RMF vs Thai ESG 2026: Deduction Rules and the End of SSF

The short version: for tax year 2569 (2026), only two Thai mutual funds still earn you a deduction when you buy them. RMF gives up to 30% of your income inside the shared ฿500,000 retirement cap, but locks the money until you have held it five years and turned 55. Thai ESG gives up to 30% of your income, capped at ฿300,000 in a separate bucket, with a five-year hold. SSF purchases have not been deductible since tax year 2568 (2025). If you still own SSF units from earlier years, though, the 10-year holding rule still applies to them.

This guide compares RMF and Thai ESG rule by rule. It explains how SSF ended and what that means if you hold units, and works through four tax examples bracket by bracket. It also says plainly what is and is not known about 2027 onward. Every figure comes from a ministerial regulation or Revenue Department document we opened. The full list is at the end.

RMF vs Thai ESG in 2569, Side by Side (Plus Where SSF Stands)

These are the rules for units bought during 2569. Each fund runs on a different legal clock, so the year matters.

Rule	RMF (Retirement Mutual Fund)	Thai ESG (Thailand ESG Fund)
Deduction limit	30% of assessable income	30% of assessable income, capped at ฿300,000
Shared ฿500,000 cap	Yes, shared with PVD, GPF, private-school teachers’ fund, NSF and pension insurance	No, separate cap
Holding rule	At least 5 years from your first purchase and redemption at age 55 or older	At least 5 years from each purchase date
Must you buy every year?	Yes. You may not pause for more than one consecutive year	No
How long these terms last	No end date in the regulation (income from 1 Jan 2563 onward)	Only units bought 1 Jan 2567 – 31 Dec 2569
Legal basis	Ministerial Regulation No. 357, clause 2 (55)	Ministerial Regulation No. 395

Where SSF stands in 2569: new purchases are not deductible, because the exemption covered only units bought 1 Jan 2563 – 31 Dec 2567. SSF units you already claimed must still be held 10 years from each purchase date (MR 357, clause 3 (102)). That 10-year rule belongs to SSF alone. It has nothing to do with Thai ESG units bought in 2569, which carry a five-year hold.

Two things people get wrong from a table like this:

• The two 30% limits are separate. On ฿600,000 of income you can deduct up to ฿180,000 of RMF and up to ฿180,000 of Thai ESG. They do not share one 30%.
• RMF has two ceilings. One is 30% of income. The other is whatever room is left in the shared ฿500,000 bucket. The lower of the two is your real limit.

SSF Has Ended. What It Means If You Still Hold Units

SSF replaced the LTF in 2020, and it was time-limited from day one. Ministerial Regulation No. 357 (2020), clause 3, created exemption item (102) for SSF purchases up to 30% of income and ฿200,000. It applies “for assessable income received from 1 January 2563 to 31 December 2567.” The Revenue Department’s implementing notice says the same. Director-General’s Notification No. 369, clause 1(1), requires the units to have been bought between 1 January 2563 and 31 December 2567.

We checked the Revenue Department’s new-law list on 1 October 2026. The newest ministerial regulation listed is No. 401 (2025), and none of them extends SSF. So you cannot claim SSF for tax year 2568 or 2569.

If you own SSF units bought in 2020–2024

Deductions you already took do not disappear. They stay conditional until each batch matures:

• Hold each batch continuously for at least 10 years from its purchase date (Notification No. 369, clause 1(2)). Each purchase has its own clock. This is ten years from the date you bought, not the old LTF-style count of calendar years. The earliest 2020 purchases start maturing in 2030. Your fund house’s annual certificate or app shows the exact date for each batch.
• The exceptions are redemption because of death, or disability certified by a government-recognised doctor.
• You can switch between SSFs, but the money has to land in the receiving SSF within five business days of the day after the selling fund gets your order (clause 6). Cashing out and re-buying later counts as a breach.
• Gains on batches held the full 10 years are tax-exempt under item (103) of MR 357.

