Minimum wage - Business set up

[azerty66]

If I understand correctly:

My Thai wife can set up a business with a capital of 1 million bath, employ herself and a 2d Thai then can employ me.

I am here on a Non-Immigrant O based on marriage.

My question is: Is there a minimum wage that she must pay me? If so can I work half-time?

2d question : Do you know a good lawyer in Chiang Mai that could help?

Thanks !!

[elviajero]

There is no set minimum wage. You can work as few hours as you want. The labour office/tax man will expect a salary commensurate with the position you hold. They won't be bothered whether you actually receive the income, just that the tax for the declared income is paid. I suggest you speak to an accountant.

 

Immigration only insist that you receive a minimum income if you apply for an extension of stay based on your job/work. That will not apply to you as your permission to stay is based on being married.

[ubonjoe]

6 hours ago, elviajero said:

The labour office/tax man will expect a salary commensurate with the position you hold.

That is not correct. There no minimum salary requirement to apply for a work permit. The revenue department has no authority to get involved in the salary paid to somebody.

[bamboozled]

Don't some of these factors depend on your native country? Or is that only when founding a company? I have heard that there are some special exemptions for folks holding US passports. I don't know why this is, exactly, but if the poster is from the US he may be able to partake.

[elviajero]

4 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

11 hours ago, elviajero said:

The labour office/tax man will expect a salary commensurate with the position you hold.

That is not correct. There no minimum salary requirement to apply for a work permit. The revenue department has no authority to get involved in the salary paid to somebody

I didn’t say there was a minimum salary!

 

That is not correct. The revenue department could get involved and investigate any tax payer!

[Bangkokazy]

deleted

Edited October 11, 2018 by Bangkokazy

[ubonjoe]

13 minutes ago, Bangkokazy said:

Perhaps this one can help you a little bit to understand Thai laws

 

http://www.thaiembassy.com/thailand/work-permit-rules.php

Not really since that is not an official website. From the bottom the page "This is NOT the official website of the Thai Embassy". It is a site setup by a law firm and it has a lot of outdated and misleading info.

[Bangkokazy]

Deleted

Edited October 11, 2018 by Bangkokazy

[ubonjoe]

5 minutes ago, Bangkokazy said:

Maybe this page then

And another commercial website. With this logo. 

[phantomfiddler]

7 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

That is not correct. There no minimum salary requirement to apply for a work permit. The revenue department has no authority to get involved in the salary paid to somebody.

When I applied for a work permit in Chonbury, I was made to sign a declaration stating that my salary was 80,000 bht, and I was taxed on that amount even though my earnings were frequently close to zero ????

[khunPer]

20 hours ago, azerty66 said:

Is there a minimum wage that she must pay me? If so can I work half-time?

Presume the governmental minimum salary around 300 baht a day – it's slightly more in some provinses – is due for everybody; i.e. half that for half day's work.

 

Normally a certain minimum for wage is a question of tax and extension of stay based on work permit. There is a salary guide, you can download from here.

[Suradit69]

4 hours ago, khunPer said:

Normally a certain minimum for wage is a question of tax and extension of stay based on work permit.

But his extension of stay is based on marriage.

 

On 10/10/2018 at 9:39 PM, azerty66 said:

I am here on a Non-Immigrant O based on marriage.

Presumably he means an extension of stay, not a non-imm O visa entry, but since people seem to have difficulty differentiating between visas and extensions, it's something of a guessing game.

[khunPer]

1 hour ago, Suradit69 said:

But his extension of stay is based on marriage.

Exactly, but OP asked about minimum wage, and I replied it was for extension based on work permit...????

[ubonjoe]

15 hours ago, phantomfiddler said:

When I applied for a work permit in Chonbury, I was made to sign a declaration stating that my salary was 80,000 bht, and I was taxed on that amount even though my earnings were frequently close to zero ????

