,000 THB withheld covers it.

Land and Building Tax and VAT

Land and Building Tax replaced the old House and Land Tax and Local Development Tax from 1 January 2020. Whoever owns the property on 1 January pays it to the local authority, on the official appraised value. Normally it is due in April; for 2026 the Ministry of Interior moved the deadline to June.

Which line a rental falls on is the local authority's call. When the tax was introduced, the Finance and Interior ministries said property rented out for people to live in pays the residential rate, but that this does not include hotels under the hotel law. A unit run as daily holiday accommodation can therefore be assessed at the "other use" rate. Check the assessment notice each year and ask the local office if the use category looks wrong.

VAT usually does not apply to a lease of immovable property, which is exempt. A business similar to a hotel is a different matter: the Airbnb guide says that if you do not hand over possession or you provide cleaning or laundry, you are likely to be treated as running a hotel-like business, which must register for VAT within 30 days of taxable revenue passing 1.8 million THB. The rate stays at 7% until 30 September 2027. If you run a management company, read our guide to VAT for rental management companies.

What managers should give owners at year end

Owners file their own returns, but they need your paperwork. A year-end pack:

1. Every 50 Tawi withholding certificate issued during the year, plus a summary listing each payment, the rent and the tax withheld.
2. A January–June total for the PND 94 and a full-year total for the PND 90, each matching the statements.
3. The monthly owner statements, unchanged since they were issued, so the totals can be traced to stays.
4. Receipts and bills for costs paid on the owner's behalf, which they need if they deduct actual expenses.
5. Any corrections, with the statement they appear on.

Where Propool fits

Propool does not file tax. What it does is keep the records the pack is built from: each owner statement covers one property and one period in baht, shows gross income from every stay with the management fee, cleaning and adjustments line by line, and is locked once issued, with corrections carried to a later statement. Each unit's Money tab holds its bills, receipts and owner statements, and owners can see their own statements and documents in the owner portal, depending on plan. See how owner statements work in Propool, and our guide to owner statements and management fees.

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