What it is
When a company (a "juristic person" in the law) pays an individual or a business for services or hire of work, it must deduct income tax at source and pay it to the Revenue Department on your behalf. For services and hire of work the rate is 3%, and it applies when the contract value is 1,000 baht or more (Director-General Notice ท.ป.4/2528). The money is not lost: it is a prepayment of your own income tax.
Private individuals paying you — a homeowner, a condo owner — do not withhold. The rule is for company payers.
Worked example
You are not VAT-registered. You invoice a condominium management company ฿10,000 for an air-conditioning service. They pay you ฿9,700 and send ฿300 to the Revenue Department. You receive a withholding tax certificate for ฿300.
You are VAT-registered. The same job is ฿10,000 + 7% VAT = ฿10,700. Withholding is calculated on the service amount only: 3% of ฿10,000 = ฿300. You receive ฿10,400 (฿10,700 − ฿300). The VAT is yours to account for in your monthly VAT return; the ฿300 is your income-tax prepayment.
The certificate — 50 ทวิ
The payer must give you a withholding tax certificate in the form the Director-General prescribes — in Thai it is หนังสือรับรองการหักภาษี ณ ที่จ่าย, known as the "50 ทวิ" (fifty-bis) after the section of the Revenue Code. It shows your name and tax ID, the amount paid, the amount withheld and the date. Ask for it every time; without it you cannot claim the credit.
The payer files the withheld amounts with the Revenue Department monthly — on form ภ.ง.ด.3 when the payee is an individual and ภ.ง.ด.53 when the payee is a company — by the 7th of the following month (the 15th when filed online). That is the payer's job, not yours; your job is to keep the certificates.
Getting it back
The tax withheld is credited against your income tax when you file your annual return. If more was withheld during the year than you owe, the difference is refunded. The Revenue Department's own wording: the tax withheld "shall then be credited against tax liability of a taxpayer at the time of filing" the return.
What GlideQuote does
On a Thai invoice you can switch withholding tax on for that document and set the rate; the PDF then shows the service amount, the VAT if you are registered, the amount withheld and the net amount due, so the customer's accountant sees the same numbers you do. The withholding-tax line, PromptPay QR and Buddhist-calendar dates are part of the Pro plan for Thailand; VAT is free.
Invoice form (free PDF)A4, Thai, same design as the appAbout the invoice in Thailand →Example, what it must contain, how the app makes itThe customer withheld 3% but never sent the certificate. What now?
Do I add the 3% on top so I still receive the full amount?
Is withholding tax calculated on the amount including VAT?
Which rate applies to goods?
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