Department of Business Development Questionnaire for company home owners

[Pilotman]

Not sure if others have received a questionnaire from the Thai government' s DBD asking for confirmation on company structure and ownership where property has been purchased.  Apparently, according to my lawyers, a lot of these letters have just  been sent out to home owners and their directors.  We bought our house through a company .  The Thai Directors are my close Thai family (2 of) and myself.  I hold a minority share holding.

 

The lawyers say this is a crack down on  foreign majority ownership, through a company structure, where the directors are absent, silent , nominated or  otherwise not true directors of the company, holding the majority of the shares. . The lawyer says this is not an issue for us, but its a clear warning.  I would be interested to hear of any other experiences with this latest questionnaire or similar in the past. . 

[oracle]

Don't worry many of us! This questionnaire happens now and then for some, it is random, it is something to worry about if your receive such a letter, but your lawyer is wrong, this is not a crackdown! They dbd are probably not from your local dbd department. Make sure, as you should always, your company documents are up to date, shareholder, accounting, general yearly meetings and such. As long as you comply with all obligations as a company and director you should be fine. If you receive such a letter make sure everything is up to date and check with your Thai accountant or lawyer.

 

In the end the DPD officials do not have the authority to determine if you use nominee shareholders or your company is a holding company, illegal holding land or whatever. That is in the end always up to a judge. They just want to make sure your company is in order, land holding is an issue for the land department not for the dbd.

 

Let us know how this works out for you.

[Pilotman]

7 hours ago, oracle said:

Don't worry many of us! This questionnaire happens now and then for some, it is random, it is something to worry about if your receive such a letter, but your lawyer is wrong, this is not a crackdown! They dbd are probably not from your local dbd department. Make sure, as you should always, your company documents are up to date, shareholder, accounting, general yearly meetings and such. As long as you comply with all obligations as a company and director you should be fine. If you receive such a letter make sure everything is up to date and check with your Thai accountant or lawyer.

 

In the end the DPD officials do not have the authority to determine if you use nominee shareholders or your company is a holding company, illegal holding land or whatever. That is in the end always up to a judge. They just want to make sure your company is in order, land holding is an issue for the land department not for the dbd.

 

Let us know how this works out for you.

That's a comfort, thanks.  Everything is up to date, accounts submitted, tax paid etc,  so should be no problem then.  I will report back.