Avoiding Establishing A Company, Possible?

[newsme]

Hi all,

My (non Thai) wife has a work permit, I should be getting a non immigrant visa without the ability to work

I'm looking to start an IT service company and EBay trading business from scratch. As I grow, I'll hire people and get established. But for the first few years I won't be able to put the money down to register a business officially and so I'm looking to avoid registering.

Is this risky in any way? Is there a cheap way to run a small business from home legally with limited funds?

If I only do EBay and deposit money in my UK account, am I right in thinking I am not breaking any laws?

Many thanks

Andy

[klikster]

Hi all,

My (non Thai) wife has a work permit, I should be getting a non immigrant visa without the ability to work

I'm looking to start an IT service company and EBay trading business from scratch. As I grow, I'll hire people and get established. But for the first few years I won't be able to put the money down to register a business officially and so I'm looking to avoid registering.

Is this risky in any way? Is there a cheap way to run a small business from home legally with limited funds?

If I only do EBay and deposit money in my UK account, am I right in thinking I am not breaking any laws?

Many thanks

Andy

You don't seem to be getting many responses. Most of the folks on TV do not live here .. I read 84% at one point. The guys who live here and are doing well, are going to be pretty quiet. Many of the folks who live here have no clue about business. A good number will make negative comments just because it makes them feel ..?

With that said, take my comments with a grain of salt.

Numerous one/two man web operations are being run in Thailand without companies and probably without work permits. It's unofficially "sort of" a dark gray area .. especially is the income ic coming from offshore. Keeping a low profile helps.

Wait until you actually grow to decide whether you want to hire local or freelancers offshore.

[raro]

The answer to that question is quite simple: cannot!

The question was already asked plenty of times on this board, just make a search...in a nutshell: Working requires a work permit and this again requires some investment/expenses.

[Artey]

Yes legally u would need a work permit if your working here, but going through the hassle and expense of setting up the company, paying tax on an income u probably will not earn for the first 6 months or so, as well as the audits, etc. can be way more hassle then its worth to be 100% legit.

That said, if your 'work' involves you sitting in your room on the internet, ur customers pay u into an account that Thai authorities have no way of checking (UK account or Paypal) and the only time u step out of ur room is go to the post office to send a few parcels, who is really gona know. It's not like ur standing at the side of the road selling som tum. I'm sure a lawyer will tell u different and try and convince u otherwise, but just think of how much money he would make from u if u dont register company, work permit, etc. He would make 0.

And if you get to the stage where u have to go to the post office 3 times a day, 6 days a week, and you get scared that post office staff might catch on to ur 'work' then u could always employee a thai student or someone, that simply does the posting for u, pay them in cash, and thats it, no need to go through all the legal hoops and expenses until it's absolutely necessary.