Thailand now has a specific personal income tax exemption for qualifying crypto and digital-token gains made through licensed Thai digital-asset businesses. The exemption applies from 2025 to 2029, but it does not make every form of crypto income tax-free. This guide explains what qualifies, what falls outside it, and where official guidance is still silent.
Key Points
- Exempt: gains from transferring cryptocurrency or digital tokens through a licensed Thai digital-asset exchange, broker or dealer, for income received from 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2029.
- Transfer gains only: staking rewards, token profit shares, free or promotional tokens and crypto paid as salary are not covered by the exemption.
- Foreign and unlicensed platforms: transactions on foreign exchanges, decentralised platforms and ordinary peer-to-peer trades do not qualify. How they are taxed depends on source, residence, timing and whether income is brought into Thailand, and some of these questions are not settled.
- VAT: qualifying transfers through licensed digital-asset businesses have been exempt from VAT since 1 January 2024.
- Holding: a rise in value alone is not a taxable transfer gain, but a crypto-to-crypto swap is a transfer.
How Thailand Classifies Digital-Asset Income
Thai tax law does not put all crypto income in one category. The Revenue Code and the Revenue Department's crypto guidance treat each type of income separately:
| Type of income | Revenue Code category | Covered by the 2025–2029 exemption? |
|---|---|---|
| Gain from transferring cryptocurrency or digital tokens (selling for baht, or swapping) | Section 40(4)(ฌ): benefits received from the transfer of cryptocurrency or digital tokens, to the extent valued above the amount invested | Yes, if made through a licensed Thai exchange, broker or dealer and received in 2025–2029 |
| Profit share or similar benefit from holding a digital token | Section 40(4)(ซ) | No |
| Returns from holding cryptocurrency, such as staking or yield | Section 40(8), under Revenue Department guidance | No |
| Cryptocurrency obtained by mining | Section 40(8) when sold, under Revenue Department guidance | No |
| Free or promotional tokens | Section 40(8), valued when received | No |
| Salary or fees paid in crypto | Section 40(1) employment or 40(2) service income | No |
Sections 40(4)(ซ) and (ฌ) were added to the Revenue Code by Emergency Decree No. 19 in 2018. English-language sources often write them as 40(4)(h) and 40(4)(i).
The 2025–2029 Exemption
Ministerial Regulation No. 399 (B.E. 2568), published on 5 September 2025, added item (109) to the list of exempt income in Ministerial Regulation No. 126. It exempts benefits received from the transfer of cryptocurrency or digital tokens:
- made on a digital-asset exchange;
- made through a digital-asset broker; or
- transferred to a digital-asset dealer,
where the business is licensed under Thai digital-asset law (the Emergency Decree on Digital Asset Businesses B.E. 2561). The exemption applies to the amount above your investment, for assessable income received from 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2029. It is a personal income tax exemption for individuals.
In practice, if you sell Bitcoin for baht on a licensed Thai exchange in 2026, the gain is exempt. The same applies to qualifying transfers through a licensed broker or to a licensed dealer. The Thai SEC publishes the list of licensed digital-asset businesses, so check that the business you use is on it.
Transactions Outside the Exemption
Because the regulation names specific licensed Thai businesses, the following do not qualify for this exemption:
- transactions on foreign exchanges;
- transactions on decentralised platforms;
- ordinary peer-to-peer transactions that do not go through a licensed Thai exchange, broker or dealer;
- gains received before 1 January 2025;
- income that is not a transfer gain, such as staking rewards or token profit shares.
Falling outside the exemption does not mean the income is automatically taxable in Thailand. It means the normal rules apply: whether the income is Thai-source or foreign-source, whether you are a Thai tax resident, when the income arose and, for foreign-source income, whether it is brought into Thailand.
Foreign Platforms and Remittance
Non-residents (fewer than 180 days in Thailand in a calendar year) are taxed only on Thai-source income. For Thai tax residents, foreign-source income arising on or after 1 January 2024 may be assessable when it is brought into Thailand, including in a later tax year (Revenue Department Orders Por. 161/2566 and Por. 162/2566). Foreign income that arose before 1 January 2024 is not brought into this rule merely because it is remitted later. How the foreign income rule works →
- whether a gain made on a foreign exchange or in a foreign wallet is Thai-source or foreign-source income;
- whether moving crypto itself into Thailand counts as bringing income into Thailand;
- the precise treatment where crypto is sold offshore and the money is brought into Thailand later.
