Setting up company for my Thai wife in Thailand

[chumpy]

My Thai wife has a small Thai cooking school and she would like to register it as a business,she would like to register it as a Thai owned business,no foreigners are involved.

We have been to an accounting office and were told that we should go to the Or Bo Tor,there(at the Or Bo Tor) they said that for in the case of a cooking school they don't know about how to do it.

Does anyone know where we can register a small Thai owned business in Phuket?It is only for my Thai wife,I myself(a foreigner),am not involved,thanks.

[ubonjoe]

Not visa related. Moved to the business forum.

[manarak]

She can register a private business on her name, I think the English name is sole proprietorship, no need to form a company.

Registration is done at the local tessaban office with her ID card and 100 baht. takes about 10 minutes.

see also:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/441668-sole-proprietorship-questions/

[chumpy]

Thank you very much,do you perhaps know what the Thai name for "sole proprietorship" would be?just so that the tessabaan exactly understands what we need.

[kinmaew]

Do you enjoy losing money? If the answer is "YES!!" keep going, you are doing well.

[ozyjon]

Are you making money, if yes, shhhhhhhhh

don't tell anyone.

[sead]

I went with my ex to register her shop as company. Got totally denied and lady said she could come back when she make more than 600.000bht. no need to register if you make small money lol.

This was in pattaya

[Arkady]

If it is a school, there may some licensing required from the Ministry of Education and the local district office. There may be some minimum requirements like teacher qualifications and licenses, number of toilets etc. I would tread carefully with a school business and check what is required first. You don't want government school inspectors knocking on the door.

For a sole proprietorship like a shop or restaurant, you just register with the Revenue Dept and also with the District Office, if you need licences to sell tobacco and alcohol. You can register with a brand name or just under the name of the individual. You can choose whether to submit audited accounts and pay tax on the audited profit or unaudited accounts and pay tax on the revenue minus fixed deductions of expenses for the type of business. Using unaudited accounts would normally result in a higher assessment of profit and tax, based on the Revenue Dept fixed deductions, but most sole proprietors counter this by making a fake declaration of income, not that I am recommending this. Tax inspectors may come along posing as customers and do their assessment of income and then you're clobbered with that. The taxation is done as personal income with the standard allowances. If this gets big, it is more tax efficient to register a company. Many Thais illegally operate small cash businesses without ever registering or filing for tax.

Thailand has one of the largest estimated black economies relative to recorded GDP in Asia, on a par with African countries like Uganda and Ghana.

[timendres]

Thank you very much,do you perhaps know what the Thai name for "sole proprietorship" would be?just so that the tessabaan exactly understands what we need.

ความเป็นเจ้าของ Kwaam bpen jao koong (falling tone on jao, rising tone on koong which rhymes with bong or long)

Not sure if that is the word they will expect, but it is the Thai word for "proprietorship".

[Krataiboy]

Fingers crossed your wife's business turns out to be a success. Presumably, you are aware that in Thailand a spouse is liable for any debts run up by their partner.

[chumpy]

ok thanks a lot for all the info it's much appreciated.

[mickyboy]

Do you enjoy losing money? If the answer is "YES!!" keep going, you are doing well.

does it say where he is investing his money

[HerbalEd]

Do you enjoy losing money? If the answer is "YES!!" keep going, you are doing well.

How could you possibly know how well she will do? Or are you just a pessimist who always assumes the worst?

[Cloggie]

Why are people always so negative about other people who want to start a company here or open a small shop with the family?

Falangs are successful in this company as well like for example William Heinecke (Minor Group), bud also BQuick owned by a Dutch guy and I am sure there are hundreds of other successful 'falang' people in Thailand as well.

I worked before for an US company and made a lot of money here and so did my boss who sold it so no need to be always so negative!

Are you maybe just jealous that these people are more successful than you?

[Langsuan Man]

I don't think the comments are all so negative but express surprise that a Thai speaker has to have a farang get information about forming a company in Thailand

IMHO it casts real doubts on the viability of the venture and leads us to believe that the farang involvement will be a lot greater than the OP admits

[CaptHaddock]

If it is a school, there may some licensing required from the Ministry of Education and the local district office. There may be some minimum requirements like teacher qualifications and licenses, number of toilets etc. I would tread carefully with a school business and check what is required first. You don't want government school inspectors knocking on the door.

For a sole proprietorship like a shop or restaurant, you just register with the Revenue Dept and also with the District Office, if you need licences to sell tobacco and alcohol. You can register with a brand name or just under the name of the individual. You can choose whether to submit audited accounts and pay tax on the audited profit or unaudited accounts and pay tax on the revenue minus fixed deductions of expenses for the type of business. Using unaudited accounts would normally result in a higher assessment of profit and tax, based on the Revenue Dept fixed deductions, but most sole proprietors counter this by making a fake declaration of income, not that I am recommending this. Tax inspectors may come along posing as customers and do their assessment of income and then you're clobbered with that. The taxation is done as personal income with the standard allowances. If this gets big, it is more tax efficient to register a company. Many Thais illegally operate small cash businesses without ever registering or filing for tax.

Thailand has one of the largest estimated black economies relative to recorded GDP in Asia, on a par with African countries like Uganda and Ghana.

For an audited account, who does the auditing? Does the business owner hire an accountant to "audit" his own business? I assume the Revenue Dept. is not auditing every business itself.

If a Thai-owned business is not turning a profit, what are the filing requirements, if any?

Edited March 13, 2016 by CaptHaddock

[CaptHaddock]

Thank you very much,do you perhaps know what the Thai name for "sole proprietorship" would be?just so that the tessabaan exactly understands what we need.

ความเป็นเจ้าของ Kwaam bpen jao koong (falling tone on jao, rising tone on koong which rhymes with bong or long)

Not sure if that is the word they will expect, but it is the Thai word for "proprietorship".

ควมเป็นเจ้าของ means "ownership." Sole proprietorship is กิจการเจ้าของคนเดียว.

[ELLHNAS]

For a sole proprietorship like a shop or restaurant, you just register with the Revenue Dept and also with the District Office, if you need licences to sell tobacco and alcohol. You can register with a brand name or just under the name of the individual.

Thats interesting. I was thinking that sole proprietorship set up required registration under the persons name but it seems its more flexible than that. Can you register under a name that sounds like a company for example "vintagemania" or similar and if yes can you open a business bank account under this name using the sole proprietorship set up?

[ELLHNAS]

Anyone on this please??

[vukovar77]

On 3/9/2016 at 5:40 PM, sead said:

I went with my ex to register her shop as company. Got totally denied and lady said she could come back when she make more than 600.000bht. no need to register if you make small money lol.

This was in pattaya

Yeah,and that is a great in Thailand.No any hassle with paperwork!