Business, BOI, Tax & Expat FAQ — 66 answers (2026)

Yes. Thai officials will not register a transaction a foreign party cannot demonstrably understand. The interpreter must be independent of the deal, present an original ID or passport, and sign the official record confirming a full oral translation was given. Many offices also ask for proof of language competence — a degree in that language or a letter from a registered translation office. We supply interpreters already known to the specific office, which avoids counter-level refusals on the day.

English, Chinese and Russian usually need 1–2 working days' notice. Japanese, Korean, German, French, Arabic, Hebrew and Burmese need 3–5 working days. Pricing is by half day (up to 4 hours) or full day (up to 8 hours), plus travel outside the municipal area. Rescheduling is free if you tell us at least 24 hours before the appointment.

A court interpreter is sworn before the bench and must render every statement consecutively, without summarising — errors can affect the outcome of the case, so we assign linguists trained in Thai procedural vocabulary. A general government interpreter, used for marriage registration, property transfers or Immigration interviews, focuses on accurate content and signing the official record. The two pools are staffed separately and the level is stated in every quotation.

The core set is the parent company's certificate of incorporation, three years of audited financial statements, a board resolution approving the Thai investment, and a power of attorney for the filing agent. Each must be notarised in the country of origin, then apostilled (Hague states) or legalised by the origin foreign ministry plus the Thai embassy, then translated into Thai and legalised at the Department of Consular Affairs. The BOI generally wants documents issued within the last six months, so work backwards from your interview date.

Approved companies file positions through the BOI e-Expert system, attaching the foreign employee's degree certificates and employment references — apostilled or embassy-legalised, with certified Thai translations. Only then can you apply for the Non-B visa and work permit at the One Start One Stop Service Centre. The most common failure point is a name spelled differently on the degree and the passport, so have the set pre-checked before translation.

Yes, through three lawful routes: a Foreign Business License, the Thai–US Treaty of Amity, or BOI promotion. All three require fully legalised and translated parent-company documents, a business plan, the shareholding structure and proof of funds. Using Thai nominee shareholders to disguise foreign control is an offence under the Foreign Business Act, and we do not take on that type of engagement.

A share purchase agreement, powers of attorney for signatories, shareholder resolutions on both sides, and certificates of directors' authority. Foreign-side documents need notarisation plus an apostille; Thai documents going abroad need a Notarial Services Attorney certification followed by consular legalisation. After closing, the transfer must be entered in the share register and the updated shareholder list (BorJor.5) filed with the DBD within the statutory deadline.

Take the audited statements and the filed PND.50 corporate tax return, have an attorney certify the copies and the director's signature, then translate into English and legalise at the Department of Consular Affairs. From 2026 Thailand issues apostilles, so for Hague member states you no longer need the destination embassy step — which removes several days and one set of fees from the process.

The two most requested are the Certificate of Residence for tax purposes (R.O.22) and the Tax Payment Certificate (R.O.21), both issued by the Revenue Department and used to claim double-tax-treaty relief. Both can be translated and legalised immediately. Ask the Revenue Department for the English-language version at issuance to shorten the translation step.

Staying 180 days or more in a calendar year makes you a Thai tax resident, with an obligation to file on Thai-source income and, under current rules, on foreign income remitted into Thailand. Supporting evidence normally includes income statements and proof of tax paid abroad, which must be translated and certified before filing. Plan with your accountant before the tax year closes rather than after.

End-to-end handling from before arrival to after settling in: pre-checking origin-country documents, courier collection and delivery to your residence, an interpreter at every government appointment, consular legalisation runs, TM.30 and TM.47 filings, bank account opening, the Thai driving licence, and liaison with international schools or hospitals. One coordinator owns the whole file, so you never repeat your story.

The usual causes are a translated company name that differs from the name reserved at the DBD, documents older than the receiving authority accepts, a director's signature that does not match the registered specimen, and steps performed out of order — translating before origin-country certification. We pre-check every page and lock the sequence: origin certification → translation → consular legalisation → filing.

Attorney signature certification and certified true copies, translation of one to three standard pages, and same-day consular legalisation at the express fee of THB 400 per stamp. What cannot be compressed is certification by an authority overseas and destination-embassy queues. We give a step-by-step realistic timeline before starting so appointment dates can be set safely.

