Thai Work Permit expert today wants to discuss how to change some information on work permit in Thailand.

A holder of a Thailand Work Permit can apply for any change of information in the work permit in the event of any of the following:

1. Change or addition of category of work or nature of work;
2. Change or addition of employer;
3. Change or addition of locality of work or place of work
4. Change or addition of conditions of work under Section 26 of Working of Alien Act B.E. 2551.

The applicant is required to prepare the following documents and file it at the Office of Foreign Workers Administration. If his / her work is in a province other than Bangkok, the application must be filed at the Provincial Office of Employment:

1. Application form (W.P.6)
2. Work permit book and one copy
3. A copy of the employer’s Company Registration (updated within six months)
4. A copy of the Application Form of Value Added Tax Registration Change (Form Por Por 09)
5. Map showing the location of the employer company
6. Power of Attorney (using a form of Department of Employment) with Baht 10 duty stamp affixed and a copy of the agent’s ID Card (if the permit holder is
   unable to apply in person.)
7. A copy of employer’s work permit in case he is a foreigner. If the employer is
   not working in Thailand or has no work permit, Power of Attorney certified
   by a Notary Public and a Thai Embassy is needed.
8. A copy of employer’s ID Card in case of he is a Thai National

All documents of the employer have to be signed by the authorized signatories of the company and affix the company stamp. Meanwhile, all documents of the applicant need to be certified by him / her.

Once the application has been filed, it takes about 3 working days for the process of change of information in work permit to be finished. Then, the work permit holder (or his agent) has to pick up the work permit book at the Office of Foreign Workers Administration, Department of Employment of the Ministry of Labour and pay some fees.

Being highly knowledgeable and an expert in Thailand work permit, we at MSNA can assist you in application of such changes in your work permit.

Application for registration of a representative office in Thailand of a foreign company engaged in international trading business

Scope of Activities of a Representative Office

As required by the Thai law, the business activities that a representative office can carry out in Thailand are limited to five business activities concerning:

• Sourcing of goods or services inThailand for head office
• Checking and controlling the quality and quantity of goods purchased or hired to manufacture in Thailand by the head office
• Giving advice concerning goods of the head office sold to agents or consumers in Thailand
• Propagation of information concerning new goods or services of the head office
• Reporting on business trends in Thailand to the head office.

The above activities are regarded as service activities under List 3 (21) of the Thailand Foreign Business Law, and thus the registration of a representative office requires a Foreign Business License from the Director-General of the Department of Business Development.

General Characteristics of a Representative Office

1. It has non income-generating activities;
2. It has no authority to accept purchasing order or to make offer for selling or to negotiate for carrying out of business with person or juristic person in the country in which it is registered;
3. All of its incurred expenditures must be shouldered by its head office;
4. Normally, it is not subject to Corporate Income Tax, in accordance with the Revenue Code except for deposit interest of remitted funds from the head office has to pay tax.

Out of scope activities of a Representative Office

The following are the services that a representative office is not permitted to do otherwise it will be considered as an entity doing business here in Thailand and may be subject to the revocation of its license:

1. Purchasing order or payment of goods on behalf of the head office or its affiliated companies or any activities concerning purchasing;
2. Shipment of goods of the head office or its affiliated companies already purchased;
3. Checking and controlling the quality and quantity of goods for any companies that are not the head office nor its affiliated companies;
4. Executing after sale service concerning installation and maintenance;
5. Performing advice concerning goods that were not produced nor sold by the head office or its affiliated companies;
6. Receiving purchase order or service on behalf of the head office or its affiliated companies;
7. Coordinating in purchasing or selling on behalf of the head office or its affiliated companies;
8. Propagation of information concerning previous goods or services that are already sold inThailand;
9. Carrying out activities as middleman or agent between customers in Thailand
   and head office or its affiliated companies;
10. Planning and coordinating with any organization in terms of business on behalf of the head office or its affiliated companies;
11. Being a representative in making any contracts or activities on behalf of the head office or its affiliated companies;
12. Reporting information to any companies that are not the head office nor its affiliated companies

Government Fees for a Representative Office

Application fee (nonrefundable) is THB 2,000. If the application is approved, the government fee will be set at the rate of THB 5 for every THB 1,000 or a fraction thereof of the registered capital, with a minimum of THB 20,000 and a maximum of THB 250,000.

Tax Position of Representative Office

The representative office is required to obtain a corporate tax identification number and submit income tax returns and balance sheets, even if there was no transactions in the past accounting period.

Individual aliens and all local staff of a representative office are required to obtain taxpayer cards and pay personal income tax.

At MSNA, we can assist foreign companies in the Thailand business setup process.

There are many types of business structure to choose from if you would like to set up your own business. These include sole proprietorships, cooperatives, partnerships, limited liability companies, corporations and other forms of organization. However, these types often vary on each country based on its legal systems of setting up business. Thus, here in Thailand, the following are the common types of business structures:

1. Partnership
2. Joint Venture
3. Company Limited

1. Partnership

A partnership is a type of business owned by two or more people. Normally, each partner has unlimited liability for the debts incurred by the business. There are three common types of partnerships inThailand:

1.1 Unregistered ordinary partnerships whereas all partners are jointly and wholly liable for all debts of the partnership.

