Buying Land: Disclosure Requirement of Thai Shareholders

February 1 2010 Categories: Thailand Business No comments yet

In this post we will discuss the matter of Thai companies that purchase land and the disclosure requirement applicable to their Thai shareholders. Firstly we will review the legal criteria a Thai company must fulfill to own land.

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Originally posted 2009-10-22 04:04:21.

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Buying Land: The Thai spouse right to own land freehold

February 1 2010 Categories: Land Ownership, Thailand Property No comments yet

May the Thai spouse of a foreigner own land or not?

During his latest nationwide inspection tour of 30 provinces, Anuwat Meteewiboonwut, the director-general of the Thai Land Department let an old monster lose again. In substance is said that foreigners that the titled deed of Thais spouses that are purchasing land on behalf of their foreign spouses could be revoked if the land department was to find out.

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Originally posted 2009-07-27 11:06:29.

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Doing Business In Thailand: Thai education system

February 1 2010 Categories: Understanding Thailand No comments yet

Is Thailand’s standard of education Good?

Having spent 10 years ago a full 18 months teaching and lecturing in Thai schools and government universities and having continued, from time to time, lecturing at Thai universities I had a look at the system from the inside and based on this personal experience I would say that Thailand has overall a good education system.

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Originally posted 2009-08-13 23:03:16.

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Table of Content (3): Thailand Business | Business Related Posts

February 1 2010 Categories: Thailand Business No comments yet

Hi

I have generated for Readers convenience a TABLE OF CONTENT of all the post I published to date on DOING BUSINESS IN THAILAND .I hope this table will help you to navigate more easily in my blog

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Originally posted 2009-11-14 08:15:16.

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Thailand Taxes : Tax Rates Comparison Tables

February 1 2010 Categories: Thailand Taxes No comments yet

I recently read an article in the Bangkok Post were a Revenue Department Official was quoted discussing the matter of a possible corporate income taxes reduction. This official was saying that while corporate income tax may be higher than in other countries Thailand was however one of the country in the world where the VAT rate was the lowest.  This gave me the idea to compare the ranking of Thailand in relation to personal income tax, corporate income tax and VAT.

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Originally posted 2009-10-11 06:54:42.

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Thailand BOI: Promoted Activities: Light Industries

February 1 2010 Categories: Thailand BOI, Thailand Business No comments yet

What are the light industries activities eligible for promotion under section 3 of the BOI list?

Reminder: As you already know the Board of Investment is the agency in charge of promoting certain sectors of Thai economy. As such the BOI role is among other to determine:

What are the activities which are eligible for promotion

What are the conditions attached to said promotion

What are the privileges attached to said business activity

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Originally posted 2009-08-03 07:10:22.

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Ridiculous Thailand: The 3G licensing drama (part 2)

February 1 2010 Categories: Understanding Thailand No comments yet

In a previous post I already mentioned the 3G licensing drama but only touched the surface of the matter. In this post I decided to discuss this issue more in depth. According to Wikepedia encyclopedia: “As of August 28, 2009, 250 3G/HSPDA networks have commercially launched mobile broadband services in 109 countries; and out of the 250 networks already operational 169 3g/HSPDA networks support 3.6 Mbit/s peak downlink data throughput. A growing number are delivering 21 Mbit/s peak data downlink and one network has been upgraded to 28Mbit/s. Several others will have this capability by end 2009 and the first network supporting 42Mbit/s network is set to come online in late 2009.In this context it is a scandal that Thailand still does not have 3G capability.

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Originally posted 2009-10-17 05:21:34.

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Buying a Business: what are your options?

February 1 2010 Categories: Doing Business In Thailand, Thailand Business No comments yet

An investor that desires to buy a business in Thailand will have several options as follows:

1. Acquisition of Shares

2. Transfer of the Entire Business Assets

-          with immediate liquidation of the transferor company

-          without liquidation of the transferor company

3. Amalgamation

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Originally posted 2009-09-11 06:14:37.

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Buying a Condominium: Bangkok what and where to buy?

February 1 2010 Categories: Condominium Ownership, Property General Issues, Thailand Property No comments yet

It is always difficult for a new buyer freshly arrived on a market to make an informed decision on what and where to buy? I have been around for 12 years, believe that I have a good understanding of the market but still I learn new things every day. Should you trust your agent to recommend you the best product available. You may, of course but you could also try to find out for yourself what the situation is.

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Originally posted 2009-08-26 03:47:05.

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Thailand FAQ: Elite Card | The Bickering Started

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.

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Originally posted 2009-12-17 11:11:58.

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Opinion: Don’t Throw Thailand out with the Bathwater

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.

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Originally posted 2009-11-11 04:13:00.

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Living in Thailand: Thai Visas: The Visa “O” Retiree

February 1 2010 Categories: Thailand Visas, Thailand Visas & Work Permit 3 comments

What is the  The Non-Immigrant Visa  “O-A” (Long Stay) Visa

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.

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Originally posted 2009-07-28 15:10:50.

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Thailand Visas: Comparative Table Main Visas

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.

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Originally posted 2009-10-27 10:46:41.

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Doing Business in Thailand: Global Corruption Barometer Part 2

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.

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Originally posted 2009-10-01 02:35:23.

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Thailand FAQ: Elite Card | Going on the Auction Block?

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?

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Originally posted 2009-11-18 03:30:20.

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Buying a Condominium: Purchase Formalities Step by Step

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.

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Originally posted 2009-11-28 05:32:53.

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Starting a Business in Thailand (4): Land Development

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:

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Originally posted 2009-11-10 06:17:05.

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Thailand Outlook: 2010 a year of recovery or danger?

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.

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Originally posted 2009-12-29 06:58:51.

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Buying a Condominium: Buying with an offshore company

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.

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Originally posted 2009-08-24 11:43:20.

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Understanding Thailand Political Crisis towards a reconciliation?

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.

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Originally posted 2009-08-23 13:49:56.

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Starting a Business: The One Start One Stop Investment Center

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.

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Originally posted 2009-12-02 01:50:44.

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Buying a Condominium: Issues applicable to married buyers

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

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Originally posted 2009-08-20 05:25:22.

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Thai Airways: Ridicule does not kill But Old Planes Do

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.

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Originally posted 2010-01-05 07:26:01.

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Starting a Business: Cost of Doing Business in Thailand

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).

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Originally posted 2009-12-11 06:52:35.

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Living In Thailand: Thai Visas – Cleaning the House

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”.

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Originally posted 2009-09-12 06:32:32.

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Investing in Thailand: Prohibited or controlled businesses

February 1 2010 Categories: Thailand Foreign Business Act No comments yet

What is the Foreign Business Act?

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:

  1. to define businesses activities, which exercise by foreigners, is prohibited or controlled and
  2. to define what a foreigner is.

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Originally posted 2009-07-21 08:54:44.

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Exchange Rates: EURO, USD, GBP vs THB from 2006 to 2009

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.

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Originally posted 2009-10-14 02:03:45.

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Corporate: Directors Duties and Liability

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.

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Originally posted 2009-11-08 07:06:53.

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Work Permit:Working With No Work Permit|The Denunciation

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.

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Originally posted 2009-11-25 04:22:54.

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Thailand Politics | The dangers ahead – What to Watch for?

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.

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