Thailand Regional Offices for foreign corporations are established under the laws of the Office of the Prime Minister permitting regional office activities in Thailand by multinational and international corporations.

The legal status of these Regional Offices is the same as the corporate legal status of the multinational or international corporation that forms the Regional Office, i.e. it's a branch of the multinational or international corporation.

But whereas a branch in Thailand is subject to tax in Thailand as a profit-seeking entity, Regional Offices of foreign corporations established under the rules of the Office of the Prime Minister are afforded treatment as non-profit-seeking entities in Thailand (provided of course, all of the rules, procedures and conditions are complied with).

Permitted Activities

The following regional activities of multinational or international corporations but on a non-commercial basis only:

• Co-ordination and supervision; 
• Consultation and management; 
• Personnel training and development; 
• Financial management; 
• Marketing and sales promotion management; 
• Product development; and
• Research and development activities.

Thailand Tax Treatment

Provided the Regional Office carries out the permitted regional activities only on a non-commercial basis without any commercial services being entered into, the tax treatment is as follows:

Corporate Income Tax		Exemption from corporate income tax
Profits Remittance Tax		Exemption from profits remittance tax
Specific Business Tax		Exemption from specific business tax
Value Added Tax		Exemption from value added tax

But because a Regional Office is a payer of assessable income and a person liable to stamp duty tax, it is required to comply with the obligations under the Revenue Code, as follows:

Domestic Withholding Tax		Withholding tax on payments of income to recipients in Thailand
International Withholding Tax		Withholding tax on payments of income to recipients in foreign countries
Personal Withholding Tax		Personal withholding tax on payments of income to employees of the regional office
Stamp Duty Tax		Stamp duty tax on instruments

​Caution

If a Regional Office does not maintain compliance with all of the rules, procedures and conditions for its activities, the tax audit officers will subject it to all the usual taxes for corporate entity branches in Thailand plus penalty and surcharge.

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