BANGKOK – If you’ve heard “Thailand made crypto tax-free,” you’re not wrong, but the fine print matters. In 2026, the biggest update is simple: individuals can pay 0% tax on crypto profits through December 31, 2029, but only when the sale or transfer happens on Thailand SEC-licensed platforms.
This guide is for everyday investors and expats who want clear answers, not theory. It covers what qualifies for the 0% rate, what’s still taxable (staking, mining, airdrops, salary in crypto, NFTs), and how to file without guessing.
Rules and enforcement can change, and your facts matter (residency status, where you traded, and what kind of income you earned). Before filing, confirm details with the Thai Revenue Department or a qualified Thai tax professional.
The 2026 rule that matters most, when crypto gains are tax-free in Thailand
Thailand’s headline rule is a time-limited incentive: from January 1, 2025, through December 31, 2029, qualifying crypto gains can be taxed at 0% for individuals. In plain terms, if you sell crypto for more than you paid and the sale qualifies, you don’t pay personal income tax on that profit during the exemption window.
There’s a catch that trips people up. The exemption is tied to where the transaction happens, not just which coin you bought. Trading on a Thailand SEC-licensed exchange, broker, or dealer is what makes the difference. The same Bitcoin sale could be 0% or taxable depending on the venue.
This rule also isn’t a blanket “crypto is tax free.” It mainly targets capital gains from sales or transfers done through approved, local, regulated intermediaries. Other crypto income streams can still be taxed at normal rates.
If you want background on the regulation behind the exemption and its scope, see this summary from a major advisory firm: Thailand’s digital asset gains exemption.
Who qualifies, individuals vs companies, residents vs foreigners
The 0% exemption is designed for individuals. If you trade as a company, the math changes. Companies generally fall under corporate tax rules, and reported guidance around the policy points to corporate income tax (commonly 20%) applying to digital asset profits rather than the personal exemption.
Residency and nationality are separate from the exemption’s main condition. Both Thai residents and foreigners can potentially benefit if they are individuals and their sales or transfers happen through SEC-licensed platforms. Still, residency rules can affect how other income is taxed and when income becomes reportable in Thailand.
A practical way to think about it: the exemption is like a toll-free road, but only for certain vehicles (individuals) and only on certain highways (SEC-licensed platforms). If you exit the highway onto a side road (a DEX, peer-to-peer sale, or offshore exchange), you may be back in the normal tax system for that transaction.
If you’re unsure whether your activity looks like personal investing or business activity (high-frequency trading, client funds, market-making), get advice early. The classification can affect which rules and forms apply.
Which platforms count, what “SEC licensed” means, and how to protect yourself.
“SEC-licensed” refers to digital asset businesses approved by Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission, such as licensed exchanges, brokers, and dealers. The exemption is tied to those licensed entities because the government can supervise them, and records are easier to verify.
Don’t assume a brand is licensed because it’s popular. Licensing can differ by country entity, and a platform’s status can change. Before you trade, verify the platform’s licensing with official sources, then keep proof.
Protect yourself with boring paperwork, because boring paperwork wins audits:
- Save account opening emails and KYC confirmations.
- Download trade confirmations and monthly statements.
- Keep deposit and withdrawal records that show coin amounts and timestamps.
- Take a screenshot showing the platform’s licensed status at the time you used it (and date-stamp it if you can).
If the tax office questions whether a gain qualifies for 0%, you want to show a clean chain: you acquired the asset, you sold it, and the sale ran through an SEC-licensed venue during the exemption period.
What is still taxable in 2026, even if your trading gains are exempt
The exemption is strong, but it’s not a free pass for every crypto-related profit. Many investors mix “investment gains” with “crypto income” in the same wallet and then wonder why their numbers don’t make sense at tax time.
A simple filter helps: if you earned crypto because you provided something (work, computing power, capital lent, staking), it often looks like income. If you sold crypto for more than your cost on a qualifying platform, that gain can be 0% during the window.
Another practical point: a taxable event is not only “selling for cash.” In many tax systems, swapping one token for another, using crypto to buy goods, or converting to a stablecoin can count as a disposal. If that disposal happens off a qualifying venue, you may have taxable profit even if you never touched fiat.
