What Foreign Owners in Phuket Actually Pay in Annual Property Tax and Land Tax

Thailand has an annual property tax — the Land and Building Tax Act B.E. 2562. Its rates are low: for a typical condo or villa in Phuket that a foreign owner doesn't use as a primary residence, the yearly amount is usually a modest sum, from a few hundred to a few thousand baht. The tax is calculated from the government appraised value — published by the Land Department, and almost always lower than the contract price.

What Makes Up a Foreign Owner's Annual Costs

Besides the property tax itself, a condo or villa owner in Phuket has two more cost items: the common fee for shared-area maintenance, paid every year, and a one-time sinking fund contribution at purchase.

Who Calculates the Tax, and at What Rate

The government appraised value of the land, unit, or house is set by the Land Department. The annual tax itself is collected by the local administrative organization — a municipality (tesaban) or tambon administration where the property is located.

The rate depends on how the property is used and its appraised value. For a foreign owner of a condo or villa in Phuket, the property is almost always an investment or a second home — not their primary, registered residence. For this kind of residential property, the rate is:

up to ฿50 million appraised value — 0.02%;
฿50–75 million — 0.03%;
฿75–100 million — 0.05%;
above ฿100 million — 0.10%.

Rates are current as of September 2026.

Local authorities send the assessment notice with the appraised value and tax amount early in the year; payment is due by April 30.

Example: A Condo Studio in Phuket

For a unit with an appraised value of ฿2,500,000 (usually lower than the contract price), at the 0.02% rate for residential property that isn't a primary residence, the tax comes to about ฿500 a year — around $15 at 33 ฿/$.

Villas: Land and the House Are Taxed Separately

Under Thai law, the house and the land under it are separate assets. The structure can be registered to a foreigner as freehold or leasehold; the land is available to a foreigner only as leasehold. For the property tax, this means the appraised value of the land and of the structure is calculated separately, each at its own rate from the same residential table.

Example: the appraised value of the land under a villa is ฿8,000,000, and the structure's appraised value is ฿6,000,000. Both fall into the up-to-฿50-million bracket at 0.02%: land tax comes to about ฿1,600 a year, structure tax to about ฿1,200, for a total of about ฿2,800 (around $85).

The land is held under leasehold — and the tax is due on it just the same: by law, the taxpayer is the owner, possessor, or user of the land as of January 1, and a foreigner with a registered long-term lease fits that category as a user. The exact wording depends on the terms of the specific lease.

Common Fee and Sinking Fund: Outside the Tax, But Still on the Budget

Besides the government tax, a condo owner has recurring payments to the condominium juristic person for shared-area upkeep — Phuket developer price lists put this at around ฿80 per sq m per month on average, usually billed once a year. Separately, a one-time sinking fund is paid at purchase — around ฿800 per sq m on average. Both are worth factoring into the overall ownership budget when choosing a property.

What You Pay on Entry and on Resale — Beyond the Annual Tax

When buying freehold on the primary market, registration fees and taxes together come to about 6.3% of the property's value: the developer typically covers half by contract, and the buyer should budget for 3–3.3%. For leasehold, it's about 1.1%, entirely on the buyer's side. The buyer doesn't pay an agency commission — developers cover it from their marketing budget, as do sellers.

On resale, the same types of payments apply as on entry — the transfer fee, stamp duty or specific business tax (SBT), and withholding tax — but now they're usually split between seller and buyer by agreement, often evenly. If you've owned the property for less than five years, SBT (3.3%) applies instead of stamp duty (0.5%) — worth factoring in for a short holding period. For the full breakdown of these payments, see Property Transfer Fees and Taxes in Thailand: Who Pays What.

Condo vs Villa: Yearly Cost of Ownership

Type	What's Taxed	Rate (residential, not primary residence)	What Else Is in the Annual Budget
Condo	The whole unit, by appraised value	0.02–0.10% depending on the value bracket	Common fee ~฿80/sq m per month
Villa	Land and structure separately, each by its own appraised value	0.02–0.10% on each part separately	House and grounds upkeep — case by case, depends on the property

Conclusion

Thailand does have an annual property tax, but for a typical condo or villa in Phuket it comes to a modest sum — from a few hundred to a few thousand baht a year, easy to calculate in advance once you know the property's appraised value. Undersun Estate is a real estate agency in Phuket with an office in Kathu. When helping a client choose a property, our team discusses both the price and what ownership costs after the deal. If you're budgeting for a specific condo or villa, message us on WhatsApp — we'll work it out together.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do foreigners need to register themselves as Land and Building Tax payers?

The assessment notice is sent by local authorities to the property's address — no separate registration is needed. For owners who don't live in Phuket full-time, the condominium juristic person (for condos) or the villa's management company, if there is one, usually keeps track of these notices — worth confirming at the time of purchase.

Is the tax due if a condo or villa sits empty and isn't rented out?

Yes, for residential property the rate doesn't depend on whether anyone lives there or it sits empty. A separate, higher scale applies only to land officially registered as unused — a distinct category, outside residential.

Is property tax in Thailand higher than in other countries?

No: at 0.02–0.10% of the appraised value for residential property, Thailand's rates are significantly lower than, for example, in the US (about 0.9% of home value on average, over 1.5% in some states, per Tax Foundation and National Association of Home Builders data based on the US Census Bureau), Spain (local IBI tax — 0.4–1.3% of cadastral value), and Portugal (IMI — 0.3–0.45% of assessed value, per PwC). The appraised value itself is also usually lower than the property's market price.