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Freelancer guide

Invoicing & tax for a Marketing Consultant in Thailand

A Marketing Consultant in Thailand invoices clients with a receipt or tax invoice; when the client is a company, the client withholds 3% tax on the fee (income type: Service / hire-of-work fees), transfers you the net, and hands you a 50 Tawi (50 ทวิ) withholding certificate as proof. Example: on a ฿50,000.00 fee plus 7% VAT, the client withholds ฿1,500.00 and you actually receive ฿52,000.00. You keep the 50 Tawi to credit that tax on your annual return. On your own sales invoice you are the payee — the client withholds and issues the 50 Tawi, not you.

Marketing consulting and strategy for organisations is a service fee withheld at 3%; once annual revenue exceeds ฿1.8M you must register for VAT and add 7% VAT on your tax invoices.

By the BillsOS team · Updated 9 Jun 2026

A worked example

Say you are a Marketing Consultant invoicing a corporate client ฿50,000.00 for your work. The income type is “Service / hire-of-work fees”, withheld at 3%, and since you are VAT-registered you add 7% VAT. The figures below come straight from the BillsOS engine.

Fee (before VAT)฿50,000.00
VAT 7%฿3,500.00
Total invoiced฿53,500.00
Less withholding tax 3%-฿1,500.00
Net the client pays (QR amount)฿52,000.00

The client withholds ฿1,500.00 and transfers you ฿52,000.00, handing you a 50 Tawi certificate as evidence.

Who withholds: On your own sales invoice you are the payee. Your client (the payer) is the one who withholds the tax and issues you the 50 Tawi — you do not issue it yourself.

What to watch for in this trade

Consultants often cross the VAT threshold quickly, so the example below shows VAT 7% and the 3% withholding together — the client withholds 3% on the pre-VAT fee.

Real-world scenarios

Scenario 1

A marketing consultant plans a campaign for a beverage company, charging a ฿50,000 fee plus VAT, and also fronts ฿100,000 of Facebook ad spend on the client's behalf on the same invoice. The two need clearly separate lines: the consulting fee (3% withholding base + 7% VAT) versus the pass-through media spend (not a withholding base, and usually no VAT if it's a genuine reimbursement).

Scenario 2

Another client is a Vietnamese company using the consultant's planning work entirely for the Vietnamese market. Unsure whether that qualifies for the 0% export-of-service VAT rate, the consultant checks with an accountant before invoicing — to avoid setting the wrong rate and facing a retroactive RD assessment.

The figures and details above are illustrative examples, not a Revenue Department ruling on your specific case.

Documents you’ll need

  • Tax invoice / receipt — being VAT-registered, you issue a tax invoice with 7% VAT
  • Quotation and invoice — before the work and when you bill
  • 50 Tawi — received from the client and kept for every job, to credit on your annual return

Frequently asked questions for this trade

Once I’m VAT-registered, does the client withhold before or after VAT?+
Withholding is computed on the pre-VAT fee, with 7% VAT added on top, so the client transfers fee + VAT − withholding.
My consulting fee is a % of the ad spend I manage (a performance fee) rather than a flat rate — how is withholding calculated on that?+
The same principle applies: 3% withholding on the pre-VAT service fee, whether that fee is a flat rate or a % of ad spend. The tricky part is if you're fronting the actual media spend and getting reimbursed — that pass-through portion may not be your service income at all. Keep the consulting fee and the pass-through spend on separate invoice lines, and confirm the split with your accountant.
I consult for an overseas client that uses the service entirely outside Thailand — do I still charge 7% VAT?+
A service performed in Thailand but used entirely abroad can potentially qualify for the 0% VAT export-of-service rate, but the Revenue Department's conditions and required evidence are fairly specific — an overseas client alone doesn't automatically qualify you. Check the conditions with the Revenue Department or your accountant before issuing a 0%-rate tax invoice.

Tools & guides for this

Other freelance professions

BillsOS issues invoices and receipts that compute the withholding and 7% VAT for you, with an exact-amount PromptPay QR embedded so the client scans and pays straight into your own account.

Start invoicing as a Marketing Consultant — free →

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BillsOS only formats and computes documents for you. This is general information, not tax advice — please confirm with the Revenue Department or your accountant.