What happens if you sell early

Clause 4 of Notification No. 369 sets out the consequences:

1. You lose the exemption for those units.
2. You file an amended return and pay the tax for each tax year in which you deducted the purchase. Clause 4 limits this to years that fall “within a period of not more than 5 years” from that year’s original filing date to the date of the amended filing. On top of that you pay the section 27 surcharge of the Revenue Code: 1.5% per month or part of a month on the tax due.
3. The capital gain becomes taxable, with cost worked out first-in, first-out.

For a sense of scale, suppose you bought ฿100,000 of SSF for tax year 2566 and all of it came off income taxed at 10%. The deduction saved you 100,000 at 10% (10,000) baht. Sell before the ten years are up and that ฿10,000 has to be repaid, plus 1.5% of it, ฿150, for every month counted from the original filing deadline. The longer you held before selling, the bigger the surcharge, although a section 27 surcharge can never exceed the tax itself. Clause 4 also limits the amended filing to tax years within five years of that year’s original filing date, counted to the date of the amendment, so years outside that window fall outside the clause. Your own figure depends on your bracket that year and when you file the amendment, so call the Revenue Department on 1161 before selling.

Can you still buy SSF in 2569?

If a fund house still sells a particular SSF, yes, but you get no deduction. There is a less obvious catch too. Clause 1 of MR 357 rewrote item (32), the general exemption for gains on mutual-fund units, so that it excludes money from redeeming SSF units. Item (103) exempts SSF gains only when they come from purchases that were themselves exempted and held ten years. Read together, gains on SSF units bought after the window closed may not be exempt at all. That is our reading of the text. We have not found a Revenue Department ruling on it, so if this affects you, ask 1161.

RMF: The Retirement Fund Tied to Age 55

RMF is the only deductible fund in 2569 whose regulation has no expiry date. MR 357, clause 2, rewrote item (55) to exempt RMF purchases “at a rate not exceeding thirty percent of assessable income, only for the portion not exceeding five hundred thousand baht”, for income received from 1 January 2563 onward.

The core RMF rules

• Limit: 30% of assessable income. Added to PVD, GPF, the private-school teachers’ fund, pension life insurance and NSF contributions, the total cannot exceed ฿500,000.
• Holding: the regulation requires that you have “held the units for not less than five years from the date of first purchase and redeem them when [you are] not less than fifty-five years of age.” You need both.
• Continuity: the regulation defers to the Director-General’s rules. The Stock Exchange of Thailand’s RMF Q&A summarises the current rule as no pause in investing “for more than one consecutive year”, with “no minimum” amount. The ฿500 minimum many people still quote dates from before 2020.
• Breach: you repay the deductions you claimed and pay the section 27 surcharge, much as with SSF.

Your age decides how long the money is locked

Because you need both five years and age 55, the money becomes free on whichever date comes later:

Age at first RMF purchase	Five years reached at	Earliest penalty-free redemption
30	35	55 (waiting on age)
48	53	55 (waiting on age)
52	57	57 (waiting on the 5 years)
58	63	63 (waiting on the 5 years)

So a 30-year-old’s RMF is locked for about 25 years, and a 52-year-old’s for five. That is neither good nor bad in itself. It just has to match when you will actually need the money.

Thai ESG: ฿300,000 Separate Cap, Five-Year Hold (Until End-2569)

Thai ESG started under Ministerial Regulation No. 390 (2023): 30% of income, up to ฿100,000, with an eight-year hold. Ministerial Regulation No. 395 (2024), gazetted on 3 December 2024, then created a better deal for a fixed window:

“In tax years 2567 to 2569, if the taxpayer purchases units between 1 January 2567 and 31 December 2569, the amount paid for the units is exempt at a rate not exceeding thirty percent of assessable income, only for the portion not exceeding three hundred thousand baht, provided the taxpayer holds the units … for not less than five years from the date of purchase.”

