Starting Webdesign/internet Service Business

[Khun Jean]

I am planning to make the move to Thailand around the end of this year.

I am married with a thai and we have two children.

I currently have a small business making database driven web applications.

My current clients know about my pending move to thailand and wish to stay customers. I have about 10-15 very loyal customers. With only a little work i should be able to get around 100-150 thousand baht per month.

The idea is to set up a small business in Thailand and bill my customers from Thailand. This will enable me to open a thai bank account, right?

I would like to do this together with my wife because we share the workload she will do the design and i will do the programming. If successfull it is not unthinkable that we would hire some local talent.

Can this be started as a simple partnership (family) business. I am not worried about protecting my investments because they will be really small.

If things go wrong i still have my customers.

Billing my customers has some advantages for me. In my own country (the Netherlands) taxes are much higher and that will enable me to be extra competitive on the market.

What is the best way to do this? What will be the costs? Do i need to hire office space or can this be done from a home?

Any information will be most welcome.

Thanks,

Jean

[huski]

I am married with a thai and we have two children.

you didn't mention your visa that you currently have or wish to obtain but it needs to be a non immigrant visa. a visa type "o" if you are basing it on support for your thai wife, this will be easy to obtain with a thai marriage certificate. your visa needs to be setup to allow you to work and you will need a work permit once you are here in thailand.

The idea is to set up a small business in Thailand and bill my customers from Thailand. This will enable me to open a thai bank account, right?

ideally you will need a business bank account and that will require a non immigrant visa.

I would like to do this together with my wife because we share the workload she will do the design and i will do the programming. If successfull it is not unthinkable that we would hire some local talent.

Can this be started as a simple partnership (family) business. I am not worried about protecting my investments because they will be really small.

this is indo siam's specialty, hopefully they will see this post and add information.

[Zendesigner]

hi,

Pm me if you want.

I'm belgian and had a web design company before.

en ik spreek nederlands :-)

B

[asinah]

I am working from home and I am on a NI visa. I am staying in Thailand with my wife and daughters and all my icome is generated from outside of Thailand.

I am still doing sometimes application development but no longer handle local businesses within Thailand but only from East Asia and the EU.

It worked well out but it can get messy when yo start setting up companies with 7 local directors. (Was burned 2 times in the past)

Good luck

[Khun Jean]

Huski,

Yes i will be applying for a 'o' type visa. And the bankaccount must be a business account. Hopefully with internet access.

Asinah,

Looks like you are doing the same. Only i want the money paid to a thai bank account, not in my home country. This will give me a much better income tax rate.

Can you tell me about what when wrong in the past.

I would prefer it to be a partnership or if thats impossible putting it on my wifes name 100% is also not a problem.

Zendesigner,

Thanks for letting me PM you. There is one on its way.

Thanks for the responses sofar.

[penelope]

Huski,

Yes i will be applying for a 'o' type visa. And the bankaccount must be a business account. Hopefully with internet access.

Asinah,

Looks like you are doing the same. Only i want the money paid to a thai bank account, not in my home country. This will give me a much better income tax rate.

Can you tell me about what when wrong in the past.

I would prefer it to be a partnership or if thats impossible putting it on my wifes name 100% is also not a problem.

Zendesigner,

Thanks for letting me PM you. There is one on its way.

Thanks for the responses sofar.

Why dont you incorporate a Hong Kong private compnay.You'll pay no tax on money earned/sourced outside of Hong Kong.And you are able to remit that money into an account in Hong Kong ie: HSBC.

[Indo-Siam]

Hi -

A Thai can open a sole proprietorship business. A married couple can operate as a Thai Limited patnership - with Thai partner having unlimited liability, and foreign partner having limited liability - as long as foreign partner does not actively manage the company.

My firm does not handle either of these forms of incorporation - because both involve PERSONAL liability that can be UNLIMITED. So - I advise clients to go see a lawyer.

I do not understand the comment about "messy" in relation to seven shareholders for a Thai Private Co. Ltd. Give wife all but 6 shares in company. Foreigner takes one share. Then find five other people to sign for one share each. Assuming that you capitalize at 1,000,000 baht, with 10,000 shares at 100 baht par value, you now have five shareholders who collectively own 0.05% of the company. You obtain their signatures ONCE - to file the Memorandum of Association (at least nine days prior to registering the company). After that, you need never see, hear or speak to those five "ghosts" again - you will never again need their signatures.

