Thailand services: BOI, structure, tax, VAT refunds and visas

01The order these happen in

Four of the five lines have a fixed order, and the fifth runs alongside them. Getting the order wrong is what causes rework.

• BOI first. The activity item and the tier decide what the project can claim, and the capacity plan and the financial projections are built on that answer. Misjudge it and everything downstream is rebuilt. BOI application
• Then the structure. Shareholding, entity form and control have to be settled before the company is registered — build it wrong and the company carries a legal defect from the day it is registered. Company and shareholding structure
• Then the monthly cycle. Filing in Thailand is monthly, not a once-a-year event: early each month a set of withholding and cross-border returns falls due, mid-month VAT and social security, and on top of that sit the half-year prepayment and the annual return. Monthly accounting and tax filing
• Then the credit sitting on the books. Exports are zero-rated, so input VAT builds up as a credit that can be carried forward or claimed back — plenty of export factories carry it forward out of habit. Export VAT refund
• Alongside all of it, the people. Posting someone to Thailand is four stages across four authorities, and the first link in the chain is done by the employer inside Thailand, not at an embassy. Visas and work permits

Because one team runs all five, the conclusion from one line feeds the next. You should not be told a step is fine and then find that the step after it does not support what was already decided.