Thailand Legal · The Exit

Selling a Thai Condo as a Foreigner: Taxes, the FET Again, and Getting Your Money Out

Transfer fee on the registered value at the Land Office

3.3%

Specific Business Tax if sold within 5 years

0.5%

Stamp duty instead, once you cross the 5-year line

Every guide covers buying. Almost nobody covers the day you sell — and the sale is where the money-in discipline either pays off or bites. A foreign condo seller in Thailand faces three cost lines at the Land Office (the 2% transfer fee, the Specific Business Tax or stamp duty, and a withholding tax computed on the spot), plus one document requirement most sellers forgot about years ago: the FET certificate from the original purchase, which is what lets the proceeds leave the country. This guide walks the exit in order — the tax stack, the 5-year rule, the Land Office computation, and the bank workflow that wires your baht home — with the numbers current to 2026.

What Taxes Do You Pay When Selling a Condo in Thailand?

Three cost lines settle at the Land Office on transfer day: the 2% transfer fee on the registered value, EITHER the 3.3% Specific Business Tax (sold within five years) OR 0.5% stamp duty (held longer), and a withholding tax the Land Office computes from the appraised value.

Everything is settled at the counter before the transfer registers — there is no separate filing season for the transaction itself. That makes the exit math knowable in advance: the registered value, the government-appraised value, your holding period, and the allocation clause in your contract determine the whole stack. The buyer-side version of this day is covered in the condo buying process; this page is the mirror image.

Note what is not on the list: Thailand does not levy a separate capital-gains tax on an individual’s condo sale. The gain is taxed through the withholding computation instead. That is why the effective exit cost is driven by the appraised value and the calendar rather than a headline capital-gains rate.

What Is the Specific Business Tax — and the 5-Year Rule?

The Specific Business Tax (SBT) is 3.3% of the higher of the sale price or appraised value, charged when you sell within five years of acquiring registered ownership; hold past five years and it is replaced by 0.5% stamp duty — you never pay both.

The 3.3% is the 3% SBT plus the 10% municipal surcharge on it. The five-year clock runs from the date your ownership registered at the Land Office — not from your reservation, your contract, or your handover. On off-plan stock that distinction matters: the clock starts at title registration, which can be years after you first paid.

Run the numbers once and the rule prices itself. On a 5,000,000 THB sale, year-four SBT is 165,000 THB; year-six stamp duty is 25,000 THB. A 140,000 THB difference for waiting out the line. The 5-year rule is one of the quiet structural arguments against the quick flip in Thailand — the same math that anchors the investment-mistakes file.

How Does the Withholding Tax Work at the Land Office?

For an individual seller, the Land Office calculates withholding tax from the government-appraised value, applying a standard deduction based on your years of ownership and running the result through the progressive personal income tax schedule — withheld on the spot as a prepayment of income tax on the sale.

The mechanics are formulaic, not discretionary: appraised value, minus the years-of-ownership deduction, annualised over the holding period, taxed at the progressive rates, multiplied back. The output varies with the appraised value and how long you held — which is why two sellers with identical sale prices can pay different withholding. A company seller pays a flat 1% of the higher of the sale price or appraised value instead.

The practical move: have your lawyer (or the Land Office itself) compute the exact figure before closing day. The number is fully determinable in advance, and a seller who walks in knowing it walks out without surprises. Where the appraised value comes from and how it differs from market value is part of the property-tax guide.

Why Do You Need the FET Again When You Sell?

The FET certificate from your original purchase is the proof that your capital entered Thailand in foreign currency — and when you wire the sale proceeds home, the remitting bank asks for that original inbound record alongside the sale documents.

This is the exit-side payoff of the document that the FET certificate guide walks in full. On the way in, the FET unlocks foreign-freehold registration. On the way out, it evidences that the money leaving matches money that lawfully arrived, which is what makes the outward remittance a routine banking transaction rather than a case-by-case review.

This is also why the standard discipline is two original FET copies from day one — one in Thailand, one offshore. A lost FET is recoverable (the issuing bank can certify a replacement), but reconstruction takes time you do not want to spend between a signed sale contract and a transfer date.

How Do You Actually Get the Money Out of Thailand?

Through a Thai bank, with a documentation package: the original FET or credit advice, the sale-and-purchase agreement, the Land Office transfer documents, and the tax receipts — the bank converts the baht to foreign currency and wires it out.

With clean paperwork the outward remittance is unremarkable. The bank matches the outbound amount against the documented story of the deal: what came in (the FET), what the unit sold for (the SPA and transfer documents), and what tax was settled (the receipts). Proceeds above the original inflow — the gain — are supported by the sale documentation itself.

Sequence matters: taxes clear at the Land Office, title transfers, funds land in your Thai account, then the remittance package goes to the bank. Sellers who assembled the folder before listing treat this as a one-visit errand. Sellers who start hunting for a 2019 FET after accepting an offer discover that the document, not the buyer, is their closing risk.

Who Pays Which Cost — and What Does the Contract Say?

Allocation is negotiable and lives in the sale contract: a common convention splits the 2% transfer fee 50/50 with the seller carrying the SBT or stamp duty and the withholding tax, but conventions vary by market and by deal.

