chesternim

An alternative to PP in Thailand is to have an account established in a Western country - if you wish to have a Merchant account for your website - PP won't give you one if you are in Thailand! <br>Of course you could have people order via email and send you funds via PP. I had no problems doing that between USA & Australia and Thailand<br>

You post is a bit dated - so chances are you made a mistake.

My adviser explained clearly to me the pitfalls of putting your name on the company register as shareholder or director - and giving your passport to the bank for recording - if you are endeavoring to have complete asset protection or in tax planning.

If on the other hand you are setting up an IBC for international trading then being seen may not be a problem.

I can not disclose exactly how to effectively have bullet proof asset protection - but I can say that trusts are ineffective. If you need to assert your control over a trust in court then obviously you must disclose it's existence. So then POW your protection has vanished.

BVI companies are the easiest to manage they are readily accepted by most banks. Opening a bank account with a reputable bank is not as easy as many advisers would have you believe. as they are usually selling a slick system with flaws.

IF you have a visa card or mastercard your Government has that information from the card companies. The US govt was trying to get Paypal disclose data - but I am unsure where that has got to at present. But do not think that Paypal will hold out indefinitely. You have probably seen even Switzerland cave in to US pressure.

There are methods to legally eliminate tax and protect assets useful for internet businesses - but if you are thinking you can manage it yourself forget it - you are heading for a cropper . You need a legitimate offshore partner who does not need to hide anything who can manage the entire process under a joint venture arrangement. There are structures to quarantine the profits or reinvest - but obviously details can not be spelled out here.

It does not matter what the statistics are in Thailand - you should use the universal formula to determine the multiple of profits that you should use for buying or selling a business.

If the business makes over $2million a year, has traded with consistent profit for the last 3 years and has a sufficiently diverse client base then it is listible. In which case a multiple of 10 times EBIT is average. For a property company the multiple would be lower - around 5 times and for IT and medical it would be higher - say 20 times.

For Trade Sale the multiples are much lower. Investors are looking at a minimum of 30% per annum on their investment capital compared to 10% which is sufficiently attractive for a listed company.

To do the maths as a trade sale the multiple has to be between 2 and 4 times. At 2 times the profit is 50% and at 4 times it is 25%. It depends on the type of business, consistency of profits, ease of running and heaps of other factors.

It does not really matter what the value of equipment is unless it is run down and needs replacing.

Regarding valuing stock - if there is a lot of unsold stock on the shelf what does that tell you about the business? So don't pay much for that.

If yo are selling a business don't load it up with stock or assets such as property that will make it harder to sell.

Offering vendor finance and a structured sale - so that say 20% is held outstanding for 12 months and used to adjust the price in line with expectations might just swing the deal.

If you need assistance managing the Gains Tax on sale or acquisition email [email protected]

Best wishes

I know nothing about this, so this is not advice, The 150hrs a month you mention, could you have a 'HR' Company where they work for that for 120hrs a month and another where they work for that one for 120hrs a month?

That is highly impractical - and fraught with danger!

A time bomb is what you are sitting on. Technology around the world is revolutionizing even 3rd world economies. All it takes is a wiff to cause a sniff - and you are caught in a jiff.

It does not matter whether you call a duck a frog - if it walks talks and squawks like a duck.

Do you really think you can convince a Thai Court that the contractors were not really employees? All it takes is a few of them to squeal on you. Or alternatively they might prefer to ask you for more to keep silent. And then ultimately you will still be exposed to potential heat from authorities.

As you are a farang then you can not win against the Government regulators or their courts. If you prefer to bribe corrupt officials then you are plain dumb. You might get away with it for awhile but one of 2 things will happen: either the heavy hand of corruption will hit harder and harder - bleeding you of profits; or the law in its full force will find you out and then you will pay both financially and in a Thai prison as a result of offense number 1 and the bribery - offense number 2.

There are ways to protect yourself legally - which you should be doing asap - and you may even end up being able to save on income/ payroll taxes. But don't expect that it can happen overnight with the wave of a wand - or that it comes Free (professionals do charge).

The trouble with the underground economy is that sooner or later its head appears above ground. You really are in a mess and you better bite the bullet sooner rather than later and pay for professional advice (from an expert). Someone I recommend you contact is [email protected]

I'm looking to move to Thailand asap and find work with an Insurance Group. Any recommendations on who to join? ... and why?