SunbeltAsiaExpert

So far, there are two companies that we can recommend:

1) Siam Yamato Steel Co., Ltd. www.siamyamato.com

2) G Steel Public Company Limited www.g-steel.com

You may refer to their websites for more information. Sunbelt Asia and its affiliates are not related to in any way to the above-mentioned companies. This is just a recommendation as per your inquiry.

[sunbelt][/sunbelt]

Normally the Immigration accepts renewal or extension of visas at least 15 days before your current visa expires. There are times that the officer accepts extension 30 days but it's on a case to case basis and it helps if you can show ticket of on-going travel if you are traveling out of the country. We can recommend the following, depending on your current status of your passport:

(1) If your embassy has not yet "clipped" your passport or has not yet "cancelled" your old passport, we highly recommend extending the visa and negotiate with the officer to accept it within at least 30 days before expiration, provided that you still have empty pages on it. Once the officer agrees, the stamp can be transferred to your new passport once you have obtained it.

(2) If in the event that your embassy has already cancelled your old passport or has clipped it, this invalidates your old passport hence you will have to wait until your new passport has been issued. The Immigration Officer will not agree to extend your visa at any point since your passport is technically invalid already. Having said that, this also means that when your visa expires, you will be charged an overstay fee of THB 500 per day until such time you receive the new passport and facilitate the extension of the visa. Overstay though has no adverse effect on any future visa extensions or applications. You will just have to remit the overstay fee at the Immigration and they will extend the visa.

(3) You may apply for an "emergency passport" that is usually valid for 1 year. This may be the passport that you have applied before as this is usually issued overnight. Obtain an emergency passport first then consequently extend your visa and then transfer the visa extension stamp to the "new" passport.

[sunbelt][/sunbelt]

It is entirely possible to work for more than one company in Thailand and the resort is right in doing the process of adding their company in the same work permit. However, at the time of adding the new company, it must qualify independently as per work permit requirements (e.g. 2 million baht, 4 Thai employees per 1 work permit applicant) and most importantly, the applicant must obtain clearance or approval first from the first company/original employer allowing the second company to be added. Furthermore, the second company must declare your salary based on the minimum salary schedule as prescribed by the Labor Department at the time of adding the second company. The minimum salary varies from 25,000 – 50,000 baht depending on the nationality of the applicant. Both companies will compute the said salary according to the tax schedule and submit its own, separate “monthly income tax” (Por Ngor Dor 1) to the revenue department respectively. Since the monthly income tax is a mere “assumption”, the total amount of taxable income is computed on a yearly basis hence the term, “Annual Income Tax” (Por Ngor Dor 90/91). Monthly tax submissions from both companies will then be combined to obtain the Gross Taxable Income per year, subject to deductions and derive your Net Taxable Income per year. It will be re-calculated according to the Annual Tax Schedules. If there is an overpayment (or over assumption) of taxes, naturally you will get a refund; an extra payment if there is a deficit.

In relation to renewal and/or extension of your work permit, the general rule is that, both companies must qualify separately with the requirements: 4 Thai employees, 2 million baht capital including minimum salary for foreigner(s). However, the renewal process varies from case to case basis depending on the conditions prescribed by the Labor Department. The conditions can be found on page 21 of your work permit. There are times that the conditions require you to provide all the requirements including “balance sheet” and “annual audit” or sometimes, the conditions require just the “annual income tax”. If such conditions were met and the officer is satisfied, he/she will grant the work permit renewal even if you have not fully qualified with the initial requirements. By saying this, if the conditions were merely individual documents such as the annual income tax (which reflects your income and taxes as a whole for the entire year), you may be able to renewal/extend your work permit without specifying the salary for each company (for as long as it averages the minimum salary for the 2 companies). The same may apply for the 4 Thai employees if the conditions do not reflect the social security reports. In the end, it will depend on the conditions for renewal and whether or not the officer will ask for additional documents based on your case.

Making your dreams of being an entrepreneur a reality

26th Floor Fortune Town

CP Tower 2, 1 Ratchadaphisek Rd

Din Daeng, Bangkok 10400

(Phra Ram 9 MRT Station Exit 1)

Tel: 02-642-0213

Fax: 02-641-1995

Website: www.sunbeltasiagroup.com

Are you on Facebook or Twitter?

Receive Live Feeds and Expert Advice

Join The Conversation NOW!

The general rule is that any person, regardless of age is allowed to own shares in a company so technically speaking, your son can be your business partner despite his age. However, bear in mind that there is a difference between being a “shareholder” and being a “promoter”. A promoter is a natural person or a group or persons, age 12 years or more, who are establishing the business or company in preparation to registering the company. Hence the name promoter -promoting the start-up of the company. Shareholders on the other hand can be natural person(s) or juristic person(s) owning shares in a company. Once a company has been officially registered, a list of shareholders will be released (bor or jor 5) with their corresponding amount of shares. These shares may be transferred to another person (whether natural or juristic).

