Commerce Ministry To Inspect Foreign Shareholding In Thailand Later In August

[attento]

The Department of Business Development Director-General Banyong Limprayoonwong said that the Commerce Ministry has been drafting a set of regulations on the management and the inspection of foreign shareholding in Thai companies, in a bid to more strongly enforce the Alien Business Law of Thailand.

How many other countries call other nationalities Aliens? TM 47 form for ALIENS......

.

The term Alien is used in many pieces of legislation in countries all round the world.

When used correctly, the word is not pejorative.

It is only since Hollywood started to use this word that it has taken on a more sinister meaning.

[Thaichee]

How many other countries call other nationalities Aliens?

.

The US does IIRC.

Maybe they should work on their own corruption first. But...

Thailand for Thai people -- Prateet Thai pua kon Thai. I hear that (and variations) on TV and the radio all the time as racist as it may be. But don't worry fellow farang: 98% of you will not be offended, because you don't understand the language.

Easy and politically correct targets: evil foreigners.

Do you ever watch the news from America? You are kidding, yes? If you are not White, Christian and Male, they talk this way about you ... and you are an F'ing tax paying natural born citizen! "America, Love it , or Leave it." (Thanks guys, I accept your offer!)

I agree with you... America has been, from its birth, and continues to be, till this day, the most racist country that I have ever experienced. The country was founded with the words: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" except for Negroes, Indians and anyone else that wasn't/isn't white.

[EvilDrSomkid]

Whatever the case may be, I am not worried.

[RigPig]

27,000 Companies to investigate, it'll take them at least 30 years to get through them all!

And with what aim? Is it their intention to drive all foreign investment out of Thailand? If so, this is the most effective way of achieving that aim!

Too many Farangs have been using proxies.

And how many Thais will invest their money (51%) in a business that will go bust because it pays tax and has social security benefits for it's staff that will only steal from the till anyway? So what choice is there? I know a girl who has worked for a big accounting firm for 4 years, they have 2 companies one legit the other under the table, she can't borrow money to buy a car because there is no record of income....... And this is an accounting firm !!!

[Baerboxer]

SO!!!.. why is Thailand advertising in the Media, for Foreign Investers to come here.....

They want the foreigners to invest - but not to own anything, have any rights or expectations of profit, interest or payback. Simple really - Miracle Thailand, watch your money disappear.

[Fozfromoz]

How many other countries call other nationalities Aliens?

.

The US does IIRC.

I think from memory so do the POMs at Heathrow, someone please correct me and clarify. As an Aussie, usually on the same team except for sport, and speak better English.

[Singlebarrel]

27.000 companies, that will be a loooooooooooooooooooooooooot of tea money ... somebody said they needed a new benz, mia noi and condo ?

Well, they probably ran out of tea money, so with 27,000 companies, that will fill the need...

[RichardinBKK]

Here's a better idea... why not boot out all foreigners from Thailand entirely. Let's be rid of them for good!! Come on, who's with me? Let them take their 100's of billions of baht out our economy, let them close all their farrang stores and shops (KFC, Tesco-Lotus, 7-11, RedBull (oh wait, that's a Thai guy), which none of us ever use because we all go to the "thai" markets anyway) whose needs all that tax revenue anyway? Let those farrang sell all their assets such that the glut of supply dramatically lowers the value of all our assets, we don't care if our assets fall 20% to 30% in value. Let them take their billions of baht more of spending out of our shops, restaurants, bars, and hotels because Thailand does need their money! Let them leave us all alone as were were 600 years ago. We were much better off living in the dirt and the jungle. Long live King Naresuan!!

That's why I left TH already in 2006 with nearly all my business.

FED, FED, and FED up with such a lazy and stupid nation as Thailand.

The only why Thais tolerate farangs, is to lose their money.

As the MD of a VERY BIG EU company said in 1993 to me:

Thai's are able for three jobs:

-teacher, as need to be ahead 1/2 page of his students ( a Thai will NEVER ask his teacher anything)

-soldier ( need no brain, only follow) or

-farmer ( did this job alreadyt thousands of years and never learnt anything new )

The rest is in the hands of Chinese.

No, even for lady beer bar you have to tell exactly what you want, as have no idea how to improre their service for a bigger tip

And 6 years later, you are still a TV Troll, get a life, and get over it.

As you only joined in 2011 how do you know he was a TV troll six years ago?, or even longer?

Ummm... because he said he left in 2006 ,and it is 2012 ???? As they say in the US grade schools "reading is fundamental" I can only assume you are part of the resident TV Crime Solving Squad.