So - what's so "messy" about that?

Good luck!

Steve

Indo-Siam

[email protected]

www.thaistartup.com

[Dutchy]

HI Jean,

Wanna start a band in Bangkok? I think you still remember how to play trumpet?

Dutchy

[asinah]

penelope,

A Hong Kong company is actually a very good option. I may consider that once I hit some good profits. Until then I will keep everything offshore.

[asinah]

Khun Jean,

What went wrong? I trusted the wrong guys I guess. I was the COO of a larger company based in Software Park. Part of my deal was that I would receive 30% of the Thai company and 30% of the US company. My partner was a German professor in AIT who was the CEO of the company but only came every 2-3 months to the office.

I hired 12 staffs as requested by the CEO and disagreed on many issues such as wasting capital on importing Italian furnitures, the latest finger scan entry system for access to our offices etc. - Then came 9/11 and my partner instructed me to fire all Thai staffs because he found that in Viet nam the girls are more nice and cheaper as well.

I disagreed with him on so many issues. BTW: This chap didn't know shit about the internet or information technology but was the highest paying lecturer at AIT with over 350,000 Baht in montly pay and many white papers that I wrote ended up on his work at AIT. He even emailed around my personal photos with Khun Thanksin without my permission. (Thanks God Khun Anand who is the chairman of AIT, never renewed his contract)

So on the end I told him to buy my shares back. I found out by then that my Thai shares were not lodged with the commerce minstry and I had a peace of paper from one of those Thai nominees that held shares for 1.2 million Baht. The US shares I still have but I doubt that they are registered in New Jersey. Any way the business is dead now for the AIT lecturer and he is pendling now around Bangkok and Rangoon.

My advise for anyone that want to open a company ! Find yourself a lawyer to setup the company. Don't trust anyone (of course your wife can be trusted after all you married her).

So how did I recover? No more meetings with Thai's or Expats and by clocking my 16 horus a day in work.

BTW: Khun Jean, what database application do you develop? I was too a developer of databases apps such as Oracle, Informix and MySQL

[sting01]

what is the topic of this thread: Trumpet ... Hong Kong .... ??????????

Difficult to follow

[huski]

He even emailed around my personal photos with Khun Thanksin without my permission

that was your mistake right there, thaksin has his head up his ass.

[asinah]

Husky,

Hmmh, so why was it my mistake?

Any way thanks Huski, for your very smart answer.

[Khun Jean]

Hi,

Penelope,

I want to do it in Thailand because then we can start build up a good financial history not only for me but my wife and children. It will be a big advantage when you are looking for a house to buy or something that it is possible to have a mortgage. Besides i am not trying to avoid paying tax, just a lot less than i am used to in the Netherlands.

Dutchy, Sorry mixed up with someone else. Never played the trompet.

Asinah,

Thanks for sharing. I burned myself with some business partners in the past too.

Now i just want to keep things small and easier.

Indo-Siam,

My knowledge about a Thai Private Co. Ltd is very limited. I just started on a quest for information.

Nothing i said about it being 'messy'. I just assume that with a Thai Private Co. Ltd there will be more paperwork and registration, and yearly publications of results.

If you can point me to some legal requirements for having a Thai Private Co. Ltd i will be very interested in it. The example you gave sounds quite straight forward.

What is the required initial capital for creating a Thai Private Co. Ltd?

Can you give me some practical advatages of having a Thai Private Co. Ltd.

Thanks for the information,

Jean

[Guest IT Manager]

I am working from home and I am on a NI visa. I am staying in Thailand with my wife and daughters and all my icome is generated from outside of Thailand.

I am still doing sometimes application development but no longer handle local businesses within Thailand but only from East Asia and the EU.

It worked well out but it can get messy when yo start setting up companies with 7 local directors. (Was burned 2 times in the past)

Good luck

If the company is set up by people who know what they are doing, and have a track record, there can be NO problems.

Talk to Sunbelt, Indo-Siam, or PM me for options.

[asinah]

######,

If I ever need something I will get in touch with one of you guys.

We now have a Delaware corporation and pay 100USD franchise tax per year (we paid it already for the next 10 years in advance)

Again thanks for your offer, I will keep that in mind.