How To Set Up A Thai Company

[hockeyrick]

Hello everyone

First, if this has been covered, please direct me to the proper area or site.

I want to set up a company, with the purpose of possibly starting a language school, or owning some small businesses, like hair salon, pub, etc.

Some have told me that info is available thru the Thai Chamber of Commerce, but have not seen any way to access it.

If anyone has any links or people to contact, that can explain in English, I would greatly appreciate it.

Feel free to private message me if you like.

[hhgz]

Check with Sunbelt Asia.

[chiangmaibruce]

there is heaps of free & available info for you to access, incl:

1. use thaivisa search facility top right this page to locate dozens of relevant threads and stories from ppl who have gone through the process

2. go to web site of thai board of investment - many papers/reports avail there

3. try google or yahoo with search words like "starting a thai business"

4. use google to locate web site of large law firms in thailand - many of which have free papers on establishing a company

5. find the website of your country's embassy in thailand - again often free publications on starting or running a biz here

6. use google to find the web site of paiboon publishing, they have a book on starting a biz in thailand by a guy living here in chiang mai (philip wylie?)

etc

Edited July 17, 2009 by chiangmaibruce

[raro]

Questoins about Small and Medium sized Enterprises are best asked and answered in the SME forum.

topic moved.

...and yes, this has been asked many times, have a look in the forum archives (i.e. go back several pages) and/or use the search function

[Rainmon]

Check with Sunbelt Asia.

You can do everything on your own, do the research, you can file and register your company without a lawyer too, you don't need a service like this, they have extreme fees and prey on ignorant new people, unless you just have plenty of money to flush down the toilet...

Edited July 19, 2009 by Rainmon

[surayu]

Check with Sunbelt Asia.

To me that sound exactly like if you say : "jump on the mouth of a starving crocodile!!!"

don't do it man! i have been into it myself and i wish someone had made me aware of it before!

[surayu]

Check with Sunbelt Asia.

You can do everything on your own, do the research, you can file and register your company without a lawyer too, you don't need a service like this, they have extreme fees and prey on ignorant new people, unless you just have plenty of money to flush down the toilet...

EXACTLY! in my particular case i have been provided with paper that would create more damages then good to me! and i was the person paying for it! theyr formula can be resumed very briefly like this: "we pass all kind of responsability to you, if there is anything not legal, wrong or whatever else we take absolutely no responsability in what we wrote and you, the paying customer, are the only responsible person for anything" i hope this open up your eyes a bit and can help you in deciding if they are worth your money or not.....

[Sunbelt Asia]

Dear Rick,

When setting up a Thai limited company you are required to have 3 shareholders. In the majortity of instances, the company must be 51% Thai owned. However, if you are an American national you can set up a company under the Amity treaty and qualify for 100% foreign ownership. In addition, if the company is 100% export or a manufacturing business (specific categories only) then it may also qualify for 100% foreign ownership. Certain types of companies can also qualify for 100% foreign ownership through the BOI (Board of Investment).

When setting up the company it must have at least 2 million Baht of registered capital. Thai nationals are required to display an amount equal to the value of their shares in a bank account. This amount will be checked during the company set up process but is not required to be kept there for a certain period of time. However, foreigners are not required to display these funds. Providing you have 4 Thai employees and 2,000,000 Baht of registered capital, you will be able to obtain a work permit, enabling you to actively work in your business.

For more information on the company set up process, please contact Sunbelt Asia for a free consultation at your convenience on 02-642-0213.

Best regards,

Legal Advisor

Foreign Business Advisor

Sunbelt Asia Co. Ltd

www.sunbeltasia.com

[email protected]

[ebug2004]

Hi,

want to setup a Thai majority company, it shall do engineering work, e.g. software and hardware development and mostly provide outsourcing services for European companies. Just got an offer for 25.000Bht for business registration incl. VAT registration from a lawyer in Korat who claims to have experience with this matter. Seems to be o.k. for, and is similar to what I heard from friends.

What bothers me is:

- I wan't to have full control over the company, and therefore it should have 2 kinds of shares with different voting rights, means the 51% share of the Thai partners will have less than 50% voting rights. Furthermore I will have 49% of the shares, while the 2 other shareholders have each less than 49%, means I'm the majority owner. This is so far o.k. according to Thai law, but the controversal proposal of the FBA Amendment of 2007 shall make it illegal for a foreingener to dominate a Thai owned business with the different kinds of voting rights, if this company is doing business restricted to Thais.

- Unfortunately "Engineering service business" is on the list 3 of the FBA restricted business for foreigners ("business which Thai nationals are not ready to compete with"). I have no idea how I can declare software and hardware development (electrical+mechanical engineering) in a way that it will not fall into this category, but it doesn't give a really safe feeling for the future of the business to know that it may be illegal soon.

Does anyone have experience with above mentioned matter? Any recommendation how to setup the company in a way that avoids violating the FBA Amendment?

By the way...the business will not be big enough for BOI support... ;-)

Another question: I need a working permit, but I don't have the 4 employees yet that I need to apply for it. Does any(!) employee do it, as long as he/she pays tax? E.g. is it enough to have 4 part time workers with 1000Baht monthly salary each?

Thanks a lot!

Matthias