Payroll in Thailand: A Comprehensive Guide for 2026

Introduction

Payroll in Thailand requires monthly withholding of personal income tax under the Revenue Department's PND 1 filing system, mandatory Social Security Fund (SSF) contributions from both employer and employee, and compliance with the Labour Protection Act for leave entitlements, overtime, and termination rules.

Foreign companies must register employees with the Social Security Office (SSO) and remit contributions by the 15th of each month.

The challenge for foreign employers is that Thailand's payroll rules are interconnected. A change in leave entitlements affects the monthly salary calculation, which shifts SSF contributions, which in turn changes PND 1 withholding. The minimum wage varies by province and changes periodically, and the Revenue Department's digital audit systems flag discrepancies faster than manual corrections can catch them.

This guide covers Thailand's payroll process, tax obligations, social security contributions, minimum wage structure, statutory leave entitlements, and payroll outsourcing options so you can run compliant payroll without the guesswork.

How does the payroll process work in Thailand?

The payroll process is largely the same throughout the world. What makes it unique for every country are specific local employment regulations. Regardless, there are three general phases:

What is the pre-payroll phase?

The pre-payroll phase is both a preparatory stage and a time for enacting due diligence in terms of collecting and validating required inputs for salary calculation.

Setting up the organization

Every company will have its unique approaches to processes, people, and culture, and all of these aspects will directly or indirectly impact payroll processing. It is critical that in the pre-payroll phase, some key internal policies are standardized and prepared, including:

Business profile

You’ll need to prepare the identifications and registered business numbers that together make up your business profile. These will be used later on for submission of documents such as tax forms and invoices to the relevant government agencies, including the Revenue Department and the Social Security Office.

Work location

Every work location should have localized internal policies, even different locations in the same country. They don’t have to be drastically different, just customized to meet the needs of that particular work location.

Leave policy

Leave policy significantly affects payroll in the same way as general attendance policy. You need to clearly standardize the various rates and details that go into different variations of paid leaves.

Attendance policy

Attendance policy will naturally dictate the very basis of wage computation. Attendance policy should clearly standardize base pay, overtime rates, and other adjustments such as half-days and other on-duty requests, all within locally mandated labor guidelines. You also need to carefully integrate attendance tracking tools like biometrics and digital time tracking platforms.

Statutory components

Thailand's payroll obligations span three separate statutory frameworks: the Labour Protection Act for wages, leave, and termination; the Revenue Code for personal income tax withholding via PND 1; and the Social Security Act for monthly SSF contributions. Each carries its own filing deadlines, rates, and penalty structures.

Salary components

Salary policy is a combination of meeting mandated guidelines and company standards. Thailand's minimum wage varies by province, so you will need to address regional rate differences, industry norms, and differentiated salary structures depending on the roles you are hiring for.

Lastly, note that a full compensation package goes well beyond base rates, and involves benefits that are both statutory and supplementary.

Pay schedule

Thai employees generally receive their pay monthly on the last working day of the month. Your payroll calendar should also account for the statutory filing deadlines that follow each pay cycle: PND 1 withholding tax returns are due to the Revenue Department by the 15th of the following month via mandatory e-filing, and SSF contributions are due to the Social Security Office by the same date.

Employee information

A lot of input collection and validation occurs in the pre-payroll phase, which would include employee information regarding attendance, performance, expenses, and virtually anything that would impact salary calculation.

How are salaries calculated in Thailand?

This stage of payroll in Thailand is focused on a singular task: accurate computation of salaries. While straightforward, every individual employee’s wage calculation will be slightly different, not just due to different rates, but overall variations in compensation packages.

It’s best to employ software and payroll systems to automate much of this payroll phase, once everything is calibrated with the proper pre-payroll policies.

What happens after payroll is calculated?

Salary payments

Most of the post-payroll stage is spent just handing out the calculated salaries. This is the period when you send an advice to your bank or payment processor of choice to execute the disbursement.

Different payroll software and solutions providers approach this stage differently, so discuss with your partner how you want to manage payment delivery, such as through direct deposit.

Payroll accounting

For internal company purposes, you need to account for salaries as a major business expense. This includes ensuring you record salaries properly.

Payroll reporting and compliance

For external compliance purposes, you will need to submit monthly filings to two agencies: PND 1 withholding tax returns to the Revenue Department, and SSF contribution statements (Form 1-10) to the Social Security Office. Both are due by the 15th of the following month. Employers must also retain payroll records, including payslips, for a minimum of seven years under the Labour Protection Act.

What are the components of payroll in Thailand?

It’s best to maintain a general understanding of the components of payroll in Thailand to stay compliant with the legal frameworks that dictate how they should be handled. Payroll in Thailand generally consists of base pay and benefits or bonuses as well as deductions (e.g. taxation and social contributions).

