Thailand Company Registration Cost: Government Fees and First-Year Budget

What the DBD fee floor covers

The Department of Business Development's published registration manual provides the cleanest starting point. Its current schedule lists THB 500 for registering the memorandum of association and THB 5,000 for registering formation of a limited company. The same manual prices selected documentary outputs separately. The figures below were checked against the official DBD registration guide on September 4, 2026.

A baseline filing formula is therefore THB 5,500 plus the documentary outputs actually selected. Do not add every copy line automatically, and do not assume that this subtotal captures bank charges, tax, licences or adviser work. DBD announced that new partnership and company formations move through DBD Biz Regist from July 1, 2026 ; retain the portal payment summary and receipt as the transaction-specific evidence.

There is a location-specific exception. DBD states that qualifying limited partnerships and companies headquartered in designated special development areas receive a 50% fee reduction from January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2026. The areas cover Narathiwat, Pattani, Yala and Satun, plus Chana, Thepha, Na Thawi and Saba Yoi districts in Songkhla. This article's standard THB 5,500 baseline excludes that reduction; an eligible applicant should reconcile the official DBD special-area measure to the live payment order.

The fee calculation only becomes useful after the company facts are settled. Use the Thailand company formation requirements to frame ownership, shareholders, business objects, address and governance before pricing work. For a filing-focused companion, see the Thai private-company registration record .

This article does not assign a separate fee to name reservation because the cited schedule does not establish one. Treat any portal-displayed ancillary payment as a new line supported by the live order, rather than folding it invisibly into a round-number package.

Keep registered and paid-up capital outside the cost subtotal

Capital is not a filing fee . Registered capital is the nominal amount represented by issued shares; paid-up capital is value contributed against those shares. It belongs on the company's balance sheet and may support genuine corporate spending, subject to law and governance. It is not a payment retained by DBD merely for registering the company.

The Thailand Board of Investment's setup guidance states that all shares must be subscribed and at least 25% of subscribed shares must be paid. On a simple THB 2,000,000 subscription, 25% is THB 500,000. That arithmetic is illustrative, not a recommendation: foreign-business rules, BOI conditions, sector regulation, banking expectations or immigration strategy may demand a different funding position.

Ask two different approval questions: “How much cash must shareholders fund?” and “How much cash will be consumed by setup and first-year obligations?” Combining them can overstate professional cost while understating the liquidity the new company actually needs.

Build the first-year cash waterfall

Use a three-ledger budget so a decision-maker can see where each baht goes. Ledger A is external cost: official fees, professional fees and third-party charges. Ledger B is funding reserve: paid-up capital, operating liquidity, refundable deposits and any bank minimum balance. Ledger C is pass-through or liability cash: payroll deductions, withholding tax, VAT and income-tax payments. The ledgers interact, but they should not be totalled under a single label called “registration cost.”

The decision formula is: first-year cash demand equals confirmed external setup costs, plus recurring compliance and employer costs, plus conditional workstreams, plus the separately approved funding reserve, plus a timing contingency, less any cash already funded. Taxes and refundable deposits remain visible sub-ledgers, not hidden mark-ups.

These are formulas, not package prices. The employee example assumes all three people are covered for every month and each reaches the current contribution ceiling. The expatriate example assumes a single-entry Non-B visa and a permit lasting more than six and up to twelve months. If those facts change, the arithmetic must change too.

Price operating compliance month by month

Incorporation opens a reporting cycle; it does not complete one. The first-year model should cover bookkeeping from the first transaction, tax registrations and returns when triggered, payroll processing once people are hired, annual financial statements, the shareholder approval process and statutory audit. Professional amounts depend on transaction volume, employee count, inventory, foreign-currency activity and reporting complexity, so each is quote-required here.

Thailand's Revenue Department says VAT applies once annual turnover exceeds THB 1.8 million and requires registration within 30 days after the threshold is reached. Treat VAT collected from customers as a tax ledger, while separately budgeting the work required to register, prepare and file. The same separation applies to corporate income tax: the tax liability is not the accountant's fee. Check the official VAT scope and registration timing rule against the company's expected revenue date.