No sure how a declaration at the Labor Ministry could cause you to pay taxes since the revenue department goes by the reported income from an employer when monthly tax deductions are paid to them or a person reports their income.

I also cannot imagine how  the Department of Employment of Labor Ministry could require a minimum for a work permit since their is no act, regulation and etc that sets a minimum salary salary for a work permit.

The only minimum salary requirement is to apply for a extension of stay based upon working for a company.

[bamboozled]

I seem to recall reading multiple times over they years that a foreigner indeed has a pre-set minimum monthly wage. I recall 60,000 baht/month. I may be mixing up requirements for a foreigner setting up a company in Thailand and a foreigner employed by a Thai company. A note of caution: I founded a Thai company 10 or 12 years ago and paid a lawyer/accountant a good bit of money to set it up and additionally for monthly accounting. I never quite liked or trusted the lawyer but beggars can't be choosers and as a foreigner here we are somewhat beggars. Anyhow, after a good number of years I wanted to close the company as it was no longer of use to me but the lawyer's fee, if I remember correctly, was 40,000 baht, perhaps more, I can't quite recall. Some of it was his fee and a good bit was supposedly to the government for various forms/documents/etc... It seemed a crazy amount of money to simply close a company. In the interim of having this company I had gotten married to a Thai woman. We ended up going to one of the governmental offices on Chotana Rd (can't remember which now) and closing the company ourselves for a whopping 250 baht. That was it, done. Oh, I think I paid an extra 20 baht to have the official document laminated. It's true that I did not have any debt or bills or outstanding anything...the company had been dormant for years already. Who knows how much money the guy fleeced from me over the years. My initial gut feeling about the guy proved true but again I guess I didn't know where else to go at the time.

 

My advise would be for your wife to inform herself as much as possible about the situation before entrusting lawyers and accountants. It must have been the labor dept. we went to on Chotana Rd, the road that runs to Mae Rim. It is on the left side when going out of town, huge place. I would go there and ask around about what is necessary. Get it straight from the horse's mouth.

 

Cheers.....

Edited October 12, 2018 by bamboozled

[ubonjoe]

14 minutes ago, bamboozled said:

I seem to recall reading multiple times over they years that a foreigner indeed has a pre-set minimum monthly wage. I recall 60,000 baht/month.

The only minimum income requirement that exists is for an extension of stay based upon working for a company. The minimum depends upon a person's nationality and is from 25k to 50k baht.

 

[elviajero]

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

The only minimum income requirement that exists is for an extension of stay based upon working for a company. The minimum depends upon a person's nationality and is from 25k to 50k baht.

 

That is not correct. There is a minimum requirement to get an extension of stay, but the labour office can, and sometimes do, insist the foreigner is paid a minimum salary.

 

A foreigner being paid a very low or no salary would be considered highly suspicious and could result in the work permit application being declined.

[ubonjoe]

32 minutes ago, elviajero said:

That is not correct. There is a minimum requirement to get an extension of stay, but the labour office can, and sometimes do, insist the foreigner is paid a minimum salary.

Show me something to prove that there is minimum salary to do a application for a work permit and a listing of the minimum salaries. It cannot be done since there is none.

 

[bamboozled]

My wife says it was city hall we went to...somewhere in that vast complex. I would go there in person with your inquiry about setting up the company. If that is not the correct place, they will point you in the right direction.

[elviajero]

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

Show me something to prove that there is minimum salary to do a application for a work permit and a listing of the minimum salaries. It cannot be done since there is none.

I haven’t said there is a list of minimum salaries.

 

What you are being told — by people with actual experience of employing foreigners and/or dealing with the labour department — is that they expect the applicant to be paid an appropriate income for the job they are being employed to do.

 

I imagine that the salary declared on most applications is considered commensurate, which is why the salary isn’t, generally, challenged.

 

The bottom line is that a work permit application could be queried/rejected if the applicant isn't paid an appropriate (enough) salary.

Edited October 12, 2018 by elviajero