Foreign parent company planning
Representative Office Registration in Thailand: Permitted Activities and Cost
Match the local team’s actual work to the representative-office boundary, then separate registration expense from capital funding.
HSJGlobal’s representative office registration fee is THB 60,000 for one standard, non-revenue office of a foreign parent, as of October 27, 2026. This is a one-time professional fee excluding applicable tax, third-party disbursements and ongoing compliance. DBD registration-number issuance carries no official fee under its published service description. The ordinary THB 2 million minimum capital is operating funding, not a registration charge.
A Thailand representative office fits sourcing, product inspection, product advice, new-product information or business reporting within the permitted scope. It cannot take orders, negotiate sales or earn service income. First test the proposed work against those boundaries; obtaining an identification number does not authorize a sales operation.
Key takeaways
- Use work instructions and actual outputs to test eligibility before preparing the registration pack.
- The current exemption removes the representative office’s Foreign Business License requirement; it does not expand its activities.
- Separate a one-time filing engagement from translations, premises, staffing and annual accounting.
- Track capital remittances and expenditure in separate records, then reconcile them.
- Retain the DBD output, activity controls and first compliance calendar as distinct handover items.
In this article
- Does the proposed Thailand office fit the exemption?
- Build an activity register that staff can actually use
- What does the registration fee cover?
- Prepare the filing and preserve proof of completion
- Fund the office without mistaking it for a tax exemption
- Approve the representative-office mandate before releasing the budget
Does the proposed Thailand office fit the exemption?
A representative office is a presence of an existing foreign juristic person, rather than a newly incorporated Thai subsidiary. Its mandate is to support the overseas business within a narrow non-commercial scope. The parent must fund the local operation; the office is not a vehicle for charging customers or collecting commissions.
The DBD’s current government data catalogue states that representative and regional offices no longer require permission under the 2017 service-business exemption. This current statement matters because some older official English pages still describe a Foreign Business License, approval fees and a different capital basis. Those historical licence costs should not be carried into an exempt representative-office filing.
Registration does not turn prohibited commercial work into a permitted activity. Before choosing the office, identify who will quote prices, agree terms, receive orders, invoice customers and perform contracted services. If the answer includes the Thailand team, pause the representative-office plan and assess the actual revenue structure.
When that team needs a trading business, the revenue boundary between a company and an office becomes the structure decision. The underlying company registration requirements in Thailand concern establishment of a Thai company; that is a different legal setup from identifying a foreign parent’s local office.
Test the team’s mandate before filing
Provide the proposed job descriptions and two examples of expected work. HSJGlobal can assess whether the assignment stays within a representative-office scope.
Build an activity register that staff can actually use
Approve an activity only when both its purpose and its execution fit the permitted category. DBD’s representative-office guidance describes five categories and identifies work that crosses the boundary. The following register converts those descriptions into operating controls; its suggested records and stop events are planning tools, not additional government forms.
| Permitted purpose | Usable local output | Stop event requiring a different assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Find Thai goods or service sources for the head office | Supplier research and a shortlist sent to the parent | Staff place purchase orders, pay suppliers for the parent, or become the purchasing intermediary. |
| Inspect quality and quantity of goods the head office buys or commissions in Thailand | Inspection findings tied to the parent’s purchase specification | The office sells inspection services to an unrelated customer. |
| Advise on the head office’s products supplied to distributors or users | Product-use explanations within the approved advisory scope | Advice becomes installation, repair, maintenance or another contracted after-sales service. |
| Disseminate information about the head office’s new products or services | Factual new-product materials and information records | Staff quote a deal, solicit or accept an order, or negotiate commercial terms. |
| Report Thai business developments to the head office | A market-development report for the overseas parent | The report becomes a paid research service, third-party advisory engagement or sales-agency mandate. |
For each row you intend to use, add a named staff owner, the overseas recipient, a sample output and the record that proves how the task was performed. A sourcing officer, for example, can retain supplier research and the report sent overseas while the parent retains the purchase negotiation and order. This makes the handoff visible instead of relying on the employee’s job title.
