.co.th Domains

[dave111223]

Requirements for .co.th (according to dotarai):

First, consider domain naming from company name

• Domain naming must same as the administrative contact's company name or its abbreviation.
  
• A company can register only one .co.th domain name.
  

1. company was registed within Thailand
   Required Document :
   
   • business license, Thor-kor0401/Por-kor0401 or Por-por20 (you will got Por-por20 if your company has been put to VAT system)
     

Does anyone know what type of company you are required to setup in order to obtain a "Thor-kor0401/Por-kor0401"? And what are the costs associated with this?

I found that this website: http://www.101domain.com/co_th.htm offers a trustee service where they hold the domain in a Thai company for you, but costs $115 per year, on top of the $77 per year that they charge for the domain (domain only costs 650 THB per year). Is this a worthwhile route to consider, or it is cheaper/more secure to setup your own company?

[Paul888]

Why do you think you need a .co.th domain?

[dave111223]

I think I need to own a .co.th domain because it would bring me great pleasure.

Edited December 2, 2012 by dave111223

[BlackPuddingBertha]

I think I need to own a .co.th domain because it would bring me great pleasure.

You are easily pleased.

[Tatsujin]

You don't "need" a .co.th domain for ranking well in local search engines, a .com domain can rank equally well.

[dave111223]

I take it no one knows the costs involved in obtaining a "Thor-kor0401/Por-kor0401" then? Or if using a trustee to hold a local domain is practical?

[Tatsujin]

You need to set up a company to get those documents. If you have a Thai gf/wife, just get them to do it in their name and then costs are minimal ( afew thousand baht). Otherwise costs will be in the region of 50,000+ initially, plus monthly costs if you want it in your name.

[dave111223]

Ok found some more details from 101domain. In order to use their "trustee" service to purchase a .co.th domain they require that you already have a Thai Trademark registered for the name....Hmmm...which makes their service pretty much pointless because if you already have Thai trademark you can register the domain yourself anyway...

[ITGabs]

good to know, so in someway co.th are trusted since are directly related to Thai trademark / Thai company

[innerspace]

If you don't already have a Thai business with company you will get no benefit from a co.th domain.

The world over most people will type ".com" rather than any local or specialist extension.

If the .com is taken, look into net, co, org, biz or one of the many, many, many other domain extensions that do not require complicated paperwork to get.

[dave111223]

I think many people are missing the point that for a .co.th you need a "Thor-kor0401/Por-kor0401" which seems to mean you need a Limited Company or Limited Partnership.

Just having a "Thai Business" (such as sole proprietorship or partnership) does not quality you for a .co.th domain.

So if you want to run a small business (without going the corporate route of seemingly lots of paper work, audits, monthly GAP accounting, etc...) then there is no way to get a .co.th

Imagine that you own a small business selling "widgets" to Thai people. It would be ideal to purchase the still available "widgets.co.th" instead of something like "widgetsforthailand.com"

Of course you can purchase "widgets.in.th" but if someone later came along and did get "widgets.co.th" it would make you look like the imitator.

Edited December 5, 2012 by dave111223

[Tatsujin]

@dave111223 - what is the actual reason you think you need a .co.th domain name? To protect from competition if someone was later to register the .co.th version of the domain name? To rank higher within Thailand search results? To make customers "feel better" because they are dealing with a "local" company because they use .co.th?

[dave111223]

To protect from competition if someone was later to register the .co.th version of the domain name?

Yes

To rank higher within Thailand search results?

No

To make customers "feel better" because they are dealing with a "local" company because they use .co.th?

Yes

And also in order to have a easy to remember word-of-mouth domain; a Thai person would easily be able to remember "widgets.co.th"...whereas "widgetsthailand.com" maybe not.

[Tatsujin]

To protect from competition if someone was later to register the .co.th version of the domain name?

Yes

To rank higher within Thailand search results?

No

To make customers "feel better" because they are dealing with a "local" company because they use .co.th?

Yes

And also in order to have a easy to remember word-of-mouth domain; a Thai person would easily be able to remember "widgets.co.th"...whereas "widgetsthailand.com" maybe not.

Then you are stuck with going down the route of actually setting up a Limited company. Trademarking is expensive and time-consuming. As I mentioned in a previous post, just get a Thai friend to start up the company in their name, cheap, quick, simple. Then you can register for the .co.th domain.

When you get to that point, use www.thnic.co.th . . . they are the actual domain registrars for Thailand and don't charge an arm and a leg, you just need the right paperwork.

One more thing . . . a .com domain is always going to be easier to remember than any other, so in your example widgets.com is what 99.9% of people would look for when searching for your company called "widgets" if they didn't know the url.

Edited December 5, 2012 by Tatsujin

[dave111223]

As I mentioned in a previous post, just get a Thai friend to start up the company in their name, cheap, quick, simple. Then you can register for the .co.th domain.

It does not appear to be cheap, quick, or simple for a Thai person to setup a limit company (we are not talking about sole proprietorship or standard partnership here). They require 3 shareholders, annual audit by authorized 3rd party auditor, detailed bookkeeping, likely tax audits etc...

I was hoping there would be a "cheap/quick/simple" way to do this (having a Thai person own the company is no problem), but during my research in the last few days I have not found any "easy/cheap" option.