Doing it yourself costs only the government fees, but means repeated trips and the risk of a rejection that restarts the whole set. Our fee covers pre-checking, formatting translations the way each authority accepts them, queueing on your behalf, and free rework if a rejection is caused by our translation or file assembly. Where a closing date or an appointment is fixed, the cost of delay is usually far higher than the service fee.

The main routes are BOI promotion, which allows full foreign shareholding for many activities; a foreign business licence from the Department of Business Development for activities in List 2 or 3 of the Foreign Business Act; the Thai-US Treaty of Amity for US nationals; and activities that fall outside the restricted lists altogether. Using Thai nominees to hold shares on a foreigner's behalf is a criminal offence and is never a solution.

A private limited company can now be formed with two or more promoters following the amendment to the Civil and Commercial Code. Name reservation through the Department of Business Development system takes one to three working days. With complete papers filed online, the registrar often completes registration the same day or within three working days. Post-incorporation steps — tax ID, VAT registration and bank account opening — add several more working days.

When turnover from goods or services exceeds the Revenue Code threshold in a year, the application must be filed within thirty days of crossing it. Companies that need work permits for foreign staff, or that supply large corporate customers, often register voluntarily before reaching the threshold so they can issue tax invoices and reclaim input VAT.

Service and hire-of-work fees, rent, advertising, transport and professional fees are the everyday categories, each with its own rate set by Revenue Department orders. The payer must withhold and remit using form PND.3 or PND.53 by the seventh of the following month, extended for online filing, and must issue a withholding tax certificate to the recipient every time.

Financial statements must be audited by a licensed auditor, approved by the shareholders' meeting within four months of the year end, filed with the Department of Business Development through DBD e-Filing within one month of approval, and reported to the Revenue Department on form PND.50 within one hundred and fifty days of the year end. Late filing attracts fines from both authorities and directors can be fined personally.

Anyone present in Thailand for one hundred and eighty days or more in a tax year is tax resident, and under Revenue Department guidance foreign-source income remitted into Thailand must be included in the tax computation, with possible relief under the double tax agreement with the source country. Keep evidence of the source, the remittance date and any foreign tax paid, and check the current guidance with the Revenue Department before filing.

The investigating officer must provide an interpreter for a suspect or witness who does not understand Thai, under the Criminal Procedure Code. The interpreter must have no interest in the case, present identification and affirm that the interpretation is truthful. In practice use an interpreter familiar with legal vocabulary and procedure, because a mistranslated statement follows the case all the way to trial.

Yes, but a representative office may only carry out non-revenue activities: sourcing goods, inspecting the quality of goods ordered, advising on products, disseminating head office information and reporting on business movements. It may not take orders, negotiate prices or issue invoices, and all expenditure must come from head office. Exceeding that scope amounts to doing business without permission.

The Department of Employment generally applies two million baht of paid-up registered capital per foreign employee and four Thai employees per foreign employee for ordinary Thai companies. BOI-promoted businesses and schemes such as Smart Visa apply different, more flexible criteria. Confirm which rule applies to your business before planning hiring.

Use the Department of Business Development mandate form so a representative in Thailand can file. The authorised director signs before a notary abroad, the signature is certified through that country's route and the Thai embassy, and the document is then translated into Thai with the translation certified by the Department of Consular Affairs. Attach the approving meeting resolution and pay the stamp duty before filing.

The most frequent causes are names and addresses that do not match across documents, registered objectives that do not cover the activity actually carried on, director signatures that differ from the specimen, missing or uncancelled stamp duty on the mandate, incomplete premises consent and location map, and foreign documents that have not completed the legalisation chain. Checking these before filing removes most correction rounds.

Beyond the tax privileges that vary by activity, the practical ones are the e-Expert system for approving skilled and expert foreign positions, visa and work permit processing through the one-stop service centre, and the right to hold land for the promoted activity. All of them depend on maintaining the conditions of the promotion certificate and reporting on schedule.

Dissolve and liquidate it properly. A company that has not been dissolved still owes annual financial statements and tax returns, and failure to file accumulates fines and exposes the directors. The steps are a shareholders' resolution to dissolve, registration of the dissolution and appointment of a liquidator, public notice to creditors, final tax filings, and finally registration of the completion of liquidation.

The order that works is: confirm the visa category matches your purpose, secure housing and file the TM.30 address notification, obtain a certificate of residence from immigration or your embassy, then open a bank account, convert or obtain a Thai driving licence, and plan for tax once you meet the residence test. Doing these out of order usually creates document dependencies that force you to start again.