It also helps to separate two numbers in your head:
- Income at receipt (often based on market value in THB when you receive coins).
- Capital gain at sale (selling price minus your cost basis, including fees).
Keeping those two buckets separate makes filing far easier.
Staking, lending interest, mining, airdrops, and salary paid in crypto
Even with a 0% rate on qualifying trading gains, other crypto earnings are usually treated like assessable income and taxed at progressive personal income tax rates (often referenced as 0% to 35%, depending on your total taxable income).
Common examples:
Staking rewards: If you stake 10,000 THB worth of tokens and receive rewards daily, the taxable amount is often based on the THB value when each reward hits your wallet. Waiting to “cash out later” doesn’t always change the fact that you received income.
Lending interest: If a platform pays interest in USDT, that’s still income. Record the date received and THB value that day.
Mining: Mining payouts are generally income. You may also have deductible costs in some cases, but that depends on whether it’s treated as a hobby or business-like activity.
Airdrops: If you receive an airdrop that has a clear market value, that value at receipt can be treated as income. If it’s illiquid, valuation gets harder, so document your method.
Salary paid in crypto: Payroll in Bitcoin or stablecoins is still a salary. What matters is the THB value at payment time and proper reporting by you (and sometimes by the employer).
The big habit that prevents headaches: track income events as they happen, not months later when prices and records have shifted.
Trading off a platform, using overseas exchanges, DEXs, and private sales
The 0% rate is tied to SEC-licensed platforms, so trades outside that lane may not qualify. This includes several common investor moves:
Swapping on a DEX: If you swap ETH for a meme coin on a decentralized exchange, that’s a disposal event that may fall outside the exemption’s venue requirement.
Overseas exchanges: Moving coins to a foreign exchange and selling there is convenient, but it can put that sale outside the qualifying scope.
Peer-to-peer sales: Selling directly to another person, even if paid in cash or bank transfer, is often the kind of transaction that becomes harder to prove as exempt.
Cashing out via unlicensed channels: “Friendly” cash-out services or informal brokers can create compliance risk, even if the numbers are small.
If you do any of the above, treat it like you’re leaving well-lit streets for a dark parking lot: not illegal by default, but you need better notes. Track every disposal, conversion, and fee, and keep wallet-to-wallet transfer records so you can show how assets moved.
How to report crypto on your Thailand tax return in 2026, without guessing
In 2026, most individuals are reporting the 2025 tax year (January to December 2025). Even if your qualifying gains are taxed at 0%, reporting and documentation still matter because you may need to show how you arrived at that result.
A clean filing starts with one decision: pick a consistent method to compute your cost basis and stick to it across the year. Cost basis is simply what you paid for the asset, plus fees, converted into THB using a reasonable rate for the transaction time.
You don’t need perfect records to start, but you do need complete records to finish. If your data is scattered across exchanges, wallets, and spreadsheets, bring it together before you touch the tax form. Waiting until the last week often leads to missing the cost basis, which can make taxable profit look bigger than it really was.
For a practical, filing-oriented walkthrough aimed at expats, this guide can help you sanity-check your process: crypto tax filing for 2025 returns.
Forms, deadlines, and what to report, even when the tax is 0%
Most individual taxpayers file PND 90 or PND 91. For the 2025 tax year filed in 2026, the commonly cited deadline for e-filing is April 8, 2026, with paper filing due earlier.
Even when the tax rate is 0% for qualifying gains, you should be prepared to report the transaction details that support the exemption. At a minimum, keep the numbers needed to show your gain calculation and where it happened.
Here’s a simple view of what you’re trying to assemble per taxable or potentially reportable transaction:
| Item to capture | What it means | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Date and time | When you bought/sold/received | Supports valuation and period checks |
| Asset and amount | BTC 0.2, USDT 1,000, etc. | Ties to wallet and exchange records |
| Proceeds | THB value received (minus fees) | Used to compute gain |
| Cost basis | THB value paid (plus fees) | Prevents overpaying tax |
| Fees | Trading, network, withdrawal fees | Often reduces taxable profit |
| Venue | SEC-licensed or not | Determines 0% eligibility |
If you have both exempt gains and taxable crypto income (staking, mining, airdrops), keep them separated so you don’t accidentally treat income as exempt trading profit.
