The Revenue Department has collected revenue from inheritance tax worth more than 4 billion baht over the past 10 years, with more than 1.5 billion collected in the last fiscal year alone.
According to a source from the Finance Ministry who requested anonymity, in the first three months of fiscal 2025 (October to December 2024), the department collected 637 million baht in inheritance tax, nearly half of the total collected in fiscal 2024.
The inheritance tax law was enacted in July 2015 and came into effect 180 days after its publication in the Royal Gazette.
No revenue was collected in 2016, with the tally the following year 65 million baht. Between 2018 and 2023, annual collections ranged from 200 million to 700 million baht. The amount surged past 1 billion baht in 2024, totalling 1.53 billion baht.
The Revenue Department conducted a public hearing in September last year, in accordance with the Act on Legislative Drafting and Evaluation of the Law to ensure enforcement meets its objectives: having only necessary laws, reducing legal redundancy and conflicts, minimising inequality, and promoting fairness in society.
The term inheritance is not explicitly defined in the inheritance tax law. However, under sections 1599, 1600 and 1601 of the Civil and Commercial Code, the law establishes that when a person dies, his or her estate is passed on to their heirs. Heirs may lose their rights to the inheritance under provisions of the code.
The deceased's estate includes all types of assets, as well as rights, duties, and liabilities, which must be inherited by their heirs. However, heirs are generally liable only up to the value of the inheritance they receive.
The estate of a deceased person is passed on to heirs either by legal right or by will.
Heirs by legal right, known as statutory heirs, include descendants; parents; brothers and sisters of full blood; brothers and sisters of half blood; grandparents; uncles and aunts, and other relatives in the order prescribed by law, while heirs by will (legatee) are individuals designated as beneficiaries in the deceased's will.
Inheritance tax applies when the deceased (the testator) passes away and the heir receives the inheritance. Regardless of whether the inheritance is received in a single instance or multiple occasions if the total value of the inheritance from each testator exceeds 100 million baht, tax is imposed only on the portion exceeding 100 million baht, as stipulated by law.
The assets subject to inheritance tax include real estate, securities under the law on securities and the stock market, deposits or other similar funds held in Thailand, which the deceased has the right to withdraw or claim from a financial institution or individual holding those funds, vehicles with registered documents and financial assets as specified by royal decree.
The inheritance tax is calculated at a rate of 10% on the taxable value of the inheritance. However, if the beneficiary is a parent or descendant, the tax rate is reduced to 5% on the net taxable value of the inheritance.
