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Experiences with Pattaya City property tax?


Toy Boy

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This seems to be an annual tax on your property, similar to Council Tax in the UK. I first heard about this kind of annual property tax a few years ago from people living out of town, but I’d never heard of anybody in Pattaya having to pay it so I didn’t worry. It seems that the city has always had the power to levy the tax, but for whatever reason they never did so (probably so that a certain family would continue to get voted into office and run the place). When the civilian administration lapsed a couple of year back and the military put their own people in to run the city they must have felt short of money as they started – slowly – rolling the tax out.

Slowly seems to be the operative word here, I only know of around half a dozen people personally who have had ‘The Letter’ from City Hall telling you to turn up with the papers to your house or condo and be told how much tax you owe, and what penalties there are for not paying it. I don’t think anybody would object too strongly to having to pay a reasonable annual amount, but the fly in the ointment is that they are back-dating the tax you owe by ten years so it becomes a fairly hefty amount, even on a modest property. I owe around 70K Baht, while a friend who lives nearby owes well over 100K baht.

I received ‘The Letter’ two weeks ago, the GF tells me there’s no avoiding the tax (I think it’s called the schools and property tax), sooner or later I’ll have to cough up, though as I deplore the decade of back-dating my reaction is to wait and see what happens. If they want to sue me for the money then fine, I’ll pay up, but until then I think I’d prefer to take my time.

The amount apparently varies depending on whether you’re living in your property or renting it out. The live-in tax seems to be around 8K to 10K Baht per annum, though small condos might be less I guess, and a giant house might be more. I read that if the property is rented out they want one month’s rent per annum, but that seems like a lot to me.

They only seem to have half a dozen people working on this at City Hall so it’s going to be decades before they cover all the properties in the city. Indeed, with the rate at which new condos are still going up the tax collection may actually be going backwards. I’ve no idea why I was one of the chosen few to be in the vanguard of this assault on property owners, I always complain at not winning the lottery but it seems my number came up in this one! Renters shouldn’t be feeling too smug either, as I suspect the owners will simply increase the rent to cover the tax.

That’s about the sum of what I’ve found out so far, has anybody else received ‘The Letter’ and what did you do about it? Does anybody know anything more?

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31 minutes ago, Yesitisdakid said:

I always wondered why I never got a bill for property tax 

I've got no problem with paying property tax if they send me the bill for it annually. Like most people, though, I have a major problem with them sending me a bill for ten years' of tax which they have never asked for, and which up until a few years ago nobody in Pattaya had ever even heard of.

The lack of response shows, I suspect, just how little penetration the tax collection dept. in City Hall has made. I'm pretty sure if 75%+ of people had received 'The Letter' then there'd be a lot more righteous indignation on here. If just 5% of owners have received it, though, then maybe this is the response you'd expect? Which begs the question, why bother paying it when teh vast majority of property owners in the city haven't even been asked for it?

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To answer that last question, we need to know the penalties for not paying. 

I have an awful feeling it would not be good for your visa/extension of stay! 

People on extension of stay going the "money in the bank" route need to take care they don't pay this large bill such that their funds drop below the prescribed limits. 

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This is what i can say thus far 

This is a local area property tax collected by city hall and on an average property seems to be circa 7-10k per year and less if you can prove the property is empty.

Seems they can go back 11 years for recovery but they seem to be “giving one year discount” and collecting up to 10 years.

The penalty for late payment is 200 baht.

What happens if you don’t pay I don’t know. I would assume they would try to collect the debt using the courts but I don’t know of anyone where it has gone that far yet.

Loads  of my clients have had this letter over the last 2 years. Some have paid, some have ignored and some are waiting to see what happens regards enforcement if not paid.

if you need to extend your property or lost your deed or anything to do with your property where you need a signature from city hall unless the tax is clear that signature won’t be made 

Edited by Tony Justice
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4 hours ago, KWA said:

It looks like its been around for a few years now and there's been some discussion on Thai Visa.  All clear as mud as usual.

Here's a recent discussion, and it has a link to an older one.

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1098472-pattaya-city-property-tax/

 

Yes, I saw that thread, thanks. It seems like small properties (i.e most condos I guess) are exempt, and the first property owned by a Thai is also exempt. Those two points explain why the tax has such a limited penetration.

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  • 3 months later...

I,m happy to see that I am not the only one. I also received the letter a few months back and 3000 a year back dated 10 years (30,000bt) is the bill. I have paid 1 year and was waiting to see what happened to others. They told my wife if I did not pay by September (now) that there would be 10% added on by way of a fine.

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55 minutes ago, Captain_B said:

I,m happy to see that I am not the only one. I also received the letter a few months back and 3000 a year back dated 10 years (30,000bt) is the bill. I have paid 1 year and was waiting to see what happened to others. They told my wife if I did not pay by September (now) that there would be 10% added on by way of a fine.
 

Thanks for the info. What sort of property is it, please?

It would be good to know as we can then better judge whether the comment above about small properties being exempt is correct.

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Thanks for the info. What sort of property is it, please?
It would be good to know as we can then better judge whether the comment above about small properties being exempt is correct.
Its a semi detached 2 bedroom townhouse. 2 floors with car park at the front, located near Punch and Judy (as was)

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20 hours ago, Captain_B said:

I,m happy to see that I am not the only one. I also received the letter a few months back and 3000 a year back dated 10 years (30,000bt) is the bill. I have paid 1 year and was waiting to see what happened to others. They told my wife if I did not pay by September (now) that there would be 10% added on by way of a fine.

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It's totally bizarre the way they're going about this. I'd guess that around 30 or 40 houses in the village where I live (out of 190) are owned by farangs via a company. So far, I've only heard of two people who've got this tax demand. Is it a lottery or what?

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