Will Be Moving My Business To Los End Of Year

[helitool]

I own a small manufacturing business and have decided to retire at the end of this year and move it and myself to Chiang Mai. Twenty five years ago I lived there for six years and taught english (also got married and built a house). My wife has forced me to use only Thai at home here in the USA so that I would not forget it. I am still fluent in both northern and central Thai. I manufacture antique truck conversions (power steering, disc brakes etc.) and had planed on shipping all of the tooling and machinery to my brother in law, who is also a machinist, as a gift and teach him to use it. I took a trip back to Chiang Mai end of last year and stayed for 3 months. I also brought 2 suit cases of technology with me and built a CNC plasma cutting table for him and taught him to use it. This could well be the first piece of commercial grade computer controled equipment manufactured entirely in Thailand. I have lined up other customers for him here in the states and I will act as liaison and quality control. Any thoughts will be much apreciated. Also should I keep my money in an offshore bank denominated in dollars until it peaks then convert to swiss francs or gold prior to $ collapse (if and when that occures) or use a Thai bank (I currently have an account at SCB). In case you are interested the company website is: www.uglytruckling.com Thanks: Ray

[maprao]

[ I have lined up other customers for him here in the states and I will act as liaison and quality control.

mmm I am no expert here but be careful of your "status" in Thailand. You need to look into rules as to whether you require a work permit. While you might "get away with it" the situation might arise where you start making money and someone "points a finger at you" for working in Thailand with no permit

[~G~]

From your post it is not clear what is the legal entity your borher in law in operating. Is he working as a sole proprietor, under a company, partenrship or what? Who issues invoices for the clients?

And how are you planning to draw income from that operation? As a salary? As a payment to a Foriegn body? dividend?

It will be easier to give advice if you could answer these questions.

[helitool]

[ I have lined up other customers for him here in the states and I will act as liaison and quality control.

mmm I am no expert here but be careful of your "status" in Thailand. You need to look into rules as to whether you require a work permit. While you might "get away with it" the situation might arise where you start making money and someone "points a finger at you" for working in Thailand with no permit

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I will not be a part owner of the business nor be payed for anything, however on the other hand one does not need to break any laws to become a criminal! I will take your advice and request information on this point from the local legal eagles when I arrive there. Thanks!

[helitool]

From your post it is not clear what is the legal entity your borher in law in operating. Is he working as a sole proprietor, under a company, partenrship or what? Who issues invoices for the clients?

And how are you planning to draw income from that operation? As a salary? As a payment to a Foriegn body? dividend?

It will be easier to give advice if you could answer these questions.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Initialy he will probably be operating as a sole proprietor. The net income of the business is not more than 75-100,000 $US per year. My main goal is to help out my Thai relatives there as I already have enough savings to live off of. I am a machinist and not very good at the business end of things. One of my Thai brothers in law is an excellent building contractor and knows a lot more about setting up a business in LOS than I do so I will probably leave it to him. I have read most of your posts on financal threads and you and most of the others are way above my pay grade in the brain department!

[~G~]

From your post it is not clear what is the legal entity your borher in law in operating. Is he working as a sole proprietor, under a company, partenrship or what? Who issues invoices for the clients?

And how are you planning to draw income from that operation? As a salary? As a payment to a Foriegn body? dividend?

It will be easier to give advice if you could answer these questions.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Initialy he will probably be operating as a sole proprietor. The net income of the business is not more than 75-100,000 $US per year. My main goal is to help out my Thai relatives there as I already have enough savings to live off of. I am a machinist and not very good at the business end of things. One of my Thai brothers in law is an excellent building contractor and knows a lot more about setting up a business in LOS than I do so I will probably leave it to him. I have read most of your posts on financal threads and you and most of the others are way above my pay grade in the brain department!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

In case no foreigner is involved in the business, neither as an employee, managing director or major shareholder, things are much simpler.

However, I assume you will probably play an active part in the business, be it instructing staff, maintaining contacts with clients, or just helping out once in a while with the mechanical work, so you are facing the risk of being an illegal worker - a foriegner working without a work permit. Then it's your choice - to do it "by the book" or to live with a very unstable legal status.

If you decide you need and want a work permit, you will require a thai company to sponsor you for that. Such a company has to be registered for VAT and it has to have minimum registered capital of 2,000,000 baht. You can be a shareholder in the company, even the managing director. As this company is doing manufacturing/export it seems like it can be 100% foreign owned - but this depends on the exact nature of your business, so you better check this point with professionals. In any way, for every company in Thailand minimum of 7 shareholders is required.

[Bentley 7]

Sounds like a smart move particularly if your sourcing a large majority your work outside Thailand, if this is the case then arrange for payment for these services into an offshore jurisdiction (many available your choice) set up a bank account to receive monies into and bring only what you need to into Thailand to pay for expenses and wages etc here (including personal). As to your funds leave them in Euros or US and dont fiddle with them trying to get profits by currency fluctuations is nearly impossible unless you do it on currency markets because in bank accounts you have to consider the banks fees for currency swaps and that often puts you already at a loss particularly these days with relatively stable currencies. Its not worth the head aches you seem to be a smart operator in your chosen field dont destroy what you've earned by messing around with your money. Sit back enjoy your retirement in Thailand lead a good life and play with your business here as if it was a hobby and you will do well enough to lead a comfortable hassle free exixtence.

[yuyi]

... Also should I keep my money in an offshore bank denominated in dollars until it peaks then convert to swiss francs or gold prior to $ collapse (if and when that occures) or use a Thai bank (I currently have an account at SCB). ...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If you ever want to use some of the funds outside of Thailand I strongly recommend to use an offshore bank.

Only if the funds which will get used in Thailand you should move them to your Thai Bank account.

It is too much of a hassle to transfer money out of Thailand...

[Galong]

Helitool, they're called paragraphs.

It is easier to read someone's words when things are broken up a bit.

Peace,

Anal Retentive