A shareholder who cannot travel signs the power of attorney and application forms before a notary in their own country. The signature is then apostilled if that country is a Hague Convention member, or legalised by the local foreign ministry and the Royal Thai Embassy if it is not. The set is translated into Thai and certified by the Department of Consular Affairs before filing with DBD. Registrars check every letter of the name against the passport.

A licence is required when the activity appears on the schedules of the Foreign Business Act and foreigners hold 50% or more of the shares. Most service activities fall under List 3 and are decided by the Foreign Business Committee, which takes several months. Companies covered by a treaty, such as the US Treaty of Amity, or holding a BOI promotion certificate use the faster certificate route instead. Parent-company documents must be notarised and legalised before translation.

The treaty lets American nationals and American-owned companies hold up to 100% of a Thai company in most sectors, excluding reserved areas such as land, transport, communications and natural resources. You first obtain a nationality certification from the US Embassy in Bangkok by submitting shareholder and director evidence, then use it to apply for a Foreign Business Certificate at DBD. US corporate documents need an apostille from the relevant Secretary of State before translation.

A representative office may only carry out non-revenue activities such as sourcing, quality inspection and market reporting for the head office, so it earns nothing in Thailand and pays no corporate income tax on profit. A branch may sign contracts and earn revenue locally, but needs a foreign business licence and pays tax on Thai-sourced profit. Both require a full set of notarised and legalised parent-company documents.

Department of Employment practice requires THB 2 million of paid-up capital per foreign employee, reduced to THB 1 million where the foreigner is legally married to a Thai national, together with four Thai employees per foreigner. BOI-promoted companies follow the ratios approved in their promotion certificate instead. Evidence such as social security filings and audited accounts is checked at both application and renewal.

Yes, but the missing accounts must be replaced with other proof that the business genuinely operates: an office lease with photographs of the premises, VAT registration, employer registration with the Social Security Office, evidence that capital was actually remitted to the company account, and first client or supplier contracts. Officers frequently make a site visit, so a real signboard and working desks at the registered address matter.

Holding shares on behalf of a foreigner to circumvent the law is an offence under section 36 of the Foreign Business Act and exposes both the nominee and the person assisting them. Registrars may demand proof of the source of funds used by Thai shareholders. The compliant alternatives are a foreign business licence, BOI promotion, a treaty route, or transparent use of preference shares and articles of association that allocate control lawfully.

Registration is required within 30 days of turnover reaching THB 1.8 million per year, and may be done voluntarily earlier when clients need tax invoices. For foreign staff matters, the PP.20 certificate is one of the documents the Department of Employment and Immigration rely on to confirm the business is trading, so it is regularly requested when applying for and renewing work permits and Non-B visas.

Monthly: PND.1 payroll withholding, PND.3 and PND.53 supplier withholding, and PP.30 for VAT, alongside social security contributions. Half-yearly: PND.51. Annually: PND.50 with financial statements audited by a licensed Thai auditor, plus the SBC.3 filing with the Department of Business Development within the statutory period after the annual general meeting.

Dissolution needs two shareholder meetings, registration of the dissolution and appointment of a liquidator, newspaper publication and creditor notice, settlement of debts and collection of receivables, closing tax filings and surrender of the VAT certificate, and finally registration of completed liquidation. In practice this runs about six to twelve months, mostly depending on the Revenue Department's refund audit. Ordinary filings continue until closure is registered.

If the document will be filed with a government office or used as evidence, the interpreter should sign a statement confirming that the entire text was interpreted for the party who does not read Thai, attaching a copy of their identification. This removes the later argument that a party did not understand what they signed. For bilingual minutes, state in the record which language version governs.

State the controlling language expressly. Without that clause, a Thai court hearing a dispute will work primarily from the Thai text and may order a court-accepted translation of the English one. Contracts that must be filed with Thai authorities, such as the Land Department or DBD, need a Thai version anyway, so it is safer to draft both versions in parallel and have the translator certify accuracy.

Yes — nothing prevents a foreigner from being a director. However, working in Thailand, including signing contracts, directing staff or meeting clients inside the kingdom, requires a work permit. A director who resides abroad and signs outside Thailand needs no work permit, but signatures on documents destined for Thai authorities should be notarised and apostilled, or legalised by the Royal Thai Embassy in the country of signing.

