PROPERTY IN THAILAND: NZ TAX OBLIGATIONS

 

Thinking about buying an apartment or villa in Thailand, but not sure how Inland Revenue would view it? This guide has been updated (2026) to reflect the latest rules, and covers both sides of the equation. That is, 1/ your New Zealand tax obligations as the owner, and 2/ what’s actually changed in Thailand’s own tax system since this topic was properly covered.

30-Second Read

• If you’re a New Zealand tax resident, you’re taxed here on worldwide income. That includes any rental profit from a Thai property, on top of whatever tax applies in Thailand itself.
• New Zealand has a Double Tax Agreement with Thailand(opens in new tab). Tax paid there generally gets credited against what you’d otherwise owe here, so you don’t pay twice on the same income.
• Thailand’s property tax system changed completely in 2019. The old house-and-land tax was based on assessed rental value. It’s been replaced by the Land and Building Tax, based on assessed property value instead, at rates from 0.15% to 1.2% depending on use.
• Thailand’s corporate tax rate is a flat 20%. Personal income tax is progressive up to 35% — not 37%, an older figure that stopped applying two decades ago.
• There’s no separate capital gains tax in Thailand. A profit on sale is simply added to ordinary income and taxed at the same progressive rates.

Your New Zealand Tax Obligations

If you’re a New Zealand tax resident, you’re taxed here on your worldwide income. That means income from New Zealand, plus income from everywhere else*, Thailand included. That means if you buy a rental property in Thailand and it turns a profit, you need to declare that income in New Zealand. This is on top of whatever you owe in Thailand itself. New Zealand has a Double Tax Agreement with Thailand. Tax paid in each country gets taken into account, rather than paying the full rate twice on the same income.

How does the credit actually work? If you own the property personally, you’d file for it in Thailand. You’d then declare the same income here. IRD works out what tax you paid in Thailand, and what should have been paid under NZ rules. If NZ tax works out higher, you pay the difference. If Thai tax was actually higher, you don’t get a refund of the excess. You simply don’t owe anything further here on that income.

Thailand’s Current Tax Rules

Corporate income tax in Thailand is a flat 20% for most companies. Smaller Thai companies get a tiered structure instead. That’s 0% on the first THB 300,000 of net profit, 15% on the next tranche up to THB 3 million, and 20% above that. This tiered SME treatment is worth understanding properly with a Thailand-based adviser, if you’re considering holding Thai property through a Thai company structure.

Personal income tax is progressive. It starts at 0% and rises to a top rate of 35% on income over roughly THB 5 million. This is genuinely lower than older sources sometimes state. The 37% top rate hasn’t applied since 2005, over two decades ago.

Residency matters for scope. Thai tax residents are taxed on worldwide income, similar to New Zealand’s own approach. There’s a specific rule around remitted foreign income, though that’s a separate question from owning Thai property directly. Non-residents are taxed only on Thailand-sourced income. That’s exactly the category a rental property falls into, regardless of your Thai residency status.

The Property Tax Itself Has Completely Changed

This is the detail most likely to be out of date if you’ve read about this before. Thailand’s old house-and-land tax taxed a percentage of a property’s assessed rental value. It was replaced entirely in 2019 by the Land and Building Tax Act. The new system works differently:

• Tax is calculated on the property’s assessed value, not its rental value.
• Rates range from 0.15% to 1.2%, depending on how the property is classified — residential, commercial, agricultural, or vacant.
• Vacant or unused land attracts progressively higher rates over time, rising toward 3%, specifically to discourage land being held idle.
• Owner-occupied residential property generally receives more favourable treatment than a property held purely as an investment.

If you’re working from older information about Thai property tax, this is the single most important thing to update. The mechanism itself, not just the rate, is different from what applied before 2019.

What About Selling the Property Later?

Thailand doesn’t have a separate capital gains tax. Instead, a profit on sale is simply added to your other income. It’s taxed at the same progressive rates described above — up to 35% for an individual, or the relevant corporate rate if held through a company. This is worth factoring into your planning from the outset. A large one-off gain on sale could push you into a higher marginal bracket for that year in Thailand, separate from whatever New Zealand tax applies to the same gain.

Our Take

You’ll need proper advice from a Thailand-based accountant regardless of how you structure the purchase. Thai company tax at 20% (or the tiered SME rates), plus the Land and Building Tax on top, needs to be weighed against personal ownership and its own progressive tax exposure. Once converted to NZD, either approach can end up being a genuinely reasonable overall tax cost. The right structure depends on your specific numbers, not a general rule of thumb.

Worked Example

Daniel buys an apartment in Thailand to rent out. Daniel holds the property personally rather than through a company. The apartment generates rental profit equivalent to NZ$15,000 a year. He pays Thai personal income tax at his applicable marginal rate on this, plus the Land and Building Tax based on the property’s assessed value.

He declares the same NZ$15,000 in his New Zealand tax return as worldwide income. He then claims a credit for the Thai tax already paid. Because Thai tax on that income works out lower than the equivalent NZ tax would be, Daniel pays the difference to IRD. He isn’t taxed twice on the same rental profit, but he doesn’t escape New Zealand tax on it either.

Checklist

• ✅ Confirm your NZ filing obligations cover the Thai rental income as part of your worldwide income
• ✅ Get a Thailand-based accountant to confirm your actual Thai tax position, including the Land and Building Tax specifically
• ✅ Don’t rely on older information describing the pre-2019 house-and-land tax system — it no longer applies
• ✅ Factor in Thailand’s lack of a separate capital gains tax when planning an eventual sale
• ✅ Compare personal ownership against a Thai company structure using your actual numbers, not a general assumption either way

Common Questions

Do I pay tax twice on my Thai rental income?
No. The NZ–Thailand DTA means tax paid in Thailand is credited against what you’d owe in New Zealand. You’re not taxed twice on the same income, though you may owe a top-up if Thai tax was lower.

Is Thailand’s property tax still based on rental value?
No — that changed in 2019. The current Land and Building Tax is based on the property’s assessed value instead.

What’s Thailand’s actual top personal tax rate?
35%, not the 37% figure sometimes still quoted from older sources — that rate hasn’t applied since 2005.

Should I buy through a Thai company or personally?
It depends on your specific numbers. Company tax is a flat 20% (or tiered for smaller companies), while personal tax is progressive up to 35%. Get advice from a Thailand-based accountant before deciding either way.

Other Countries

If you’re weighing up property or income in other countries too, see our guides for the UK, Australia, Malaysia, and Singapore.

* One point to note is that in some countries, the tie-break test can mean that your foreign-sourced income is not declared in New Zealand. So make sure you get advice based on your specific location.

Summary

Owning property in Thailand as a New Zealand tax resident means declaring the rental income here as part of your worldwide income, with the NZ–Thailand DTA preventing double taxation on the same profit. Thailand’s own tax system has moved on significantly since this topic was last covered in depth. The property tax mechanism changed entirely in 2019, and the top personal rate is lower than older sources suggest. Get proper advice from a Thailand-based accountant on your specific structure, and don’t assume older information about Thai property tax still applies.

Talk to EpsomTax.com About Your Overseas Property

Getting the New Zealand side of this right is exactly what we help with — we’ll also point you toward a Thailand-based specialist for the Thai side specifically. Contact EpsomTax.com to make sure your worldwide income obligations are covered properly, whatever country your property sits in.