For most British buyers, yes. The test changed in April 2025 from domicile to long-term UK residence - a mechanical ten-of-twenty-years rule that most online articles still have not caught up with.
For most British buyers the answer is yes, and it is worth knowing early because inheritance tax is the one charge that cannot be planned for retrospectively.
UK inheritance tax used to hang on domicile, a slippery common-law concept about where your permanent home really was. From 6 April 2025 that was replaced with a residence-based test. In broad terms, once you have been UK resident for at least ten of the previous twenty tax years you are treated as a long-term resident, and your worldwide estate — including a property in Thailand — falls within the scope of UK inheritance tax.
If you have lived in the UK all your life, this changes nothing in practice: your overseas property was in your estate before and it is in your estate now. Where it matters is for people who have moved to or from the UK, or who plan to, because the ten-of-twenty test is mechanical in a way the old domicile test was not — and there are trailing provisions that keep you in scope for a period after you leave.
The overseas property is valued as part of your estate at death, in sterling, alongside everything else. The usual nil-rate band applies to the estate as a whole rather than to each asset, and the residence nil-rate band has its own conditions about the property having been a residence and passing to direct descendants. Transfers between spouses and civil partners are generally exempt, though there are additional considerations where one spouse is not long-term UK resident.
Thailand has its own inheritance tax regime, applying above a substantial threshold, and it operates independently of the UK charge. More immediately practical than the tax, though, is the administration. A Thai property is dealt with under Thai succession law and by the Thai courts, and an English will alone can make that process slow and expensive for the people you leave behind. A separate Thai will covering the Thai assets — drafted so that it does not accidentally revoke your English one — is the standard route. We cover the mechanics in what happens to your Thai property when you die.
Note also that the UK–Thailand double taxation convention deals with income and gains; it is not an inheritance tax treaty. Where both countries charge, relief is a matter of unilateral relief rather than treaty relief, which is another reason to take advice rather than assume symmetry.
A note on figures. Rates, allowances and thresholds change at every Budget, and this page is written as at July 2026. We have deliberately kept specific numbers off it and linked to HMRC instead, so that you are reading the current figure rather than one we published months ago. The mechanics below are stable; the numbers are not. This is general information and not tax advice — take advice on your own circumstances before you act.
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See if you qualify →If you are a long-term UK resident, your worldwide estate is within the scope of UK inheritance tax, including an overseas property. Since 6 April 2025 that status is determined by a residence test - broadly, UK residence in at least ten of the previous twenty tax years - rather than by domicile.
Yes. From 6 April 2025 the domicile-based test was replaced by a residence-based one. For someone who has always lived in the UK the practical outcome is unchanged; for people who have moved to or from the UK it can matter a great deal, including for a period after leaving.
In practice yes, if you hold Thai assets. Thai property is dealt with under Thai succession law and by the Thai courts, and relying on an English will alone tends to make that slow and expensive. The two wills should be drafted together so that neither revokes the other.
No. The convention deals with income and capital gains, not inheritance tax. Where both countries charge on death, any relief is a matter of unilateral relief rather than treaty relief, so cross-border advice is worth taking.
Reviewed 2026-07-20 · Written by James Allwinton, who runs the research and the numbers behind every introduction at The Expat Investor. We are an introducer, not a financial, legal or tax adviser — this is general information, not advice.
How we source this: UK tax mechanics follow HMRC's published guidance on GOV.UK, linked inline on each page, and the UK–Thailand double taxation convention. Rates and thresholds change at each Budget, so we link to the live HMRC page rather than reprinting figures that go stale. This is general information, not tax advice — your own position depends on your residence, your other income and your holding structure. Figures for any specific building — price, service charge, sinking fund and the net yield actually achieved — are confirmed with you privately rather than published here.