Relevant Issues, Tangible Impact
Legal updates, practical guidance, and thought leadership from our team, covering the developments that matter to businesses operating in Thailand.
Thailand's IP Development Plan 2026–2027: The Distance Between Intention and Instrument
Thailand–United States Intellectual Property Work Plan approved by the Cabinet in May 2025, and a national Intellectual Property Development Plan for 2026–2027 approved by the National Intellectual Property Policy Committee in August of that year, with the Ministry of Commerce reporting progress to the Cabinet this February.
Thailand's Digital Compliance Trail: How TDAC, TM.30 and 90-Day Reporting Now Connect
For many years, a foreign employee's compliance records in Thailand existed in three separate places. The arrival card was held at the port of entry. The TM.30 notification of residence, where filed, was held at the local immigration office. The 90-day report was held elsewhere again. The three records were rarely compared, and an omission in one seldom affected the others.
New Bank Statement Requirements From 1 August 2026
The Department of Business Development (DBD) has issued Order of the Central Partnership and Company Registrar No. 2/2569, effective 1 August 2026, imposing additional documentary requirements on company and partnership registrations involving foreign participation. The Order targets the arrangement Thai law has prohibited for decades but which enforcement long tolerated: Thai nationals holding shares as nominees so that a business under foreign control appears Thai-majority.
What the 11 August Cabinet Means for Foreign Investors, In-House Counsel, and Financial-Services Firms in Thailand
The Thai Cabinet met on Tuesday 11 August B.E. 2569 (2026), chaired by Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul. One decision asks you to act this quarter: a government push on multi-factor authentication that now reaches the private sector. The rest are directions and drafts to track, not obligations that bite today, and the most consequential of them, a roadmap to reform 26 Thai laws including the Foreign Business Act, will play out over years.
BOI Promotion for Software and Platform Businesses in Thailand
Thailand's Board of Investment (BOI) offers technology businesses its most valuable package: 100% foreign ownership, corporate income tax exemption of up to eight years, and streamlined visas and work permits for founders and specialists. Since the BOI restructured its digital category under Announcement No. Sor. 2/2567 (2024), however, approval turns on a substance test that many applicants discover too late. Eligibility is not written into the application; it is built into the business.
What the 5 August Cabinet Means for Data-Centre Investors, Companies, and Cross-Border Employers in Thailand
Three of the Thai Cabinet's decisions on 5 August 2026 matter for business. The government approved a draft regulation to create a dedicated data-centre policy body, approved a revised but still-unsigned framework for hiring Myanmar workers, and moved a cluster of corporate, transport, and water measures affecting registration costs, the provincial rail pipeline, and Eastern Economic Corridor water supply.
Clinic Advertising in Thailand: Approval Comes First
For clinic operators, wellness investors and the doctors whose names appear in the ads: the rules tightened again in July 2026, and enforcement is measured in thousands of posts.
What the 27 July Cabinet Means for Taxpayers, Digital-Economy Investors, and Exporters in Thailand
What the 27 July Cabinet Means for Taxpayers, Digital-Economy Investors, and Exporters in Thailand Standfirst: This week's Cabinet session set the tax and technology baseline for the year ahead. It approved in principle another year of the reduced 7 percent VAT rate to 30 September 2027, cleared income-tax relief for fishing-boat buy-back compensation, and noted, in draft, a national Big Data and artificial-intelligence strategy that signals where public money and procurement will flow.
Hire-Purchase in Thailand: Repossess by the Rules, or Not at All
Hire-purchase looks simple until the hirer stops paying. Then the paperwork and the procedure decide everything, and an owner who moves on instinct rather than on the rules can turn a recoverable debt into a losing case.