Introductory Guide to Starting and Running a Business in Thailand 2025

Over 80,000 companies in Bangkok came under investigation in Thailand in 2025 due to a scandal involving money laundering and tax evasion.

This is because in Thailand, it's easy to do 2 things:

Hence the main complaints from the authorities—most foreigners in Thailand either prefer to do business without forming a legal entity or fully delegate their illegal profit schemes to locals.

Earlier, I described the procedure for opening a business in Thailand. You can read and delve into it HERE - https://bali-legal.com/en/biznes-v-tajlande-vs-na-bali-en.

General Overview of Business in Thailand. Pros and Cons

Opening a real business in Thailand gives its owner several advantages compared to Bali and other Southeast Asian countries:

But there are also downsides:

1 - Inability for a foreigner to fully own a company (foreign ownership in a company is limited to 49%).

Yes, I’ve already mentioned that this restriction can be bypassed through a more expensive and not 100% guaranteed method via BOI - https://bali-legal.com/en/biznes-v-tajlande-vs-na-bali-en. However, few choose this path. Most often, two schemes are used:

2 - High corporate income tax, so you need to have a good understanding of tax optimization to run a legal business here and renew your work visa without issues or bribes.

Thailand’s tax system is quite simple and includes 3 main types of taxes (the rest are more auxiliary):

3 - Issuing one work permit for a foreigner requires at least 4 local employees.

So for an operating business, this isn’t a problem, but if you’re setting up a company just for yourself, this rule is bypassed by "dead souls" who are listed as employees and for whom mandatory minimum social security contributions must be made.

Full Procedure for Opening a Company in Thailand. Requirements

So, to open a company in Thailand and manage it (considering ONLY the real business scheme), you need to follow 5 steps.

1. TECHNICAL REGISTRATION OF THE COMPANY WITH THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE

For this, you need:

1 - Decide on the registered capital amount and fulfill financial requirements.

As I mentioned, to register a company with foreign participation, you need to provide proof of funds from ALL founders totaling at least 2,000,000 THB (60,000 USD).

Most often, if your partner is a local nominee, they cannot provide proof of having 30,000 USD for their share. Hence, the riskiest solution for the foreigner is to provide this money to the nominee’s account to pass the minimum requirements check.

I assume it’s unnecessary to explain the risks this entails.

The registered capital rule applies ONLY TO COMPANIES WITH FOREIGN PARTICIPATION. If the foreigner has no money or trust in the local nominee founder, a more elegant solution is often used—opening a company initially with 2 local co-founders and later selling one’s share to the foreigner (when the company is ALREADY registered).

2 - Find an office with permission for business subletting (virtual office).

This could be a coworking space or a specialized rented premises. Coworking costs vary by district. On average, you can find options for 400–600 USD per year, but you MUST notify the place where you rent the office that you will be registering a company and need documents meeting the requirements for newly opened companies.

For some types of businesses, a virtual office may not be suitable due to the need for additional licenses and stricter registration requirements.

3 - Minimum 2 founders. Depends on the business specifics, but most often, it’s a company consisting of 1 foreign shareholder/director (49%) and 1 local shareholder (51%).

The issue of finding a local shareholder is always tricky. Most often, you need a trusted person who can provide their share of the registered capital, OR, AS I MENTIONED ABOVE, BYPASS THIS PROCESS.

Founders’ passports must be valid for at least 6 months at the time of document submission + (if planning to obtain a work permit) another 15 months. Simply put, your passport must have at least 2 years of validity remaining.

4 - Company name. This is very simple, so I won’t dwell on it. Come up with 3 names right away so that at least one passes the check.

5 - Clearly define the business activity and the need for a work permit.

This is also very simple. The company must be managed by a director. If you live in Thailand and want to keep all control in your hands, YOU ARE THE DIRECTOR.

Since you’re the director (an executive), by law, you must have a work permit to manage the company, and hence, at least 4 employees per work permit.

