Key Takeaways
- Company registration went online only from 1 January 2026. Walk-in counters are gone, and foreign applicants face a narrower identity-verification path than Thai nationals.
- Registered addresses shared by five or more companies now need a landlord consent letter plus title or lease proof. That lands directly on virtual offices.
- The nominee crackdown kept moving through the year: three more DBD orders, then Order 2/2569’s ownership trigger from 1 August 2026, which the beneficial ownership question covers in full.
- The money numbers moved too. VAT stays at 7 percent to 2027, not 2026 as most guides still say, the 1 percent e-withholding shortcut is gone, and the social security ceiling rose.
In Detail
Registration is online only, and the door is narrower for foreigners
Thailand’s legacy company registration system, “e-Registration,” was discontinued on 1 June 2025. From 1 July 2025, partnership and private limited company filings had to go through its replacement, “DBD Biz Regist.” Walk-in paper counters reportedly stayed open a while longer, into late 2025, though we could not confirm that postponement against a primary DBD page. From 1 January 2026, every partnership and private limited company application must go through DBD Biz Regist. Physical submissions are no longer accepted.12
For a Singapore owner this matters most at the identity-verification step. One source describes foreign applicants as limited to the “DBD e-Service” app for electronic filing, because the domestic ID methods, Thai national ID and the NDID digital identity network, are not open to foreigners.1 We could not corroborate that beyond the one source, so treat it as the likely shape of the process rather than a settled procedure, and confirm the current path with whoever files on your behalf.
Two commonly published figures turn out to be wrong. The government registration fee is not a percentage of capital, it is a flat THB 5,000. The Memorandum of Association filing fee is not a sliding scale, it is a flat THB 500. On timing, DBD’s own published service standard is 1 hour 25 minutes for a straightforward case, 2 business days where another agency has to sign off, and 37 business days if the application is objected to.3
Registered addresses: Order 4/2568 targets the shared virtual office
DBD Order 4/2568 was signed on 15 December 2025. It requires registrars to cross-check every registered address against Thailand’s national civil registration database.45 Where an address is already shared by five or more existing registered companies or partnerships, the applicant must now produce a consent letter from the property owner or authorised occupant, plus a title deed or lease agreement proving the right to use the premises.6 The rule applies at incorporation, at address-change filings, and at branch-office registration.7
Most published guides give 1 January 2026 as the date this took effect. We could not confirm that date against any instrument. It is unconfirmed, not contradicted, and we flag it again below. Five registered companies at one address is not an unusual number for a serviced office. If your building is anywhere near that threshold, the provider may be slower to hand over a consent letter and title documents than it was a year ago.
The nominee enforcement series: Orders 2, 3 and 5 of 2568
Order 4/2568 was one of four orders issued in the same run. Order 2/2568 tightened verification of Thai shareholders in companies with foreign participation. Order 3/2568 added checks against AMLO-listed individuals. Order 5/2568 required verification of State Welfare Card holders among Thai shareholders.89
Alongside the orders, a further requirement surfaced: when foreign participation is added to a company, the Thai partners and directors involved must appear in person, present identification, sign a sworn statement denying nominee conduct, and declare an average monthly income.10 The date usually attached to this, 1 April 2026, could not be confirmed against a primary source. We found the underlying requirement but not that specific start date. Financial-trail checks on Thai shareholders and directors were also extended to sixteen identified risk provinces, reported as taking effect from 1 August 2026.1112
Order 2/2569’s ownership trigger, from 1 August 2026
the beneficial ownership question covers this order in full, so here is the summary you need to place it on the timeline. Order 2/2569 took effect 1 August 2026. It applies where foreign shareholders hold less than 50 percent of registered capital, or where a wholly Thai-held company has a foreign director with sole or joint signing authority. That is an “or,” so an ordinary 51 percent Thai, 49 percent foreign company with a foreign signing director is caught by both limbs.1314 If that describes your structure, read the beneficial ownership question before you read anything else in this guide.
What it costs to employ someone, from 1 January 2026
The maximum monthly wage used to calculate social security contributions rose from THB 15,000 to THB 17,500 on 1 January 2026, under a regulation gazetted 13 December 2025. The contribution rate itself did not change, still 5 percent from the employer and 5 percent from the employee, so the maximum monthly contribution on each side rose from THB 750 to THB 875.151617 If your payroll template still has THB 750 as the contribution cap, it is out of date.
