Dr. Ekniti Nitithanprapas, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, revealed that the Ministry of Finance and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are expediting the launch of the regulatory framework for the Thailand Individual Savings Account (TISA) project. The aim is to complete guidelines within fiscal year 2026 (by September 30, 2026).
The TISA initiative is designed to offer long-term tax deductions for savings and investments, providing incentives for the public—particularly for individuals with modest income—to invest and save for the future. Importantly, TISA does not restrict tax benefits to just certain types of funds, unlike previous schemes such as the Long-Term Equity Fund (LTF) and the Super Savings Fund (SSF), which sometimes led to financial losses for participants.
A guiding principle of the program is to grant investors the flexibility to choose long-term investments that suit their needs, removing complex tax deduction formulas (such as the 0.7 or 1.3 proportion). Benefits are intended to be equal for everyone, and unnecessary complications in the criteria will be avoided.
Pornanong Budsaratragoon, Secretary-General of the SEC, told Bloomberg that TISA will support the capital market, allowing investors to allocate up to THB 600,000 annually into a variety of financial products.
Thailand is implementing all possible measures to mobilize dormant household savings into long-term capital market investments—including equities, debt securities, and mutual funds—amid a rapidly aging society. This demographic shift is driving up pension liabilities and elderly care costs.
The initiative has been modeled after Japan’s Nippon Individual Savings Account (NISA), aiming to incentivize households to invest long-term rather than leave funds idle in low-yield savings accounts. The concept was first raised almost a year ago, during a period when Thailand’s stock market ranked among the world’s worst performers due to prolonged political uncertainty and foreign capital outflows.
Asadej Kongsiri, President of the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), stated that TISA primarily aims to encourage long-term savings among Thai people. The program has been designed to allow investors flexibility in reallocating assets within their account throughout the investment period, without being locked into the same assets.
He believed that TISA will help boost capital inflow into the Thai market to some extent, but the magnitude of its impact will depend on the future attractiveness of the market. The specifics of tax incentives and other benefits are still under consideration by the government.