A minor person can be a shareholder in a company but they cannot be a promoter if they are below 12 years old. The shares may be transferred to them at a later stage but it cannot be owned during the registration of the company. Furthermore, only until they reach the age of majority (20) can they be appointed as “Managing Director” of the company.

To conclude: any persons, regardless of age, can own shares in a company even right after birth; but only persons from 12 years old or more can promote or start the company (as original shareholders). As for your case, since your son is already 15 years old, he can be a “”promoter”, a “shareholder” and register a company with you as his business partner along with another promoter (registering a company requires 3 promoters). He can only become a “Managing Director” however, upon reaching the age of 20.

www.sunbeltlegaladvisors.com

26th Floor Fortune Town BR, 1 Ratchadapisek Rd, 10400 Bangkok

Tel: 02-642-0213 Fax: 02-641-1995

Follow us on:

The contract remains to be valid and enforceable. However, since there is no end-date, the contract is presumed to be an open-dated contract which signifies permanent employment. Therefore, your contract will not cease until either party decides to terminate it otherwise. If by any chance you are terminated without justifiable reason, you may claim for “severance pay” depending on the length of service you performed under the company. If you pass probation after four (4) months you may claim severance pay according to the schedule below:

Length of Service Amount of Severance pay

120 days – 1 year: 30 days severance pay

1 year – 3 years: not less than 90 days severance pay

3 years – 6 years: 6 months’ salary

6 years – 20 years: 8 months’ salary

Over 20 years: 10 months’ salary

Your employer must give you a 30-day notice of termination if he/she wishes to terminate your employment. In lieu of this notice, your employer must pay you a 1-month salary for failing to provide notification including the days you have worked until the end of the month (i.e. you were terminated 15th of the month without prior notice, you can claim 1 month salary + 15 days work until the end of the month totaling 2 months) on top of the severance pay as per schedule above.

This law applies if, and only if (1) there is no termination clause stated in the contract, (2) if the employer has justifiable reason to terminate you, (3) if you voluntarily resign from the company or (4) you did not pass probation. In the end, it will still depend on the provisions stated in the contract. You must check carefully what provisions are stated in the contract as each employment agreement varies from company to company. It is highly recommended that you consult a lawyer to review your contract in case of doubt. Remember that prevention is always better than cure.

www.sunbeltlegaladvisors.com

Transferring ownership of the company would be a good option because you would avoid the necessary expenses of the company closure. When closing the company you are required to catch up on any outstanding annual audits and file a closing audit. During the company closure process you are required to continue monthly VAT filing, even though the amount will be 0 as the company has ceased trading. There are penalties to be incurred for any late submission of audits. Upon closing the company there is an Government fee in addition to the accounting fees. A 25,000 Baht legal fee is the average rate for the company closure service.

If you proceed down the route of transferring company ownership, all that is required is a change of shareholder and Director, removing yourself from the shareholder list and adding in the new Director. There is a requirement for a local newspaper advertisement to display the change of authorized Director within the company. Therefore, the process of transferring company ownership will take 3-4 weeks.

With regards to your visa, you are able to obtain business visas through your Thai limited company. Depending upon which Thai Embassy or Consulate you visit to make the visa application, you will either receive a 90 day single entry or a 1 year business visa.

www.sunbeltlegaladvisors.com

It is possible to check whether your existing company has filed its annual audit or not. You may check on from the Department of Business Development website at http://www.dbd.go.th.

If in the event that your firm has failed to file the audit on time, it is still possible to file it in the following accounting year however, with a late filing fee. The last day of filing is on May 31 every calendar year. (In the case of a fiscal calendar, the deadline is five months after the end of the company’s fiscal year.)

It is best to contact a reputable accounting firm to handle all your accounts as these filings incur fees if filed later than due date and increases with each late month. There also are penalties set forth by the Revenue Department.

www.sunbeltaccounting.com

In the Kingdom of Thailand "non-competition" clauses are recognized by Thai law. This provision is enforceable for maximum two years. However, its enforceability is subject to certain restrictions. For example, workers who have devoted their lives to a particular line of work cannot be deprived of their livelihood or restricted from applying for a job in their expertise only in one particular field. For example, a licensed lawyer cannot be restricted from working at another law firm due to the number of years that have been devoted to learning and working in law.

In the same way, an employee who has been trained solely for a particular service or field and knows nothing else can be allowed to work in the same field despite a signed contract containing "non-competition" clauses.

However, every provision is entirely dependent on the terms used and, at certain times, on the length of the contract. We highly recommend consulting a law firm to review your contract before making any decision on the matter. It is always best to be safe than sorry.

www.sunbeltlegaladvisors.com

Your friend is correct on this issue, even though you are playing guitars and jamming with a Thai band in a pub. As you are doing it on a regular basis, it is recommended for you to have a work permit. By playing on a regular basis, the officials would interpret and assume that you are working for that Pub.

