Thailand Business & Thailand Property Info Blog
February 1 2010 Categories: Thailand FAQ No comments yet
How much is the Elite Card Business worth? ThailandPrivilegeCards or TPC is worth two to three billion THB (60 to 90 million USD) if you believe the Finance Ministry estimation.
Originally posted 2009-12-17 11:11:58.
February 1 2010 Categories: Understanding Thailand No comments yet
I always loved idioms because there is a lot of wisdom attached to them and I particularly loved the “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater” idiom because it teach us not to discard something valuable in our eagerness to get rid of some useless thing associated with it. Something Thai political class is in need to learn quickly.
Originally posted 2009-11-11 04:13:00.
February 1 2010 Categories: Thailand Visas, Thailand Visas & Work Permit 3 comments
The Non-Immigrant Visa “O-A” (Long Stay) is a visa for people that are aged 50 years and more who wish to stay in Thailand for a period of not exceeding 1 year without the intention of working.
Originally posted 2009-07-28 15:10:50.
February 1 2010 Categories: Thailand Visas, Thailand Visas & Work Permit 3 comments
This post conclude for the time being my series on visa. In this post I tried to make a comparative table showing the most commonly used types of visa, their benefits and requirements. Note that some of the visa I discussed here have already been discussed in several posts already. I just want to permit readers to compare different type of visa without to switch from one post to the other.
Originally posted 2009-10-27 10:46:41.
February 1 2010 Categories: Thailand Taxes No comments yet
Withholding Tax is a tax collected by a deduction made on a payment when said payment is made. The payer who will remit it to the Revenue Department on behalf of the payee collects the tax. The tax the payer collect and remit to the Revenue Department on behalf of the payee will become a credit that will apply against the income tax (personal or corporate) due by the payee.
Originally posted 2009-07-25 15:44:49.
February 1 2010 Categories: Thailand Taxes No comments yet
This post is the continuation of yesterday post (Managing Tax Audits Part 1). But for the first visit, when tax officials will audit a company they will generally request it to send the documents at their office. Depending of the team auditing your company you will either be requested to send the documents first or to come for an interview first and then later to send the documents. Do not attend the interview yourself but send the accountant who is handling your company account or a tax lawyer if the issues are complexe. But the accountant should be your first choice.
Originally posted 2009-10-09 04:41:43.
February 1 2010 Categories: Thailand Business, Thailand Company Registration one comment
The private limited company is the legal vehicle that is the most commonly used by foreign investors in Thailand and we will hereinafter review the formalities of registration of a private limited company. In this article we will only review the conditions of incorporation of a Private Limited Company to the exclusion of nominees and Thai/foreign shareholders ratio which are discussed in other posts. [This post replace our previous post on the subject “How to register a company step by step”.
Originally posted 2009-10-20 07:09:45.
February 1 2010 Categories: Doing Business In Thailand, Thailand Business No comments yet
In today post I continue to discuss the results of the World Bank Global Corruption Barometer 2009. Please see yesterday post on the same subject.
Originally posted 2009-10-01 02:35:23.
February 1 2010 Categories: Thailand FAQ one comment
The Cabinet has decided. Elite Card and its Members will go on the auction block. At least this is the solution that has the preference from the government. Now the question is will there be a buyer? Cause the economic model of the Elite Card does not seems to be a success. I mean Elite Card was supposed to attract 200,000 members in the first year but it only attained 2570 members over a 5 years period. Obviously Elite Card is a failed concept and project therefore what next?
Originally posted 2009-11-18 03:30:20.
February 1 2010 Categories: Condominium Ownership, Thailand Property No comments yet
In this post I will describe step by step the formalities that must be accomplished by the seller and the buyer in order to complete the sale and purchase of a condominium. In this example I make the following assumption. The buyer is a foreign investor. The condominium unit is completed and ready for transfer.
Originally posted 2009-11-28 05:32:53.
February 1 2010 Categories: Understanding Thailand No comments yet
I was checking my early posts and I realized that while I referred in several posts to the concept of Thainess, I never actually defined it.
Originally posted 2009-08-31 10:34:04.
February 1 2010 Categories: Doing Business In Thailand, Thailand Business one comment
Land Development is an activity that attracts many foreign investors in Thailand. I often wonder why because it is really a tricky activity to invest into if you are a foreign investor for several reasons as follows:
Originally posted 2009-11-10 06:17:05.
February 1 2010 Categories: Doing Business In Thailand No comments yet
This morning was published Thailand economic forecasts for 2010. According the Fiscal Policy Office, Thai Economy will rebound next year with a growth of 3.5% next year. Not as good as the growth forecasts for other Asian countries but not so bad country that has been trough 3 years of political crisis and a world economic crisis.
Originally posted 2009-12-29 06:58:51.
February 1 2010 Categories: Condominium Ownership, Thailand Property No comments yet
Should you buy your condominium unit in person or should you register an offshore company to purchase it on your behalf? Both options are available with their advantages and drawbacks.
Originally posted 2009-08-24 11:43:20.
February 1 2010 Categories: Understanding Thailand No comments yet
While the purpose of this blog is to inform on how to do business and not to do politic I will nevertheless from time to time dedicate a post to Thai Political Crisis. Indeed Thai Political crisis that has been ongoing since September 2006 has dramatically affected Thai society as a whole and also have caused a lot of distress within the local business community and also the foreign business community with an important diminution of foreign direct investment.
Originally posted 2009-08-23 13:49:56.