Most banks require the authorised directors to appear in person with passports and proof of Thai address, such as a TM.30 receipt or a residence certificate, plus a company affidavit issued within one to three months, the company seal, the shareholder list and a board resolution to open the account. Some branches also ask for a work permit if a foreign director will be a signatory, so confirm the list with the branch beforehand.

Contractually yes, but there is no Thai employer to file social security and withhold tax, so the employee must file personal income tax independently, and that foreign entity cannot sponsor a work permit or Non-B visa. The usual solutions are incorporating a Thai entity, engaging a properly licensed employer of record, or placing the employee on a visa category that permits remote work under its own conditions.

A BOI certificate grants shareholding, land, visa and work permit privileges through the e-Expert system for the approved activity. An International Business Center is a Revenue Department tax regime for support services provided to affiliated companies abroad, subject to minimum annual local expenditure and headcount. Many groups hold both, but revenue must be segregated in the accounts to survive audit.

The work permit is tied to the visa, so letting it lapse ends the permission to stay and triggers daily overstay fines, while continuing to work after expiry is an offence for both employee and employer. The safe practice is to start collecting documents 45 days before expiry and file at least 30 days ahead, leaving room for officers to request additional papers.

Anyone present in Thailand for 180 days or more in a tax year is a Thai tax resident and must file PND.90/91 covering Thai-sourced income, and foreign-sourced income according to the Revenue Department rules in force for that year. Tax already paid abroad may be creditable under an applicable double tax agreement, so keep foreign tax certificates and remittance records every year.

RO 22 certifies Thai tax residence and RO 21 certifies tax withheld. Both are presented to foreign tax authorities to claim double tax treaty relief or a refund of tax deducted abroad. Applications go to the Large Taxpayer Office or the local Revenue office with copies of returns and receipts, and take roughly one to two weeks. For overseas use, add a certified translation legalised by the Department of Consular Affairs.

Confirm that the visa category matches the actual purpose, then secure housing and file the TM.30 address notification so an address record exists. Use it to obtain a residence certificate from immigration or the embassy, then open a bank account and convert or obtain a Thai driving licence, and finally plan tax once the 180-day residence test is met. Reversing the order usually creates missing source documents and repeated steps.

Monthly filings usually include PND.1 payroll withholding, PND.3 and PND.53 withholding on payments to individuals and companies, and PP.30 if the company is VAT registered. Annually there is PND.51 at the half year, PND.50 with audited financial statements, and the SBC.3 submission to the Department of Business Development. Nil filings are still required when there is no activity, otherwise penalties accrue per form.

If the signing, board meeting or day to day management happens physically inside Thailand, immigration and labour officers treat it as work and a work permit is required. A director who remains abroad and signs there does not need one, although the signature usually needs notarisation and consular legalisation before the Department of Business Development accepts it. Shareholding limits under the Foreign Business Act are assessed separately from directorship.

The general rule is four Thai employees registered with social security per foreign employee, plus two million baht of paid up registered capital per foreign employee, reduced to one million where the applicant is married to a Thai national. BOI promoted companies follow the conditions of their promotion certificate through the e-Expert system. The key evidence is the SSO.1-10 filing proving the Thai staff are genuinely insured.

BOI promotion allows full foreign ownership in promoted activities and gives faster visa and work permit channels, with land rights for some categories, but the activity and minimum investment must qualify. A Foreign Business Licence suits service businesses outside BOI scope, takes longer to obtain and carries no tax incentives. The right route depends on the activity and the growth plan, so the analysis should come before incorporation.

Dissolution starts with a three quarters shareholder resolution, registration of the dissolution and appointment of a liquidator, newspaper notice to creditors, VAT deregistration and final tax filings, audited accounts as at the dissolution date, and finally registration of completion of liquidation. In practice it commonly takes several months up to about a year because the Revenue Department review drives the timeline.

Foreign electronic service providers whose Thai customers are not VAT registered must register for VAT through the Revenue Department VES system once turnover exceeds the threshold, and remit VAT monthly without issuing tax invoices. Where the Thai customer is a VAT registered company, the customer self assesses and remits using form PP.36 instead.

Most banks ask for a company affidavit issued within the last month, the memorandum of association, the shareholder list, board minutes naming the authorised signatories and the signing conditions, the VAT certificate if registered, and the ID or passport of every director who signs in person. Many branches also want proof of a real office such as a lease and photographs of the signage. Where a director is foreign, a valid work permit or visa is usually requested as well. We assemble the file, book a branch familiar with foreign-owned companies and prepare certified translations in advance so the appointment is not sent back for corrections.