Compensation

Thailand's minimum wages vary by province, currently ranging from THB 337 to THB 400 per day. Bangkok was raised to THB 400 per day in July 2025 under Wage Committee Notification No. 14, joining the Eastern Economic Corridor provinces and Phuket in the highest tier. The National Wage Committee reviews these rates periodically.

Meeting the minimum wage alone is rarely enough to attract qualified candidates. Market rates in most professional roles run significantly above the statutory floor, so compensation planning should account for industry norms and regional cost of living alongside the legal minimums.

Working hours

In Thailand, the work day is eight hours and the workweek is 48 hours, with some exceptions for work that is deemed dangerous to personal health and safety, where the hours are reduced.

Overtime laws

Work rendered in excess of 48 hours per week is considered overtime and needs to be agreed upon by the employee. Overtime work rates in Thailand range from 1.5 times to 3 times (work rendered on a holiday) the base.

Social security

Social security contributions in Thailand amount to 5% of an employee's salary, capped at a maximum of THB 875 per month following the January 2026 wage ceiling increase from THB 15,000 to THB 17,500. Both employer and employee contribute at the same rate.

Sick leave

Employees are allowed unlimited sick leave, however, paid leaves are limited to 30 working days.

Parental leave

Following the Labour Protection Act (No. 9) amendment effective December 2025, female employees are entitled to 120 days of maternity leave, with employers paying up to 60 days at the normal wage rate. Male employees are now entitled to 15 days of fully paid paternity leave. Both entitlements apply to all private-sector employers.

Public holidays

Thailand celebrates a minimum of 13 public holidays every year:

• Jan. 1: New Year’s Day
• Magha Puja Day
• Chakri Day
• Songkran Festival (Thai New Year)
• May 1: Labor Day
• Coronation Day
• Visakha Puja Day
• Asalha Puja Day
• Aug. 12: Her Majesty the Queen’s Birthday
• Oct. 23: Chulalongkorn Day
• Dec. 5: His Majesty the King’s Birthday
• Dec. 10: Constitution Day
• Dec. 31: New Year’s Eve

*Dates of these holidays and observances may change based on religious calendars.

Payroll taxes

Income tax rates in Thailand are implemented at a progressive rate based on annual net income:

Running payroll for employees in Thailand means accounting for progressive income tax brackets, SSF contributions capped at THB 875 per month, Workmen's Compensation, and the new Employee Welfare Fund starting October 2026. Estimating total employment cost before committing to a hire helps avoid budget surprises.

Skuad's employee cost calculator helps you estimate the full cost of a Thailand hire, including statutory contributions and gross-to-net breakdowns.

Estimate the cost of a Thailand hire

Other laws

Some other important guidelines involve matters such as probation and termination. Probation periods cannot last longer than 119 days. Employees are not entitled to severance if they are terminated accordingly for grievous reasons. Termination without cause, however, entitles employees to severance pay ranging from 30 days of wages for tenure lasting 120 days to a year, to 400 days of wages for tenure lasting 20 years or more.

What labor laws govern payroll compliance in Thailand?

Thailand’s labor laws, patterned after International Labor Organization (ILO) standards, involve a lot of measures meant to protect workers from unhealthy employment practices. As a founding member state, Thailand generally espouses the standards set by ILO while also implementing additional measures customized for the local market.

In Thailand, labor laws primarily come from the following Acts and Laws:

• Hire of Services (Civil and Commercial Code, Book III, Title VI)
• Labour Protection Act 1998 (amended 2025)
• Labour Relations Act 1975
• Act on Establishment of Labour Courts and Labour Court Procedures 1979
• Social Security Act 1990
• Workmen's Compensation Act 1994

For a detailed look at Thailand's labor regulations, see Skuad's Thailand employment laws guide.

What does payroll management involve in Thailand?

Payroll management in Thailand covers the documentation and record-keeping obligations that sit between pay runs, separate from the monthly filing cycle covered earlier.

Employers with 10 or more employees must maintain written work rules in Thai covering working hours, overtime, wages, leave entitlements, discipline, and termination procedures. These rules must be displayed at the workplace and filed with the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare within seven days of publication. Any update to the rules, including the expanded leave entitlements introduced by the December 2025 amendment, must be posted or shared digitally within 15 days.

Employers are also required to maintain an employee register in Thai for each worker, covering employment status, start date, position, wage basis, and work location. This register, along with its supporting payroll source documents, must be kept for at least two years after that employee's termination date.

Payroll data falls under the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), which means employee salary information, tax identification numbers, and bank account details must be stored, processed, and shared in line with the Act's consent and security requirements. Electronic payslips and digital record-keeping are legally accepted, provided they meet Thai-language and PDPA compliance standards.

