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A DTV lets you work remotely for an employer or clients abroad. It is not built for work with Thai clients, and no official guidance covers the borderline cases, so check your status before you take that kind of work rather than after. Because of that, the question of opening a business in Thailand is less about how much you earn — turnover alone should not decide whether you need a company; the activity, your clients and the permissions they require do — and more about who pays you: a market abroad or Thailand itself. A company on its own does not give you the right to work: you still need a work permit and a structure that fits the Foreign Business Act.
In short
- A DTV covers remote work for a foreign employer or foreign clients; no official guidance covers Thai clients, so check your status before taking that work.
- The line with Thai clients comes from how Thai lawyers describe the rule, not from a stated provision in the DTV rules themselves.
- A company does not give you the right to work by itself: you need a work permit and a lawful structure.
- Capital is counted differently for a Foreign Business Licence, BOI promotion and a work permit — don't mix the figures up.
- Tax residence and tax on remitted income don't depend on whether you work as a freelancer or through a company.
- US citizens have an extra route, a Treaty of Amity certificate, that EU, UK and Australian nationals don't.
What a DTV allows a freelancer to do
The DTV is a five-year, multiple-entry visa with up to 180 days per entry and one in-country extension of 180 days for THB 1,900. It has two tracks. One is the "workcation" track: remote work for an employer abroad, or freelancing for clients abroad. The other covers "soft power" activities such as Muay Thai training, cooking courses or wellness programmes. A developer in London, a designer in Sydney or a consultant working for US clients from a condo in Phuket all sit in the first track, as long as the people paying them are outside Thailand.
The visa gives no tax or banking advantage. Spending 180 days or more in Thailand in a calendar year makes you a Thai tax resident, whatever visa you hold, and some banks have been refusing DTV holders — check with the branch you want to use before you plan to receive client payments into a Thai account.
Thai clients: where the DTV stops
A DTV is built for remote work for a foreign employer or foreign clients. No official guidance covers work for Thai companies or Thai clients: the line comes only from how Thai law firms describe it, and we found no provision stating it directly in the DTV rules. That makes borderline situations worth checking before you take the work, not after.
Picture a designer on a DTV with clients in the UK and Australia who gets a first approach from a Phuket hotel group. That one Thai client doesn't automatically mean she needs a company tomorrow, but it is the point to check her status rather than assume the DTV still covers her. If Thai work becomes a regular part of her practice — on-site negotiations, invoices issued from inside Thailand, repeat Thai clients — that is when switching to a company is worth discussing, and it is easier to do it before Thai clients become the core of the business than after her visa status is already in question.
Sole proprietor or company: what a foreigner can use
Working under your own name does not take you outside the Foreign Business Act B.E. 2542: it applies to a foreign individual, not only to a foreign-held company, which is defined separately as one where non-Thai persons hold half or more of the capital. The Act sorts business activities into three lists, and most of the consulting and creative services freelancers on a DTV do fall under List 3 — services where Thai businesses are not yet considered ready to compete, which need the Director-General's permission.
The lawful routes are:
- a company where more than half the capital genuinely belongs to Thai shareholders who paid for their own shares;
- a Foreign Business Licence (FBL) — permission from the DBD Director-General for a List 3 activity;
- Board of Investment (BOI) promotion, which exempts most of the Act's restrictions;
- for US citizens only, a certificate under the Treaty of Amity.
For US citizens: the Treaty of Amity lets an American-owned company operate on close to the same footing as a Thai one in most sectors, without a Thai-majority shareholder structure or an FBL. It doesn't apply to UK, EU or Australian nationals — for them the choice is between a genuinely Thai-controlled company, an FBL, or BOI promotion. A Treaty of Amity certificate also doesn't exempt the American owner from needing a work permit if he works in the business day to day.
Nominee shareholders — Thai names on paper with no real stake — breach section 36 of the Foreign Business Act; running a restricted business without a licence breaches section 37. Both carry up to 3 years in prison and/or a fine of THB 100,000 to 1,000,000. Our lawyers check whether your line of work falls under List 3 and which route — Thai control, an FBL, BOI, or the Treaty of Amity — is lawfully open to you; the registration steps themselves are covered in How to register a Thai company in 2026.
