Owning Land Through A Business

[Godders]

Owning land and property through a company is recommended in many posts. Is this option open to a falang on a Retirement visa?

[doctormann]

Owning land and property through a company is recommended in many posts. Is this option open to a falang on a Retirement visa?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes.

No problem in doing this if you have an O-A 'retirement' visa. Just get a reputable lawyer to set up the company for you and arrange for the purchase / transfer. You will need to pay some set-up fees and also transfer fees when your company buys the land / property. You will have to register the company, and yourself as managing director, for tax purposes and you will need to submit tax returns every year, even if the company does not trade. Your lawyer will do this for you, for a fee. I believe that the minimum annual tax is about 12000 Baht but perhaps someone can confirm this, or otherwise.

The only potential problem, and it's one that does concern me and others a little, is that a non-trading company, specifically set up to purchase land and property, is not strictly kosher. Up to now, the authorities have largely turned a blind eye to this but who knows what may happen in the future? My lawyer says 'not to worry' so I hope that he's right. It is often said that you should not invest more in Thailand than you are prepared to walk away from and this is probably good advice.

By the way, the above is only relevant if you want to purchase a house and land. Foreigners are allowed to purchase a condominium in their own right - you don't need to set up a company for that but you still need a good lawyer.

DM

[JimmyGreaves]

Anyone got a rough estimate of the cost of setting up a company?

John

[expatinasia]

Depends how you do it: "cheaply" or "correctly"n. I used Sunbelt Asia, nand had my company issue both common nan d preferred stock - the reasons are best detasiled by SA. Everything included: papers, registration, company seal, partners - 40,000 baht.

[JimmyGreaves]

Ok I'll check them.

What about setting up the company to allow you to get a work permit, buy property and do business, say run a small shop. Is this possible? Cost?

John

[Firefan]

What are the estimated "running" costs of such a company? Taxes(minimum), "employees"?, accountant Etc.?

Cheers!

Depends how you do it: "cheaply" or "correctly"n.  I used Sunbelt Asia, nand had my company issue both common nan d preferred stock - the reasons are best detasiled by SA.  Everything included: papers, registration, company seal, partners - 40,000 baht.

[Godders]

Thanks, doctorman - just the tonic I needed. Just one wally thought: how does one square being on a retirement visa with starting work as a company director - albiet only of a virtual reality company? Or doesn't a Retirement visa, as far as the Thai Immigration bureacrats are concerned, actually disbar one from working (and if it doesn't, would I need to get a Work Permit to become a company director?). Cripes, starting to wish I'd never asked!!

[Axel]

We should differentiate between a "retirement"-visa and

a non-imm O (or O-A)

If you have a O (single) you can enter once, or (multiple) you can enter as often as you wish during the validity of the visa. At eachentry you get 90 days to stay.

Similar with the O-A, but your permission to stay is for one year.

With either visa "your" company can apply for a work permit and as well for an extention of stay up to one year. (Thai company, 4 employees etc.)

A retirement visa as such does not exist in Thailand. If you apply for extention of

stay on the O or O-A (2 or 11 months after entry) and submit the documents for retirement your permision to stay will allow you to be in LOS for oen year (from last entry). This, however, will be clearly marked RETIREMENT and basically excludes you from working.

So once you have a retirement-extention and want to work you better leave and return with a new non-imm. to start the process for work permit and extention.

[toyicebear]

Ok I'll check them.

What about setting up the company to allow you to get a work permit, buy property and do business, say run a small shop. Is this possible? Cost?

John

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If you set up a company with a capital over 2.000.000 Bath , you are close to automatically awarded a 1 year visa and work permit.

[JimmyGreaves]

Well can most of that capital go into the property and kill many birds with 1 stone?

John

[doctormann]

Thanks, doctorman - just the tonic I needed. Just one wally thought: how does one square being on a retirement visa with starting work as a company director - albiet only of a virtual reality company? Or doesn't a Retirement visa, as far as the Thai Immigration bureacrats are concerned, actually disbar one from working (and if it doesn't, would I need to get a Work Permit to become a company director?). Cripes, starting to wish I'd never asked!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I was concerned about this but, apparently, being MD of a non-trading company does not count as working - or so my lawyer assures me.

My O-A visa, which was obtained in the UK before coming out to Thailand, specifically excludes doing work of any kind so I don't believe that you can obtain a work permit with this type of visa.

There seems to be some kind of confusion about 'retirement' visas. As has been said elsewhere, there is actually no such thing as a 'retirement visa'. However, so far as I am aware, the 'O-A' visa, which must be obtained outside Thailand, is only issued to those who qualify under the 'retirement' rules, i.e over 50 years old, sufficient money in the bank (but not necessarily a Thai bank on initial application), free from proscribed diseases and no criminal record. It is therefore, in effect, a retirement visa. The regulations for non-immigrant 'O', which can be obtained from within Thailand, may well be different as regards working - someone on this forum should know the answer.

Initially, getting an O-A is a bit of a pain but you may well think it preferable to getting a different class of visa and then converting once in Thailand (I thought so).

Make sure that you get a multiple entry O-A (used to cost GBP90 in 2004). Once you have it you can enter and exit Thailand as many times as you like during its 1 year validity (valid from day of issue for 1 year) and you can use this fact to get close to 24 months in the Country if you time it right. I personally entered in October 2004, and was granted a 12-month stay. I left, briefly, for Singapore, in July and, on return, was granted another 12-month stay so I am now legal until July 2006.

If you do this you can put off the evil day when you will need to transfer 800,000Baht to a Thai bank, where it will earn approx. zilch interest. The only thing to watch out for is that once the visa has expired (12-months from date of issue) you must have a re-entry permit if you want to leave and return - you can get a multiple re-entry that will be valid up to the date on the last entry stamp that you got an Don Muang (i.e the last time you entered the Country while your visa was still valid).

When you do eventually need to extend your stay, in the normal way, you will need to do a bank transfer (or have proof of sufficient income, notarised by your embassy) and provide a bank statement and a bank letter (apparently it is a requirement to have some cash in the bank, even if you have proof of income) and a health certificate. I'm not too clear about what actually gets stamped into your passport at this point but I believe that it may be an extension stamp, rather than a fresh visa (I'll find out in July 2006, I guess). Whatever it is, I don't think that it will permit you to do any actual work so enjoy your retirement.

Hope this all helps a bit.

DM

Edited September 24, 2005 by doctormann

[Godders]

Many thanks all posters for your helpful input. What an invaluable free service the Forum provides!