The core Thai ESG rules for 2569 purchases

• Limit: 30% of assessable income, capped at ฿300,000 (Revenue Department deduction summary, item 21).
• Separate bucket: it does not count toward the ฿500,000 retirement cap.
• Holding: five years from each purchase date. Units bought on 20 December 2569 reach five years in December 2574. Confirm the exact maturity date with your fund house.
• Continuity: none. You do not have to buy every year.
• Units bought 21 November – 31 December 2566 fall under the original MR 390 and keep the eight-year hold.
• Breach: clause 2 of MR 395 says you lose the exemption “and must pay income tax on the income previously exempted.”

Thai ESG funds invest in Thai securities that meet the SEC’s environmental, social and governance criteria. Risk and return depend on each fund’s policy. This article does not compare or recommend individual funds. Read the prospectus, and talk to a licensed investment adviser before you buy.

The ฿500,000 Combined Cap: Who Shares RMF’s Bucket

The bucket has one fewer member in 2569 now that SSF is gone. Several items people forget about still share it:

Item	Its own limit	Inside the ฿500,000 cap?
RMF	30% of assessable income	Yes
Provident fund (PVD), your own contributions	Deduction of the amount paid up to ฿10,000, the excess exempt, at most 15% of wages in total (MR 126, clause 2 (35))	Yes
Government Pension Fund (GPF)	Amount paid, up to ฿500,000	Yes
Private-school teachers’ welfare fund	Amount paid, up to ฿500,000	Yes
National Savings Fund (NSF)	Up to ฿30,000	Yes
Pension (annuity) life insurance	15% of income, up to ฿200,000	Yes
Thai ESG	30% of income, up to ฿300,000	No, separate cap

Working out your RMF ceiling in three lines

1. The 30% limit: assessable income for the year × 30%.
2. Room left in the bucket: ฿500,000 − (your PVD + GPF + NSF + pension insurance + teachers’ fund).
3. Your deductible RMF = whichever of lines 1 and 2 is lower.

Take someone earning ฿1,800,000 who puts 15% of salary (฿270,000) into a provident fund. Line 1 gives ฿540,000 and line 2 gives ฿230,000, so their deductible RMF is ฿230,000. If they bought ฿360,000 of RMF going on the 30% rule alone, the extra ฿130,000 would sit locked until age 55 and save no tax at all.

Four Worked Examples: What a Purchase Actually Saves

Every example assumes salary income (type 40(1)), the 50% expense deduction capped at ฿100,000, the ฿60,000 personal allowance, and ฿10,500 of Social Security (5% of the ฿17,500 wage ceiling × 12). The 2569 brackets are: first ฿150,000 exempt; 150,001–300,000 at 5%; 300,001–500,000 at 10%; 500,001–750,000 at 15%; 750,001–1,000,000 at 20%; 1,000,001–2,000,000 at 25%. These examples show how the rules work. They do not tell you how much to buy.

Example 1: ฿30,000 a month (฿360,000 a year)

360,000 − 100,000 − 60,000 − 10,500 = net income 189,500

The whole tax bill is ฿1,975, all of it in the 5% band. Buying ฿39,500 of RMF or Thai ESG brings net income down to exactly ฿150,000, and the tax to zero.

Buying more saves nothing, because tax cannot go below zero. The 30% limit (฿108,000) is not a useful planning number here. That ฿39,500 earns back 5%, or ฿1,975, in exchange for locking the money up for five years (Thai ESG) or until 55 (RMF). Whether that is worth it depends on when you will need the cash.

Example 2: ฿60,000 a month (฿720,000 a year)

720,000 − 100,000 − 60,000 − 10,500 = net income 549,500

The 30% limit is ฿216,000 for each fund. Here are two levels of purchase.

(a) Just enough to leave the 15% band: ฿49,500 of Thai ESG

549,500 − 49,500 = net income 500,000

That saves ฿7,425, which is 15% of the amount invested. For this earner, these are the hardest-working deduction baht there are.

(b) ฿100,000 of RMF plus ฿100,000 of Thai ESG

549,500 − 200,000 = net income 349,500

That saves ฿22,475 on ฿200,000 invested. The first ฿49,500 saves 15% (฿7,425) and the remaining ฿150,500 saves 10% (฿15,050). That averages about 11.2%, and each extra baht is worth less than the first.

