Call For Commerce, Revenue To Inspect Tourism-Related Businesses Run By Foreigners In Thailand

[BrianCR]

"Thai at Heart, on 06 May 2013 - 14:38, said:

They still can't grasp that the model is legal.

Your wife owns 51, you own 49. What is their problem? Its LEGAL dumbasses."

YOU CANT OPEN A COMPANY WITH TWO DIRECTORS, SO WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? Please give me some of the stuff you are on!

[Thai at Heart]

"Thai at Heart, on 06 May 2013 - 14:38, said:

They still can't grasp that the model is legal.

Your wife owns 51, you own 49. What is their problem? Its LEGAL dumbasses."

YOU CANT OPEN A COMPANY WITH TWO DIRECTORS, SO WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? Please give me some of the stuff you are on!

OK,51 Thai, 49 farang. Whatever. This is what is acceptable and legal. By definition, you can't open any other way unless it's boi or the such, so, as I quoted before, the obligation is on the police to prove that the Thai shareholders are nominees.

To cover say 1000 companies on phuket with minority foreign shareholders, what will be his success rate and speed of prosecution?

[BrianCR]

Thai at heart

"Thai at Heart, on 06 May 2013 - 14:38, said: So you see, how to prove it without the nominee incriminating himself. What a wonderful Thai legal conundrum. "

As soon as a local policeman talks to a Thai farmer (many of whom are nominees) they fall apart - take them to court and they fall to pieces - ask them where they got the money to be a shareholder (then check their tax statements), tell them that if what they are saying is true then they have committed tax fraud any good prosecutor/police officer will have the full story in 10 minutes, even if they are being backed by a westerner who thinks that breaking the law is funny

[BrianCR]

Thai at heart

Sorry for asking this, are you drunk or you just don't understand how a business really works, it's legal obligations and how much authority the revenue has over it?

[Thai at Heart]

Thai at heart

"Thai at Heart, on 06 May 2013 - 14:38, said: So you see, how to prove it without the nominee incriminating himself. What a wonderful Thai legal conundrum. "

As soon as a local policeman talks to a Thai farmer (many of whom are nominees) they fall apart - take them to court and they fall to pieces - ask them where they got the money to be a shareholder (then check their tax statements), tell them that if what they are saying is true then they have committed tax fraud any good prosecutor/police officer will have the full story in 10 minutes, even if they are being backed by a westerner who thinks that breaking the law is funny

Well why would you have a farmer as a shareholder?

Get the missus, get the lawyer to hold a few percent, get one exceedingly well trusted friend to hold enough to protect you as the foreigner.

Set up loan agreements. Employ the missus, keep your paperwork up to date do business. Keep your lawyer in business doing all the necessary, pay your taxes. Thai company, operating.

Look, this nominee stuff happens but it is really just bs and bluster. 99.9% of the companies they will investigate will be kosher Thai companies with minority foreign owners.

This foreigners taking profits bla bla is just a statement to keep the locals happy. If you do your legal work correctly, there is little or no way to prove that someone is a nominee.

[GeckosDiving]

Thai at heart

You just can't argue with people that have been dropped on their head when they were a baby

[BrianCR]

Thai at heart said: "Well why would you have a farmer as a shareholder?

Get the missus, get the lawyer to hold a few percent, get one exceedingly well trusted friend to hold enough to protect you as the foreigner.

Set up loan agreements. Employ the missus, keep your paperwork up to date do business. Keep your lawyer in business doing all the necessary, pay your taxes. Thai company, operating.

Look, this nominee stuff happens but it is really just bs and bluster. 99.9% of the companies they will investigate will be kosher Thai companies with minority foreign owners.

This foreigners taking profits bla bla is just a statement to keep the locals happy. If you do your legal work correctly, there is little or no way to prove that someone is a nominee."

Do you know the saying... never argue with an idiot, he'll beat you with experience! Good night!

[Thai at Heart]

Thai at heart

Sorry for asking this, are you drunk or you just don't understand how a business really works, it's legal obligations and how much authority the revenue has over it?

No I am not.

I have just worked for several large 51:49 MNC partnerships that have been passed as legal for a combined 100 years. The last one had 2 guys on the board who hadn't pitched for actual general meetings for 30 years, but submitted letters nominating their votes to such and such a person.

