Thailand: corporate tax guide

What the tax system covers

Thai-incorporated companies generally pay corporate income tax on worldwide net profits. A foreign company doing business in Thailand follows different branch and source rules. An individual's remittance analysis does not exempt the company's earnings.

When a company becomes tax resident

A company incorporated under Thai law is a Thai-company taxpayer. Foreign-incorporated businesses can be taxable through local branches, offices, employees, agents or specified Thai-source receipts. Those connections should be checked before assuming a foreign company operated from Thailand is outside corporate tax.

Rates and the tax base

20% ordinary net-profit reference rate. The Revenue Department's English guide describes this rate and reduced treatment for qualifying small companies. The page retains older period labels: current thresholds and any special incentive must be confirmed against the applicable Thai legislation.

Outbound dividends, interest and royalties

Dividends: 10%. Domestic gross rate for dividends paid to a foreign company not carrying on business in Thailand. Special statutory incentives and treaty provisions require separate verification.

Interest: 15%. Domestic gross rate for this income paid to a foreign company not carrying on business in Thailand. A Thai branch, incentive or applicable treaty can change the treatment.

Royalties: 15%. Domestic gross rate for this income paid to a foreign company not carrying on business in Thailand. A Thai branch, incentive or applicable treaty can change the treatment.

Local work is a different source question

Thailand’s rules address income from employment or business carried on in Thailand, as well as relevant Thai assets. A person physically performing services there should not assume the receipts are foreign-source solely because the client, company or bank account is overseas. The immigration permission for remote work does not itself settle the tax source.

A business owner should map the work performed personally, authority to conclude contracts and management of foreign entities. An employer should consider its own obligations separately from the employee’s personal return. If two jurisdictions tax the same payment, identify the treaty provision and credit mechanism and retain evidence of the foreign tax actually paid. A credit is not automatically equal to every foreign charge.

Foreign companies: business presence and withholding

The authority distinguishes a foreign company carrying on business in Thailand from one receiving specified Thai-paid income without local business activity. A branch, office, employee or agent can change the analysis. These are different routes to tax, with different bases and filing requirements. Treat the older English foreign-company guide as an explanation of the framework; reconcile historic rate examples with the current law before using them in a cost model.

Profit computation and the accounting period

Corporate income tax uses net profit after statutory adjustments, not simply money transferred to Thailand. Review revenue recognition, deductible expenses, depreciation, losses and related-party charges in the actual accounts. A founder working in Thailand through a foreign company needs an analysis of the company's local activity as well as their personal salary and remittances.

Annual and midyear compliance

The published corporate guidance requires the annual company return within 150 days after the accounting-period close and also describes midyear tax based on estimated annual profits. Companies should plan for these payments when calculating working capital. Separate withholding, VAT and employment compliance should be assigned to the appropriate local filer rather than assumed to be covered by the annual profit-tax return.

Foreign companies and income attribution

Current standalone CFC scope not verified; business presence and foreign shareholder rules need separate review.

Departure, migration and continuing obligations

Assess the year income arose, residence history, later remittances and retained Thai business interests.