Use the stop event as a control , not a drafting trick. Removing the word “sales” from a contract does not change what staff do. Review email authority, sales targets and customer-facing presentations together; a no-invoice policy alone cannot cure negotiation or order-taking.
If the office supports another group company, document the relationship and beneficiary before adding that work. DBD guidance recognizes unpaid group support in the defined scope, while the Revenue Department’s tax analysis can turn on who receives the services. A group label should not replace review of the actual service arrangement.
Once the mandate is workable, the next distinction is financial: which amounts are spent, and which amounts fund the operation? The same inward funding may later pay eligible office expenses, so adding every headline number together can overstate the cash required.
What does the registration fee cover?
For a standard eligible case, the THB 60,000 one-time HSJGlobal fee covers an activity-scope review, parent-document screening, preparation of the local filing and representative authorization, submission support, routine filing queries and handover of the DBD registration-number output. It applies to one foreign parent and one Thailand representative office with a settled address and authority chain, as of October 27, 2026.
| Cost category | Amount and cycle | Scope and exclusions |
|---|---|---|
| DBD official number issuance | THB 0 for the identification service | The published DBD service is free. This is not a promise that every later certificate, copy or unrelated application is free. |
| HSJGlobal professional services | THB 60,000 once, excluding applicable tax | Standard representative-office filing scope above. Government charges, third-party costs and recurring work are excluded. |
| Third-party disbursements | Separate actual itemized charges when incurred | Overseas certification or legalization, translation, courier and any separately requested copies depend on the documents and issuing country; they are outside the filing fee. |
| Capital and operating funds | Ordinary minimum capital: THB 2,000,000 | Parent funding, not a fee. Payroll, rent and other expenditure need a separate operating budget; the capital floor is not a forecast of sufficient cash. |
The official zero-fee basis is DBD’s description of the electronic foreign-juristic-person number service in its 2021 report, checked against the current service directory on October 27, 2026. It describes online issuance without charge and a 13-digit number. This older explanatory source supports that specific service; it does not establish prices for other official documents.
The professional fee excludes office rental or address service, translation and overseas authentication, bank-account applications, tax registration work, bookkeeping, independent audit, payroll, visas, work permits, sector licences and commercial-contract advice. Additional entities, unsettled authority, a changed activity mandate or substantial document reconstruction change the scope and require a revised written fee before that extra work starts.
No first-year total is implied. Before approving expenditure, request a document-specific disbursement list and identify who pays each item directly. Confirm the invoicing entity and applicable tax treatment on the engagement; do not apply a tax percentage to every line or treat an excluded service as included simply because it appears on a launch checklist.
Resolve document costs before commissioning them
A parent-company pack may need work in more than one country. HSJGlobal can map the filing documents, excluded third-party tasks and responsibility for obtaining each item.
Prepare the filing and preserve proof of completion
Use the foreign-juristic-person identification route for the exempt office. The current DBD online-services directory lists e-foreign separately from DBD Biz Regist and e-Foreign Business. The latter is the licence/certificate service; a representative-office exemption should not be confused with a pending FBL application.
- Approve the mandate and the activity register. Record the overseas parent’s exact legal name, jurisdiction, intended local work and start date; resolve any sales or third-party-service element first.
- Assemble the parent’s existence and signing-authority evidence, the appointment of the responsible Thailand representative, identity records, local address and accounting-record location. Treat this as a preparation pack; the live filing’s document and execution requirements control.
- Enter through the official e-foreign service, follow its current access and identification instructions, and align the entity, representative, address and activity details with the signed documents. Arrange certification and Thai translation appropriate to that filing before submitting inconsistent files.
- Keep the submitted version and application acknowledgement. Allocate one person to monitor the application, answer a DBD query and maintain a change log; an acknowledgement is evidence of submission, not evidence of completed registration.
- Retain the issued registration-number document and verify the legal name, Thailand address, representative and recorded activities. Preserve the electronic original and available QR verification evidence, then hand the record to the accountant and the parent’s authorized manager.