The minimum daily wage did not move for 2026. Bangkok has stood at THB 400 per day since 1 July 2025, and reporting through the year found no sign of a general increase despite rising living costs.181920
VAT stays at 7 percent for longer than most sources say
The statutory VAT rate is 10 percent, and it has not changed. What keeps changing is the temporary reduction to 7 percent, extended almost continuously for over three decades. Cabinet approved another one-year extension on 27 July 2026, and the operative instrument, Royal Decree 807/2569, keeps the 7 percent rate running to 30 September 2027, effective from 1 October 2026.212223
If you were told this concession runs out in 2026, that was true of the previous cycle and is no longer true of this one. Separately, the reduced 1 percent flat e-withholding tax rate lapsed on 31 December 2025. Standard withholding rates now apply regardless of filing method, from 1 January 2026.24 That determination draws on a synthesis of several 2026 tax guides rather than one confirmed primary filing, so treat the exact lapse date as well supported but not Gazette-verified.
Two real Ministerial Regulations, and one that is not law yet
Two Ministerial Regulations under the Foreign Business Act were gazetted on 28 August 2026: one on broker and agent businesses that no longer require a licence, and a fifth amendment to the exempt services list.25 Keep those separate from the wider package Cabinet approved in principle on 12 May 2026, which would liberalise a broader set of List 3 categories. That package is still at Council of State review. It has not been gazetted, and the exact number of categories it would cover is reported inconsistently across sources (eight, nine or ten).262728 Anything describing the wider liberalisation as already in force is wrong. Only the two narrower regulations are law.
The Singapore visa exemption changed on 15 September 2026
Until 14 September 2026 Singapore passport holders got a 60-day visa-exempt stay under a Ministry of Interior notification of 15 July 2024. That notification was revoked. Its replacement was published in the Royal Gazette on 31 August 2026, Volume 143, Special Issue 207 Ngor, and took effect fifteen days later, on 15 September 2026. The stay is now not more than 30 days.3536
The day count is not the whole change, and the rest of it is easy to miss. The revoked notification covered entry “for Tourism, Short-term Work, or Business”. The new one covers entry “for Tourism”. The stated purpose narrowed at the same time as the stay halved. Neither instrument ever authorised employment or substituted for a work permit, and that has not changed. What changed is that short business visits were named in the old exemption and are not named in the new one. If your guide, or an earlier version of this one, tells you the exemption covers business meetings and site visits, it is describing the instrument that was revoked.36
Singapore fared better than most in the rest of the package. The eligible list fell from 93 countries and territories to 60, and Singapore is on it. Singapore is also exempt from the new cap of two land-border entries a year, alongside Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia. Anyone admitted before 15 September keeps the stay they were granted on entry.36
Smaller changes worth knowing
Beauty, spa and wellness services became a contract-controlled business under a notification issued 26 September 2025, with a compliance deadline of 24 January 2026 that has now passed. Operators in scope must use a prescribed, Thai-language standard-form contract with transparent pricing, refund and cancellation terms, and cooling-off rights.3132
The OECD’s Pillar Two global minimum tax has been in force in Thailand since fiscal years beginning on or after 1 January 2025. It only applies to multinational groups with consolidated global revenue above EUR 750 million.3334 No reader of this guide is anywhere near that threshold. It is mentioned here only so you can stop wondering whether it applies to you. It does not.
If you are already set up
Check your registered address against the five-company threshold in Order 4/2568, especially if you use a serviced or virtual office, and ask your provider now whether they can produce a consent letter and lease or title proof, before you need one for a filing. If your structure is roughly 51 percent Thai and 49 percent foreign, or has a foreign director with signing authority, Order 2/2569 already applies to you from 1 August 2026, whether or not anyone has told you so.
Update your payroll numbers for the social security ceiling rise, and check that whatever quotes VAT to your customers still shows 7 percent rather than reverting to 10 percent on an old expiry date. If you use e-withholding, confirm you are on standard rates, not the 1 percent rate that lapsed at the end of 2025.