1.2 Registered ordinary partnerships whereas the partnership becomes a legal entity and its legal personality is separated and distinct from the individual partners.

1.3 Limited partnerships whereas the liability of each individual partner is restricted to the amount of capital invested to the partnership. Thus, limited partnership must be registered.

2. Joint Venture

A joint venture may be defined as a group of persons (natural and/or juristic) entering into an agreement in order to carry on a business together. Although it has not yet been recognized as a legal entity under the Civil and Commercial Code, income from this
business structure is subject to corporate taxation under the Revenue Code
which recognizes it as a single business entity.

3. Company Limited (Limited Liability)

A company limited is a type of business that has a separate legal personality from its shareholders. There are two types of limited company: private company and public company.

A private limited company is the most famous type of business structure in Thailand and is formed through a registration process which includes registration of a Memorandum of Association and Articles of Incorporation and other legal documents. It is managed by a
board of directors according to the company’s by-laws or articles of incorporation. At least three shareholders are required to form a private company limited whereas their
liability is limited to the remaining unpaid amount, if any, of the par values of their shares. Meanwhile, the liability of the directors may be unlimited if so provided in the company’s the Articles of Incorporation.

At MSNA, we make sure that we provide quality services especially in ensuring that you can register a private limited company in Thailand easily and legally. For more information, please read further on Thailand Company Registration.

A public limited company registered in Thailand may, subject to
compliance with the prospectus, approval, and other requirements, offer shares,
debentures and warrants to the public and may apply to have their securities
listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET).

Other types of business structure

Branch Office

To operate a branch of a foreign company, one has to study Thailand
Foreign Business Law. In some cases, a certificate to operate business
(issued by the Ministry of Commerce in Thailand) is enough, while others, a
license to operate business is required. If the branch of a foreign company is
to do only export or manufacturing, it does not need a certificate or license
to operate the business. It is also important to become familiarize on what
constitutes income subject to Thai tax because the Revenue Department may
consider income directly earned by the foreign head office from sources within
Thailand as subject to Thai taxes.

Regional Operating Headquarters (ROH)

ROH is a newly type of business recognized in Thailand that provides
benefits to investors who set up a regional headquarter in the country while
performing “qualifying services” to branches or associated companies located
within or outside Thailand. Read more on Regional Opearting Headquarters or ROH here.

Representative Office

It is a type of business that can be set up by a foreign company in Thailand with
the purpose of providing advice or service to its head office only. Thus, no
revenue must be incurred and recognized by this type of business. However, to
set up a representative office, one also has to consider the Foreign
Business Law of Thailand.

Thailand’s Revenue Department has been encouraging Thailand
companies and other Thai tax payers to adopt Tax Returns E-filing for a few
years.

The Thai Revenue Department has the policy to go green to
cut on its paper use and manpower. It is now more than ever encouraging the tax
payers in Thailand to file their tax returns online (E-filing). Many of MSNA’s
accounting clients in Thailand have received calls from the Thai tax authority
to ask them to start using the e-filing service on the Revenue Department’s
website. Well, sorry the page is only in Thai. You can have your Thai accountant visit that page to start filing your Thailand company’s tax returns on the internet.

To start filing tax online, a tax payer has to file form Por Or 01 “Application Form
to file tax returns via the internet” which has the name, address, tax ID and
contact information of the tax payer, on the Revenue Department’s website. Then within
15 days after filing that form, the tax payer has to physically submit the
following documents to the Electronic Tax Filing Management Office of the
Revenue Department, Revenue Department Building, 27th Floor, 90 Soi Paholyothin
7, Paholyothin Road, Phayathai, Bangkok 10400 :

1. “Agreement for Filing Tax Returns via the internet”
2. The tax payer’s Thai ID card copy (in case the tax payer is a Thai individual), or copy of the tax payer’s Thailand company papers (company affidavit, and the authorized signatories’ passport copy). Note that the papers need to be signed by their owner or in case of a Thai company, the company affidavit copy has to be signed by the authorized signatories and affixed with the company’s stamp.
3. Power of Attorney. If you will not take the above documents to submit to the Revenue Department yourself, you need to make a power of attorney to appoint someone as your agent to submit the documents for you.

After you get their approval, they will send you the user ID and password and inform
you of the first month that you can start E-filing on the Revenue Department
website.

Notes:

1. E-filing your tax returns can be done only within the deadline of each kind of tax returns. For example, the withholding tax returns of the month of August 2011 can be filed online only between 1 – 7 September 2011 and the VAT return of August can be filed between 1 – 15 September. After the deadline, they can only be filed at the Revenue Department branch in your area.
2. When you are using the E-filing service on the Revenue Department website, you will have the options to make E-payment from your bank in Thailand (where you have previously applied for internet banking service) or to take the payment to a bank to deposit into the Revenue Department’s account. The payment has to be made within the tax filing deadline of each type of returns. From the example in Note 1, the deadline for making the tax payment for VAT returns of August is by the 15^th of September.

If you hire a Thai accounting firm to file tax for you, your accountant will have
to prepare all the forms for you to apply for the E-filing service.

For Thailand taxation and accounting questions, please contact us.