One more thing . . . a .com domain is always going to be easier to remember than any other, so in your example widgets.com is what 99.9% of people would look for when searching for your company called "widgets" if they didn't know the url.

In my example I am assuming that "widgets.com" is not available. You would have to pay a huge amount of money for a 3-5 letter dictionary word .com, but there are still 3&4 letter .co.th readily available.

Edited December 5, 2012 by dave111223

[Tatsujin]

When I said quick, cheap and simple I was comparing to if a foreigner does the same. It's far, far cheaper and simpler when a Thai does it.

As for your domain name itself, yes there will of course be many more .co.th domains available when compared to .com. But bear in mind the Thai bureaucracy here and how it works. We had problems with the .co.th version because the domain was spelt "wrong" according to them. That alone took 6 months to resolve.

[Tatsujin]

Oh, I should add the .co.th domain must exactly match your registered company name or they won't do it.

[ITGabs]

BTW I found this information useful since looks like everything is here for start a business in Thailand, in this case is a franchise of Remax that i found interesting since I already work with Remax and other Real Estate companies, but for me is so much inversion for a market full of ghost.

http://remax.co.th/start-your-business.aspx?Lang=en-US

RE/MAX Thailand will guide you all the way to success and will help you to establish your company in Thailand.

Our legal department will help you during the registration process of your company.

Regulation:

The process to register a Thai a limited-company in Thailand, we can help you and ensure that your business is operating in as little as 2-4 weeks.

For Thailand company registration, Thailand work permit, and Thailand visas.

The basics of limited-company registration in Thailand:

The most-utilized type of legal entity in Thailand is the limited-company. A limited-company is owned by a minimum of three shareholders and managed by at least one director. One of the biggest advantages of the Thai limited-company is that it is legally a stand-alone company under Thai law.

As for company registration in Thailand, it’s important to be aware that the at least 51 percent of a company’s shares must be held by Thai citizens. The remaining shares may be held by anyone. In spite of this, it is still possible for a foreigner to maintain controlling interest in a company by issuing two separate classes of shares: ordinary and preferred.

Shareholders with ordinary shares have more voting rights in the company. At least one director is chosen by the shareholders. Only the director(s) is authorized to sign anything on behalf of the company, and individual shareholders are only liable to their percentage of shares.

Financially, when registering a Thai company, you must have at least two million THB of capital in order to be eligible for a work permit. However, this does not mean that you need to have this amount of money to start, it is the merely the limited liability of your Thai limited company.

There is an exception if the company is established only to hold property, in which only one million THB is necessary.

Step 1 of Thai company registration is the name reservation. Naturally all businesses require a Name, therefore you must first provide the desired name for your company along with two alternative names then submit these to Thailand’s Ministry of Commerce. The Registrar will then verify that no similar company names have been reserved and that the name does not violate any ministerial rules. Note: you cannot use any RE/MAX Name or any trademarks in your company name.

This step of Thai company registration is very simple and only requires 2-3 days to be completed.

Step 2 of Thai company registration; File a Memorandum of Association (MOA)

Once your company name has been reserved, all shareholders must sign a Memorandum of Association (MOA). The MOA is a document which provides the names and personal information (such as contact details) for all of the company’s shareholders, as well as the company’s address, registered capital, and intended scope of business activities.

Once all shareholders have signed the MOA, it may be submitted to the Ministry of Commerce along with all of the documents pertaining to the company’s registration in Thailand. The Ministry of Commerce is located within Bangkok, but if the company’s office is located outside of Bangkok province, these documents may be submitted the filing office of the province where the company is located.

Once this step of Thailand company registration is completed and processed, the Ministry of Commerce will then issue the company affidavit, certification, list of shareholders and company articles of association.

Step 3 of Thai company registration; Tax and Vat registration

All documents associated with the registration of the company's Tax ID Card and Vat Certificate must be submitted to the Central Filing Office of the Revenue Department.

Also, as part of the process of obtaining a VAT Certificate, you must obtain permission from the landowner of your company’s address if your company does not own the land outright.

Step 4 of Thailand company registration; Open a Thailand corporate bank account with internet banking

Once the Thai company registration is completed, most companies will probably want to open a corporate bank account in Thailand. The company directors must be present.

If any of the signatories for the bank account are foreigners, some banks will require each of the foreign signatories to submit a valid work permit prior to opening the account. This can be completed within a day.

Step 1-4 will take approx 2-3 weeks.

Step 5 of Thailand company registration; Applying Thailand work permit

In order to obtain a Thailand work permit, you must first have a Non-immigrant visa. (often called a Non-B Visa)

For a Thai work permit you will need to submit all necessary documentation to the Department of Labor. If submitted correctly, an application can be processed in as little as 7 days.

Further, for each foreigner working within your company, your company is required to have a registered capital of 2,000,000 THB, i.e. if you have two non-Thai working in your company, it is required to have a registered capital of at least 4,000,000 THB. However this does not mean that you need to have this amount of money to start, it is the limited liability of your Thai limited company.

Note: For each foreigner that work in the company you will need to hire 4 Thai staff.

[Roronoa Zoro]

I totally agree,

I worked with RE/MAX before as well, in Colorado from where they originate, so this sounds like a great opportunity to me.

Better than that scam of a century21 here in Thailand, taking your money with doing nothing.

Well I know where I'm going to invest my money in..