Gift Tax in Thailand: What Tax Residents Need to Know

A bank transfer is not taxed merely because money moved. Thailand treats qualifying gifts within the personal income tax framework: first identify what the recipient actually received, then ask whether a specific gift exemption removes all or part of that amount from the tax calculation. A THB 12 million transfer from a legally registered spouse can therefore sit in a different category from the same amount sent by an unmarried partner.

Cross-border families have an extra layer to work through. Section 41 of the Revenue Code treats a person who spends at least 180 days in Thailand during the tax year as a Thai resident for this purpose. Revenue Department guidance on foreign-sourced assessable income applies to income arising from 1 January 2024 onward where the person was resident in the year the income arose and the amount is later remitted into Thailand. That rule does not turn every incoming wire into taxable income; the character of the receipt and any gift exemption still have to be established.

This matters when the gift is made outside Thailand and the money reaches Thailand later. The gift date, the recipient’s residence status for the relevant year, the country and source of the amount, and the remittance date may all need to be reconstructed. A domestic transfer of Thai real estate follows a different path because the tax rules interact with the registered transfer itself.

The Revenue Department’s 2026 foreign-sourced-income schedule makes the distinction visible. Its gift section asks for gift income only to the extent it is not exempt under Sections 42(26), 42(27) and 42(28), and it separately asks for the source country, the tax year in which the foreign income arose and the amount remitted to Thailand. A payment reference saying “gift” may support the file, but it does not answer those questions on its own.

Section 42(27) exempts maintenance, support and gifts received from an ascendant, descendant or lawful spouse up to THB 20 million for the tax year. The important part is the category as a whole. The threshold is annual; it should not be treated as a fresh THB 20 million allowance every time money is wired.

Revenue Department guidance describes ascendants as parents, grandparents and earlier generations. Descendants include children, grandchildren and later generations; its gift-tax explanation also includes adopted children and a child formally acknowledged by the father for this movable-gift category. That definition should not be carried across mechanically to the separate real-estate rule, which is drafted more narrowly.

Spouse status is another place where informal family language causes tax mistakes. The Department’s ruling on money received from an unregistered foreign partner says the Section 42(27) spouse exemption is for a marriage that is legally registered. Cohabitation or a long-term relationship may be relevant to a different analysis, but it does not convert an unmarried partner into a spouse for the THB 20 million rule.

If a lawful spouse makes a genuine THB 12 million cash gift and there are no other amounts that consume the same annual exemption, the transfer sits below the Section 42(27) threshold. Several qualifying transfers during the year need to be viewed together. Splitting one economic gift into multiple bank wires does not create multiple annual exemptions.

These rules also need to stay separate from inheritance tax. A lifetime transfer is tested under the gift provisions; property passing because of death belongs to the inheritance regime.

The THB 10 million rule is narrower than the shorthand “gifts from anyone else”. Section 42(28) covers maintenance or support based on a moral obligation, or gifts received in connection with a ceremony, custom or tradition, from someone who is not an ascendant, descendant or spouse.

That wording makes classification the first question. Being a friend, distant relative, fiancé, partner or family acquaintance does not by itself create a THB 10 million exemption. The facts must fit the statutory route before the annual threshold becomes relevant.

The Revenue Department’s ruling on an unregistered couple is a useful illustration. It rejected the idea that the foreign partner could be treated as a spouse under Section 42(27), then separately considered whether household support could amount to moral support under Section 42(28). The ruling treats that second question as fact-sensitive: the nature of the relationship and the support has to be established, not inferred from the payment label.

So a THB 12 million transfer from an unmarried partner cannot safely be reduced to “THB 10 million exempt, THB 2 million taxable” without more facts. If the payment genuinely falls within Section 42(28), the threshold and excess calculation can then be applied. If it does not, a different tax treatment may follow.

The same caution applies to ceremonial or customary gifts. The statute does not provide a universal list of acceptable occasions, and inventing one would give false certainty.

Cash, gold, a car and a registered transfer of a condo or land are all capable of being given without consideration, but they do not automatically follow the same tax mechanics. Movable gifts are usually analysed through the recipient-side exemptions in Sections 42(27) and 42(28). A no-consideration transfer of real estate has its own provisions because the ownership or possessory right itself is being registered.

Section 42(26) provides a specific exemption for an immovable-property transfer to a legitimate child: up to THB 20 million per legitimate child during the tax year. An adopted child is expressly excluded from this particular provision. That narrower wording is one reason the movable-gift rules and the real-estate rule should not be blended together.

The taxpayer side also changes. Section 41 bis treats the transferor of immovable property without consideration as the taxpayer. Revenue Department gift-tax guidance illustrates the parent-to-legitimate-child rule with a THB 22 million appraised land value: THB 20 million is exempt and a 5% election on the THB 2 million excess produces THB 100,000 of tax. The guidance also allows the alternative of bringing the relevant amount into the ordinary PIT computation.

For this special property transfer, the tax is handled in connection with registration at the Land Office. That figure is not a complete closing-cost quote. Transfer fees and any other taxes or charges arising on the registration need their own transaction-specific calculation.

A spouse-to-spouse property gift, a transfer between siblings or a transfer to another relative should not be forced into the parent-to-legitimate-child formula. Those transactions require a separate analysis of the applicable tax rule and registration charges.

