Thai tax on foreign income: the 2024 remittance rule

In September 2023 the Thai Revenue Department issued Order P. 161/2566, covering foreign income brought into Thailand from 1 January 2024. A follow-up Order, P. 162/2566, in November, excluded income earned before that date. Within hours the message on every digital-nomad forum became the same: Thailand now taxes all foreign income. That isn’t what happened.

What happened is narrower, more technical, and entirely manageable. This is the version of the change we explain to every member who asks — and the structure we then run for them.

What actually changed

Before 2024. Foreign-source income remitted into Thailand was assessable only if remitted in the same calendar year it was earned. Park earnings offshore for one calendar year, remit in the following year, and the money was outside the Thai tax net.

From 2024 onwards. Foreign-source income remitted into Thailand by a Thai tax resident is assessable in the year of remittance, regardless of when it was earned. The deferred-remittance loophole is closed.

That single sentence is the change. It is significant for people who relied on the deferral, but foreign income kept abroad is still untaxed.

What did not change

Five things, all of them load-bearing for the structures we run:

1. Untaxed foreign income kept abroad. Foreign-source income earned and held abroad — money that never enters Thailand — is still untaxed. Same as before.
2. The 180-day residency threshold. You still need 180+ days inside Thailand to be a tax resident. Below that, the rule doesn’t apply to you at all.
3. The grandfathering of pre-2024 income. Income earned before 1 January 2024 keeps the old rules, under Order P. 162/2566. It can be remitted to Thailand at any time without triggering Thai tax.
4. Treaty relief. Thailand has 61 double-tax treaties: 20 of the 27 EU states (not Portugal, Greece or Croatia, among others), the UK, the US, Australia, Canada, and most major Asian economies. Where a treaty lets your home country tax the income, the tax paid there is credited against the Thai tax on it, up to the Thai amount. With no treaty, there is no credit.
5. The progressive PIT scale. The Thai personal income tax scale runs 0–35% with a THB 60,000 personal allowance. The lower brackets do most of the work for our members.

What “remittance” actually means

A remittance is an inbound transfer of foreign-source income to Thailand by a Thai tax resident. The Orders don’t define bringing money in, so we treat it functionally: a SWIFT into a Thai bank, a cash withdrawal in Bangkok from a foreign card drawing on foreign-source income, a foreign-issued credit card paying a Thai merchant where the underlying balance was funded with foreign income.

What is not a remittance:

• Money that stays in your foreign accounts and never enters Thailand.
• Pre-2024 foreign earnings, which are brought in tax-free whenever they’re remitted.
• Foreign-source income earned while you were not a Thai tax resident, then remitted later.
• Capital: the original principal, not the gains on it. Gains from selling property abroad are foreign income.
• Gifts within the statutory limits: up to THB 20 million in a tax year from parents, children or a spouse, and up to THB 10 million from anyone else on a customary occasion.

The structuring opportunity is in choosing what to remit and when, not in trying to avoid being a tax resident.

The structure we run

For most CERØ members, post-2024 remittance discipline looks like this:

• Two-account topology. A foreign account holds your full income. A Thai account receives only the slice you actually need to live on. The Thai tax base is built from what crosses the line, not from what you earn.
• Living-cost-only remittance. Members typically remit €1,200–€2,000 per month for rent, food, and transport. On €120,000 of foreign income that’s roughly 12–20% of gross — the assessable base.
• Card discipline. A foreign card used in Thailand creates a remittance for whatever it’s funded by. Members run a foreign card backed by pre-2024 savings, OR a Thai card topped up via the deliberate monthly transfer, OR both for separate use cases.
• Year-end reconciliation. We close the year with a clear ledger showing what was earned, what was held offshore, and what was remitted. The PIT filing comes from that ledger.

That structure typically lands an effective Thai PIT rate of 5–12% on the slice that’s remitted, before any expense deduction or treaty credit, while the bulk of foreign income remains untouched by Thai tax.

What this means for the calculator

The Thailand tax calculator bakes the post-2024 rule directly into the model. The Bangkok budget you pick is what drives the remitted slice. The Standard budget, THB 95,000 a month, against €120k of income gives a remittance ratio of 25% — applied to the 2026 PIT brackets, that’s the take-home estimate the calculator displays.

If you want to see how the structure shakes out for your specific income and lifestyle, the calculator is the fastest way. Eight seconds of input, an instant estimate, your exact numbers.

What’s not yet settled

Three areas where the practice is still evolving:

• Work done while you are in Thailand. Section 41 of the Revenue Code taxes income from work performed in Thailand whether it is paid inside or outside the country, and the Revenue Department’s 2024 guide for foreigners gives exactly that example. No published ruling deals with remote work for foreign employers or clients, and the DTV carries no exemption. Everything above is about foreign-source income: if yours comes from work you do in Bangkok, have that position confirmed before you rely on the remittance maths.
• Capital vs. income classification. Where the line sits between non-taxable capital remittances and assessable income remittances is being clarified case by case. We work conservatively and document the source of every remittance.
• Pre-2024 grandfathering documentation. Neither Order says how to prove when income arose, so members who plan to remit pre-2024 savings keep bank statements and account histories showing the funds existed before 1 January 2024. This is paperwork, not magic — but the paperwork has to be there.

These are the kinds of things the diagnosis call exists for. Bring your specific situation; we’ll tell you what shape the structure should take.

Common misreadings of the rule

A handful of takes that circulate online and that we have to correct on diagnosis calls:

• “Thailand now taxes worldwide income.” False. Foreign income that stays abroad is still untaxed. Only remitted foreign income is in scope, and only for tax residents.
• “DTV holders are automatically caught.” False. The DTV is a five-year visa. Tax residency requires 180+ days inside Thailand in the calendar year. A DTV holder spending the year between Thailand and Vietnam is not necessarily a Thai tax resident.
• “Pre-2024 savings are now taxable.” False. Order P. 162/2566 is explicit: the rule does not apply to income earned before 1 January 2024. Earlier savings are grandfathered.
• “Treaties don’t help any more.” False. Foreign tax credits under double-tax treaties continue to apply. If a treaty lets your home country tax the income and you’ve paid that tax, it comes off the Thai tax on the same income, up to the Thai amount.

Where to go from here

Run the Thailand tax calculator with your real income and the Bangkok budget closest to the life you plan. The number you see is what the structure produces — not a marketing figure.

If the maths works and you want to talk timelines, book the free diagnosis call. We’ll tell you on the call whether your specific situation is one we can run cleanly under the post-2024 rule, or whether a different shape — Paraguay, a longer staging window, a different remittance pattern — fits better.