Thai tax for Australians: the 180-day test and the 2024 foreign income rule

Short answer: stay in Thailand 180 days or more in a calendar year and you're a Thai tax resident. From 2024, foreign income you earn while resident becomes taxable in Thailand when you bring it in, whether that's this year or years later.

The short version

• Thailand's tax year is the calendar year. Spend 180 days or more here in a year and you're a resident for that year [1][8].
• Residents pay tax on Thai income and on foreign income earned from 1 January 2024 onwards that they bring into Thailand, in the same year or any later year [1][3].
• Money earned before 2024 is protected, but only if you can prove it [4].
• A proposed exemption for income brought in within the same or the following year has been talked about since 2025. As of late 2026 it isn't law [4].
• The Australia–Thailand tax agreement gives credits for Australian tax and decides who taxes pensions. Government pensions generally stay with Australia; most others go to your country of residence [5].

Are you a Thai tax resident?

Thailand uses a simple day count. The Revenue Department says you're resident if you live in Thailand for more than 180 days in a calendar year [8], and PwC's 2026 summary puts it as a total of 180 days or more, over one or more visits [1]. Either way, if you're close to the line, keep a record of every entry and exit stamp.

Notice what's missing compared with home. There's no "domicile test" or "intention" here. The ATO looks at where you really live, your home, family and ties. Thailand mostly just counts.

That means you can be a tax resident of both countries in the same year. Plenty of Aussies in Bangkok stay Australian residents because they kept a home, a family or a job back home. Our guide to Australian tax residency after moving walks through the ATO's tests. When both countries claim you, the treaty's tie-breaker decides: permanent home first, then habitual abode, then where your personal and economic ties are closer [5].

The 2024 foreign income rule

Before 2024, a well-known gap let residents bring in foreign income tax-free if they waited until the year after they earned it. Two Revenue Department instructions closed that gap: Por. 161/2566 and Por. 162/2566 [1][4].

Since 1 January 2024, foreign income is taxable in Thailand when all three of these are true [4]:

1. You were a Thai tax resident in the year you earned it.
2. You earned it on or after 1 January 2024.
3. You bring it into Thailand, in that year or any later year.

The timing trap is the third point. If you earn Australian income while resident in 2025, then bring it in during 2028, it can be taxed then, even if you're no longer resident in 2028 [1].

What's caught and what's not

Protect your pre-2024 savings

This is the single most useful thing you can do. Keep Australian bank statements showing your balances at 31 December 2023, and don't mix that money with new income. One adviser's 2026 guidance suggests holding old capital in a separate account so you can show the money you transfer came from before the rule started [4].

The proposed exemption

Since mid-2025, the Revenue Department has signalled that foreign income brought in during the year it's earned, or the year after, could be exempt. As of October 2026, this was still a draft, not published in the Royal Gazette, with no effective date [4]. Treat it as a proposal until it's gazetted. Also check the Revenue Department's foreign-sourced income declaration form, published in 2026, which shows the records they expect you to keep [4].

Thai rates, IDs and filing

The rates

Thailand taxes net income (after deductions and allowances) at progressive rates [3]:

Expense deductions and personal allowances (for yourself, a spouse, children and certain insurance and savings) come off first. The amounts change from time to time, so check the current list with the Revenue Department or your adviser rather than an old blog post.

Getting a tax ID and filing

1. Get a Thai tax identification number. Apply at the Revenue Department area office for where you live, with your passport and visa. If you're employed, your employer may arrange it.
2. Keep the paperwork. Australian payment summaries, Australian tax assessments, bank records of each transfer into Thailand, and proof of pre-2024 balances.
3. Pick the right form. PND 91 is for people with only employment income. PND 90 covers other income, including foreign income you bring in.
4. File by the deadline. Paper returns are due by 31 March after the tax year, and online returns by 8 April [2].
5. Claim your foreign tax credit. Thailand only allows a credit for foreign tax where a tax treaty permits it, and Australia is a treaty partner [6]. You generally have to claim it; it isn't automatic [4].

You may not need to file at all if your income is low. Single people earning employment income of 120,000 baht or less, or other income of 60,000 baht or less, don't have to lodge a return [2].

How the Australia–Thailand treaty works

Australia and Thailand signed their tax agreement in Canberra on 31 August 1989 [5]. Here's what matters most for Aussies living in Bangkok.

Australian rent

Income from real property can be taxed where the property is [5]. So Australia keeps taxing your Australian rent. If you're a foreign resident for Australian tax, there's no tax-free threshold: in 2025–26, every dollar up to $135,000 is taxed at 30% [7]. If you bring that rent into Thailand while resident, Thailand can tax it too, but must give you a credit for the Australian tax, capped at the Thai tax on that income [5].

Super and private pensions

Under Article 18, pensions and annuities paid to a resident of one country are taxable only in that country [5]. If you're a Thai resident drawing an Australian super pension and bringing it in, Thailand has the right to tax it. That's a real change from home, where a pension from a taxed fund after 60 is usually tax-free. Lump sums aren't clearly covered by the word "pension", so get advice before you pull out a large sum and transfer it.

Government pensions

Pensions for government service, such as a Commonwealth or state public servant's or military pension, are taxable only in the country that pays them, unless you're a Thai citizen living in Thailand [5]. For most Australians, that means Australia taxes it and Thailand doesn't.

The Age Pension

Whether the Age Pension counts as a "pension" under Article 18 isn't spelt out in the treaty summary we checked. Many expats assume it does. Get a written answer from a Thai tax adviser before you plan around it.

What to do this year

• Count your days now, before October, while you can still change your plans.
• Leave money in Australia until you need it, and bring in only what you'll spend.
• Tell your Australian bank you're overseas and update your residency with the ATO if it has changed. Foreign residents don't pay the Medicare levy [7].
• Use one adviser who knows both systems. Australian accountants rarely know Thai filing, and Thai firms vary in their Australian knowledge.

Moving money soon? Read our guide to opening a Thai bank account first, as banks now check where your money comes from.

Ask the people who've filed

The best answers on which area office is friendliest and how others document their transfers come from people who've done it. Ask in Cooee Thailand, our Facebook group for Australians in Thailand.

Sources

1. Thailand: significant developments – PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries (reviewed August 2026)
2. Thailand: tax administration – PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries
3. Thailand: taxes on personal income – PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries
4. Thailand foreign income remittance tax: what actually applies in 2026 – Thai Law Online
5. Australia–Thailand tax agreement, synthesised text – Australian Taxation Office
6. Thailand: foreign tax relief and tax treaties – PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries
7. Tax rates for foreign residents – Australian Taxation Office
8. Personal income tax – Thailand Revenue Department

Keep reading

• Opening a bank account in Thailand: what banks ask in 2026
• Long-stay visas in Thailand for Australians
• Are you still an Australian tax resident?
• Your super while you live overseas