What switching costs: capital, accounting, work permit
Moving from personal freelancing to a company adds several costs and duties at once, and it's worth keeping them apart.
| Freelancing on a DTV | Your own company | |
|---|---|---|
| Clients | Abroad; work for Thai clients needs checking separately | Abroad and Thai, within the licensed activity |
| Who works | You alone, with no work permit | You and any foreign staff, with a work permit where one of the exemptions doesn't apply |
| Capital | None required | From THB 2 million for an FBL (from THB 3 million for List 2/3); a separate benchmark applies to the work permit |
| Work permit | Not issued | Needed for foreign staff who work day to day, subject to applicable exemptions |
| Bank | Some banks refuse DTV holders — check with the branch | A current account is opened in the company's name |
| Filings | No corporate audit; personal tax returns and immigration reporting apply as usual | Annual audit and DBD filings |
An FBL needs a minimum capital of THB 2 million in general, or THB 3 million for a List 2 or List 3 activity; the law allows 60 days for a decision, extendable by another 60, and in practice it runs longer. Work permits are governed by the Emergency Decree on Managing the Work of Foreigners, a separate test from the FBL minimum capital above. Capital and staffing requirements depend on the company and the worker's status, and BOI-promoted companies and LTR holders are exempt from the usual ratio; confirm the current figures with the Department of Employment before you size your capital and staff around them.
Once registered, a Thai limited company keeps books from day one under the Accounting Act, goes through an annual audit, and files with the DBD every year — even in a year with no turnover. Our team prepares the registration file, including the documents Order 2/2569 has required since 1 August 2026, and can step in at any stage, from choosing the structure to the work permit application. We agree the fee for a "Company + work permit" package with you and fix it before we start.
Tax: freelancing on a DTV vs company income
Tax residence is set by the number of days you spend in Thailand, not by how you work. Spend 180 days or more in Thailand in a calendar year and you become a tax resident; foreign-source income earned from 1 January 2024 onward in a year you are resident is taxable when you remit it to Thailand under Por. 161/2566, whatever year you earned it. Income from before that date, or from a year you weren't resident, is treated separately, and any exemption or credit you can claim depends on your situation. That rule covers a freelancer's own foreign income.
Salary and dividends an owner takes from a Thai company are personal income from a Thai source, taxed under the ordinary personal income tax rules rather than the foreign-remittance rule — even if some of that money is later sent abroad. The company's own corporate tax and VAT are a separate question, covered in our guide to registering a company, so we won't repeat it here.
A draft that would exempt income remitted in the same year it was earned, or the year after, is still only a draft and is not law.
Switching step by step
Check your status before your first Thai client or before you start doing business inside Thailand. If that check points to a company, here is a workable order:
- Sort your clients and contracts. List who is Thai and who is abroad, and check how that is reflected in your contracts and invoices.
- Choose the structure. Thai-controlled company, FBL, BOI promotion, or — for US citizens — the Treaty of Amity.
- Register the company with the DBD, with the documents Order 2/2569 requires where foreign shareholding is under 50% or a foreign director has signing authority: an investment explanation letter, three months of Thai shareholders' bank statements, and the company's receiving-account statement.
- Apply for a Non-B visa and an e-Work Permit — every work permit application, renewal, notice and cancellation has gone through the e-Work Permit system since 13 October 2025. Work permit requirements are covered in detail separately.
- Set up bookkeeping and a filing calendar — accounting, audit and DBD filings run from year one, not from whenever turnover shows up.
What's next
If Thai clients are becoming a bigger share of your work, or you just want to know where the line sits for your own situation, send us your client list and current contracts. We'll answer within 24 hours, explain what needs to be done, how long it takes and what it costs, and fix the price before we start. Registering a Thai company without nominees covers the company-registration stage of the transition, and Thailand work permit covers the Non-B and work permit side with a lawyer. A similar situation is set out in the typical case Company and work permit in 6 weeks — it shows what the switch looks like in practice once the structure is chosen ahead of time.
