Opening Up Regional Offices.

[daleyboy]

Hi all

This is my very first of what i hope to be many posts. I just wanted to ask some advice on opening a regional office in Thailand.

I like many others on here dream of living in Thailand, and are willing to do whatever it takes, no matter how long it takes.

I have a new business idea which i am not going to share with you all for obvious reasons, other than to say i have done my market research in depth with my target market. I have also researched the viability of the business and it is possible to set up, with little to no outlay from myself.

What i want to ask is if i setup the business in the U.K can i then open a regional office in Thailand as long as i am not taking money or payments?

Do i need an office? As this business idea dosnt actually require me to have one.

The business is tourist based so will i be able to get a w/p?

I will be working as a sort of holiday rep but for a U.K based business in my name, is this possible?

How will tax laws effect me?

Sorry there are alot of questions but i feel i need to spend a year or two to get it right and from reading what you guys and girls are writing you seem to be a never ending and valuable source of research and knowledge.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and maybe you could leave me some ideas. And dont worry about aoffending me as i can cope quite well with constructive criticism

Edited May 30, 2005 by daleyboy

[Indo-Siam]

There are processes for establishing a Thai Representative Office, or a Thai Regional Office. To open a Thai regional office, your parent company must have documented ownership stake in a subsidiary in at least one other regional country.

Forming a Thai Representative Office is a long, expensive, and painful process. It costs about six times more, and takes at least six times longer, than forming a Thai Private Co. Ltd. It requires you to remit into Thailand a total of 5,000,000 baht, including 1,000,000 baht in the first and second six-month periods.

In my experience, you cannot "open a UK company and then use it to sponsor a TRO in Thailand." You must have an established overseas parent company, with at least several years worth of audited financials.

I sincerely doubt that your interests will be served by pursuing the TRO process. If you are looking into this to try to "skate" around what you perceive to be excessive challenges in pursuing a Thai Private Co. Ltd., then I suggest that you think again. it is MUCH harder to get a TRO approved than to get a TPCL set up - by a factor of at least 10X.

You can accomplish much the same end as forming a TRO by simply forming a TPCL here, that is a consulting or agency company - and that has just one client - your oversaes parent (shell) company - which it invoices monthly. Basically, it brings over the same money that the TRO would have had to bring over - it just does so with an invoice transaction.

Good luck!

Steve Sykes

Managing Director

Indo-Siam Group

Bangkok

[email protected]

www.thaistartup.com

[daleyboy]

Thanks for the info Steve, really appreciated. I knew it was going to be a bit of a headache just wasnt sure how much, i thought it was going to be easier than opening a Thai company, obviously not.

As far as work permits go will it be a problem if the business is tourist based or will it be easier to have the Thai company as like you say a consultancy.

Btw do i need to employ a set number of Thai staff and will they need to be registered with the TAT office?

Thanks again

Daleyboy

[~G~]

For a business which will sell travel packages you will need to have a TAT license. This means a deposit of 100K-200K baht (depends on the market you aim to, outbound or inbound). Travel guides have more restrictions.

Edited May 31, 2005 by ~G~

[daleyboy]

For a business which will sell travel packages you will need to have a TAT license. This means a deposit of 100K-200K baht (depends on the market you aim to, outbound or inbound). Travel guides have more restrictions.

Thanks for your input. What i will actually be doing is running the business from the uk getting my clients from the uk, so will i still need a licence from tat? I will not be looking for business while i am in Thailand. As far as travel guides go my wife will probably run that side of the business, she is Thai. I will be too busy working hard at being lazy lol only joking, i will probably be escorting my clients on the trip so will this class as a travel guide? or can i get away with saying i am just travelling with the group?

Just one more question, would my wife need any specific qualifications to be a travel guide?

Is there anyone out there with specific knowledge on requirements for being tat registered?

Edited May 31, 2005 by daleyboy

[~G~]

Sorry I cannot answer all that, I have merely checked the possibility of being involved in a similar business in the past but evantually decided against it, so I cannot really give you accurate info. I would recommend that you try to avoid short-cuts which will stop you from focusing on your business and will probably just make you spend half of your time thinking how not to get caught.

The straight way is - to start a thai company (such as the one described by Indo-Siam - they can help you with that) with a TAT license, to get a WP, to have a travel guide acknowledged by TAT. If you want reliable info about the exact requirements I suggest you talk with TAT yourself.

Edited June 1, 2005 by ~G~

[daleyboy]

Sorry I cannot answer all that, I have merely checked the possibility of being involved in a similar business in the past but evantually decided against it, so I cannot really give you accurate info. I would recommend that you try to avoid short-cuts which will stop you from focusing on your business and will probably just make you spend half of your time thinking how not to get caught.

The straight way is - to start a thai company (such as the one described by Indo-Siam - they can help you with that) with a TAT license, to get a WP, to have a travel guide acknowledged by TAT. If you want reliable info about the exact requirements I suggest you talk with TAT yourself.

Thanks g that sounds like good advice i will contact them