Should I Register My Business In Thailand Or Back Home?

[asdfrules]

I plan to start an export company to export wholesale or retail around the world. Not sure if I should register the company in Thailand or in my home country, Canada. Not sure how any of this works at all.

Below are some things I am thinking about. Any thoughts/experiences would be appreciated.

1. Business tax in Canada vs Thailand. Which is cheaper. A quick search tells me in 2010, Canadian business tax will be 18%. Could be wrong tho.
   
2. How do I make Thailand let me stay in Thailand if my business is Canadian?
   
3. Thailand won't let me own my own business. How important is that?
   
4. Should I talk to a lawyer in Bangkok about this and how much does that cost?
   
5. Other things to worry about that I haven't thought of yet
   

[gotlost]

Sounds like you have the cart before the horse. Research this website. Their are excellent forms on this subject. Then when you have a better understanding of what you want you may want to contact a sponsor of Thai Visa for legal advise.

[Spinel]

It depends what you want to do...

But anyway do you really understand about import-export before saying you will setup your own company?

The most important thing is to get the license for what you will import or export. So if you want to export thailand rice you will need to get a export license for this. Also you need to buy quotas and fill the paperwork... Doing that by yourself is possible but you'll obviously need your own company setup here in Thailand.

The only other way to do it would be that you use an existing company who has all the permits to take care of everything for you once you get orders. You could pay them a small fee for their service. But then you would not need any company at all, you could be just dealing as an agent and negotiate everything by your own.

To answer you question simply a Canadian company with proper licenses would allow you to import to Canada products and then redistribute them as you wish. But to export Thai products from Thailand you will need a company based here with all the licenses registered to your Thai company.

It really depends on how you want to setup the transactions...

[jacquesparra]

What products you intend to sell to Canada?? Food or non food. Only products from Thailand or also from other countries in the far east?

If you need advice I can help you, I have a lot of experience with import-export. For many years.

[CarlBkk]

It also depends on how big you plan to start off.

Registering a company in Canada will have the benefit of making it feel more solid to do business with and build up trust first with Canadian customers. Also easier for them to make payment and you to receive it. Start worrying about corporation tax when you're making a big enough profit for it to be an issue.

Registering a company in Thailand means that yes, you will have to go through a lawyer who specialises in this to sign up shareholders who are unknown to you. Loads of folks do it and I don't think you really need to worry about this, but do need to worry about the registered capital prerequisite.

If you have a company in Canada and buy from Thailand you can apply for Non-Imm B (business) visas yourself with a letter written from your own company to invite yourself to visit Thailand for supplier meetings and product sourcing. This visa I believe still entitles you to stay for 60 day and then exit/re-enter.

If you want to start out simply to check the market without spending too much time and money going into something that may not be worthwhile, just find your suppliers and ask them to ship for you direct to the Canadian customers, or pack yourself and send by courier/EMS/seafreight who can do the forms for you. No licences, no company needed. Once you start getting bigger with bigger clients, then it's time to change and do things from a Thai company.

[raro]

you would need a company in Thailand that is registered with the Thai customs. This can be either your own, your supplier (or customer in case of imports to Thailand) or any third party export company. We do actually offer this service.

Forget about those licenses, for most products it is not necessary. Having said that, we don't know what you intend to import/export.

As for your stay in Thailand you would also need a company to obtain a work permit.

[asdfrules]

Sorry about the late reply guys. I thought I was going to get emails when there were replies. I appreciate the valuable advice.

I should have said that I plan to start of retail website for a specific kind of clothing which will be ready for launch pretty soon. That will be without a registered business. I will want to have a real business once the billions start pouring in.

I want to expand to wholesale export in the future. Then I'll have to figure out how do that. Cargo companies, licenses and all that confusing stuff.

After running the retail website for a while, I'm going to want to stop doing it as a person, and start as a business. I want a business so it can all be legit, pay taxes as a business, have bank accounts and accept payments in the name of the business, hire staff legally, etc.

I also want to live in Thailand. Canada is too cold and has no tropical beaches or somtam for $1 on the street.

@gotlost

Yes, will deff be needing some legal advise soon.

@Spinel

Nope, I don't understand enough about import-export at this point. Do I need a business or license to send small orders of clothing?... to export large wholesale orders?

Would I need to be an agent and get an existing company who has all the permits for clothing?

So The business should be Thai so A] I can live here and B] I can ship from Thailand to anywhere. If I have a US or Canadian business, that does not allow me to export from Thailand to England. Right?

@jacquesparra

Not exactly just too Canada. It would be first sending small orders from individuals ordering online, to worldwide. Later I want to export wholesale clothing everywhere. I've had a few inquires from the US, UK and the Middle East. Just wondering what I need to do to be able to do this all legit. Register a Thai company? Get some kind of license? I guess a lawyer would know all the technical stuff.

@CarlBkk

Going through a lawyer who specializes in signing up shareholders might be what I need to do. But with shareholders, do I have to share the profit? I know that a foreigner cannot own his own company more than 49% here, but can he functionally own it? Meaning even though he doesn't own it 100%, he still has 100% control and gets 100% profit?

How much is the registered capital prerequisite? 1 million or 2 million baht right?

When you say send by sea-freight, that means through a cargo company, right? So I can just go to them with say 300 kg of clothes to ship somewhere and they do all the papers for me?

@raro

To export small orders, do I need a company in Thailand that is registered with the Thai customs? Wholesale? You mentioned using any third party export company and that you offer this service. Could you PM me with a link or something to have a look?

[Indo-Siam]

Two comments:

1. If your start a Thai company, and its ONLY activity will be sourcing and export of Thai products, then the company can indeed operate with 100% of its shares owned by foreign shareholders. This is routine - sourcing and export of Thai products is not on the list of business activities restricted by the Foreign Business Act - see lists of prohibited activities at: http://www.thailawforum.com/database1/foreign5.html

2. If you will pay VAT on purchases, then if you wish to recover that VAT on items that are exported, you will need a Thai company.

I run a company in Bangkok that helps foreigners incorporate businesses in Thailand.

Cheers!

Steve

Indo-Siam

[Sunbelt Asia]

Dear Asdfrules,

If you intend to actively work on Thailand then you must have a work permit. The only way to obtain this is through a Thai limited company of your own, or through employment offered by a Thai limited company.

At Sunbelt Asia, we will be happy to offer you a free consultation on this issue. Please contact us on 02-642-0213 for more information.

Best regards,

Foreign Business Advisor

Sunbelt Asia Co.

www.sunbeltasia.com

[email protected]

Edited February 12, 2010 by Sunbelt Asia