Why outsource payroll processing in Thailand?

A payroll processing company takes on the statutory obligations that come with employing workers in Thailand: calculating gross-to-net salaries, withholding personal income tax, remitting SSF contributions, filing PND 1 returns, issuing compliant payslips, and tracking regulatory changes as they take effect.

For foreign companies, the case for outsourcing is structural. Work rules and employee registers must be maintained in Thai. Filings go to two separate agencies on the same monthly deadline. The SSF wage ceiling, minimum wage tiers, and leave entitlements have all changed within the past 12 months, and the Employee Welfare Fund adds a new contribution layer from October 2026. Late or incorrect filings carry a 2% monthly surcharge from the Social Security Office and additional fines from the Revenue Department.

Thai law caps foreign ownership of a local company at 49% unless the Board of Investment (BOI) grants a promotion, and entity registration typically takes three to six months with a minimum capital requirement. For companies hiring their first few employees in Thailand, that overhead rarely justifies the cost.

Skuad acts as the legal employer in Thailand, so your company can hire, onboard, and pay employees without entity setup or in-house Thailand payroll infrastructure.

Here is what Skuad helps with:

• Employment contract generation across 160+ countries, aligned with local labor laws and statutory requirements
• Statutory contribution workflows across supported markets, covering applicable social insurance and pension obligations
• Payroll processing in 70+ currencies with accurate tax withholding and statutory deductions
• Termination and offboarding support aligned with local labor requirements across supported markets
• Work permit and visa support for foreign nationals joining your team
• Background verification covering identity, employment history, and criminal records before onboarding

Customer story: How Microsense networks hired contractors across Southeast Asia with Skuad

Microsense Networks, a telecommunications company specializing in high-speed internet for the hospitality industry, needed to onboard contractors across Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Using Skuad's Agent of Record platform, Microsense hired 9 contractors across all three countries with localized contracts, country-specific documentation, and cross-border payments in multiple currencies, maintaining legal compliance without establishing separate entities.

Read the full case study

Run payroll in Thailand without local entity setup

Thailand's payroll obligations sit across three separate agencies, each with its own monthly deadlines, contribution rates, and penalty structures. The SSF wage ceiling changed in January 2026, the Labour Protection Act expanded leave entitlements in December 2025, and the Employee Welfare Fund introduces a new contribution layer in October 2026. Keeping payroll accurate means tracking all three simultaneously.

Skuad supports the operational complexity of payroll in Thailand, from PND 1 withholding and SSF contribution workflows to statutory leave tracking and compliant employment contracts across 160+ countries, so your team can focus on the work, not the filings.

Companies across technology, SaaS, and professional services use Skuad to pay their Thailand teams in 70+ currencies, stay current with regulatory changes, and avoid the cost and timeline of local entity setup.

Book a demo to see how Skuad supports payroll for a Thailand hire without entity setup.

FAQs

1. How often are employees paid in Thailand?

Employees in Thailand are typically paid on a monthly basis, with salaries disbursed on the last working day of the month. Thai labor law requires that wages be paid at least once per month, and the payment schedule must be clearly stated in the employment contract or workplace regulations.

2. What are the mandatory employer payroll contributions in Thailand?

Employers in Thailand contribute 5% of each employee's monthly salary to the Social Security Fund, capped at THB 875 per month as of 2026. They also pay Workmen's Compensation Fund contributions of 0.2% to 1% based on industry risk class. From October 2026, the Employee Welfare Fund adds 0.25% for qualifying employers.

3. How is personal income tax withheld in Thailand?

Employers withhold personal income tax monthly using Thailand's progressive rate structure, ranging from 0% on the first THB 150,000 of annual income to 35% above THB 5 million. Withholding is filed through the PND 1 return and submitted to the Revenue Department by the 15th of the following month via mandatory e-filing.

4. What is the minimum wage in Thailand in 2026?

Thailand uses a provincial minimum wage system rather than a single national rate. As of 2026, daily minimum wages range from THB 337 to THB 400 depending on the province, with Bangkok in the highest tier. Rates are reviewed periodically by the National Wage Committee.

5. What penalties apply for late payroll filings in Thailand?

Late Social Security Fund contributions attract a 2% monthly surcharge on unpaid amounts, and persistent non-compliance can result in prosecution under the Social Security Act. The Revenue Department's digital audit systems flag incorrect or late PND 1 filings, which may lead to additional fines and interest charges.

6. What statutory leave must employers account for in Thailand payroll?

Under the Labour Protection Act, employees receive a minimum of 6 days of annual leave after one year of service, up to 30 days of paid sick leave, and 120 days of maternity leave following the 2025 amendment. Thailand also observes a minimum of 13 public holidays annually.