How to Start New Business in Thailand?

To start a new business in Thailand you have to follow several important stages. These stages are sometimes confusing if you are a foreign investor. Keeping an expert consultant nearby is always a good idea. Try S & F consulting firm. A global renown consulting body, ready to provide you with any business solutions.

Anyways, let’s move into the basic process of starting a new company or business in Thailand.

At the very beginning, you need to know what company types are valid in Thailand. In typical scenario, three particular company types are valid here. These are:

1. Partnership company

2. Sole proprietorship company

3. Limited liability company (LLC)

For Sole proprietorship company

If you are planning for a Sole proprietorship, only you will be the single owner of your company. As a sole owner, you yourself will be the operator of the company. If you are a foreigner, you can choose sole proprietorship. Incorporation process often gets complicated if such company doesn't qualify at the beginning.

For Partnership company

Thailand follows three criteria of partnership company. These types are set under Civil and Commercial Code. A company can either follow ordinary partnership, Unregistered ordinary partnership or Limited partnership.

For limited liability company (LLC)

LLC in Thailand requires at least three shareholders. They are also called promoters. At least one promoter among three must be a resident of Thailand. Rest of the members may be foreign investors. Shareholders must come up with least required capital recommended by legal authorities.

Following are the step by step procedures to start a business in Thailand

Prerequisites

At general circumstance, a limited company requires at least three shareholders. Among these three, two of them can be foreigners and the third person must be a Thai shareholder.

At primary stage a local entrepreneur must show at least 3,000,000 baht.
In case of foreign promoters, the capital must be 2,000,000 baht.
This capital boundary was set by the Ministry of Commerce of Thailand. Once you have arranged the money, you are all set to go for the main registration procedures.

1. Company name registration procedures

The very first task you must do is proposing a unique company name. This name should not be the same as other existing or pre-existed business in Thailand. Every company must have "Limited" as suffix in company's name. The approved name is temporary and is valid for next thirty days only. Prepare MoA and other registration documents within this 30 day of time span. Once you have submitted registration forms and MoA, the name gets permanent.

2. Prepare MoA and conduct statutory meeting

You need to collect a Memorandum of Association (MoA). This paperwork requires proposed name of your company, location of the company. The document also asks for company objectives and type, number of shareholders etc.

The legal agreement paper must enclose shareholder's signatures. Two local witnesses should also certify this MoA paper. Once you have submitted the MoA application, conduct a statutory meeting with shareholders. This meeting will build up an article of association for the company. The meeting clarifies capital of each promoters and number of shares issued on them. through this meeting the first director and auditor of the company gets appointed.

3. Fill-up registration documents and submit for company incorporation

You need a company corporation certificate for starting a new business. Collect the company incorporation certificate from the Thailand Department of Business Development. Submit drafted registration form to the department. The Ministry of Commerce or MOC handles this paperwork. You must submit all the registration papers along with MoA to the department. The form will take information of capitals for each share. It will also ask for each director's credentials and company's physical location.

4. Collect income tax certificate, social security, business license and VAT certificate.

To run a company, you need to have a proper income tax certificate and VAT certificate. Apply for income tax, VAT certificate, as well as business license. These are mandatory during every step of doing business. You will also need a social security card while residing in Thailand for doing business.

5. Apply for other licenses if required

You will need some other licenses to carry out certain business activities. For example, you are up for a restaurant business, you need license for serving alcohol. You will need license if planning for export import businesses. License is also necessary in case of pharmaceuticals and health care related services. Registering these licenses need copies of company bank accounts and personal credentials. Get useful advises from S & F consulting firm on these licenses.

7. Company address, office furniture and utilities.

In Thailand you will get two choices on setting up business premises. Either pre-furnished serviced office of traditional office. Serviced office offers you with all utilities and furniture pre-arranged. All you need is your personal computer and office documents. The traditional office on the other side is all empty at the beginning. Consider buying all office furniture and utilities to decorate the office from scratch. Furniture like workstations, reception setup, file racks are mandatory for a typical office. Utilities like electronic appliance, kitchen utilities, stationary items are daily necessities.

8. Apply for business visa and work permit

Apply for all your work permit and business visas if you are a foreigner. Without that you have to handle the company from overseas.

If you are from other country and are planning to do business, get your business visa and work permit. You can process your own visa and permit. If needed, consider hiring lawyer to process work permit and corporate visa. Generally Thai embassy process this type of visa. For business visa you will need to place following document:

Recommendation letter from the Thai partners from your company.
Approval letter from the local labor ministry.
Copy of company registration form.

To be eligible for the work permit you need at least four Thai workers working under you in the company. You will also need a capital of 2 million baht.

9. Get a new business bank account

If you've finished the company registration process, open a business bank account. Make sure a native promoter make correspondence with bank officers during account opening. A native shareholder of your company can provide references during account opening.

10. Hire employees for the new company.

Hire employees for your company. You can publish job circulars on Jobthai or Jobdb for better and faster feedback. Keep in mind that such circulation on job sites will charge you in monthly basis. Once hired, offer staffs with fair wages, bonuses, meal, and scheduled leave opportunities. Maintain fair corporate environment for staff benefits and strengthen staff retention.