Stamp Duty on Leases and Home Sales 2026: Who Pays, How Much, Penalty

What stamp duty is, and why renters and buyers meet it

Stamp duty is charged on the document, not on income. The Revenue Code carries a schedule that sets, for each type of instrument, how much is due, who owes it and who cancels the stamp. Two entries touch housing directly: the lease of land or a building, and the receipt issued when a registered property transfer takes place.

Most people skip it because the amounts look small. But the law blocks a contract that is not fully stamped from being used as evidence in a civil case until the duty has been paid in full and the stamps cancelled, under section 118. Landlords who want to sue for unpaid rent or keep a deposit usually discover this far too late.

Leases: how much, and who pays

The rate is 1 baht for every 1,000 baht of rent, with any remainder counted as another 1 baht, and it is calculated on the rent plus any key money for the entire term, not per month. The law puts the duty on the landlord, while the tenant is the one who cancels the stamp.

• If the contract does not state a term, the law treats it as a term of 3 years and the duty is worked out on three years of rent.
• If the term ends, the tenant stays on, the landlord knows and does not object, and no new contract is signed, the old lease counts as restarted and duty falls due within thirty days of that date.
• Land rented for rice farming, field crops or orchards is exempt.

The median condo asking rent on DooAsset right now is 28,000 baht a month, across 788 rental listings (see every rental). Sign a 3-year lease at that level and the rent over the term passes 1,000,000 baht, which is the line that matters: a lease with rent of 1,000,000 baht or more must be paid in cash instead of affixed stamps, with the landlord having the contract endorsed before signing or within 15 days of the day after it is signed.

Leases longer than 3 years go through the land office

A property lease that has to be registered with the land registrar is not handled at the Revenue office. The duty is paid in cash to the registrar before or on the registration day itself. The same day also brings the lease registration fee, charged at 1 percent of the rent for the whole term or of the key money. A long lease therefore carries two separate costs on registration day, and the contract should say plainly which side covers each one.

Transfer day: when the receipt duty applies

A receipt for the transfer or creation of any right over property that is registered by law carries duty of 1 baht for every 200 baht, or part of 200 baht. The seller issues the receipt and is both the person liable and the person who cancels the stamp. The exemption matters more than the rate, though: a receipt for an amount on which the recipient owes value added tax or specific business tax is exempt.

So the real question on transfer day is whether the seller falls under specific business tax. For an ordinary owner who is not a land subdivider or a condo developer, the law treats a sale made within five years of acquiring the property as a sale for trade or profit, which is taxable, with several exceptions.

• Selling a home used as the seller's main residence, where the seller's name has been on the house registration for at least one year from the date of acquisition.
• Property received through inheritance.
• A transfer without consideration to the seller's own legitimate child, which does not include an adopted child.
• Expropriation under the expropriation law.

Fall inside one of those and specific business tax does not apply, which brings the receipt duty back. The median condo asking price on DooAsset is 8,000,000 baht across 405 sale listings (see every unit for sale). At that level, duty of 1 baht per 200 baht of the price runs into the tens of thousands, which is not a line item to leave out of the transfer-day budget.

What happens if the duty is never paid

What changes the outcome is who raises it first. Coming forward yourself is far cheaper than being found out.

• Submit the instrument to the officer within 15 days of the date it had to be fully stamped and only the normal duty is charged.
• Late, but still inside 90 days, and the duty comes with a surcharge of 2 times the duty, or 4 baht, whichever is greater.
• Past 90 days, the surcharge rises to 5 times the duty, or 10 baht, whichever is greater.
• If an officer finds it, or someone reports it, and no stamp was affixed at all, the full duty is collected plus a surcharge of 6 times the duty, or 25 baht, whichever is greater. Understamping is charged at 6 times the shortfall.

The heaviest penalty is not the money. It is that the contract cannot be used in court until the duty is settled, so a landlord chasing unpaid rent has to pay the duty and the surcharge first before the lease counts as evidence at all.

Short checklist

• Landlords: calculate on the rent for the whole term plus key money, not one month, and stamp the contract on the day it is signed.
• Rent of 1,000,000 baht or more over the term cannot be covered with affixed stamps; pay in cash and have the contract endorsed within 15 days.
• For a long lease that must be registered, pay the duty and the registration fee at the land office on registration day.
• Sellers: check first whether specific business tax applies or an exception does, because that decides whether the receipt duty is owed.
• Keep the stamped contract together with every receipt. The day you need it is the day something has gone wrong.

Read next: what a condo lease agreement should contain and the costs of transferring a resale condo