If you are setting up now
There is no walk-in counter left to fall back on. Whoever files for you, yourself or a local agent, needs a working DBD Biz Regist process, and as a foreign applicant you should ask specifically how identity verification works for you, since the domestic ID methods are not available to foreigners. Budget the corrected fees, a flat THB 5,000 government fee and THB 500 for the Memorandum of Association, rather than a percentage of capital.
If you are considering a virtual or serviced office, ask upfront how many other companies are already registered at that address. Five or more means you will need a consent letter and lease or title proof before DBD will accept the filing. If you are planning a scouting trip from Singapore, budget 30 days, not 60, and note that the exemption you arrive on is now scoped to tourism rather than to short business visits. That does not stop you taking meetings, but the stamp in your passport no longer names what you are there to do.
**The 1 April 2026 in-person verification date.** We found the underlying requirement, that Thai partners and directors must appear in person, present ID, sign a sworn statement and declare income when foreign participation is added to a company, but no source states that this specific date is when it started. It is unconfirmed, not contradicted.
**DBD Order 4/2568's 1 January 2026 effective date.** The signed order is dated 15 December 2025. The 1 January 2026 start date is widely repeated across secondary sources and nowhere sourced to a primary instrument.
**The Singapore visa exemption, now resolved.** This was listed here as unverified while the rollback was signed but not gazetted. It is settled: published 31 August 2026, in force 15 September 2026, 30 days, tourism-scoped. Kept in this list so readers of the earlier version can see what changed and when.
Before you rely on any Thailand company-formation guide
- Does the guide assume you can still walk into a DBD counter with paper forms? That option ended 1 January 2026.
- Does it quote a percentage-of-capital registration fee? The government fee is a flat THB 5,000, and the MOA fee is a flat THB 500.
- Does it say the 7 percent VAT concession expires in 2026? It now runs to 30 September 2027.
- Does it quote a 1 percent e-withholding rate anywhere? That lapsed on 31 December 2025.
- Does it state the Singapore visa exemption as a fixed number of days? Check the publication date on the page, then check again before you travel.
This article is one of twenty-four chapters. The complete guide adds six working tools: a registered-capital worksheet, an annual compliance calendar, an incorporation document checklist, a partner due-diligence checklist, a setup cost and timeline comparison, and a decision tree for choosing your structure.
Sources
36 sources for this article, 5 of them primary. Where we could not verify something, the article says so rather than estimating.
- Belaws, belaws.com
- Chandler MHM, chandler.morihamada.com
- Department of Business Development (primary), www.dbd.go.th
- Silk Legal, silklegal.com
- Lexology, www.lexology.com
- Mahanakorn Partners, mahanakornpartners.com
- PKF Thailand, pkfthailand.asia
- Silk Legal, silklegal.com
- Mahanakorn Partners, mahanakornpartners.com
- The Nation Thailand, www.nationthailand.com
- The Nation Thailand, www.nationthailand.com
- PKF Thailand, pkfthailand.asia
- Department of Business Development (primary), www.dbd.go.th
- DFDL, www.dfdl.com
- Mondaq, www.mondaq.com
- AIM Bangkok, aimbangkok.com
- PKF Thailand, pkfthailand.asia
- DLA Piper, knowledge.dlapiper.com
- Thai Rath English, en.thairath.co.th
- Thai Law Online, www.thailawonline.com
- HLB Thailand, www.hlbthai.com
- Bangkok Post, www.bangkokpost.com
- Bloomberg Tax, news.bloombergtax.com
- Grant Thornton Thailand, www.grantthornton.co.th
- LawPlus, www.lawplusltd.com
- DFDL, www.dfdl.com
- Silk Legal, silklegal.com
- Nordic Chamber of Commerce Thailand, www.norcham.com
- The Thaiger, thethaiger.com
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs (primary), consular.mfa.go.th
- Tilleke & Gibbins, www.tilleke.com
- Nishimura & Asahi, www.nishimura.com
- International Tax Review, www.internationaltaxreview.com
- Acclime Thailand, thailand.acclime.com
- Royal Gazette (primary), ratchakitcha.soc.go.th
- Royal Gazette (primary), ratchakitcha.soc.go.th
This article is general information about doing business in Thailand and is not legal, tax, or financial advice. Every figure is cited with its source and its date. Thai regulation is changing quickly and rules current at publication may change without notice. Confirm anything you intend to act on with qualified Thai counsel.