Upgrade tax calculation on home resales, brokers' group urges govt

Currently, people who sell their homes have to pay taxes and fees in four categories. These are personal income tax based on resale price, a transfer fee of 2 per cent of the appraised price according the Land Department, special business tax of 3.3 per cent based on appraised price, and stamp duty. 

All this amounts to high costs for people selling their homes even before they buy a new one, he said.

He used the example of someone who bought a home for Bt2 million last year and sold it for Bt1.8 billion this year. Based on a 10-per-cent rate, he has to pay personal income tax on the sale of about Bt180,000. Meanwhile, he also has to pay a transfer fee of Bt36,000, the 3.3-per-cent special business tax worth Bt59,400, and stamp duty of about Bt200. That adds a cost of Bt275,600 to the Bt200,000 he lost from purchase price of Bt2 million. In the end, the seller nets only Bt1.52 million, meaning he lost a total of Bt475,600.

“This is why Thailand’s secondary home market is not booming like it does overseas,” he said.

If the government wants to boost the overall property market, the association suggests the Finance Ministry adopt the capital-gains concept for resales, like the global standard. This would boost the secondary market and indirectly boost the first-home market as well, he said.

Currently, home resales are worth more than Bt100 billion a year.