Referring back to the work permit, in order for a work permit to be issued, the applicant is required to be supported/employed by a company in Thailand or a juristic identity in Thailand.

Other issues that you and/or the band itself should take into consideration when printing CDs are the copyrights and music license issues as the songs that you play, record and writing up CDs, those songs' rights are sure to be owned by some music /record company /-ies.

26th Floor Fortune Town BR, 1 Ratchadapisek Rd, 10400 Bangkok

Tel: 02-642-0213 Fax: 02-641-1995

Follow us on:

For decor it.... the Oriental Hotel area

For clothes ....in the Sampeng, Bor Bae area

For brassware – Chatachuk

For musical instrument ...behind the Ministry of Defense. The ministry of defense is right opposite of

the Grand Palace.

There's an area in China town that specializes on musical instruments alone. There's this shop for example. http://www.theeramusic.com/indexhome.html

The area is called Verng Nakhonkasem, New Road, Sumpantawongse

Good Luck!

26th Floor Fortune Town BR, 1 Ratchadapisek Rd, 10400 Bangkok

Tel: 02-642-0213 Fax: 02-641-1995

Follow us on:

In order to have company bank accounts here in Thailand you must have a company setup here in Thailand and in order to set up a corporate bank account, most banks require the authorized signatory of the company (which would be you) to have a work permit from that same company in order to make withdrawals and/or sign cheques. The good thing about setting up a company here in Thailand is that you may no longer need to travel in order to take care of visa issues as your visa and work permit will be renewable here in Thailand (this would be determined by the government officials, with your other supporting documents and information being taken into consideration).

In order to apply for the Non-Immigrant “B” Visa from the Immigration (also known as “Extension of Stays based on Business”), apart from the basic requirements, usually Immigration would request the applicant to submit/show the Supporting Company’s annual audit and financial statements. However, for newly established companies there are occasions where this request may be exempted and it would be at the discretion of the Officer on the basis of the review of the remaining criteria such as the company’s filing of monthly withholding tax, monthly vat, social funds, etc.

As far as filing and paying taxes, when you set up a company here you will be issued a personal tax ID number and a corporate tax ID number and will then pay personal withholding taxes on a monthly basis. There is no need to move your sites to a different server as the US server will inevitably be less expensive and much better performing than a Thai server. If you open a company here in Thailand you do not need to close your Italian bank account so as long as you do not close your Italian bank you should be able to keep all of your credit cards. Thai banks do not have the same rules and regulations as foreign banks but you would need a Thai corporation and subsequent bank account if you would like to obtain credit cards issued from Thai banks. In order to get even a personal credit card from a Thai bank you will almost assuredly need to provide the details from your work permit and your personal tax filing receipts for at least 3 months and for some banks they will want to see at least one year of tax payment receipts.

www.sunbeltlegaladvisors.com

In the Kingdom of Thailand, the law specifically states that any foreigner who is working in the country whether on a contractual basis, part-time or full-time must obtain a work permit. Working at your own home in Thailand is no exception to this rule. However, if the work is done outside of Thailand and services are delivered /performed outside of the kingdom, then no work permit is required. If you will set up a website in the UK with a UK domain and administer everything from the UK, then you are not subject to any work permit in Thailand or taxes for that matter.

But as previously mentioned, working at your own home in Thailand is no exception. While you may set up a UK domain and payments of your clients are remitted abroad, if you will perform services in Thailand (or while being in Thailand) and got caught, the Immigration will view this as a fraudulent act and may result to severe consequences. Bear in mind that the IP address(es) will reflect Thai jurisdiction and the Internet laws of Thailand should not be undermined. As long as no services are performed in Thailand and everything is administered in your home country, there shouldn’t be any problems regardless if your clients are Thai companies or from elsewhere.

Registering a Thai Company is entirely optional on your case. Tax rates in Thailand are very reasonable, rather favorably lower than most foreign countries and thus, should be put into consideration. Furthermore, if you should set up a company rendering software, internet and website development services, you may qualify under (BOI) Board of Investments [in which foreigners can own more than 49% to as much as 100% shares in the company] and therefore entail certain tax benefits and numerous advantages.