If these questions affect you, keep full records and take advice from a qualified Thai tax adviser.
Staking, Mining, Free Tokens, Salary and Token Benefits
The Revenue Department's crypto manual treats these types of income separately from transfer gains. Regulation 399 exempts transfer gains only, so it does not make any of them exempt.
- Staking and yield: returns from holding cryptocurrency, such as staking or yield farming, are income under section 40(8). Benefits from holding digital tokens fall under section 40(4)(ซ).
- Mining: cryptocurrency obtained by mining is not treated as income on the day you receive it. Income arises when you sell it, under section 40(8), and you can deduct actual mining costs that are necessary and reasonable.
- Free or promotional tokens (often called "airdrops" in the market): tokens received free for taking part in an activity, or as a promotional reward, are section 40(8) income valued when received. That value becomes their cost for any later transfer.
- Salary or fees paid in crypto: employment income under section 40(1) or service income under section 40(2), valued at the time received or at the average price on that day.
- Token profit shares: profit shares or similar benefits from holding digital tokens fall under section 40(4)(ซ) and are subject to 15% withholding by the payer.
Revenue Department guidance does not say when frequent trading becomes business income, and it does not address forks or NFTs specifically.
Withholding Tax
Section 50 of the Revenue Code requires the payer of section 40(4)(ซ) and (ฌ) income to withhold tax at 15%. In ordinary exchange trading, the Revenue Department has recognised that the exchange cannot identify the person receiving the income or the amount to withhold, so the conditions for withholding are not met and no withholding is required (press release 16/2565, January 2022).
The common claim that Thai exchanges deduct 15% on every profitable trade is therefore wrong. Withholding can still apply in other cases, for example where an identifiable payer pays a profit share from a digital token. Any tax withheld is credited against your annual tax when you file; there is no option to treat it as a final tax. For gains exempt under Regulation 399, the Revenue Department has not published crypto-specific guidance on withholding, although its rulings on other exempt income treat the payer as having no duty to withhold.
VAT
Transfers of cryptocurrency and utility tokens made on, through, by or to a licensed digital-asset exchange, broker or dealer are exempt from VAT under Royal Decree No. 788, effective from 1 January 2024. This replaced an earlier temporary exemption for licensed exchanges that ran until 31 December 2023. Investment tokens are covered by a separate exemption.
Holding, Swaps, Losses and Cost Records
Holding
A rise in the value of crypto you simply hold is not, by itself, a taxable transfer gain. Tax consequences can arise when you transfer or exchange the asset, or when you receive other income such as staking rewards or token benefits.
Crypto-to-crypto swaps
The Revenue Department treats a swap of one cryptocurrency or digital token for another as a sale by both sides, measured in baht. A swap is therefore a transfer. If it is made through a licensed Thai business and the income is received in 2025–2029, the gain falls within the exemption; otherwise the normal rules apply.
Losses
Ministerial Regulation No. 380 (2022) allows losses from transfers on licensed Thai exchanges to be set against transfer gains in the same tax year. This mattered mainly for taxable exchange gains before 2025. It does not extend to losses on foreign or decentralised platforms.
Cost records
Notice of the Director-General of the Revenue Department No. 424 requires cost to be calculated using a generally accepted accounting method, applied consistently for the year. The Revenue Department's manual names first-in first-out and moving average, calculated separately for each type of coin or token. Keep a record of every transaction, including date, amount, value in baht and the platform used.
Filing
- Taxable digital-asset income should be reported under its income category. On the annual return, section 40(4)(ซ) and (ฌ) income is shown under section 40(4) "other" income, while section 40(8) and employment or service income go in their own sections. Tax withheld is claimed as a credit.
- Gains exempt under Regulation 399 are not taxable income and should not be entered as taxable income.
- Whether exempt gains must still be shown on the return: specific Revenue Department guidance on this has not been identified.
- Records: keep exchange statements and cost records that show your gains qualify for the exemption.
For deadlines, thresholds and how to file, see the Thai tax filing guide.