Land Tax

http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/175931/land-tax-is-a-worthy-goal

http://www.bangkokpost.com/life/financialadvice/36341/cabinet-oks-draft-bill-on-new-land-tax

As any of you with TW/TG and land holdings know, the current property taxes are very very low for the comparitive worth of land/houses. If this bill gets passed by Parliament, then beware the Tax Assessors!! Whoever in the Land Office gets the assessor jobs will end up being richer than a Customs Agent.. Assessing the value versus perceived worth of property can be very subjective.. I figure our place is probably worth 3-5 million Baht.. That doesn't mean we could sell it for that... IF and when the assessor visits, will the fact that the property is "associated" with a Farang cause the assessment to go up??? Per the article "The maximum land tax rate would be 0.5% of the value as appraised by the Treasury Department during the initial stage." If the assessor were to value our propety at the high end, that would mean an annual tax of roughly 20,000 Baht.. Not a killer total but getting close to U.S. property tax...

And of course, the fear would be that for those of us with TW's that went with them to the Land Office and signed the "not my money, not my land" document, is the Chanote flagged in the Land database as "associated" with a Farang..???

The supposed intent of the bill is to tax "unused" land to force land speculators to sell it for more productive use instead of sitting on it.. We'll see what happens..

I think the law is a valid and needed one,but as with all the other laws of a endemic corrupt society,not of maximum value to the people as a whole.

There is no doubt that falangs will always be scapegoated and taken advantage of in this type of system,!So,yes,plan on paying the surcharges,after all,YOU ARE RICH and it is relatively small in comparison to the West

We should not expect anything to go our way and when it does,accept it as an individual gift or a mistake,because that is exactly what it is!

This being Thailand, anything is possible (as in juntas, coups, mass exodus, or happy-days-are-here-again, or even 50/$1). But back on topic, here are a few pertinent extracts from the article that I read:


Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij said the exact tax rates under the law had not yet been set.

The maximum land tax rate would be 0.5% of the value as appraised by the Treasury Department during the initial stage.

The initial draft bill sets ceilings on the tax rates for three types of land: farmland (not over 0.05%), residential land (not over 0.1%), and others, including commercial shop houses and unused land (not over 0.5%), according to a source at the ministry. (The way I read this.....most folks would be looking at 0.1% vs. 0.5%)

The process to enact the new taxes is expected to take about four years - two years to pass through parliament and two years for the grace period to expire, Mr Korn said. (given the state of affairs in the government today, does the existing parliament accomplish anything?)

I'd not worry about different taxes for falangs, not much in the way of precedence for this: I pay 20 baht a month for garbage, like all the villagers. My water and electric rates are the same as others (although I pay zillions more because I use ac), auto registration/license/insurance all the same. More than anything......4 years from now in Thai politics is a lifetime..........I'm just wondering what's going to happen in the next 2 weeks.

We have just purchased 5 Rai of farmland near Udon, but yesterday when my wife went to the Land Registry to sign the transfer papers she was told that because she is married to a ‘falang’ she must pay tax at 8% (I believe the normal rate is 5%), and also that I too must sign the transfer with her.

I think that I have seen this precise thread on Udon Map, but can’t find it. Can anyone assist/advise/explain?

The transfer fee for land is 2% unless it's been held for less than 5 years, in which case there's another 3.3% added. Here's a link to the land office page with the transfer costs. It's in Thai but Google Translate does a reasonable job of translating it to English. Your wife can probably do a better job.

There's nothing in there about a "farang" tax but each land office seems to have their own set of rules that may or may not conform to national law.

I have been told there is no tax on residential land (under a specific size -- I think it's five rai) if you live baan nawk.
Despite asking neighbors repeatedly, I've not paid any tax while living in my house for three years, they always say there is none due.
Hell, it's not my land anyway,tax/penalize my wife -- not me.

My brother-in-law works at the local land office and has never mentioned us owing any property tax.