Can someone explain having a company to own a home here in Thailand

[khunPer]

36 minutes ago, ericthai said:

They don't need a Thai girlfriend or wife. The law office will handle it and provide Thai nominee that will own the 51%. So all your friends their houses are really owned 51% by Thais they dont know. 

 

This has been going on for decades. The Thai government just like all other rules will make a big deal about it and crack down once in a while, get a few foreigners in the headlines to look good and then will be quite again.  However you never know. you used to be able to overstay with no problems but a small fine and allot of time immigration would tell you to overstay.

That system with nominee shareholders unfortunately don't work anymore. When the law changed about a decade ago, the authorities set a time to reorganize the companies to real shareholders.

 

Some might so far have avoided scrutiny, but if me, then I would get my lawyer to sort it out sooner, rather than later later.

[khunPer]

On 3/1/2021 at 12:07 PM, blackcab said:

 

I'm absolutely sure. Unless you are an American citizen, the total non-Thai ownership of a Thai limited company can be a maximum of 49 per cent. Additionally, there must be a minimum of three shareholders.

 

American citizens can form a Treaty of Amity company, and they can own 100 per cent of the company. A Treaty of Amity company, however, cannot be used to own land.

That's true...????

 

The only way a foreigner can own land is by being an investor, either with a 40 million baht investment and investor visa, or by permission from BOI due to investment in something special that has been agreed upon.

[Time Traveller]

On 3/1/2021 at 3:07 AM, blackcab said:

 

I'm absolutely sure. Unless you are an American citizen, the total non-Thai ownership of a Thai limited company can be a maximum of 49 per cent. Additionally, there must be a minimum of three shareholders.

 

American citizens can form a Treaty of Amity company, and they can own 100 per cent of the company. A Treaty of Amity company, however, cannot be used to own land.

Sorry to tell you this Global Moderator, but I'm pretty sure that you're wrong.  As long as the company is not engaged in the businesses reserved for Thais, than yes majority non-Thai ownership is permitted. I've worked for a few of those companies, and their owners were not Thai or American.  

Even majority non-Thai owned companies can - by approval or certain inter-governmental agreements -  operate in some reserved businesses for Thais. Although this latter case usually requires BOI approval.

 

To the OP, and everyone, you should really contact legal professionals and not rely on anonymous opinions on here, because many are misleading

 

Edited March 2, 2021 by Time Traveller

[upu2]

The business will be 51% Thai owned so in effect the house is Thai owned

[Seeall]

On 3/2/2021 at 8:17 PM, khunPer said:

The law changed about a decade ago, so today it's little more complicated to use a company for owning property, as the use of nominee shareholders is illegal.

 

In principle you establish a Thai company limited og which a foreigner is allowed to own up to 49 percent of the shares, while the remaining majority of 51 percent shall be owned by Thais.

 

There shall be a minimum of three shareholders.

 

The company limited buys and owns the property, and lease it out to the use, which often is a foreign shareholder, or the foreign shareholder. Some land offices will only register land to a company limited with maximum 39 percent foreign ownership, but shares can be transferred to 49 percent foreign ownership after the land registration.

 

The company will need an accountant to take care of book keeping, and an auditer to make the annual tax statement. The income is the lease paid for the property, and often the accountant will make sure there is a small profit, so little company tax need to be paid.

 

In principle it's against the intention of the law, and thereby illegal; however, so far nothing has been done against small companies with one property for lease as only activity.

 

Today the Thai shareholders might be asked to show proof of their funds for shares, so the old system with more-or-less anonymous nominee shareholders will not work anymore. You need to find real shareholders.

 

In principle the foreigner only owns 49 percent of "his company" and thereby also only 49 percent of his/her home.

 

An often used trick to control such a company limited is that the foreign shareholder has so-called preferred shares, where each share gives 10 votes, whilst two Thai shareholders owns normal shares with 1 votes pr share. In that way the foreigner has the majority of votes.

 

Another way is the let a Thai shareholder have the preferred shares. That could be with 49 percent owned by a foreigner and 48 percent owned by a Thai (or a number of Thais), whilst the remaining 3 percent are preferred shares also owned by a Thai. The preferred shares will pay a guaranteed dividend of for example 4 percent of the nominal share capital in return of no voting rights. Thereby the foreign shareholder holds the majority of votes, i.e. 49 percent against 48 percent.

 

Some use a spouse or partner as a Thai shareholder, and a their child or children as minor shareholders under a guardian (often one of the parents, or both parents); minor can legally own shares. A spouse or child can be gifted the funds for the shares.

 

Best is, if the company has more activities than just being owner of one property leased out to a shareholder, including having someone employed and paying social security of the wage.

 

Using a company to own property includes extra annual expenses to run a company, which can be from around 30,000 baht and up.

????

 

a good read thanks...  but 8000 up ...

Edited March 3, 2021 by blackcab
Quote fixed. Please do not type your reply in the quote box.

[blackcab]

15 hours ago, Time Traveller said:

I've worked for a few of those companies, and their owners were not Thai or American. 

 

Thank you for your reply. With regards to the original post, the OP is discussing a non trading or lightly trading company owning a house in a village, not a BOI approved company, an industrial estate act company or a petroleum act company, etc.

 

In regards to the companies you used to work for, please feel free to PM me the company registration number or the registered company name and I will look at the ratio of Thai to foreign ownership online. That information is publicly available for free.

 

I would love to find an active Thai limited company that is not:

 

Treaty of Amity

BOI

Industrial Estate Act

Petroleum Act

Formed by other specialist acts or laws

A public limited company (PLC)

 

and is majority owned by non Thai citizens. To be exact, I mean that 51 per cent or more of the shares are owned by non-Thai citizens and those shares are registered as such with the Department of Business Development. The company must also be currently active (limited companies that were dissolved decades ago do not count).

 

If you can provide me, by PM if you prefer, with any one example of the above I would be extremely grateful. This information is publicly available online for free, so there are no confidentiality or privacy issues.

 

I look forward to your reply, because hopefully you can provide me with an answer to a question I have had for many years.

[blackcab]

An update:

 

I have not had a reply from any member regarding my previous post. I think it is safe to say that until anyone can prove otherwise, all limited companies in Thailand are owned 51 per cent or more by Thai citizens, with the exceptions I listed in the post above.

 

Again, if anyone can prove otherwise, please update this topic. The information on shareholder ratios for every Thai limited company is public and is available online, free of charge.

[JBChiangRai]

Freehold

Leasehold

Wifehold

 

I know which one is the riskiest!

 

 

[ThailandRyan]

48 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

Freehold

Leasehold

Wifehold

 

I know which one is the riskiest!

 

 

The same one that holds the balls and can instantly feed the ducks should she decide while your sleeping. Yes, I read between the lines JB