Example 3: ฿100,000 a month (฿1,200,000 a year), no provident fund

1,200,000 − 100,000 − 60,000 − 10,500 = net income 1,029,500

The 30% limit is ฿360,000 per fund. RMF can use all ฿360,000, since without a PVD the ฿500,000 bucket is nowhere near full. Thai ESG stops at its ฿300,000 cap.

Both funds at their limits: ฿360,000 RMF + ฿300,000 Thai ESG

1,029,500 − 660,000 = net income 369,500

That saves ฿107,925, but it takes ฿660,000 of cash in one year, more than half of gross income.

Thai ESG alone: ฿300,000

1,029,500 − 300,000 = net income 729,500

That saves ฿60,450. The ฿300,000 removes the 25% slice, the whole 20% band and part of the 15% band. The money is locked for five years rather than until 55.

Example 4: ฿1,800,000 a year with a 15% provident fund (the cap starts to bind)

The employee’s ฿270,000 PVD contribution has already gone in through payroll (you still have to claim it on your PND 90/91 return), so it comes off first.

1,800,000 − 100,000 − 60,000 − 10,500 − 270,000 = net income 1,359,500

That leaves ฿500,000 − ฿270,000 = ฿230,000 of room in the bucket. That is the most RMF this person can deduct, even though 30% of their income is ฿540,000.

฿230,000 RMF + ฿300,000 Thai ESG

1,359,500 − 530,000 = net income 829,500

That saves ฿123,975. Of the ฿530,000, ฿359,500 comes out of the 25% band, worth ฿89,875, and ฿170,500 comes out of the 20% band, worth ฿34,100.

To see what money locked for five years, or until 55, might grow to under different return assumptions, try the compound interest calculator. The retirement calculator shows how far the pot moves your retirement target.

After 2569: What Is Known and What Is Not

Thai ESG from 2570: what the law currently says

MR 395 did not repeal the first paragraph of item (105), the one created by MR 390. It replaced only the second paragraph, with the special 2567–2569 terms. The first paragraph is still in force. It exempts Thai ESG purchases “at a rate not exceeding thirty percent of assessable income, only for the portion not exceeding one hundred thousand baht”, provided the units are “held … for not less than eight years from the date of purchase”. It covers “assessable income received from 21 November 2566 to 31 December 2575.”

What that means: unless a new law appears first, Thai ESG units bought from 1 January 2570 fall back to 30% of income, a ฿100,000 cap and an eight-year hold. WealthMagik reads it the same way. This is a reading of the regulation as it stands on 1 October 2026, not a policy forecast.

What we do not know: whether the government will extend the ฿300,000 / five-year terms, or fold Thai ESG into a new structure. We found no announcement either way.

TISA: not law, and now aimed at tax year 2570

• 8 December 2025: the economic ministers approved in principle a Thailand Individual Savings Account (TISA) and an ฿800,000 combined ceiling for savings deductions (Thansettakij; Finnomena, which itself notes the measure was not yet law). In February 2026 the rules were still being drafted (ThaiPublica, 27 Feb 2026).
• 21 July 2026: the Finance Minister said there would probably be no income-based multiplier, and that the ฿800,000 ceiling “remains under careful consideration” (The Nation).
• 27 July, 31 August and 11 September 2026: Kaohoon reported the Finance Ministry now targets tax year 2570 (2027). The cap was still undecided, with reports ranging from “at least ฿500,000” to ฿800,000 (Kaohoon, 27 Jul; 31 Aug; 11 Sep).

Status on 1 October 2026: the newest ministerial regulation on the Revenue Department’s new-law list is No. 401 (2025). There is no ministerial regulation or Royal Decree on TISA. Tax year 2569 runs entirely on the existing caps: RMF inside the ฿500,000 bucket, and Thai ESG up to ฿300,000. All the examples above use those caps. If you are planning for 2570, wait for the actual law, because the numbers in the news have already changed several times.

