To start up a business in Thailand you will need to incorporate a juristic entity that would commonly be a Limited Thai company. It is regulated that a company must have:
- Shareholders– Minimum of 3 shareholders and during the incorporation stage it would have to be 3 natural people (of any nationality). Should you wish to have your offshore juristic entity (e.g. your offshore head office) to be one of the shareholders of this Thai juristic entity, this could be done after the incorporation of the company.
- Director(s)– Minimum of 1 person
- Address– An address in Thailand to be the registered address of the company
- Objective(s) – A clear and detail objective(s)
- License(s)– Some objective will require a specific license(s) in order to operate (if required)
In most cases, you are required to have a majority of the shares (51% or over) to own by Thai national(s) (individual or juristic entity), however, there are some business activities that enable foreigners to hold the majority of the shares in their company. Such would be available to those who would be performing:
- Would be performing an only export activity (i.e. Sourcing goods within Thailand and to export them out), or
- Business activities that corresponding to the BOI’s eligible activity list, or
- If the majority of the shares are to be own by American nationals (including Directorship); or
- Apply for Alien Business License (also known as Foreign Business License) for your offshore juristic entity, such as Branch Office, Regional Office or a Representative office); or
- Trade treaty(ies) that allow your nationality to perform certain business in Thailand while holding the majority of the shares (e.g. FTA between Thai and Japanese or FTA between Thai and Australian)
This being some general information, we believe each case is unique, so we recommend contacting us at officer@konradlegal.com and we will give you more customized information.