Thailand tax residency: the 180-day rule
You’re tax resident in Thailand if you stay there for 180 days or more in a calendar year — so 179 is the most you can spend and stay non-resident. The days don’t have to be in a row, and the count starts again on 1 January.
Thailand 180-day calculator
Staying in Thailand for 180 days or more in a calendar year makes you tax resident. The calculator counts any part of a day there as a day.
Thailand tax residency: 180 days in a calendar year
Section 41 of the Revenue Code makes any person staying in Thailand for a period or periods aggregating 180 days or more in a tax year a resident of Thailand. The tax year is the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December.
- The days add up. One stay or several, they count together, whatever your nationality.
- The count starts again on 1 January. Days from last year don’t carry over.
- 179 days is the most you can spend and stay non-resident; the 180th makes you resident.
The Revenue Department’s own examples:
| In Thailand | Tax resident? |
|---|---|
| Every day of 2024, 366 days | Yes, for 2024 |
| 184 days in some months of 2024 | Yes, for 2024 |
| 179 days in 2024 | No |
| 250 days in a row: 100 in 2024, 150 in 2025 | No, in either year |
Foreign income: taxed when you bring it into Thailand
A non-resident pays Thai tax only on income from sources in Thailand. A resident also pays on foreign income brought into Thailand. Under Revenue Department Instruction Paw. 161/2566, in force since 1 January 2024:
- income from work or business abroad, or from property abroad, earned in a year you were tax resident,
- is taxed in the year you bring it into Thailand — that year or any later one.
It isn’t taxed if it was earned before 1 January 2024 (Paw. 162/2566), or in a year you were in Thailand for fewer than 180 days, even when you bring it in later. Money you sent abroad and bring back isn’t income; on a deposit, only the interest is. A bank or online transfer and cash you carry in all count as bringing income in, at the exchange rate of that day. Where Thailand has a tax treaty with the other country, tax paid there can be credited against the Thai tax.
Worked example
You were in Thailand from 10 January to 19 April: 100 days. Arriving again on 1 September, you can stay until 18 November — your 179th day this year. Staying on 19 November would be day 180, and you’d be tax resident for the year.
Other countries count to 183, each its own way: Spain, the UAE and the rest side by side in the 183-day rule by country.
How FlySee counts it
The calculator counts as the FlySee app does: days add up from 1 January to 31 December; 179 is the last day under the test, and the 180th is the one to avoid. The Revenue Code doesn’t say how a day you arrive or leave counts, so FlySee counts any part of a day in Thailand as a day there — a day early, never late.