Contractually it is possible, but it creates obligations inside Thailand: personal income tax withholding, social security registration, and the risk that the employee's activity is treated as a permanent establishment, which makes the parent company taxable here. The usual alternatives are a subsidiary, a representative office or an employer of record, and each has different tax and work-permit consequences. We compare the structures against your revenue plan first, then handle the registrations in one coordinated sequence.

A representative office may only perform non-revenue activities such as sourcing, quality inspection and market reporting for the parent company, so it has no trading income to tax, but it must remit operating funds under the prescribed conditions and cannot issue sales tax invoices. A limited company can trade fully, though majority foreign ownership brings the Foreign Business Act into play unless BOI promotion is obtained. Choose on the basis of your revenue plan for the next three years rather than on ease of incorporation.

State the governing language expressly. If a dispute reaches a Thai court, the court works from the Thai text and a certified translation will be required in any event, so an English-prevails clause does not remove the translation work — it decides intent where the translation diverges. The safer practice is to translate in parallel with drafting, using a translator familiar with legal terminology, rather than translating after signature. We draft and translate in parallel and certify the translation for use with Thai authorities and courts.

The steps are a similarity search before filing, classification of goods and services under the Nice system, filing with the Department of Intellectual Property, examination by the registrar, publication for opposition during the prescribed window, and payment of the registration fee. Where no office action or opposition arises the process commonly takes a year or more. The main causes of delay are wrong classification and marks that describe the goods too directly, so we search and draft the specification before filing.

Where Thai and foreign shareholders hold shares together, the registrar may ask the Thai shareholders for evidence of financial standing, such as a bank confirmation, to confirm that they are not nominees. Nominee shareholding is an offence for both sides. Investment funds should be transferred into the company account and the inbound transfer evidence retained, because it supports later work-permit applications and profit repatriation.

An employer must register within thirty days of engaging its first employee and remit contributions by the fifteenth of the following month. Foreign employees working lawfully under a work permit are covered on the same basis as Thai staff. The SSO 1-10 filings evidencing actual remittance matter later, because they are checked when the work permit and business visa are renewed. We reconcile payroll, withholding tax and social security every month so the three sets of records agree.

Payments of service fees, royalties or interest to a foreign recipient are generally subject to withholding under section 70, remitted on form PND.54, alongside VAT on imported services remitted on form PP.36. The effective rate may be reduced by a double tax agreement where the recipient provides a certificate of tax residence. The frequent error is classifying a payment as a service fee when it is a royalty, or the reverse, because the rates differ. We review the contract and prepare the supporting file before each payment.

Short meetings with few participants normally use consecutive interpreting, which allows documents to be read out and wording to be checked as you go. Long conferences that must keep to a schedule use simultaneous interpreting, which requires two interpreters and audio equipment. If the outcome will be registered, prepare a bilingual draft of the minutes beforehand so the interpreter and the signatories can review it. We assign interpreters familiar with your industry vocabulary and help prepare the supporting papers.

Start at least thirty days before expiry. The core documents are the current company affidavit, the latest filed financial statements, the PND.50 and monthly PND.1 filings, SSO 1-10 forms, the list of Thai employees, the employment contract, the passport and existing work permit, plus photographs and the medical certificate required by the labour office. The usual obstacles are sustained losses in the accounts or a shortfall in the Thai-employee ratio, both of which need planning months ahead rather than in the filing week.

e-Tax invoice and e-Receipt remain optional for VAT-registered operators, subject to Revenue Department approval and the use of a digital certificate for signing. The benefits are less paper storage and easier retrospective checking; the constraint is that data must be transmitted in the prescribed format and within the deadline. If the accounting system does not support it, the change adds work rather than saving it, so assess monthly document volume before switching.

Yes, and we act as advisers rather than mere filing agents. We start from your structure, revenue plan and expected number of foreign staff, then sequence the work so each set of documents supports the next: incorporation, VAT, social security, work permits, visas, monthly bookkeeping and the annual audited accounts. You get deadline reminders every month and early warning of anything that could turn into a penalty. With more than 15 years advising foreign-owned businesses in Phuket, Bangkok and upcountry, we will set out the step plan for your review before any work begins.