Thailand continues to be one of Southeast Asia’s most attractive destinations for investment and business expansion. With its strategic location, robust infrastructure, and supportive regulatory environment, the country offers significant opportunities for both local and international enterprises. However, navigating the complexities of a foreign market requires more than ambition—it demands insight and preparation. Our Doing Business in Thailand 2025–2026 guide provides a comprehensive overview of the Thai business landscape, covering everything you need to know to establish and grow your operations successfully
Thailand’s newly amended Organic Act on Anti-Corruption (No.2) B.E. 2568 (2025) marks a significant shift in corporate compliance expectations. With expanded whistleblower protections and stricter enforcement mechanisms, companies operating in Thailand must act swiftly to align their internal controls and reporting systems with the new legal landscape.
Thailand stands at a crossroads. Once powered by a young and growing population, the country now faces fewer births, a rising elderly population, and a rapidly shrinking workforce. This is not a distant problem but one already reshaping the economy, society, and future of the nation. The question is not when the demographic crisis will occur, but whether Thailand can adapt quickly enough to survive.
The Grant Thornton International Business Report (IBR) for H2 2023, which measures sentiment amongst mid-market business leaders, shows a considerable drop in overall business health across Thailand.
Due to the rapid growth of online transactions, a new regulation has been issued by the revenue department to receive the revenue data of online merchants in electronic form. This move aims to improve the collection system, ensuring the fair and comprehensive collection of revenue data.
The Revenue Department has introduced the latest tax scheme, the “Easy E-Receipt”, formerly known as “Shop Dee Mee Kuen”. This scheme is designed to offer individuals tax deductions in 2024.
ESG has become a vital component to business, with increasing scrutiny on companies to achieve sustainability-related goals. Join us as we examine how to add value to your ESG agenda through the latest global tax and ESG developments.
In a significant development on 15 September 2023, the Thai Revenue Department (“TRD”) issued the Departmental Instruction No. Paw 161/2023 re: the income tax payment under Section 41 paragraph 2 of the Thai Revenue Code (“TRC”). Under this DI, a Thai tax resident with foreign-sourced income will be taxed in Thailand when such foreign source income is remitted into Thailand irrespective of when such income is remitted into Thailand. This rule applies only to Thai tax residents and will be effective from 1 January 2024 onward. You can find more details from our previous publication: https://www.grantthornton.co.th/insights/tax-alerts/.
Very few companies in Thailand will carry out Digital Transformation successfully at an enterprise-wide scale. Even if they did, they are typically powered by huge budgets, dedicated teams and multi-year timelines. All other companies must inject “digital” into their processes using a more pragmatic and tactical approach. When done properly this can rapidly unlock cost savings and create new and lucrative opportunities for revenue creation. Yet companies struggle either to start this journey or turn it in to demonstratable success.
We cannot deny that digital disruption has become a recent trend, and the Thai Government also aims to promote the use of digital tools to enhance infrastructures for efficiency. To align with the Government’s policies and visions, the Thai Revenue Department (TRD) has implemented several plans to integrate digital technology into tax documentation, including e-tax invoices.
Follow the approval of the Thai Cabinet regarding the extended reduction of the Value Added Tax rate from 10% to 7% until 30 September 2024.
In a significant development on 15 September 2023, the Thai Revenue Department (“TRD”) issued the Departmental Instruction no. Paw 161/2566 (2023) re: the income tax payment under Section 41 paragraph 2 of the Thai Revenue Code (“TRC”). This freshly unveiled guidance is poised to exert a profound influence on the taxation framework governing foreign-sourced income that is repatriated to Thailand by any Thai tax residents with implications set to take effect from 1 January 2024 onward.
The new H1 2023 IBR is especially significant, as it indicates a clear expectation among business leaders of full-throated, post-pandemic growth across industries — a long-awaited development that had been delayed repeatedly in recent years amid geopolitical issues such as the war in Ukraine and the downturn of China, as well as new waves of infections.
Our CEO & Managing Partner, Ian Pascoe and Associate Director, Neetika Mutreja have published an article in INSOL World Q3 2023. They discuss the Central Bankruptcy Court's Restructuring Framework, practical hurdles that impair the efficacy of the framework, proposed amendments, and much more.
How can your business address the challenges of an ageing population and a shrinking workforce?
Transfer Pricing
Our CEO & Managing Partner Ian Pascoe interviews our Director of Forensic Advisory Ashish Chaturvedi on the many benefits of a whistleblowing hotline, how to set one up, how to get your team to buy in, and much more in this video.
Collective Action Against Corruption in Thailand, CAC
The worst injuries are often the ones that go undetected. In far too many cases, companies that report no fraud are simply unaware of the leakages inside their own area of operations, which tend to be significant in scope. The most recent edition of Report to the Nations: Occupational Fraud, by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, estimates that organisations lose 5% of revenue to fraud each year. While the median loss per case is USD 117k, the average loss is an eye-watering USD 1.78 million.