Individual tax and Corporate tax schedules in the Kingdom of Thailand are determined as per schedule below:

Annual Personal Income Tax Rates

1 – 150,000 THB = Exempt

150,001 – 500,000 = 350,000 THB = 10%

500,001 – 1,000,000 = 500,000 THB = 20%

1,000,001 – 4,000,000 = 3,000,000 THB = 30%

4,000,001 THB + over = 37%

Corporate Tax Rates

Capitalization under 5 million:

20% Net profit not exceeding 1 million Baht

25% Net profit over 1 million Baht but not exceeding 3 million Baht

30% Net profit exceeding 3 million Baht

www.sunbeltlegaladvisors.com

There are no rules to govern the determination of the lease value and/or rent rate. The rent rate is determined by the mutual agreement of the landlord (lessor) and the Tenant (Lessee). It should be taken into the consideration that when leasing a property for a period of more than 3 years, it should be registered at the local land office. Even though it is based upon the mutual agreement of the Lessor and the Lessee, the rent rate to be declared at the land office must also be reasonable and justifiable as the Land Office will impose a registration fee of 1% of the total lease value.

The information that could be obtained from the Land Office would be the appraisal value (the sale and purchase price).

1. The Land office will use their central database to determine the minimum value of the land

2. The criteria that would be taken into consideration in determining the value of the building structure are the type of building e.g.:

· Commercial building,

· Single House

· Town house

· Others

3. The materials used for the construction would also participate in the building value determination. Such examples are:

· One storey building made of wood; or

· One storey building made of brick; or

· Two storey building, all made wood; or

· Two storey building, all made brick; or

· Two storey building, one floor is made of brick and the other made wood;

The value obtained from the land office is considered to be the average value and/or the minimum amount.

Another form of property appraisal can be accomplished through a private property appraiser. Apart from the information and criteria mentioned above, they would also be considering the environmental factors both on broad view as well as the local area.

The information provided would be the appraisal value, the market value as well as the neighboring property rental rate including the status and condition of the designated property.

www.sunbeltlegaladvisors.com

After trying repeatedly to contact the Customs Department, we finally succeeded, but we regret to inform you that they weren’t very helpful at all.

Most information is based from the website http://www.customsclinic.org/:

Importing of:

· Electric motors, the tariff rate is 35%

· Category 87.13 - carriage for disabled persons, whether or not motorized or otherwise mechanically propelled is 0%

· Other categories are mostly using the 30% basis

As you are only importing the motor, therefore, it would not be categorized to this 87.13 as this would only apply if you are bringing in the complete product.

But all in all, the importer would still incur 7% VAT.

If you intend to import this for business development, it is recommended to establish a company and apply for a BOI where import duty for the raw and essential materials will be waived for a year. There are also other tax incentives that you may enjoy such as the corporate income tax. This company can be 100% foreign owned.

www.sunbeltlegaladvisors.com

Another update concerning the non renewal of a teacher's employment contract.

The clause previously mentioned that teachers are entitled to the same protection as the minimum requirement and entitlement of labor protection and social welfare.

Previously, the Ministry of Education Regulation in relation to the Work Protection of Head Masters and

Teachers of Private Education Institute B.E. 2542 (1999 A.D) (Article 35) stated that teachers are entitled to severance. However, this issue has been amended and superseded by:

Ministry of Education Regulation in related to the Work Protection of Head Masters and Teachers of Private Education Institute (Second Amendment) B.E. 2547 (2004 A.D) states that Teachers shall not be entitled to severance from the following incidents:

(1) Voluntary resignation; or

(2) Foreign Teacher worked to the conclusion of the employment period; or

(3) Employment termination in accordance with Article 34 (which is related to misconduct issues); or

(4) Teacher's License has been revoked; or

(5) School terminates the contract due to the failure or inability to perform or pass the probation period.

So we can conclude that this person will not be receiving his severance from the school in accordance with this Announcement and Regulation.

For foreigners wanting to get married in Thailand, it's fairly simple. This process will not take longer than 7 days.

The first step will be to obtain an Affirmation of Freedom to Marry from your embassy. This has to be done by you. Normally, the embassy will just require your passport and 2 reference persons (including their respective contact information and addresses) if you are single.

As you have been divorced previously, you must present your "original" divorce decree(s)/divorce certificate(s) of all prior marriages as an added requirement to being single. If widowed/(er), then a death certificate is an added requirement. For divorced and widowed/(er) applicants, an affirmation of Single Status must also be acquired (as a supporting document to Freedom to marry). The embassy will issue these documents within the same day.

These documents will have to be translated into Thai language and must be officially certified at the Thai Ministry of Foreign affairs. Thereafter you will be required to officially register your marriage at the Local District Office in Thailand.

Hello MPC,

There is a way for Americans to own a business outright through the Treaty of Amity as long as the majority shareholder and the Managing Director are American passport holders. There are only a few differences between a Thai Co. Ltd. and a Treaty of Amity Co. and once the company is structured this is by far the safest way for an American to insure his or her investment in Thailand. The major differneces between the two types of company setups are that a Treaty of Amity Co. is required to register 3 million THB of registered capital per company objective and once the company has been set up company objectives can not be added so a company set up to be a restaurant can not later be modified to participate in Import/Export for example.