Having a business in Thailand is an exciting and fulfilling venture. The country is teeming with promising opportunities that any entrepreneur would find thrilling and inspiring. It is highly encouraging to have a financial endeavor in Thailand because it is one of the easiest nations to do business with. However, there are main things that you need to settle first before proceeding with registering your business. Knowing and securing the following will ensure that you have a hassle-free business registration experience in Thailand. Read on, take note, and duly act upon the following as soon as you can!
The Blueprint
You won’t have a hard time registering your business in Thailand because all necessary steps will be clearly explained and outlined for you. To give you a clearer perspective of the process though, you need to understand that you will undergo the following:
- Company name reservation
- The filing of your memorandum of association
- Statutory meeting
- Company registration proper
- Registration with the revenue department — for tax purposes
For an easier registration process, do take care of the following details before proceeding:
Detail #1: Your Business Name
You need to finalize your chosen business name before you even get to register. It’s important that you do this as it is the first step that you need to undertake when registering your business in Thailand. To prepare properly, you need to take note of the following:
- you need to at least come up with three name options for your business
- such names will be submitted to the Department of Business Development (DBD)
- they should be submitted in order of priority
- the name of your choice needs to be unique as it is forbidden for businesses in Thailand to share the same name or use names that resemble each other
- your chosen business name must be written in Thai – you can use an English equivalent. However, it still needs to be encrypted in Thai. You must closely observe the following: translation, pronunciation, and accents
- you must familiarize yourself with the list of particular terms that are not allowed to be used as a company name in Thailand
- If you’re going to register a limited liability company, your company name needs to end with the word ‘Limited.’
- you should note that a business name is different from your company name — they do not have to be the same.
Detail #2: Your Visa
Note that you need to secure a separate visa for yourself and any foreign talent that you’d be bringing into the country. A visa is separate from a work permit that every foreigner who earns in Thailand is required to have. To make things easier for you, you could choose to work with an agent or law firm. A law firm could also do all the work for you as you register a company in Thailand. You also need to be aware of the following particulars if you’d bring in foreign talent into Thailand:
- you should have duly registered company
- an offer of employment from a Thai company partner
- a letter from Thailand’s local labour industry
- the work permit needs to be processed in Thailand’s
- you should have four Thai workers for every one foreign employee
- you should also have two million baht as capital investment
Detail #3: Your Work Permit
A work permit is separate from a visa. Visa alone will not suffice if you want to earn in Thailand. Applying for a work permit will require that you submit a legal document that states the following:
- current occupation
- your position
- job description
- Thai company that you would be working with
A work permit is important because it will also serve as your license to perform a job or service in Thailand. Keep in mind that you will not be permitted to work in Thailand if you’d have a visa alone. For this, you should take note that you also need to have the correct kind of visa that will allow you to apply for a work permit.
Detail #4: Your Limited Foreign Ownership
You need to be aware that you’d be under a Limited Foreign Ownership contract in Thailand. This means that you’d only be owning as much as 49% of your company. Under Thai law, 51% of your company’s shareholding needs to be owned by Thai nationals. This is despite the fact that you’d be investing 100% of your money in your company. You can be fully covered though if your business will qualify for a Foreign Business License (FBL) or a Board of Investment (BOI) program. If you’d qualify for either, you would be allowed to own 100% of your company. You’d also get to enjoy numerous tax and non-tax incentives.
Detail #5: Your Accounts
You need to prepare documents for your corporate tax ID. Such corporate tax ID needs to be applied for within 60 days of incorporation. You would also need to register for VAT if your company’s turnover would exceed 1.8 million baht. You need to be diligent in taking care of your accounts because you would need to submit the following annually:
- annual audits
- annual balance sheet
- record of accounts for employee social security contributions
- record of accounts for withheld income tax from employees
Detail #6: Your Office Space
Lastly, you should also duly have a legitimate physical address before registering your business. All Thai businesses can only be approved for registration if they have a physical address. If you’d be renting, you need to ask the consent of the property owner to the use of their space in your company registration. Your location of choice would be important because such will put you under the jurisdiction of the government offices that administer such a region.
