Crackdown on foreign nominee land sales

The Excise Department will strictly inspect land transactions in highly popular tourist destinations in the South where tax evasion is said to be widespread.

Keywords: Tax, Thailand, The Excise Department

According to a senior official, property sales in Krabi, Koh Samui and Phuket have mushroomed in recent years, skyrocketing land prices in some areas 100-fold from a decade ago.

This is mainly because property developers are attempting to accumulate land banks to develop hotels, resorts and residential projects to serve high demand from foreigners, who use Thai nominees, the source said. Foreign nationals are not allowed to own land in Thailand.

A corporation selling land to a nominee that then resells to another company saves both companies a lot of taxes.

The withholding tax rate for land sales between an individual and a company is calculated based on the appraisal value of the Land Department, while a company-to-company sale is based on the transaction amount, which is usually higher than the appraisal prices.

 Full article : www.bangkokpost.com