If the company is opened as a beneficially owned enterprise, immediately account for 2 local nominees/trusted persons.

2. OBTAINING A TAX ID AND SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER

Obtaining a tax ID for the company is a mandatory procedure.

This procedure is no different from obtaining a tax ID for a newly created company in any Southeast Asian country.

Much more interesting is the calculation and registration process for social security.

We’ve already discussed that for 1 work permit (which a foreigner must have), you need at least 4 Thai employees.

What if you don’t have them or don’t need them in your business?

Of course, use 4 IDs of local tax residents. The most important thing here is to make contributions for these "dead souls" to the social security authorities.

The scheme is simple. The contribution amount depends on the salary. The minimum salary in Thailand right now is 10,000 THB per person. For such a minimum salary, the recommended social security contribution (monthly) would be about 1,200 THB per person/nominee and about 600 THB for a real employee.

So:

3. OBTAINING A VISA

So, you’ve registered your company.

Now, after all requirements are met, you can start managing it. BUT NOT YET!!!

Managing such a company (without a work permit) risks license revocation and fines. Yes, these fines are much smaller than in Bali, but still, the official business registration process has only just begun.

Now it’s time for the director to fly to Thailand and obtain a work permit.

For this, you first need to obtain a so-called Non B visa.

Non-Immigrant Visa "B" (Business Visa)

The Business Visa can only be obtained from abroad. Most often, you stay, for example, in Laos or Cambodia for 1 week while your 90-day visa is being processed.

After receiving the document package via DHL, you enter Thailand with it.

Within the 90-day visa validity period, your task is to apply for a long-term work permit (issued for 1 year).

4. ISSUING A WORK PERMIT/EXTENSION

After submitting documents for the work visa, in about a month, you can already confirm that the company is indeed operating (this is important, as Thailand fights shell companies) and that the business pays taxes.

Unlike many Southeast Asian countries, in Thailand, issuing a work permit for a director requires submitting official reports of an already established business (monthly VAT payments) + annual reports (if available).

The work permit issuance process is quite bureaucratically complex (like many immigration control processes) but well-established. Now, Thais have also realized they can earn from tourists in the "gray" zone and are very "diligent" in checking foreigners for violations in business opening or operation rules.

Usually, the fine for such violations is correcting the errors + 500–1,000 USD.

Based on this WORK VISA, you can obtain one of the most important financial instruments in Thailand—OPENING THE DIRECTOR’S PERSONAL BANK ACCOUNT.

Without a work visa, opening such an account is almost impossible.

Generally, right now in Thailand, there are only 4 types of visas under which you can open a personal account in one of Thailand’s banks:

So, for organizing the entire business operation process (and for tax optimization purposes), such an account is essential.

5. OPENING A COMPANY BANK ACCOUNT

For companies with or without registered capital, opening a bank account is not a simple procedure.

Banks in Thailand are constantly under pressure from scam attacks from neighboring Myanmar and Laos, and besides, they are fighting illegal money laundering and transfers.

Therefore, unlike before, when a foreigner or foreign company could open an account in any Thai bank, this is no longer possible.

To open an account, you need to prepare the appropriate paperwork, confirm all legally significant actions for company registration.

The cost of preparing documents and opening a corporate bank account is about 12,000 THB.

Mandatory Expenses for Opening and Running a Business for 1 Year. Summary

So, the total company registration process for a foreigner, INCLUDING STATE FEES, USUALLY INCLUDES:

IN TOTAL, to ensure everything is correct, starting and managing a business will cost 167,000 THB (approximately 5,000 USD).

Business maintenance costs:

Taxes on net income and dividends are not included. THESE ARE EXACTLY THE MINIMUM COSTS FOR RUNNING A BUSINESS THAT WON’T HAVE LEGAL PROBLEMS.

IN TOTAL, average monthly expenses (minimum fixed costs for administration and management)—29,500 THB (about 1,000 USD).

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