Due to the increasing complexity of Thai law and regulatory enforcement, a more holistic approach to business incorporation, visa extension, work permit application, accounting, payroll maintenance, and corporate services is necessary. For this reason Integrity Legal is proud to announce the foundation of Integrity Services. Integrity Services provides corporate maintenance services, accountancy services, and also tax advisory services (in both a Thai and an American context). Integrity Services is managed by a Thai accountant with fluency in English. The firm will also provide consultation and tax advisory services from an American tax attorney where necessary.

Integrity Services can provide ongoing support to businesses in Thailand with a special emphasis upon companies with foreign ownership or management. Concurrently, with recent changes to the American tax laws, advisory services from an American tax attorney with experience in Thai corporate matters can provide a great deal of benefit to firms with American stakeholders or management. Meanwhile, Integrity Services will provide assistance to clients of Integrity Legal, where necessary, in a seamless manner. By blending standard legal services with, corporate compliance, immigration, and accounting the teams of both Integrity Legal and Integrity Services can provide comprehensive assistance to our clients in all matters pertaining to business in Thailand.

Contact us today to learn more about how your business could be improved with Integrity.

When we say, “foreign ownership,” we mean foreign majority ownership as foreign nationals are allowed to own a minority stake in a Thai company, up to forty-nine percent. If a Thai owns fifty-one percent of a company in Thailand, then that company is considered to be a “Thai Company.”

There are some who incorporate “Thai companies” that utilize so-called “nominee shareholders.” A nominee is one who owns shares in a Thai company on behalf of another. A nominee is not an “active shareholder,” in a company. Under current Thai corporate law nominee shareholders are illegal. However, defining what constitutes a “nominee shareholder,” can be difficult.

Thai law does provide for a way around the restrictions imposed by the Foreign Business Act. There are ways to license a Thai Company, with majority foreign ownership, to conduct business in Thailand.

On method of facilitating a foreign company to conduct business in Thailand is through a Foreign Business License. These documents can be difficult to obtain and the process for obtaining a Thai foreign business license can be very time consuming. Once granted the license will specify the exact nature of the business and the company will be precluded from conducting any other type of activity, unless another license is obtained.

Another method of facilitating foreign ownership of a Thai company is through the US-Thai Amity Treaty. As the name suggests, the US-Thai Treaty of Amity and Economic Relations is a bilateral agreement between the Kingdom of Thailand and the United States of America. A company certified under the terms of the Treaty is given “national treatment,” allowing it to operate in the same way as a “Thai Company.” The major exception being that an Amity Treaty Company is precluded from owning real estate in Thailand. Other types of Thai property could be owned by an Amity Company, such as a Thai Condo. Also, the provisions of the Treaty grant the aforementioned benefits exclusively to United States Citizens. Therefore, this method of certification is not for everyone.

The Australia-Thai free trade agreement provides some special benefits to Australians in Thailand as Australian Citizen may be allowed to own a majority stake in certain types of Thai companies.

A final method of licensing a foreign company in Thailand is through the Board of Investment or BOI. A BOI company can receive special benefits in the form of rights to operate and some BOI companies can own land. That being said, BOI companies are very difficult to incorporate and require a great deal of legal expertise to set up. BOI Companies are generally not advisable for those thinking of establishing a small Thai business. For large enterprises, such a setup may be advisable due to the fact that a Thailand visa and/or work permit is generally easier to obtain for a BOI company.