[Dap]

Maybe they should work on their own corruption first. But...

Thailand for Thai people -- Prateet Thai pua kon Thai. I hear that (and variations) on TV and the radio all the time as racist as it may be. But don't worry fellow farang: 98% of you will not be offended, because you don't understand the language.

Easy and politically correct targets: evil foreigners.

Wow! 98%, really?

[atyclb]

Well if they actually did enforce the law I would guess that over 50% of foreign operated business would be shut down LOL - especially all those Scuba Diving shops operating in Pattaya and Puket that are really just fronts for Visa's, they don't actually turn a real profit and almost all cheat on taxes not reporting true income - this would go for most of the bars too -

I think they should do it, lot of the crap foreigners would have to leave Thailand, up the standard a little for the expats that actually live here and are good people- not that this would get ride of all the bad, thats impossible. I'm sure they will just take some tea money as is usual to look the other way. Another way to line their pockets.

I have always found the staff at Scuba/ Snorkel/ Surf related business to be intelligent, knowledgeable, and polite, whereas expat staff at girly business have not been such across the board.

[crille30]

well I have the laste month or so done a lot of research to set up acompany.Called 4 or 5 different laweyrs and what they all are telling me is no problem you do this and this and you will be fine??How the hell will I be fine when I breaking the law?

Then its totaly impossible for me to start a company if I dont know a rich Thaiperson that can show the money for his 51%

There is no legal way for me?So I already gave up on Thailand for business,

[SOTIRIOS]

...has such a task ever been undertaken........for Thai Companies........ever........???

[metisdead]

A totally ridiculous trolling nonsense post has been removed as well as a response.

[letitbe]

Don`t Thais always want to save their face?

At least with all the government driven action they just do the best to make sure that they loose their face. Almost every announcement on a crackdown make me laugh at them. At least with logic action these crackdowns don not have anything in common.

They should better focus the real problems...

I just had to wait 6 hours at the local land department to get all the paper work done to buy a condo, and i got number 20. How do they want to search 27.000 companies with that speed they work? Ridiculous...

Over last 18 years weve bought and sold at least 40 condos, bits of land and a few houses and never had to wait more than 30 minutes. Most people know theirs a fast track system where all paperwork is prepared day before which is available and normally used by brokers since they dont want to sit around all day. It does mean making a tip (shall we politely call it) to land office official in question and all brokers have their own one. Sorry you just had to wait until those who understand get seen to first. And if they want to check quickly its amazing what a productivity bonus of say 1,000 baht for each suspected illegal purchase will do as far as speed is concerned. That could be done in a week or so and paying OT on top will make it happen fast if they want it to. Things can move incredibly fast here once theirs a little lubrication and 100 times faster than in the totally beurocratic west. Where else in world can you see a condo or piece of land one day and go to land office next day and have transfer all completed within 30 minutes (all in my wife or our thai children's names name by the way). WEve done it from first seeing the place and doing deal to transfer of title less than 48 hours later.

[chiangmaicharlies]

Batteries of the gameboy empty?

What?

[TechnikaIII]

27.000 companies, that will be a loooooooooooooooooooooooooot of tea money ... somebody said they needed a new benz, mia noi and condo ?

27.000 companies, that will be a loooooooooooooooooooooooooot of tea money ... somebody said they needed a new benz, mia noi and condom ?

[pgrin]

It's possible that the replies so far have missed the point. I believe this "crackdown" may be a land grab by the Thai government. Most of the posts use the safety in numbers concept to imply it can't be done. 27,000 companies is just too much to review, etc. I respectfully disagree. A simple bounty system would open the flood gates of actionable intel. Every farang homeowner/land owner I know has used nominee Thai shareholders to set up their companies. This process is a fraud by Thai law. What is often overlooked is the fact that the Thai nominee shareholders have also committed a crime. The penalties include 1,000,000 baht fines and /or 5 years in prison. If I were a clever Thai official I would announce a carrot or the stick campaign in all Thai language newspapers and TV. Carrot: Any Thai person who was paid(or not) to sign I contract with a Farang to open a company and who did not actually invest in the company will be given 1,000/ 10,000/ 100,000+ baht to come forward and expose the fraud. The size of the reward would relate to the size of the recovery( land repatriated) The stick: The reward would only be available for a limited time say 1 year. After 1 year any Thai national who participated in this scheme would be prosecuted. Start right now with a very high profile "Perp walk" on national TV showing a rich lawyer being arrested for racketeering, conspiracy and fraud. You can scream foul all you want like some skirt wearing, tampon using Premiership "Footballer" crybaby who was 'pulled down in the box" and lays on the ground in unspeakable agony when the replay shows no contact at all. The laws on foreigners, aliens or Farang owning land in Thailand are simple, you can't. OK you can but it must be more then $1,000,000.00 US in value. The use of Thai nominee shareholders is not now nor has it ever been a loophole, it is a crime. Just because the Thai Officials have been slow to spring the trap doesn't equate to lazy or stupid, maybe they were just waiting until enough oh so smart Farang walked into the trap.

