Tax residency rule, Thailand

Thailand Tax Residence

Summary

You are a Thailand tax resident for a year if you stay in Thailand for 180 days or more in that calendar year. The days from all visits are added together. Residents pay Thai income tax on income from Thailand and on foreign income that they bring into Thailand. Non-residents pay only on income from Thailand. The limit is 180 days, three days lower than the 183 days many other countries use, and there is no test of home or family ties in the law. The Revenue Department applies the rule.

Limit
180 days or more, added together from all stays
Period
The tax year, which is the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December
Effect
Foreign income brought into Thailand becomes taxable
Tax return due
By the last day of March of the following year
Law
Revenue Code, section 41
Run by
The Revenue Department of Thailand

Who it applies to

The rule

Section 41 of the Revenue Code has three parts. The first says that a person who earns income from a job, a business or property in Thailand pays tax on it, whether the income is paid in Thailand or outside. This applies to everyone, resident or not. The second says that a resident of Thailand who earns income from a job, a business or property abroad pays tax on that income when it is brought into Thailand. The third defines a resident: a person who stays in Thailand for one or more periods that add up to 180 days or more in a tax year.

The tax year is the calendar year. The test is only a day count. Thai law has no separate test of a permanent home, of family ties or of a centre of life for individuals. Nationality does not matter either: a Thai citizen who stays under 180 days in a year is a non-resident for that year, and a foreigner with 180 days is a resident.

You may see two wordings. The English text of section 41 on the Revenue Department website says 180 days or more. The Revenue Department's general guide to personal income tax says more than 180 days. The difference is one day. The safe reading is that the 180th day makes you resident.

What changed recently is the treatment of foreign income. For many years, foreign income was taxed only if a resident brought it into Thailand in the same year in which it was earned. Revenue Department Order Paw 161/2566 changed this from 1 January 2024: foreign income of a resident is taxable when it is brought into Thailand in any year. A second order, Paw 162/2566, says this does not apply to income that was earned before 1 January 2024.

Why it exists

Thailand taxes income from Thailand for everyone, and it wants people who live in the country for half the year to also pay on money they bring in from abroad. A plain day count is easy for the tax office to check against passport records, and it needs no questions about homes and family.

Counting the days

You count the days you were in Thailand in one calendar year, from 1 January to 31 December, and add all visits together.

  1. Take one calendar year, for example 2026.
  2. List every stay in Thailand in that year with the entry date and the exit date from your passport stamps.
  3. Add up the days of all stays. Count the day you arrive and the day you leave, which is the safe way.
  4. If the total is 180 or more, you are a tax resident for that year.
  5. If you are resident, note which foreign income you brought into Thailand in that year and when it was earned.
  6. Start again from zero on 1 January. Days do not carry over.
How Countr counts it. Countr counts every day on which you were in Thailand for any part of the day, from 1 January to 31 December. It allows 179 days and warns you 14 days before the limit, so the card shows that day 180 is the day you become resident. The Revenue Code does not say how a part of a day is treated, so the app takes the safe side and counts arrival and departure days. The app does not follow your money, so it cannot tell which foreign income you brought into Thailand.

Track Thailand Tax Residence on your phone.

Countr finds your past trips in your photos and keeps counting from there.

Download on the App Store

Examples

One day under the limit

Peter arrives in Chiang Mai on 1 January 2026 and leaves on 28 June 2026. That is 179 days. He does not return in 2026. He is a non-resident for 2026 and pays Thai tax only on income from Thailand. The pension he moved from his British bank to his Thai bank during those months is foreign income of a non-resident and is not taxed in Thailand.

A short visit in December

Suppose Peter comes back for a weekend from 12 to 13 December 2026. Those 2 days bring his total for the year to 181, which is over the limit. He is now a tax resident for the whole of 2026, not only for December. Pension income earned in 2026 that he brought into Thailand during the year is taxable in Thailand, subject to any tax treaty between Thailand and the United Kingdom.

A winter that crosses the new year

Ingrid stays in Phuket from 1 October 2025 to 31 March 2026, which is 182 days in a row. The calendar year splits the stay: 92 days fall in 2025 and 90 days fall in 2026. If she spends no other time in Thailand, she has fewer than 180 days in each year and is a non-resident for both. The same 182 days inside one calendar year would have made her resident.

Exceptions

Common misconceptions

“Thailand uses 183 days like most countries.”
The limit in section 41 of the Revenue Code is 180 days. A person who plans for 183 days is already a resident.
“The 180 days must be one stay.”
The law adds up one or more periods in the tax year. Six visits of 30 days each make 180 days.
“Foreign income is free if I bring it in the year after I earn it.”
That was the old practice. For income earned from 1 January 2024, a resident is taxed when the income is brought into Thailand in any year.
“My visa type decides whether I am a tax resident.”
The Revenue Code looks at days in Thailand only. A person on a tourist visa with 180 days is a resident, and a person with a long-stay visa and 100 days is not.

Questions and answers

Do the day I arrive and the day I leave count?

The Revenue Code does not say how part days are treated. The safe way is to count both, and this is how Countr counts. If your total is within a few days of 180, ask the Revenue Department or a Thai tax adviser.

What happens when I reach 180 days?

You are a tax resident for that whole calendar year. Foreign income you bring into Thailand in that year becomes taxable, if it was earned from 1 January 2024, and you may need to file a return by the last day of March of the following year.

Does a stay from October to March make me resident?

Only if one of the two calendar years reaches 180 days. The count starts again on 1 January, so a stay of six months that crosses the new year can leave both years under the limit.

Am I taxed on money I keep in a bank abroad?

Not under the current section 41. A resident is taxed on foreign income when it is brought into Thailand. Money that stays abroad is outside that rule.

Can I be a tax resident of Thailand and of my home country?

Yes. Thailand looks only at the 180 days, and your home country applies its own tests. If there is a tax treaty, its tie-breaker rules decide where you are resident for the treaty.

Does a Thai citizen become non-resident by working abroad?

Yes, for any calendar year in which the person stays in Thailand for fewer than 180 days. The test is the same for Thai citizens and foreigners.

Sources

Read more: The 183-day rule: what it means and what it does not.

News about this rule

Other rules for Thailand

See all trackers

This page explains the rule and how the days are counted. It is not legal or tax advice. The authority decides each case on its own facts.