February 1 2010 Categories: Doing Business In Thailand, Thailand Business No comments yet
To enhance investment confidence and apparently to facilitate their life the government has established a One Start One Stop Investment Center (OSOS). The primary objective of the center is to help investor to start their business by regrouping up to 18 different administrations under a single roof. Will it help Thailand to regain foreign investors confidence.
Originally posted 2009-12-02 01:50:44.
February 1 2010 Categories: Condominium Ownership, Thailand Property No comments yet
If you are married, you have two options when buying a condominium freehold in Thailand. You may either wish to buy the condominium in co-ownership with your foreign or Thai spouse or you may purchase it solely under your name by fulfilling some simple requirements. What you cannot do is to lie about your marital status in order to purchase a condominium in sole ownership while married
Originally posted 2009-08-20 05:25:22.
February 1 2010 Categories: Understanding Thailand No comments yet
To start the year with a smile Thai Airways Board is fortunate that ridicule does not kill otherwhise it would have been decimated which would have been sad those guys that have given us so many reasons to laugh recently.
Originally posted 2010-01-05 07:26:01.
February 1 2010 Categories: Thailand Business No comments yet
One question that many investors are asking is whether it is expensive to do business in Thailand? The answer is mixed. On the positive side, Bangkok is according to a CB Richard Elis survey ranking 151st out of 179 markets in terms of office rental costs. Average rental costs in Bangkok for prime grade office are around 694 THB per square meter/per month (or 21 USD).
Originally posted 2009-12-11 06:52:35.
February 1 2010 Categories: Thailand Visas, Thailand Visas & Work Permit No comments yet
On the 11 September 2009, Thai news reported a new crackdown on back-to-back Tourist visa applications under the form of an extended screening of visa applicants. Unfortunately I must say that this latest measure does not surprise me and is only one side of a new policy started by the immigration department around two years ago as part of a “spring house cleaning”.
Originally posted 2009-09-12 06:32:32.
February 1 2010 Categories: Thailand Foreign Business Act No comments yet
The Foreign Business Act B.E. 2542 (A.D.1999) (“FBA”) was enacted on March 4, 2000 to replace the Alien Business Act of 1971. The FBA does not regulate the entire matter of foreign investment in Thailand. The FBA purposes are:
Originally posted 2009-07-21 08:54:44.
February 1 2010 Categories: Property General Issues, Thailand Property No comments yet
When the time come to invest most people tend to consider real estate as the most secure long term investment.
This is true for many reasons, one of which being that while companies may go out of business real estate properties will exist forever. In addition, but for period of bump like the current crisis, the average price of properties will appreciate over the long term steadily.
Originally posted 2009-07-27 05:57:28.
February 1 2010 Categories: Thailand Banking No comments yet
One criteria you will have to consider when investing into Thailand will be the long term volatility of the currency of your home country against the THB because the evolution of the exchange rates will be one of the element that will affect on the long term your return on your investment. Being no financial wizard I cannot tell you how currencies will evolute against each others in the future. What I can show you is how some of the main world currencies have evolved against the THB during the past four years.
Originally posted 2009-10-14 02:03:45.
February 1 2010 Categories: Doing Business In Thailand, Thailand Business No comments yet
For reason I cannot come to understand many foreign investors view Thailand as a place where you can do business as you want without having to worried of the potential consequences. Nothing could be farthest from the truth than this belief.
Originally posted 2009-11-08 07:06:53.
February 1 2010 Categories: Thailand Visas & Work Permit, Thailand Work Permit No comments yet
If you are working without a work permit the first thing you must understand is that you are at risk of a control either from the Labor Officer or the Immigration Officer.
Originally posted 2009-11-25 04:22:54.
February 1 2010 Categories: Thailand Business, What's Up at DBT No comments yet
For those who did not have a chance to read it an excellent article by Martin Petty (Reuters 1 February 2010) discussed the dangers ahead of us in Thailand, that is to say political instability and the threat of a coup.
February 1 2010 Categories: Doing Business In Thailand, Thailand Business 2 comments
Note: This post is not entirely new. This subject was first posted as a Page called “Nominee Issue”. I’m about to modify the look of the blog and decided that some of the subjects discussed in pages would now be treated as posts. Of course I updated the content of this post to reflect the current situation.
The “Thai Nominee” issue is the more acute problem of foreign investment in Thailand and we will discuss here the many aspects of this problem.
Originally posted 2009-10-12 01:18:43.
February 1 2010 Categories: Understanding Thailand No comments yet
In a nutshell “Thainess” is a concept that provides the foundation for social harmony and the respect of order in a patriarchal, hierarchical society where people display cool heads, warm hearts, gratitude and public deference.
“Thainess” has a lot of by-products that we will discuss from time to time in this blog.
Originally posted 2009-08-11 12:47:19.
February 1 2010 Categories: Thailand Visas & Work Permit, Thailand Work Permit No comments yet
Once again the foreign community is busing with rumors of a next hike of work permit fees that would soon increase up to 7,000 THB. Of course as a foreign investor I regret any increase of fees or anything which will make the situation more difficult for foreign investors in Thailand. Read more…
Originally posted 2009-09-01 10:50:05.
February 1 2010 Categories: Thailand Taxes No comments yet
In this post I will try to give readers a few tips on how to manage Tax Audits. I guess that readers would prefer tips on “how to avoid a tax audit”. Unfortunately, in Thailand, you cannot avoid tax audit. To the contrary, you may expect regular mandatory visits from the Tax Administration.
Originally posted 2009-10-08 05:12:15.
