Green Energy

[kay06]

Hey there,

I plan to start up a small tiny eco resort. I spent days and days reading and trying to understand how to do that here... and I begin to get it !

Now I have some questions left and maybe some of you can help me to find answers

1. Is there any goveremental help (like in Europe) or tax reduction if you start a business with low energy consumption, water recycled, solar energy use and waste management ?

2. How much does it REALLY cost to set up a limited compagny ?

I know the official explained costs... but I ve been living in Thailand for a few years now and I guess this is far from reality !

3. There is still one thing not clear yet (from the BOI website)

"1.2.3 Convening a Statutory Meeting

Once the share structure has been defined, a statutory meeting is called, during which the articles of incorporation and bylaws are approved, the Board of Directors is elected, and an auditor is appointed. A minimum of 25% of the par value of each subscribed share must be paid for."

What does it mean ? my bad english doesn t allow me to understand this 25% thing... paid for what ?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[richardt1808]

Hi,

1. Thailand is way behind the rest of the world in terms of things eco. They have only recently decided in principle to reduce certain duties for manufacture of eco vehicles, but nothing in terms other businesses.

2. The official fee at the commerce department is around 5000 B, but unless you can speak Thai and already have experience in setting up businesses you will need an agent to do all the things for you, which is where the costs can vary. If you are doing it yourself go and pay them a visit, get the facts and info right from the horse's mouth. If you are using an agent, he will be able to give you an itemised list.

3. Each company is required have registered capital which is basically the value of tangible assets / cash on hand. This registered captial (RC) can then be used to judge the size and wealth of your company. If you have a large company with say, 10 million baht in RC, then your company would be taken more seriously than a company with only 300,000 in RC. RC is also a guarantee to creditors, so it means that if you fail to pay your bills, your company can be easily sued up to the value of your RC. If the RC has not been fully paid up, the shareholders can be personally sued for the appropriate percentage of the RC. In an established company, RC would be the equipment, assets, vehicles and cash deposits of the company. But in a new start-up it would be cash only. So, if you elect to register your company with a certain RC, you need to be able to show at least 25% of this value in cash. Note that if your company is supporting a work permit, then the required RC is 2M Baht, which needs to be fully paid up / or full assets owned to that value.

Hope this helps.

[kay06]

Thanks for your answer.

Hi,

1. Thailand is way behind the rest of the world in terms of things eco. They have only recently decided in principle to reduce certain duties for manufacture of eco vehicles, but nothing in terms other businesses.

yes, and that s the reason of my choice! Coming from a country where the second concern (first is making money) is ecology, I saw a lot of shocking things around here...

So no gvt help, that s the answer I was expecting anyway :-)

2. The official fee at the commerce department is around 5000 B, but unless you can speak Thai and already have experience in setting up businesses you will need an agent to do all the things for you, which is where the costs can vary. If you are doing it yourself go and pay them a visit, get the facts and info right from the horse's mouth. If you are using an agent, he will be able to give you an itemised list.

I will try to do it myself as I have time to kill and many friends able to translate for me...

But I will certainly need help from an agent at one point...

And this was my questions... how much should I expect to pay...

on the to of the 5000B for the compagny registration and 1000 B for the memorendum registration and the 30000baht for the business licence... ?

3. Each company is required have registered capital which is basically the value of tangible assets / cash on hand. This registered captial (RC) can then be used to judge the size and wealth of your company. If you have a large company with say, 10 million baht in RC, then your company would be taken more seriously than a company with only 300,000 in RC. RC is also a guarantee to creditors, so it means that if you fail to pay your bills, your company can be easily sued up to the value of your RC. If the RC has not been fully paid up, the shareholders can be personally sued for the appropriate percentage of the RC. In an established company, RC would be the equipment, assets, vehicles and cash deposits of the company. But in a new start-up it would be cash only. So, if you elect to register your company with a certain RC, you need to be able to show at least 25% of this value in cash. Note that if your company is supporting a work permit, then the required RC is 2M Baht, which needs to be fully paid up / or full assets owned to that value.

the compagny I plan to create will have 2M baht capital otherwise no work permit...

But I thought - I read that somewhere- that thai partners had to show the amount correponding to their %of compagny parts.

which would be 51% so a little bit more than 1M baht. Farang are not asked to show any proof of anything. Right ?

And this "fully paid up" thing means that they need to show proof from their bank account.

It s confusing for me...

as many other things ...

[worldfun]

yes the company/share holders are likely to be asked to prove the available/payed in cash for the shares e.g. YOU the farang one of the major shareholders say 49% will have to show or pay into company account 49% of RC=2M bt i.e. ~1MB. do you have that kind of cash right now? if not better put off this neat little project for now...

cheers & good luck!

[TheKingfisher]

I love the idea of green tourism, I think that there is a huge international market for it, and if you can find a receptive local government you could probably get some support from them (but this is Thailand and I hear that things work a little differently here).

Good luck with it though!

[raro]

PM me, I can link you up with someone who has developed eco friendly (actually energy autarc) bungalows here in Thailand.

[kay06]

do you have that kind of cash right now? if not better put off this neat little project for now...

cheers & good luck!

yes I do... difficult to build a resort without a little bit of cash... no ?

My problem was to understand what is the real meaning of "paid for".

Now I know that it means that all partners have to show proof of their investment...

Edited April 27, 2010 by kay06

[kay06]

I love the idea of green tourism, I think that there is a huge international market for it, and if you can find a receptive local government you could probably get some support from them (but this is Thailand and I hear that things work a little differently here).

Good luck with it though!

thanks for your support !

... yeah... everything is different here !

[worldfun]

BUT the good thing is the money doesn't just have to sit in the account or elsewhere as 'proof' it can be utilized immediately to buy up assets (resort stuff) or loaned out to the director (YOU)

cheers!

Edited May 3, 2010 by worldfun