[MB1]

What a load of panic here.

The list of shareholders in a company is pretty simple to read.

If the share of foreigners owning shares is less than 49% (Co. Ltd), what's the problem?

Anyone who is legit has got NOTHING to worry about.

You're completely missing the point here.

Yes the "official" Shareholder List is easily available for any Company however the key word being discussed here is "Nominee" which may be defined as "a person or group that holds title to a security but is not the true owner".

As we all know Farang can only own 49% of a Company in Thailand and the balance of the Shareholding must be held by Thai Nationals, giivng Thais the majority. When you go to Register a Company here your Thai Shareholders must produce evidence - usually Bank Statements - to prove that they have the wherewithal to pay for the Shares in that Company which they have allegedly purchased.

Obviously there are ways around that and some Legal Firms will show you the way, however at the end of the day it is quite easy to check from where the actual Funds came - and if they came from the Farang 49% owner, with some artful or artificial arrangement whereby the Farang controls the Voting authority for those Shares in the Company AGM's or whatever ..... that's where the problems will arise.

Patrick

So they want us to come over with a good idea/product, put up the money to get the ball rolling then hand over 51% of the voting rights to a Thai national who could then vote you out of the company?? Why would anyone bother?

We all know now the problem

3 pages of comments

but not 1 solution posted !

many of us have land (+house)in a thai company,the nomminees didn't have money to buy themselfs in the company,

so the whole structure is illegal,if they want they can just take your property away,you will simply loose it !

Solutions? mary a thai lady and make here director of the company ? impossible: she cant prove where "she " earned the money ! And you are not allowed to give it to here !(read the law !)

Sollutions:thers are none !?

So stop the critics and start thinking about sollutions plz ?

Solutions hey, yeah lets think of a solution so those that carried out illegal buisness/investment dealings whilst knowing what they were doing can walk away unscathed, me personally I said years ago I would never invest 1 penny in Thailand and up to today I have stuck by what I said.

You reap what you sow....Everything that happens to you is a result of your own actions, you made your bed, now lie on it.....

I actually do feel sorry for SOME people who think/thought that Thailand Is the land Of Smiles and a place where they could call their new home and live happily ever after, if only Carlsberg did fairy tales with a happy ending.....

If those who have done shady dealings and get away with it, then good on you and get out while the goings good....But don't blame others for your own wrong doings if caught out, freind told me years ago, "Only Invest in Thailand what you can afford to lose and walk away from", even though I've never invested, IMO good advice...

Edited July 19, 2012 by MB1

[osiboy]

It makes you laugh: one bunch of Foreigners are to be cracked-down on again, they can't own land, shares or much else. Meantime the beneficiaries of such a policy - another bunch of foreigners: the Chinese Thais will make billions. How about Thailand for the Thais - real Thais, not those foreigners who wandered here 100 years ago and took over. I can't see that policy seeing the light of day!

agreed, but if they kick the chinese out they will have to share the remaining brain cell between 60m + thais

[annabel]

Who needs foreign investment?

Not this government I guess.......

No...! No...! No... ! You are wrong !! Totally wrong... They do need the investment and $$$ so badly !! .... BUT ... not in a legal way ... C'mon you guys !! When they need a lot of $$$ they start up these new inspections and then collect the required $$$ to let them pass through for another couple of years or so ... or / and till they need to fill their pockets again .. and then all is shushed away for another couple of years ... Oye!!! ... what a routine !! Same like the cops all of a sudden appearing on a street corner to control and impose Helmets at the end of the month ... need $$$ .... and so it goes !

[TinoThailand]

Thailand is just a mid stop, not a place to invest a lot if you have a lot (not me). They prove it over and over again... Bring money and get out na khaaaa. Because once the money is there its normal. It's like tip someone all the time, they will take it for granted no matter what they do and how they do it.

[MaiChai]

My advice: remain in your home countries and just come to Thailand for holiday's. Lets face it, you can't really own anything here of any substance? So why loose?

[SouthernMan3]

Who needs foreign investment?

Not this government I guess.......

