Company Startup

[Hape]

Hi everybody

Me: Swiss, married to a Thai (marriage not registered in Thailand), partner in a software company in Switzerland

Idea:

Our company wants to outsource part of our software development work as Switzerland is simply too expensive. As I am married to a Thai, we think about outsourcing to Thailand. The only business we would do in Thailand would be software development for the main company in Switzerland. I would be moving to Thailand with my wife and we think about starting with 2 Thai software developers.

Can somebody please give me some advice on the following questions:

1. What will be the best form of company? (private limited company, branch, representative office, regional office, …)

2. How much time is approximately needed from the decision to start the company until work can start in Thailand?

I know that this are only the basic questions, but at the moment I need only some more information so as to go into the right direction. I will definitely later come up with some more questions.

Feel free to contact me if you know companies that can assist in the whole setup of the company. It will still be some time before we decide, but any information is appreciated.

Thanks

Hape

[Indo-Siam]

Hello Hape -

My company supports start-ups such as yours. If you send me an e-mail address tow hich I can send attcahments, iw ill send you several attachments - basically decision flow diagrams for the various options.

In general, a Thai Private Co. Ltd. can be formed in less than two weeks, if you have shareholders, directors, office location, and capitalization all figured out - or let us take care of many aspects. What is typical is more like 3-4 weeks. After that, you need only VAT and tax registrations,and bank account, to get started.

A Thai Representative Office is another story - the process of starting such an entity involves translation of your overseas compamy documents into Thai, and initial submission to a Thai diplomatic post in your home country. In all, forming a TRO typically takes 4-6 months - 10 weeks would probably be the quickest conceivable process, for a VERY diligent company.

Please send your direct e-mail address to: [email protected]

Good luck!

Steve Sykes

Managing Director

Indo-Siam Group

Bangkok

www.thaistartup.com

[descartes]

Hi Hape,

There are a number of factors that you need to think about when deciding the exact business vehicle. I am in the same industry as you and here are the ones that were important to me.

1. Accumulation of Profit - Thai corporation tax thresholds are punative

2. Staff profile - How many work permits will you need

3. Can you meet the capitalisation requirements - will you be able to burn this money with your operating costs

4. Future Growth - Will you ever want to be able to invoice Thai clients.

By the sounds of it, you have no intention of trading in Thailand, and your operation should easily consume the 5M bt required over the 5 year period.

It would seem that a regional office may be the best bet, as you cannot run a private company without showing a profit in three years.

If you decided to have a private company anyway, you would then have to bring the minimum capitalisation , but then finance the rest of the operation via invoices to the Swiss company. You then enter the wacky world of withholding taxes, and all the BS that goes with entering the Thai revenue and accounting system, and an obligation to balance your capatilization levels with income/losses.

The only downside with a Regional Office is that its only good for 5 years (as well as the extra paperwork), but extensions would simply be a matter of bringing in more FX.

This is the situation as I percieve it, and may be wildly off the mark.

By the way, I am using Indo Siam for my incorporation, and I would definitly recommend them, as Steves advice is always though provoking and is much better value for money that the Thai Law firms who I have been using for other related activities.

D

[Hape]

Thanks for all your info. I'm in contact with Indo-Siam now.

Thanks Steve for all the info you could provide me in advance. I will study the documents and come back to you.

Hape