The public DBD e-foreign entry point was accessible when checked. Access and document instructions can change within the live service, so this sequence is an execution plan rather than a claimed authenticated screen-by-screen walkthrough. No fixed approval duration is assumed: overseas documents, authority defects and correction requests can determine the usable completion date.
Set a separate readiness checkpoint after number issuance: funding arrangements, accounting records, tax identification and any staffing permissions must each be addressed. A bank’s acceptance of the parent, representative and funds is its own assessment. Neither the DBD number nor appointment as chief representative grants a foreign individual permission to work in Thailand.
Fund the office without mistaking it for a tax exemption
For the ordinary exempt route, the 2019 minimum-capital regulation sets a THB 2 million floor. A foreign-incorporated operator ordinarily brings in at least 25% within the first three months, reaches 50% within one year, 75% within two years and 100% within three years of commencing business. For an operation lasting less than three years, the regulation requires the full amount within six months. Different entitlement or exemption facts need separate treatment.
On a THB 2 million base, the cumulative planning checkpoints are THB 500,000, THB 1,000,000, THB 1,500,000 and THB 2,000,000. Maintain bank evidence, a remittance ledger and the applicable DBD evidence submissions; the regulation provides a 15-day evidence-submission requirement. These are cumulative amounts, not four additional capital charges.
Capital funding is not money paid to the government. When the office spends those funds on its operation, record the expenditure separately. Compare the legal remittance schedule with the actual payroll, rent and supplier-payment forecast: the earliest cash need may exceed the statutory instalment.
The Revenue Department’s published representative-office interpretation distinguishes head-office expense support for the described head-office-only functions from services provided to others. The former funding is not included as corporate taxable revenue under that interpretation; services to others can change the result even without compensation. The notice is historical and also contains obsolete business-tax material, which is not used here as current VAT guidance. Do not infer a blanket exemption for every receipt, bank interest or group recharge.
No sales income does not mean no compliance costs. Keep books and arrange the applicable tax returns, withholding and employment reporting. DBD’s foreign-juristic-person financial-statement manual requires audited annual statements within five months of the accounting close. Assign the accountant and independent auditor before the first year-end; assess each tax registration and filing on the actual facts rather than assuming that a non-revenue office has nothing to submit.
Approve the representative-office mandate before releasing the budget
Proceed when the parent can approve a bounded work assignment, name its local representative, produce a consistent authority pack and fund the operation. Use the activity register as the operating instruction, the filing output as identity evidence and the budget as two reconciled records of funding and spending.
Prioritize the unresolved item that changes the route: commercial authority first, document execution second, then filing and operational readiness. If the Thailand team will begin negotiating, accepting orders or supplying services outside the permitted scope, reassess the structure before that work starts. A low filing cost is useful only when the office can lawfully perform its intended job.
Turn the approved mandate into a filing plan
Share the completed activity register, parent jurisdiction and intended start date. HSJGlobal can define the registration work, document responsibilities and separate readiness tasks for your office.
Frequently asked questions
Can the office sign a lease or hire staff?
Operational arrangements needed to maintain the office are different from customer sales authority. Align the lease and employment signers with the parent’s actual authorization, and assess employment and work-permission requirements separately.
What if customers pay the overseas parent instead?
The payment destination does not resolve the Thailand activity question. Review what the local team negotiates, accepts and performs; an overseas invoice does not convert commercial local work into permitted representative-office support.
Is the THB 2 million capital a refundable deposit?
It is a minimum funding requirement, not a deposit collected by DBD. Its use, remittance evidence and eventual closure treatment should be recorded through the office’s accounts and the applicable rules.
Can an unpaid pilot project be placed in the office?
Assess the work and beneficiary before starting. The absence of a fee does not establish eligibility, especially if the office performs work for an outside party or carries out installation, repair or other services beyond the stated scope.
What should be updated when the local representative changes?
Check the DBD identification record, parent authorization, bank mandates and tax or employment records that use that person’s details. A change in one record should trigger a coordinated review of the others, rather than an assumption that every institution updates automatically.