No...! No...! No... ! You are wrong !! Totally wrong... They do need the investment and $$$ so badly !! .... BUT ... not in a legal way ... C'mon you guys !! When they need a lot of $$$ they start up these new inspections and then collect the required $$$ to let them pass through for another couple of years or so ... or / and till they need to fill their pockets again .. and then all is shushed away for another couple of years ... Oye!!! ... what a routine !! Same like the cops all of a sudden appearing on a street corner to control and impose Helmets at the end of the month ... need $$$ .... and so it goes !

Ya think ?

[crazygreg44]

Here's a better idea... why not boot out all foreigners from Thailand entirely. Let's be rid of them for good!! Come on, who's with me? Let them take their 100's of billions of baht out our economy, let them close all their farrang stores and shops (KFC, Tesco-Lotus, 7-11, RedBull (oh wait, that's a Thai guy), which none of us ever use because we all go to the "thai" markets anyway) whose needs all that tax revenue anyway? Let those farrang sell all their assets such that the glut of supply dramatically lowers the value of all our assets, we don't care if our assets fall 20% to 30% in value. Let them take their billions of baht more of spending out of our shops, restaurants, bars, and hotels because Thailand does need their money! Let them leave us all alone as were were 600 years ago. We were much better off living in the dirt and the jungle. Long live King Naresuan!!

You over-estimate the issue of Farangs in this country. Actually, almost 60% go into export to China, 3%-6% into tourism, almost-to-nothing into the "wealth" retired Farang contribute to the Backwaters. What you wrote is so laughable, so outstandish. Thailand without Farang can survive pretty well. Just look up their export/import statistics. Have you ever been up north to the big cities ? 7/11 , if you see just one farang per week, you are a winner in a millions society. You must be a very important person !

[technologybytes]

Unfortunately many expats ask for a advice from so called "law offices" who advise them that they can use a company to circumvent land ownership laws, despite the fact that the 2002 Alien Busisness Act was passed to make this a criminal act. The problem has always been that there is a huge gulf between passing a law and enforcing it, current expats who use a company in order to illegally circumvent land ownership laws are in a position where they may well be able to get away with it for a while longer, but in the long run it will come to an end.

I remember reading recently that the aim is to prosecute the "law offices" that facilitate these illegal companies in the the first place.

As soon as a few of these people who are directors of illegal companies start to loose their houses and get huge fines there will be a rush to sell and with the market flooded with houses registered in company names ii won't be us expats making a killing.

[technologybytes]

There is no solution, the best you can do is sell up and hope to get as much of your money back as possible.

Us expats rarely make any real contribution to the economy of Thailand and it's naive to assume otherwise. We do manage to drive up property prices in some areas and mostly we spend our money in establishments which are owned or controlled by overseas companes etc.

I'm sure most Thai's wouldn't miss us as long as the tourist trade continues, except a lot of essan families of course.

Edited July 20, 2012 by technologybytes

[pepi2005]

@Admin

This post or at least a link to it should be put on top of the "Doing business in Thailand" section so that the thousands of people who look for information on how to work in Thailand (and often enough, are forced to set up a formal company with high costs, as Thailand doesn't allow "independent entrepreneurs" to work in Thailand officially - they simply don't get a work permit that way) are warned about the thin legal grounds they would base their dream, and invest their hard-earned income on.

Everyone who wants to work here should be warned about the xenophobic and hostile climate (from government and bureaucracy) that awaits foreigners here.

[kruangfaifar]

SO!!!.. why is Thailand advertising in the Media, for Foreign Investers to come here.....

Why not? Compliance with the law is an obvious requirement for foreign investors in any country

[animatic]

High time that the same standards will be used in Western countries for Thai shareholders. Businesses and individuals should be treated precisely the same. It would hit the Thai elite pretty hard, the elite who is shouting for action against foreigners own themselves property from Cambodia to the UK and own businesses anywhere in the world. Just take it away from them. It will teach them a lesson.

For once we agree on something.

Of course I ALSO include Thaksin and PTP crowd in "The Thai Elite" who should

get hammered internationally, the same way they are jingoistic at home towards others.

[animatic]

There is no solution, the best you can do is sell up and hope to get as much of your money back as possible.

Us expats rarely make any real contribution to the economy of Thailand and it's naive to assume otherwise. We do manage to drive up property prices in some areas and mostly we spend our money in establishments which are owned or controlled by overseas companes etc.

I'm sure most Thai's wouldn't miss us as long as the tourist trade continues, except a lot of essan families of course.

Sorry I don't buy that. Sure property prices rise in some places.

Most of my cash goes to Thai owned companies, been like that for years.

I have been a net profit for the Thai economy and most of my friends are too.