Q1124. How to process regional operating headquarters (ROH/IHQ) license translations?

Answered by the NYC Visa & Translation certified translation team

Regional Operating Headquarters (ROH) and International Headquarters (IHQ) regimes in Thailand are tax-incentive schemes administered by the Revenue Department (the IHQ and International Trading Centre regimes under Royal Decree 586 and successors), and the licensing documents move between Thai and English for the group's regional management structure. The document flows: the application documents (the group's regional structure chart, the business plan for the headquarters functions, the parent company's corporate documents and financial statements) are translated into Thai for the Revenue Department filing, with legalisation for the foreign corporate documents; and the approval certificate and its conditions are translated into English for the group's tax and treasury teams — the certificate's qualifying activities list and the conditions (minimum paid-up capital, expenditure floors, the scope of services to affiliates) are the operative content and must be rendered exactly because the tax privileges attach to compliance with them. Points that matter: the qualifying services list (management, technical support, procurement, treasury) defines what the IHQ may do tax-privileged — services outside the list are taxed normally, so the translation of the scope must be precise; the affiliate coverage (which group entities may be served) is part of the approval; and the annual compliance reporting to the Revenue Department follows prescribed formats. Practice points: the regime's conditions have changed over the years — confirm the current Royal Decree's terms before structuring; and the interaction with BOI promotion (some groups hold both) needs tax counsel's coordination. Confirm the Revenue Department's current requirements for the specific regime before preparing the application set.