Opening a Business in Thailand

Do you want to open a company in Thailand but don’t really know how to proceed or the process might seem difficult? Do not worry, we at MSNA can give you the best solution.

The procedures depend on the type of company that you will set up. Let’s discuss it in details.

A. Registering a Thai company with 51% shares held by Thai shareholder

Pros:

• Your company can do business right after registration.
• The process is much easier because you don’t need to get special license.

Cons:

• If you want to hire foreigners to work, your company must have 2 million Baht capital and hire 4 Thai employees in order to apply for one work permit.

How to register:

• You need at least 3 shareholders (if you have 2 foreigners, then you need 1 Thai).
• The number of shares to be held by Thai must be at least 51%. This Thai shareholder must show proof of funds (at least 6 months update of bank statement showing enough money to buy the amount of shares they will hold).
• Please read the steps here

B. Other options:

If new Thai limited company will be doing only export activities from Thailand or manufacturing goods in Thailand, then it can be foreign majority owned without obtaining a Foreign Business License.

• If you are American, you can register a company under the Treaty of Amity

• Get BOI certificate (Board of Investment)

Pros:

• It would be fine if you don’t have a Thai partner as long as your business activity falls under any category of eligible activities for BOI promotion.
• Tax exemption such as corporate income tax, tariff exemption or reduction on import machinery and raw material (depending on the company’s activity).
• Non-Tax privileges such as permission to own land, permission to bring foreign expert to work on the promoted projects, exemption on foreign ownership of companies and exemption from work permit and visa rules.

Cons:

• Not all activities are eligible to obtain a BOI certificate. Please checkout Foreign Business law here 
• If your company’s activity is not in this list, you will need to get Foreign Business License.

How to register:

• The process to get BOI is summarized here

Registering a business in Thailand can be troublesome but we at MSNA can make it convenient for you. Contact us now for initial consultation.

This question of “how long it take to set up a BOI company in Thailand?” is actually not very relevant to many people. The question we should try to answer is “how soon do you need your BOI company?”. To set up a Thai limited company, it takes about 1 week which includes reserving a name, preparing all the forms, having the directors sign them (which may add days or weeks to the process if the directors are overseas) and filing the forms with the Department of Business Development. However, to set up a BOI company, we have to add months for getting the BOI approval. If your business activity is one which is promoted by the Board of Investment of Thailand, it takes 4 months to a year. The BOI may say that it needs 40 days to approve your project, but that is only in theory. While planning for the timing of things, you should allow 4 months to a year, depending on the business activity, to get the BOI company ready to operate (have bank accounts, hire employees, invoice customers, etc.) So in total, it may take you 4 – 12 months to set up a BOI company in Thailand.

MSNA Group has BOI companies ready for sale. You can start your business right away. Why wait many months to start your business operation when you can start making money now and get the work permits for your foreign employees. You will not have to have 4 Thai employees for each work permit. You will not need a paid up capital of Baht 2M for each expat employee. Buying a ready BOI company is the best and fastest way to set up your business in Thailand.

Talk to us today and start invoicing your clients right away.