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Thai stamp duty is due only on written documents listed in a schedule to the Revenue Code. The two kinds a foreign resident meets most often are leases, taxed at 0.1% of the total rent and key money for the whole term, and the registered transfer of land or a condominium unit, taxed at 0.5% when the Specific Business Tax (SBT) of 3.3% does not apply. The two never apply together. A document that was never stamped stays a valid contract, but it cannot be used as evidence in a Thai civil court until the duty is paid.
In short
- Stamp duty applies only to the documents named in the Revenue Code schedule: mainly leases, loans, hire-of-work contracts, share transfers, powers of attorney and the receipt issued on a registered property transfer.
- A lease costs 0.1% of the rent and key money for the whole term. The lessor pays by default, but the lease can say otherwise.
- A property sale carries either SBT at 3.3% or stamp duty at 0.5%, never both.
- A lease or hire-of-work contract worth THB 1 million or more must be paid in cash at the Area Revenue Office; stamps are not accepted for those.
- An unstamped document is still a contract, but a Thai court will not look at it as evidence until the duty and any surcharge are paid.
Which documents attract stamp duty
Stamp duty is charged under section 104 of the Revenue Code, and only on the instruments the schedule names. For a lease, a hire-of-work contract and a transfer of shares, the rate is THB 1 for every THB 1,000, or part of it, of the taxed amount; other documents in the schedule carry their own rates and caps.
| Document | Rate | Who pays by default | Where and how |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lease of land or a building, including a lease with no fixed term (treated as 3 years) | 0.1% of the total rent and key money for the whole term | Lessor | For a registered lease, collected by the Land Office at registration; otherwise stamps, or cash at the Area Revenue Office if the total reaches THB 1 million |
| Hire of work | 0.1% of the contract price | Contractor | Stamps, or cash at the Area Revenue Office if the price reaches THB 1 million |
| Loan of money | THB 1 per THB 2,000, capped at THB 10,000 | Lender | Stamps |
| Transfer of shares | 0.1% of the paid-up value or the par value, whichever is higher | Transferor | Stamps |
| Power of attorney | THB 10 for a single act; THB 30 where several acts are done jointly; THB 30 per agent where several agents act separately and repeatedly | Principal | Stamps |
| Receipt for a registered property transfer | 0.5%, only where SBT does not apply | Usually the seller, by agreement | Land Office, on the day of registration |
The schedule does not name a sale-and-purchase agreement or a reservation agreement for property as a separate category. We have found no official statement explaining why; whether duty applies depends on the content of the particular document, and we check that rather than assume it never does.
Leases: how much and who pays
For a lease, the 0.1% rate is charged on everything the tenant pays for the right to use the property over the full term: the rent and any key money, added together, not just the first month or the first year. A lease with no stated end date is treated as a 3-year lease for this calculation.
Section 107 of the Revenue Code puts the duty on the lessor, but the parties are free to agree who actually pays. The lease can instead put this cost on the tenant. We advise writing into the contract, in one sentence, who pays the stamp duty — leaving it unsaid is how disputes start later.
Two examples make the numbers concrete. These are typical calculations, not a real client's figures.
- A 3-year residential lease at THB 30,000 a month comes to THB 1,080,000 for the whole term. Duty at 0.1% is THB 1,080. Because the total reaches THB 1 million, the duty must be paid in cash at the Area Revenue Office, not with adhesive stamps.
- A long lease registered for 30 years — the usual way to buy a villa, a townhouse or land for a house in Thailand, since the land itself stays with its Thai owner and the lease is registered at the Land Office — uses the same 0.1% rate, but the base is the rent and key money for all 30 years. Our lawyers add this figure up from the full schedule of payments in the lease, including any key money, before telling a client what to expect at registration.
Keep the 0.1% stamp duty apart from the Land Office's own 1% lease registration fee: they are two different charges, paid for two different things, and both show up on the same registration day.
Buying property: stamp duty or SBT
When a sale of land, a condo unit or a house is registered, the Land Office collects either the 3.3% Specific Business Tax or the 0.5% stamp duty — never both. Whether SBT applies depends on the seller and the circumstances of the sale. Confirm the applicable tax with the Land Office before calculating transaction costs.
Who bears this cost is a matter for the sale contract; on the Phuket resale market it is usually the seller. Our lawyers check whether SBT applies to a given sale well before the registration date, because that single question decides which of the two taxes — and which rate — lands on the deal.
Stamp duty and SBT are only part of the bill at registration. The transfer fee (2% of the appraised value) and the withholding tax are separate charges with their own rules; our guide to taxes and fees when buying a condo sets out the full list.
How to pay: e-Stamp and the Land Office
How duty is paid depends on the document and on where it is handled. For a lease registered at the Land Office, the Land Office collects the 0.1% stamp duty at registration, together with the 1% lease registration fee. For a lease or a hire-of-work contract that is not registered there and whose total reaches THB 1 million, the duty instead must be paid in cash at the Area Revenue Office, before signing or within 15 days of it; stamps are not used above that threshold.
The Revenue Department ran an online e-Stamp channel for leases and other paper instruments made up to 31 December 2025. Whether that channel is open for documents made in 2026 is something we check case by case rather than assume; we do not tell clients they can simply pay online.
A document signed outside Thailand is stamped by its first holder in Thailand, who has 30 days from receiving the document to pay the duty (Revenue Code, s. 111).
What happens if a document is unstamped
Missing the duty does not void the contract, but it carries real cost and risk. Sections 113 and 114 of the Revenue Code add a surcharge on top of the duty itself, not a multiple of the duty. Paid voluntarily within 90 days of the deadline, the surcharge is twice the duty, at least THB 4; after 90 days it is five times the duty, at least THB 10. If the Revenue Department finds a completely unstamped document first, the surcharge is six times the duty, at least THB 25. A document executed in Thailand gets a 15-day grace period, counted from the date it had to be stamped, if it is brought forward voluntarily (Revenue Code, ss. 113–114).
If a lease or contract you already signed was never stamped, send it to us — we will look at what can still be done before this becomes a problem in court, rather than waiting until a dispute forces the question.
What to do next
A short checklist covers most situations:
- Check who pays the duty under your contract, or add a line that says so.
- Add up the base figure for the whole term — rent plus key money for a lease. For other documents, check the base, rate and cap for that specific item: the higher of paid-up or par value for shares, the full loan amount, with duty calculated at THB 1 per THB 2,000 or part thereof and capped at THB 10,000, for a loan, the fixed amount for a power of attorney, or the higher of the declared price and the appraised value for a property transfer.
- If the total reaches THB 1 million for a lease or hire-of-work contract, plan to pay in cash at the Area Revenue Office, not with stamps.
- Keep the signed contract together with proof the duty was paid in whichever way applies — the stamps on the document itself, or the receipt for a cash payment — in case it is ever used as evidence.
We offer a 45-minute consultation to go through which fees and duties apply to your specific lease or purchase and who is expected to pay each one. The cost of that consultation is [price], confirmed with you before we start, and we reply to any request within 24 hours. For a planned condo or house purchase, our free review of the purchase or reservation contract, within 48 hours, is a good place to start — see our tax advice for foreigners in Thailand. If you also need to file a return once the property starts earning rent, our guide to filing a Thai tax return walks through that separately.