Nothing in the tax law forces a particular split; the Land Office collects the money regardless of whose pocket it leaves. That makes the allocation clause a genuine negotiation lever on both sides of the deal — a “buyer pays all transfer costs” clause is worth real percentage points, and so is its mirror.

Read the clause twice: once when you buy (today’s purchase contract sets a precedent for what you will accept later) and once when you sell. The wider legal frame for what you own and what you are transferring sits at the Thailand foreign-freehold breakdown.

THE EXIT IS BUILT AT ENTRY

The 5-year rule is priced by the calendar, the withholding by the appraised value, and the repatriation by a document you received years earlier. Keep two original FET copies, know your registration date, and compute the Land Office figure before closing day. The entry-side companion: the FET certificate guide.

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Practical Guidance: The Pre-Sale Checklist

Before you list a Thai condo as a foreign seller, verify all six of the following:

Find the FET. Locate the original FET certificate (or credit advice) from your purchase. If it is lost, start the replacement process with the issuing bank now, not after you accept an offer.
Check the calendar. Pull your registration date from the Chanote. Inside five years means 3.3% SBT; past it, 0.5% stamp duty. If you are months from the line, the timing is part of the price.
Compute the withholding. Have the Land Office figure calculated in advance from the appraised value and your holding period. It is determinable to the baht before closing day.
Negotiate the allocation clause. Transfer fee, SBT/stamp duty, withholding — who pays what is contract language, not law. Price it into your ask.
Assemble the remittance folder. FET, SPA, transfer documents, tax receipts — ready before transfer day, so the outbound wire is an errand, not a project.
Confirm the buyer’s quota position. If you are selling to another foreigner, the building’s 49% foreign quota must have room for the transfer to register — the same gate you cleared when you bought.

Get all six right and the exit is arithmetic: a known tax stack, a routine transfer, and a documented wire home.

Frequently Asked Questions

What taxes do I pay when selling a condo in Thailand?

Three cost lines settle at the Land Office on transfer day: the 2% transfer fee on the registered value (allocation between buyer and seller is negotiable), EITHER the 3.3% Specific Business Tax if you sell within five years of ownership OR 0.5% stamp duty if you held longer, and a withholding tax that the Land Office calculates for individual sellers from the appraised value using a years-of-ownership deduction and the progressive personal income tax schedule.

What is the Specific Business Tax and the 5-year rule in Thailand?

The Specific Business Tax (SBT) is 3.3% of the higher of the sale price or appraised value, and it applies when a property is sold within five years of acquiring registered ownership. Hold longer than five years and the SBT is replaced by 0.5% stamp duty instead. You never pay both. The five-year clock is one of the strongest arguments against a quick flip in Thailand: selling in year four costs 2.8 percentage points more tax than selling in year six.

How is the withholding tax calculated when a foreigner sells a Thai condo?

For an individual seller, the Land Office computes the withholding tax on the government-appraised value, applying a standard deduction that depends on how many years you owned the unit and then running the result through the progressive personal income tax schedule. It is withheld at the transfer, functioning as a prepayment of income tax on the sale. A company seller instead pays a flat 1% of the higher of the sale price or appraised value. Ask the Land Office (or your lawyer) for the computed figure before closing day so it is not a surprise at the counter.

Why do I need the FET again when I sell my Thai condo?

The FET certificate (or credit advice) from your original purchase is the document that proves your capital entered Thailand in foreign currency. When you sell and want to wire the proceeds home, the remitting Thai bank asks for that original inbound record alongside the sale documents, because it evidences that the money leaving matches money that lawfully came in. This is why the standard advice is to keep two original FET copies, one in Thailand and one offshore, from the day you buy.

How do I repatriate the money after selling a condo in Thailand?

Through a Thai bank, with a documentation package: the original FET or credit advice from your purchase, the sale-and-purchase agreement, the transfer documents from the Land Office, and the tax receipts. The bank converts the baht proceeds to foreign currency and wires them out. With clean paperwork this is routine; with a missing FET it becomes a slower conversation with the bank about reconstructing the inbound record.

Who pays the transfer fee and taxes when selling a Thai condo?

Allocation is negotiable and lives in the sale contract. A common convention is to split the 2% transfer fee 50/50 while the seller carries the SBT or stamp duty and the withholding tax, but conventions vary by market and by deal. Read the allocation clause before you sign anything, on both your purchase and your sale.

Is there capital gains tax when selling property in Thailand?

Thailand does not levy a separate capital gains tax on an individual’s property sale. The gain is captured instead through the withholding tax computed at the Land Office, which functions as income tax on the sale, plus the SBT or stamp duty. That is why the effective tax on a Thai condo exit is driven by the appraised value, the holding period, and the 5-year rule rather than by a stated capital-gains rate.

What happens if I sell my Thai condo within five years?

You pay the 3.3% Specific Business Tax on the higher of the sale price or the appraised value, instead of the 0.5% stamp duty that applies after five years. On a 5,000,000 THB sale that is 165,000 THB versus 25,000 THB, a 140,000 THB difference for crossing the five-year line. If you are close to the threshold, the calendar itself is part of the exit math.