Starting a Local Business when I Already Have a Work Permit + HK Company - Advice?

[SS1]

Hi all,

 

I've been thinking about a business idea involving having a nondurable consumer product (small niche) locally manufactured and sold online in Thailand. If I am going to realise this plan, I'm looking for advice on what would be the smartest way to go forward about it.

 

For starters, I already have a work permit for the type of work I would be conducting for this business (marketing consultancy) so I'm not really interested in getting a work permit for this second business. I'm already employed by a BOI company in a director/consultant role and I don't think it would be necessary for me to get another job added to my work permit if I was to set up a Thai LTD. If necessary, I could have the Thai LTD as a client of my current BOI company for the formality, in order to be legally able to conduct this type of work for the Thai business. I assume that such arrangement would be fully legal? 

 

Secondly, I already have a company in Hong Kong that I would like to have involved as far as possible. Now I obviously won't be able to run a local business entirely with this company, so I assume I would need to set up a Thai LTD with myself (or the HK company if possible) owning 49% of the shares and a Thai partner owning 51%. I would personally handle the marketing/sales side and have the Thai parner involved with the manufacturing process, working with local suppliers as well as shipping out the end product. Is there some possibility to set up a branch office for a HK company in Thailand and what would be the difference in this case? 

 

Finally, I have a lot of Thai friends / colleagues running their own successful businesses without being registered at all, which seems very common. Where is the limit as to where a local would have to register a business for sales activity? Would it be even an option to get started with a local partner without setting up a company at all, where the Thai person would be hired as a freelancer by the HK company to run the operations in Thailand? 

Thanks in advance. 

[blackcab]

A lot of questions, but I am very pleased that you chose to ask instead of ploughing on and ending up with all sorts of problems at a later date.

 

Firstly, if this is all your money then I urge you to think about control before you think about anything else.

 

If you make money, other people will want some of the action. If you cannot control the business then you are already in trouble.

 

What do I mean by control? Control of the money, the stock, the process and the customers. Think now about how you will achieve this.

 

The next question is who will you be selling to? If you are selling to businesses you will need to be able to issue invoices. If you are selling to consumers, then not so much. An receipt will suffice.

 

As you probably know, running a Thai company is time consuming and expensive. Your best idea by far was employing a worker using your HK company. That way the employee's taxes are their concern. Again, it depends who you are selling to. If it's the public then the Thai employee can register as a sole trader at the District Office for 50 baht and you are away.

 

Have a think and post your next set of questions.