Thailand answers, taxes
Will I be taxed twice, in my home country and Thailand?
Two countries can both have a claim on the same income. That is normal, and it is what double tax agreements exist to resolve. Thailand has more than 60 of them, and the Revenue Department publishes the list of partners.
How the credit works
You do not choose which country taxes you. Both may, and the agreement then decides which one gives relief. On the Thai side, tax already paid abroad on an item of income can be credited against the Thai tax on that same item, and only where a treaty permits it: with no agreement, there is no credit. Three features matter in practice.
- It is calculated separately for each country and each type of income. You cannot set a foreign credit on dividends against Thai tax on employment income.
- It is capped at the Thai tax on that income. If your home country taxed it at a higher rate, Thailand does not refund the difference.
- It only matters for income that is assessable in Thailand in the first place, which for a resident means Thai-source income and foreign income actually brought in.
Why many nomads avoid the problem
The remittance rule does a lot of the work before a treaty is ever needed. A Thai resident is assessable on foreign income brought into Thailand, and foreign income earned before 1 January 2024 sits outside the current rule. If you are not bringing in this year's earnings, there is no Thai claim to overlap with your home country's.
If you stay under the residency line of about 180 days in a calendar year, you are not resident, and only income from sources in Thailand is in scope. Section 41 of the Revenue Code counts employment or business carried on in Thailand as such a source wherever it is paid, and no published guidance says how that applies to remote work for foreign clients, so ask a Thai tax adviser before you assume there is none.
The question to ask at home
Check whether your own country taxes on residence or on citizenship, because the two give very different answers. A residence-based system usually releases you once you have genuinely moved; a citizenship-based one follows you. If you end up resident in both places in the same year, the tie-breaker article of the relevant agreement decides which country treats you as resident.
This is where we would stop reading and pay an adviser who handles both ends, particularly with property, dividends or a company at home. The Thai tax guide sets out the Thai half in detail.
Sources
- Thai Revenue Department, Revenue Code in English, Section 41 (paragraph 1: income from an employment or from business carried on in Thailand is taxed whether paid within or outside Thailand; paragraph 2: a resident's income from an employment or business carried on abroad is taxed upon bringing it into Thailand), accessed .
- PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries, Thailand foreign tax relief and tax treaties (no credit for foreign tax unless a double tax treaty permits it), accessed .
- Expat Tax Thailand, assessable foreign-sourced income (agreements with over 60 countries, credit calculated by country and income type and limited to the Thai tax on that income), accessed .
- Thai Revenue Department, personal income tax (resident after more than 180 days in a tax year, taxed on Thai-source income and foreign income brought into Thailand; non-residents on Thai-source income only), accessed .
- Thai Revenue Department, double tax agreements table, accessed .
- KPMG GMS Flash Alert 2023-238, Por. 162/2566 (the 2024 remittance rule does not apply to foreign income derived before 1 January 2024), accessed .
Facts in this answer last verified .
Read the full guide
- Thai tax for digital nomads: the 180-day rule and the remittance basis explained (2026)
Thai tax for digital nomads: the 180-day test, the remittance rule, what Section 41 says about work done in Thailand, 2026 brackets, treaties and filing.