Single Family Office (SFO) Setup — Thailand & Cross-Border Structuring

จัดตั้ง Single Family Office (SFO) ในไทย + โครงสร้างข้ามพรมแดน · § Advisory
What to know before you act
A family office is a dedicated unit handling one family's investments, accounting, tax and paperwork. In Thailand it is commonly a private limited company owned by the family, serving group companies and family members under service agreements. The key constraint is scope: advising or managing money for outsiders triggers SEC licensing. We define the activity scope, draft intra-group service agreements, set investment policy and approval authority, and connect it to the family's holding structure and wills.
Timing and external dependencies: Incorporation and internal documentation usually take several weeks, depending on information and shareholder readiness.
Official fee: Company registration and VAT registration fees — confirm current rates with the DBD and Revenue Department.
Timing is not a promise of an outcome or hearing date. Check the notice, limitation period and current authority rules for your matter.
What to send for the first review
Send every relevant page, a dated sequence of events, any hearing or filing deadline, and the outcome you need. This lets counsel identify urgent steps, missing evidence and a precise scope of work.
- 3-generation family tree + jurisdiction-mapped assets
- Family Charter (governance, dividend policy, dispute resolution)
- Investment Policy Statement + risk tolerance matrix
Legal Basis
Trust for Transactions in Capital Market Act B.E. 2550 · SEC TN. 87/2558 (Private Fund) · Revenue Code §41, §48 · CRS MCAA (Thailand joined 2023) · Labuan Foundation, Singapore VCC, Hong Kong OFC benchmarks.
📚 Official sources — check the current law and procedure before acting
- กรมที่ดิน— Department of Lands
- สำนักงาน ก.ล.ต.— Securities and Exchange Commission, Thailand
- กรมการปกครอง — ทะเบียนครอบครัว— Department of Provincial Administration
- สำนักงานคณะกรรมการกฤษฎีกา — ตัวบทกฎหมายฉบับทางการ— Office of the Council of State
Who Needs This
Families with ≥ USD 30M investable assets · Gen-2/Gen-3 owners pre-exit · principals separating personal vs business balance sheets · multi-jurisdiction families.
Required Documents
- 3-generation family tree + jurisdiction-mapped assets
- Family Charter (governance, dividend policy, dispute resolution)
- Investment Policy Statement + risk tolerance matrix
- Board resolutions + Fit & Proper for Investment Committee
- CRS Self-Certification + FATCA W-8BEN-E
- AML/KYC source-of-wealth + 3-year audited financials.
Common Pitfalls
- Advising non-family investors without a licence
- No service agreements or arm's-length pricing between group companies, creating transfer-pricing exposure
- Mixing family members' personal accounts with company accounts
- No conflict-of-interest policy for staff personal investing
Typical Use-cases
- F&B factory family · Thai SFO + Labuan holdco · dividend tax 10% → 0%.
- Gen-3 returning from UK · SFO + 60/30/10 IPS · YTD +14.2% net.
- Regional beer heirs · Charter + trustee · dispute settled by mediation.
- MFO → SFO conversion · 42% cost cut · zero information leakage.
FAQ
- Does a family office need an SEC licence?
- Serving only the owning family usually falls outside licensing, but managing or advising outside money requires checking SEC requirements.
- Thailand or Singapore?
- It depends on where assets sit, where members reside and running costs; many families use both.
- How many staff are needed?
- There is no fixed number; many families start small and outsource accounting, tax and legal work.
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Official sources — marriage & family registration
The information on this page follows the official sources below. Always check the latest version before you file.
- Department of Provincial Administration — civil & family registration— Department of Provincial Administration
- Department of Consular Affairs — document legalisation— Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Office of the Council of State — Thai law database— Office of the Council of State
- Office of the Judiciary— Office of the Judiciary
- HCCH — Apostille Convention (5 October 1961) full text & status table— Hague Conference on Private International Law
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Frequently asked questions
- Can a foreigner own 100% of a Thai company?
- Generally no for activities listed in the Foreign Business Act, where majority foreign ownership requires a Foreign Business Licence, a BOI promotion, or treaty rights such as the US–Thailand Treaty of Amity. Manufacturing and certain export activities are largely open, and BOI-promoted activities can permit full foreign ownership together with land-holding and visa privileges, so the right structure depends on the specific activity.
- What is the minimum registered capital for a Thai company?
- There is no general statutory minimum for a Thai-majority company, but practical thresholds apply: a fee quoted after review million of paid-up registered capital per foreign work permit, or a fee quoted after review million if the foreigner is married to a Thai national, and a fee quoted after review million per foreign shareholder for a Foreign Business Licence. Capital should therefore be planned around the visa and work-permit outcome you need, not the incorporation minimum.
- How long does company registration take?
- Registration at the Department of Business Development can be completed within one to three working days once the name reservation, shareholder documents and company objectives are ready, and the VAT registration and social security registration follow afterwards. The realistic end-to-end timeline including bank account opening is two to six weeks, with the bank account usually being the slowest step for foreign directors.
- What ongoing accounting obligations does a Thai company have?
- Every Thai company must keep statutory accounts, file monthly withholding tax (PND 1, 3, 53) and VAT (PP 30) returns by the middle of the following month, file the half-year corporate income tax return (PND 51) and the annual return (PND 50), and have its financial statements audited by a Thai CPA and filed with the DBD each year. Dormant companies are not exempt — nil returns and an audited statement are still required.