Recordkeeping that saves you later, cost basis, fees, FX rates, and wallets
Good records turn tax season from panic into admin work. Keep these items from day one:
- Exchange statements (monthly and annual if available)
- Individual trade confirmations
- Deposit and withdrawal histories (including wallet addresses)
- Wallet transaction hashes for on-chain transfers
- Fee reports (trading fees, funding fees, withdrawal fees)
- THB conversion rates used at the time of each transaction
- Proof the platform was SEC-licensed when you traded (screenshots and dated evidence)
Cost basis in plain terms: it’s what you paid for the coin, plus transaction fees. If you bought 1 ETH for 70,000 THB and paid 300 THB in fees, your cost basis is 70,300 THB. When you later sell, that basis is what you subtract from the proceeds to find profit.
Wallet transfers are where people lose the plot. Moving coins between your own wallets is usually not a sale, but it can destroy your paper trail if you don’t label it. Give each wallet a nickname, store address lists, and write brief notes for major transfers.
Smart investor moves for 2026, staying compliant while paying as little tax as legally possible.
In Thailand, crypto tax planning for 2026, the goal is simple: keep qualifying disposals on SEC-licensed platforms, track income events as they happen, and store evidence like you’ll need it later.
Think of your crypto life as two lanes:
Lane 1: Trading and investing disposals that you want to qualify for the 0% exemption.
Lane 2: Income-like activity (staking, mining, lending rewards, referral payouts) that may be taxed at progressive rates.
When you mix the lanes in one wallet, your records get messy, and your risk goes up. When you separate them, your spreadsheet gets boring fast, which is a good sign.
Also, plan for the end of the exemption window in 2029. If rules revert, your future cost basis history will matter even more. The work you do in 2026 protects you later.
A simple compliance plan you can follow all year
You don’t need a complicated system. You need a repeatable one.
Monthly: Download your exchange statements, export trades, and save them in a folder labeled by month. Add a one-line note for any big transfers (what it was, why you moved it).
Ongoing: Track staking and other rewards separately from trading activity. Record the THB value at receipt, or save the source you used to determine it.
Quarterly: Do a quick realized gain and income check. If you’re surprised by the numbers, you still have time to fix gaps in your records.
Before you sell anything, pause and run a short mental check: Am I selling on an SEC-licensed platform, do I have proof of my cost basis, and is any part of this actually staking or other income that belongs in a different bucket?
This routine doesn’t take long, but it stops the common “I’ll fix it later” spiral that leads to missing data and rough estimates.
Common mistakes that trigger problems, and how to avoid them
The most common error is assuming all crypto is tax-free. The exemption is narrow in one key way: it’s tied to licensed venues and primarily aimed at capital gains from sales or transfers.
Other frequent mistakes:
Mixing staking income with exempt trades: Income at receipt is not the same as capital gains at sale. Track them separately.
Ignoring fees: Fees reduce gains. Missing them inflates profit.
Losing cost basis after transfers: If you move coins across wallets and exchanges without notes, you may not be able to prove what you paid.
Not reporting because the rate is 0%: A 0% result doesn’t remove the need for records, and it may not remove the need to disclose amounts, depending on your situation.
It’s time to hire a tax pro when you have high-volume trading, business activity, cross-border flows, or you can’t reconstruct your cost basis with confidence.
Conclusion
Thailand’s 2026 crypto rules are friendly, but only if you follow the lane markers. Use SEC-licensed platforms for sales you want treated at 0% through December 31, 2029, and remember that staking, mining, airdrops, and crypto salary can still be taxable income.
Keep clean records (cost basis, fees, THB values, and proof of venue), then file on time, including for the 2025 tax year due in early April 2026. Before you submit, verify the platform’s licensing and keep your documentation for years, not months. If the rules shift again, solid records are what keep your tax outcome clear and defensible.
