Hey,

I've been living here for a few years and will probably spend the rest of my life here. I wish to set up a company so that any future assets I buy (house, small business) can be bought in the company's name.

As I understand it I can set up a company where I have 49% ownership with 51% owned between 8 Thai shareholders.

Can anyone tell me the requirements needed to do this?

What entitlements will the Thai shareholders have, will they be entitled to a share of the profits from any business venture?

Can the company lay dormant for a number of years before it is used for anything?

This is with reference to buying land and building cheap student accommodation close to a university, probably 20 or so small apartments at a future date as well as assets such as a house and car and probably a small business.

Thanks.

As with all these things, good professional legal advise is a sound investment. Use someone who is familiar with the things you want to do.

Leaving a company dormant still means it has to file tax returns and be audited every year, no great advantage having it set up until you are ready to go ahead with your plans.

The shareholders of the 51% of your company are entitled to a share of the dividends similar to shareholders in other countries. Your shareholders may also have to show how they could afford their shares. The proposed foreign business act that did not make it through parliment before the election had a lot to say on this matter. It may or may not be revived with the new administration.

If you are looking to purchase property with a 49/51% share register, you may run into problems with the land office in some areas.

As the rules are subject to change depending on the direction of the political winds it is good to keep a good relationship with a competent lawyer and accountant.

As with all these things, good professional legal advise is a sound investment. Use someone who is familiar with the things you want to do.

Leaving a company dormant still means it has to file tax returns and be audited every year, no great advantage having it set up until you are ready to go ahead with your plans.

The shareholders of the 51% of your company are entitled to a share of the dividends similar to shareholders in other countries. Your shareholders may also have to show how they could afford their shares. The proposed foreign business act that did not make it through parliment before the election had a lot to say on this matter. It may or may not be revived with the new administration.

If you are looking to purchase property with a 49/51% share register, you may run into problems with the land office in some areas.

As the rules are subject to change depending on the direction of the political winds it is good to keep a good relationship with a competent lawyer and accountant.

Fully agree. I went with Sunbelt (Andrew Langley is the guy I dealt with). By and large they did a great job and only a couple of glitches, which probably boiled down to the things I didn't know about which maybe they thought I did. Or maybe I didn't listen closely enough, who knows? Recommend you call them.

D

If you are not going to go operational any time too soon and actually do anything I recommend a 39% set up. You can always restructure later. If you are not going to actually open up a business you might as well fly under the radar screen.