For a cross-border family, the sender’s bank country is a poor shortcut to the tax answer. A transfer from Europe, the United States, Singapore or elsewhere is not taxable merely because it enters Thailand, and it is not exempt merely because the sender calls it a family gift. The relationship and the legal character of the payment come first; foreign-source and remittance rules are applied after that classification.

Revenue Department guidance implementing Section 41 applies, from 1 January 2024, to foreign-sourced assessable income that arises while the individual is a Thai tax resident and is then remitted to Thailand in the same or a later tax year. Gift exemptions still matter inside that analysis. If the receipt is genuinely within Section 42(27) or 42(28), the exempt portion is not turned into taxable income simply because the money crossed a border.

The current foreign-sourced-income schedule asks for the country, the tax year in which the foreign income arose and the amount remitted into Thailand, and it has a dedicated gift section for the non-exempt amount. Those fields become particularly useful where the gift was first received into the recipient’s overseas account and only moved to Thailand later. The file needs to distinguish the gift date from the later remittance date.

A practical evidence trail may include a written gift declaration or deed, proof of the family or marital relationship, sender and recipient statements, transfer confirmation, currency and transaction date. With a large transfer, source-of-funds records can help connect the donor’s money to the gift; for a non-cash asset, valuation evidence may also matter. These are evidential tools, not a claim that every bank or every tax filing demands an identical bundle.

Bank compliance and tax liability should also be kept separate. A bank may ask questions under its own controls, while tax treatment still depends on the Revenue Code. Information-exchange regimes can affect what data authorities receive, but they do not by themselves decide whether a transfer qualifies for a gift exemption.

The 5% figure is an election on the taxable excess in the relevant gift category, not a flat tax on every gift. For qualifying support or gifts under Sections 42(27) and 42(28), the taxpayer may elect to pay 5% on the non-exempt portion instead of folding that amount into the ordinary progressive PIT computation. The specific parent-to-legitimate-child property rule uses a similar 5% excess mechanism on the transferor side.

Take a genuine THB 25 million cash gift from a parent to a child that satisfies Section 42(27). The first THB 20 million falls within the annual exemption, leaving THB 5 million as the taxable excess. If the recipient elects the separate 5% treatment, the tax on that excess is THB 250,000. Ordinary PIT remains the alternative, so the 5% route should not be described as automatically better without comparing the recipient’s wider tax position.

Gift income is treated as Section 40(8) income for filing purposes. Revenue Department guidance says relevant January-to-June income is reported through P.N.D.94, while the full-year position is dealt with in P.N.D.90. The Revenue Code places the half-year filing in September, and the 2026 P.N.D.94 form is already published; the Department’s e-filing rules provide an additional filing window, but the live calendar should still be checked before submission.

The annual P.N.D.90 for 2026 belongs to the 2027 filing season. Rather than copy a prior year’s date into a current tax file, use the Revenue Department form and deadline published for that season. Cross-border gifts may also require the foreign-sourced-income attachment, where the non-exempt amount is linked to the source country, the year it arose and the remittance into Thailand.

A large family transfer is easier to test with a fixed sequence: donor → recipient → asset → total qualifying gifts for the tax year → source and timing of the asset or funds → remittance into Thailand where relevant. The sequence does not calculate the tax by itself, but it exposes which statutory route might apply and which facts are still missing.

Scenario 1: a lawful spouse transfers THB 12 million in cash. If it is genuinely a gift or support without consideration and no other amounts have used the same annual exemption, Section 42(27) places it below the THB 20 million threshold. The recipient is the relevant taxpayer side for a movable gift, but there is no taxable excess on those stated facts. The file should establish the registered marriage, the transfer and the nature of the payment; a foreign-source transfer also needs source-year and remittance records.

Scenario 2: an unmarried partner transfers THB 12 million. The lawful-spouse exemption does not apply. That still does not justify taxing the entire THB 12 million automatically: the facts must be tested under Section 42(28), including whether the payment can genuinely qualify as moral support. If that route is established, the THB 10 million annual exemption becomes relevant and THB 2 million may be the excess; without the underlying classification, the calculation is premature. Evidence of the relationship and purpose of the support matters alongside the bank transfer.

Scenario 3: a parent gives a child THB 25 million in cash. Section 42(27) can exempt THB 20 million if the conditions are met, leaving THB 5 million as the taxable excess. The recipient then considers the 5% election versus ordinary PIT. Relationship records, the gift document, the year-to-date total and the money trail are central; for money coming from abroad, the source year and remittance date also belong in the file.

Scenario 4: a parent transfers land or a condominium to a legitimate child for no consideration at an appraised value of THB 22 million. The specific Section 42(26) property rule exempts THB 20 million per legitimate child for the tax year and places the tax treatment on the transferor parent. Under the 5% election, the official example produces THB 100,000 of tax on the THB 2 million excess, handled in connection with registration at the Land Office. The title, appraisal, relationship evidence and Land Office documents are therefore critical. An adopted child or a different family relationship needs separate analysis rather than automatic use of this formula.

In every scenario, the legal relationship, the asset, the tax year and any cross-border timing can change the result. The current Revenue Code and return forms should be checked at the time of the transfer.