Galong

Every new car is a luxury when you can't afford it. It's shocking how, at least here in Phuket, almost everyone has a nice car. All of my neighbors have nice cars and low-paying jobs. Extreme debt now and no planning for the future (retirement) seems to be rampant. Oh well, looking like you've got money is more important than actually having money I reckon... carry on.

Thanks for the info. Since my previous post, our lead guide wants to buy the company. I spoke with him at length this morning. This is exactly how we wanted it to happen, but wanted optional plans in case it didn't, thus this thread. I'm not retiring for 8 months, so a lot of time will be spend ironing out the details and covering all of the bases.

Responsibility for an audit might be something that could be added to a Share Purchase Agreement (SPA). I would look into this as well before selling.

I wonder what the chances are of an audit when selling a company. What would be your guess? From talking with business friends and reading online, it seems like my wife (director) would no longer be responsible for anything happening with the company, which is exactly what we want. We just want to retire and finally have no business responsibilities or concerns.

Thanks for the details. Yes, I would fully expect the revenue department to come up with some reason to extract a bit of cash from us. Interestingly, I was just reading about the dormant company option. That does sound like a viable option. HOWEVER, my wife just talked to our lead guide and he seems quite interested in buying the company. I'll meet with him in the morning and work out the details. 🤞🤞

My accountant and her team offer many services, including closing companies. She says she's had a few companies close this year without any issues. We also have a lawyer that we used for making our Wills. We'll ask him if he's familiar with the process of closing a business and if he can help. I'd really prefer to sell it if at all possible. It would be less hassle, BUT if there is any risk involved for my wife (the director) after the sale, then closing in the way we'll go. I just want it over.

Thanks a LOT for the personal insight... very helpful. We'll look into this further. There is nothing 'lurking'. There is no debt and nothing but potential for success. I'd prefer to sell it.

yeah, everything you're saying is EXACTLY what I thought. Maybe I need a second opinion. My accountant has always looked out for us, but perhaps she's not right this time. We should talk to our attorney. However, the guy who would likely buy the company will NOT run everything above board. He'll run it without declaring income for one thing... kinda like most small businesses seem to do. My wife's name WAS on everything and that's on record, so I'm not sure about any retroactive liabilities. Darn, why does everything have to be so challenging? We just want to stop or sell, period.

That's what we originally wanted to do. We wanted to sell it to the staff, particularly to the lead guide. However, our accountant said that just taking my wife's name off of all of the papers doesn't remove her from liability if he (the guide) screws something up. That doesn't sound reasonable, but I wouldn't be surprised if she's not right. I wonder if we can at least sell him the websites (we have two) and he can form his own company? 🤔 I'm sure he wouldn't be legally allowed to call it the same name though. It seems like closing a company is more challenging than opening one.

We're small with 3 shareholders... all Thai family members. I'm not a shareholder. We are VAT registered. We had a couple of big years and the gov told us we had to register for VAT. Thanks for letting me know about closing the bank before unregistering!

I'm expecting everything you mentioned. I don't think the Rev Dept would waste much time on us as we're a 'peanuts' size company... small fish 😉 It'll be time for a huge sigh once it's done and dusted. It's also not easy letting go of something we built from nothing. Oh well, everything ends at some point.

Yeah, that's what I expect. We're a small and uncomplicated company, so there's not much to wait for... historically-speaking, they'll see that we're low volume.

After 25 years the Mrs. and I are ready to close our small tour company. I'm almost 70 and I'm burnt out dealing with it all. I've read that it can be tedious and time-consuming to close a company. We have no debt and all shareholders are on board. Does anyone here have any experience in closing a company? My accountant said it'll be between 20k and 25k baht for her to do it and it could take a couple of months. Any insight on what to do and not to do in preparation for closing a company would be greatly appreciated.

Americans aren't overly intelligent. Do you actually expect them to look into what she's done while in office? Serving the country isn't supposed to be a popularity contest.

Yes, it's absurdly strong for no logical reason. The unstable political scene alone should make it tumble. I can't see anyone with any sense investing big money in Thailand, not with the unstable government and not with the muddy tax scheme. I hope the baht tumbles back to where it belongs soon, hopefully before my next US Soc Sec payment. 🤔😉

How is this suicidal compared to motorcyclists? Bicycles tend to stay tight left and tend to be more aware. They're going slower. Motorbikes have more accidents. I cycle daily. I would always wear a helmet and I've got a huge mirror that I check constantly. I've had one accident. That was being hit from behind on a quiet road by a motorbike. The guy admitted he was looking at his phone. That could have happened if I was on a motorbike.

"Wok activists"? A lot of really good food comes out of a wok. But seriously, who has the 'wok activists' stopped from speaking? Give the victim game a rest. The conservative POV has NEVER been stifled. Fox and all of the newer far-right organizations are not being told what to say unless what they say is illegal. Let me guess, anyone should be allowed to say anything and thus slander laws are constitutionally unfair. Blatantly lying about election laws should allowed under constitutional law, right?

"Give free speech", seriously?? FYI, free speech is not being curtailed. That's just another dog whistle to fire up the simple-mined. He fired staff and laughed about it with King Donny. Musk only cares about Musk, not free speech or the average citizen.

She's out talking to the actual citizens of the country. I don't know why this is seen as a negative. Oh, wait, all the GOP has is negativity. The entire campaign up to this point has been slams, insults, and threats. Let's hear some policy, please. Start by listing the things in Project 2025 is in any way NOT a direct threat to the Constitution.

Nepotism isn't "new chapter" in Thai politics. 🤦 The citizens of this great nation did NOT vote for her. This is the opposite of Democracy. I do wish her luck and hope her focus is on the betterment of the nations for ALL Thais at all levels of society. 🤞🤞🤞

Israel took over a country that wasn't theirs! Some call it the spoils of war. Um, Palestine wasn't on Germany's side if my history serves me correctly. If giving Israel to the Jews was a spoils-of-war scenario, give them part of Germany. That would be fun to watch. Israel is the aggressor. Israelis constantly treat Palestinians like trash. Palestinians have almost no rights in their own country and if they want to take something to court, it goes to an Israeli military court. Israelis, on the other hand, have all sorts of rights. The US need to completely break ties with Israel in my opinion or at the very least, stop supplying them with weapons to kill civilians. Hamas was wrong for what they did, but it was not unprovoked. Since then, Israel has been on an ethnic cleansing spree and not being 'on the defense'. They could have stopped this outrageous bullying long ago, but with US military weapons and financial support, they are able to this day to still bomb schools. No Israel = know peace in the Middle East

Vance, along with many other Republicans, cosplays to be like Walz. Vance is flips and flops in whichever way benefits him. He's a complete fake, which makes him the perfect VP candidate for the serial fabricator.

With jet set Srettha out, I guess no Formula 1 in BKK... I was looking forward to the tuk tuk - taxi drivers blocking that for affecting their business.

Hey Republicans, would you like Walz more if he was more manly? Maybe coaching sports and being in the military isn't manly enough. Walz needs a spray tan, dyed hair, a laughable comb-over, a physique reminiscent of Mr. Creosote, and diapers to be a real man, am I right? 😜

Trump gets caught off guard if the teleprompter has a big word on it... or when his KFC bucket lid is on too tight.