DBD's financial-statement guidance places the annual audit before the shareholders' meeting and the meeting within four months after the accounting year-end. That timing can push cash into the months immediately after the nominal “first year,” so reserve it in the first-cycle budget. Confirm the filing calendar against the official DBD financial-statement guidance .

For social security, the 2026 wage ceiling is THB 17,500 and the standard employer contribution is 5%, producing a maximum employer line of THB 875 per covered employee-month . Multiply that amount only by months and people actually covered. The Social Security Office's current contribution-base notice supports the ceiling. Keep workers' compensation and any case-specific rule adjustment as separate lines.

Add foreign, banking and people workstreams only when triggered

Foreign ownership does not justify guessing one universal licence price. First classify each revenue activity and determine whether the company needs a Foreign Business Licence, qualifies for a certificate or promotion route, can restructure the activity lawfully, or needs a sector-specific approval. DBD operates its e-Foreign Business channel separately from ordinary company formation. Until the route and live payment assessment are known, show both the government amount and the advisory scope as “to be confirmed,” on different lines.

For an employee who actually needs these documents, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs publishes a THB 2,000 fee for a three-month single-entry Non-Immigrant B visa and THB 5,000 for a one-year multiple-entry visa. The issuing mission may collect a local-currency equivalent. The Department of Employment's published schedule adds a THB 100 application fee and THB 3,000 for a permit lasting more than six and up to twelve months. Verify the applicable path through the official Non-B guidance and official work-permit fee schedule .

Those immigration amounts are government lines only. They exclude medical certificates, photographs, translations, legalization, travel, dependent applications, extensions, re-entry permissions and professional assistance. A founder who will not work in Thailand should not inherit an employee cost line merely because a template included it.

Test every quote for scope gaps

A low formation quote is not a first-year budget. Compare quotations only after the same facts, outputs and time period have been imposed on each one. A formation-only price may reasonably exclude accounting, annual audit and visa work; the risk arises when the exclusion is invisible.

• Identify the legal entity, ownership split, activities, capital, address, directors, signers, employee plan and first trading date assumed.
• List DBD fees, other authority payments, professional fees and third-party disbursements in separate columns.
• State whether translations, legalization, courier, registered address, bank attendance and tax are included.
• Define recurring scope by months, transaction volume, payroll headcount, filing types and year-end date.
• State what triggers a change order, refund policy or revised government assessment.
• Attach a verification date and source to every official fee; attach assumptions and deliverables to every service fee.

HSJGlobal's own professional fee is not presented as a number in this article because no public, like-for-like tariff was verified for this exact scope. It requires an itemised proposal. Address, translation, legalization, bookkeeping, audit, payroll, KYC and immigration-assistance amounts are also quote-required. This article intentionally publishes no anonymous provider range: without a comparable scope across current quotations, a range would imply precision that the evidence does not support.

The statutory amounts cited here were verified on September 4, 2026. They include the stated DBD filing and output fees, the stated visa and work-permit government charges, and the social-security ceiling used in the employee example. They exclude paid-up capital, bank balances, tax liabilities, licences without a live assessment, foreign-business-route payments, service-provider charges, supplier VAT, reimbursable expenses and contingency.

Approve the first-year budget before filing

The final approval should be a dated cash schedule, not one undifferentiated total. Show cash needed before filing, at DBD submission, before bank onboarding, before the first payroll, monthly through the operating year, and around year-end compliance. Assign each line an owner and evidence field: official schedule, portal order, supplier quotation, engagement letter, payroll assumption or management reserve.

Release the filing only when five tests pass: the activity and ownership route is lawful; capital funding is available on the required dates; the DBD baseline reconciles to the live order; all conditional workstreams have an owner or a documented “not applicable” decision; and the first accounting, tax, payroll and audit cycle is funded. This turns cost control into an operating-readiness test.

If an official fee changes after the verification date, update that line and its evidence without rebuilding the whole model. If business facts change, rerun the relevant branch. The structure is deliberately modular: it protects the decision from both hidden omissions and inflated “all-in” estimates.