How to Think It Through Before Choosing

We do not recommend specific funds or tell anyone how much to buy, and the author holds no SEC investment-adviser licence. The tax rules above do give you five sharper questions to ask:

1. When will you need this money? Thai ESG locks it for five years from purchase. RMF locks it until you have both five years and age 55, which for a 30-year-old means roughly 25 years.
2. What is your top tax bracket? A deduction is worth the rate of the band it removes: 5% in Example 1, 20–25% in Example 4. The same lock-up can be worth several times more to one person than to another.
3. How much gets you out of your top band? Example 2 shows the first ฿49,500 earning 15% and everything after it earning 10%. Some people will stop at the band edge.
4. How much room is left in the ฿500,000 bucket? Subtract PVD, GPF and pension insurance first, as in Example 4. Thai ESG is not affected by this.
5. Can you keep to the conditions? RMF cannot be paused for more than one consecutive year, so if your income is irregular, plan for a lean year. Thai ESG has no such rule, but the ฿300,000 / five-year terms need a purchase by 31 December 2569.

Both are market investments whose value can fall. The tax saved is not a return on the fund and does not cover losses. If you might need the money before it matures, repaying the deduction plus 1.5% a month can wipe out the benefit.

For the other deductions that stack with these, see the complete list of Thai tax deductions for 2569. For how the brackets work, see the Thailand income tax guide. If you already have a provident fund, the provident fund guide explains how it eats into the shared cap. Then model your own numbers in the Thailand income tax calculator before you transfer anything.

Sources

Figures in this article were checked against the following documents on 1 October 2026:

• Ministerial Regulation No. 357 (B.E. 2563), Royal Gazette vol. 137 pt. 19 ก, 10 March 2563. Clause 1 rewrites item (32), mutual-fund gains, to exclude SSF/RMF. Clause 2 rewrites item (55): RMF 30% / ฿500,000, five years and age 55. Clause 3 adds item (102), SSF for income received 1 Jan 2563 – 31 Dec 2567 with a 10-year hold and the ฿500,000 combined-cap list, and item (103), SSF gains · mr357.pdf
• Ministerial Regulation No. 390 (B.E. 2566), Royal Gazette vol. 140 pt. 69 ก, 8 December 2566. Thai ESG first paragraph: 30% / ฿100,000, eight-year hold, income 21 Nov 2566 – 31 Dec 2575 · mr390.pdf
• Ministerial Regulation No. 395 (B.E. 2567), Royal Gazette vol. 141 pt. 77 ก, 3 December 2567. Thai ESG units bought 1 Jan 2567 – 31 Dec 2569: 30% / ฿300,000, five-year hold, and the consequences of a breach · mr395.pdf
• Director-General’s Notification on Income Tax No. 369, SSF conditions. Clause 1: purchase window and 10-year hold. Clause 4: breach (amended return, section 27 surcharge, FIFO gains). Clause 6: switching within five business days · dg369.pdf
• Revenue Department deduction summary, updated 28 January 2568. Item 11 (PVD: the deduction of up to ฿10,000), items 12–16 (pension insurance, GPF, teachers’ fund, NSF) and item 21 (Thai ESG) · tax_deductions_update280168.pdf
• Ministerial Regulation No. 126 (B.E. 2509), clause 2 (35): exemption for PVD contributions above ฿10,000, within 15% of wages · rd.go.th/2502.html
• Revenue Code, section 27: surcharge of 1.5% per month or part of a month · rd.go.th/5943.html
• Revenue Department new-law list, checked 1 October 2026: newest ministerial regulation is No. 401 (2025); no SSF extension and no TISA instrument · rd.go.th/21221.html
• Stock Exchange of Thailand, RMF Q&A (13 December 2023): continuity rule and no minimum · set.or.th. 2568 deduction update (20 November 2568): Thai ESG needs no continuous buying · set.or.th. These are secondary sources, not the Director-General’s notification itself.
• Thai ESG 2570–2575: WealthMagik’s summary of the ฿100,000 / eight-year terms matches the text of MR 390 · wealthmagik.com (secondary)
• TISA status: Thansettakij, Finnomena, ThaiPublica, The Nation and Kaohoon, linked in the After 2569 section. These are news reports, not law.