Business Setup Advice Required

[evertonthai]

I have recently setup a website for a friend who has a Thai company. The website has started to get a reasonable number of hits and is making her a reasonable amount of income. This has given me further ideas for creating websites for services in Thailand.

I would only act as a booking agent for the services and work on a comission basis.

This has raised a number of questions?

1) Can i setup a website, administer the website from my home country - the UK (therefore not working in Thailand) and have any moneys made, paid into a foreign bank account. What are the tax implication of this? Do i need a Thai company to do this, wasn't sure as i would not be working in Thailand?

2) Should i create a Thai company and gain a work permit and work from within Thailand? What tax would i need to pay.

Any advice on what people think is the best way to move forward.....

Any advice / opinions would be greatly appreciated

[SunbeltAsiaExpert]

In the Kingdom of Thailand, the law specifically states that any foreigner who is working in the country whether on a contractual basis, part-time or full-time must obtain a work permit. Working at your own home in Thailand is no exception to this rule. However, if the work is done outside of Thailand and services are delivered /performed outside of the kingdom, then no work permit is required. If you will set up a website in the UK with a UK domain and administer everything from the UK, then you are not subject to any work permit in Thailand or taxes for that matter.

But as previously mentioned, working at your own home in Thailand is no exception. While you may set up a UK domain and payments of your clients are remitted abroad, if you will perform services in Thailand (or while being in Thailand) and got caught, the Immigration will view this as a fraudulent act and may result to severe consequences. Bear in mind that the IP address(es) will reflect Thai jurisdiction and the Internet laws of Thailand should not be undermined. As long as no services are performed in Thailand and everything is administered in your home country, there shouldn’t be any problems regardless if your clients are Thai companies or from elsewhere.

Registering a Thai Company is entirely optional on your case. Tax rates in Thailand are very reasonable, rather favorably lower than most foreign countries and thus, should be put into consideration. Furthermore, if you should set up a company rendering software, internet and website development services, you may qualify under (BOI) Board of Investments [in which foreigners can own more than 49% to as much as 100% shares in the company] and therefore entail certain tax benefits and numerous advantages.

Individual tax and Corporate tax schedules in the Kingdom of Thailand are determined as per schedule below:

Annual Personal Income Tax Rates

1 – 150,000 THB = Exempt

150,001 – 500,000 = 350,000 THB = 10%

500,001 – 1,000,000 = 500,000 THB = 20%

1,000,001 – 4,000,000 = 3,000,000 THB = 30%

4,000,001 THB + over = 37%

Corporate Tax Rates

Capitalization under 5 million:

20% Net profit not exceeding 1 million Baht

25% Net profit over 1 million Baht but not exceeding 3 million Baht

30% Net profit exceeding 3 million Baht

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