Majority owners Hong Kong Chinese, minority, USA NYSE quoted, 51:49 on paper, profit share outside Thailand 20:80. Lawyers and accountants can achieve wonders in Thailand.

Proving nominees is virtually impossible. Every major corp in Thailand uses nominees to some extent to buy protection, so if the phuket police are going to have a kitten about massage parlour owners, they are really missing the big boys.

If the owners have set it up properly, they are very very difficult to touch.

Edited May 6, 2013 by Thai at Heart

[surangw]

One day I await some farang videoing and cataloguing every backhander they ever paid a la the massage king.

lets hope the camera is running for evidence when he is executed

[Ricardo]

"hurting the image of Thai tourism"

Unlike the Thai-owned/run jet-ski mafia, or the song-thaew/tuk-tuk mafia, who only enhance the 'Thai experience' ?

I'd just like to Thank the 28 fellow-members who 'Liked' this post, I don't actually keep count, but I'm fairly sure this was a new personal-best !

Edited May 7, 2013 by Ricardo

[belg]

and i tought it was the taxi / tuk tuk / jetski maffia that was hurting the tourism...my mistake

evil farangs with their restaurants and hotels and others !

[thequietman]

They still can't grasp that the model is legal.

Your wife owns 51, you own 49. What is their problem? Its LEGAL dumbasses.

Correct me if I am wrong. Doesn't the funding for the Thai 51% have to come from Thais and not be Farang funded?

jb1

Brit in my town owns the tesco lotus. has done so for many years. he owns 100 percent. big enterprise, lots of thai jobs. no problems for him. so we have to ask ourselves why he is not held to the same letter of the law. It couldn't possibly boil down to money....................... could it ?

[longtom]

What about the 50 to 80% Thai companies in tourist areas that pay no or almost no tax (no matter how much profit), don't pay the minimum wages, don't pay social security, apply illegal burmese etc. etc. ?

I think most of the farang owned companies comply to all these rules and at the end keep most of the profits in the country.

So what's the point really?

[chooka]

"Tourists buy their products and services and the revenue goes to the foreign owners instead of the Thai economy

My dear Pol Maj Gen Roy...in the Police training academy you may or may not have attended...did they not teach you about economic's and capitalism

People invest/start up companies for this exact reason, so they can generate revenue for themselves and investors in said companies...

as regards "nominee's" in foreign run companies its hardly suprising is it Pol Maj Gen Roy ? seeing as for the most part a foreigner is only able to own 49% of the company, and Thai shareholders hold the 51% therefore to establish a legal business one actually needs "nominee's" and in effect its goverment sanctioned..

by all means investigate companies for legal compliance per the business laws and make sure said companies are paying their taxes etc

but to state in effect foreigners are "stealing" from the Thai ecomony..

All the foreign owned business I have dealings with are owned by people with a long relationship to Thailand, have been resident for many a long year are married to a Thai, have children etc. but so many Thais like to believe that every Baht earned is immediately shipped overseas.

I live solely on pensions which are either paid here or are accessed via an international ATM card and in essence everything paid to me is spent here as I have no mortgage, insurances etc in another country and there are so many like me. We probably spend more in this country than a large chunk of the Thai population but that is overlooked on the grounds that, irrespective of how long I've been here, I'm about to leave anytime.

I heard a rumour they are snuggling all the baht out of the country stuffed inside all that land the companies bought and are towing back to the homeland.

[chooka]

and i tought it was the taxi / tuk tuk / jetski maffia that was hurting the tourism...my mistake

evil farangs with their restaurants and hotels and others !

See you do learn something everyday.

[waza]

Its just harrassment

[technologybytes]

We probably spend more in this country than a large chunk of the Thai population

I suspect that most foreigners dramatically overestimate our contribution to the economy.

If we all went home tomorrow (expats, not short term tourists) it probably wouldn't have a noticeable effect on the economy at all.

I think the condominium sector might feel a pinch as a reasonable chunk of condos are being either bought by Thais to rent to foreigners or being bought by foreigners. If they go tits up the banks might start having to repossess. But as for direct cash injections - Thais through sheer numbers beat foreigners hands down.

That's actually a very good point, which I overlooked.

It actually highlights that fact that the Thailand Condominium Act was introduced to help the property sector, and not specifically to assist foreigners.