FEES
How our fees are worked out
There are no prices on this page. A fee depends on who the shareholders are, what the business will do in Thailand, and which country the documents come from, so the figures belong in a quotation written for the matter itself. What this page can set out is how a fee is arrived at, what sits outside it, what moves the figure, and when you will be asked to pay. The figures themselves are given before the work begins.
HOW
How a fee is arrived at
- 01
How a fee is arrived at
A fee is arrived at in one of two ways, and which one applies depends on how firmly the scope can be described on the day the quotation is written. Work with a defined scope — an incorporation, a change of directors, a work permit — is quoted as a fixed fee per matter. So long as the work stays inside the scope quoted, the figure agreed does not move with the hours actually spent; those are the firm's risk. Work whose scope is genuinely open at the outset — a Foreign Business Licence, or a case in which it is not yet known how the other side will defend — is quoted as a range, together with the conditions that carry it towards the upper or the lower end. In every case the basis is stated in the quotation and in the engagement letter, before any work begins.
- 02
What the professional fee does not cover
The professional fee pays for the firm's work and nothing else. Money that goes to somebody else — the fees of the authorities, translation and the certification of translations, legalisation abroad, courier, travel outside Bangkok and the surrounding provinces, court fees and the costs of execution — is always separate from it and is billed at what it cost. Each appears as its own line in the quotation, so that it is visible which part of the money is the firm's and which part is not. What each one comes to depends on the matter itself: the number of pages, the number of people to be filed for, the country the documents were issued in, and the rates the authority publishes, which change. These costs fall due when the step that needs them is taken, not when the matter ends.
- 03
What moves a quotation up or down
The number of foreign shareholders, and whether any of them is a company rather than an individual. Each foreign corporate shareholder brings a full set of its own documents, and that set has to be certified before it can be used. Where the documents come from. A matter in which every document is already in Thailand is a different matter from one waiting on certification abroad, which is what usually holds things up. Whether a licence sits on the critical path. A registration is a filing made to a registrar; a Foreign Business Licence or a sector licence is an application that somebody decides, with questions coming back that have to be answered. Urgency. Work that has to be completed inside a shorter period affects the order in which other matters are taken. A higher professional fee does not shorten the authority's own timetable. And last, a matter that begins by correcting an earlier filing takes longer than one that starts from nothing.
- 04
When payment is asked for
Before the work starts you receive a quotation and an engagement letter setting out the amount, the scope that amount covers, and when each payment falls due. The firm does not begin chargeable work before that is agreed in writing. On fixed-fee matters, payment is tied to the progress of the matter as the engagement letter describes it. Government fees and other third-party costs are asked for ahead of the step that needs them, because that money is passed straight on and was never the firm's. Every payment is invoiced and receipted in the name of YACT Association Company Limited and is made to the company's account, in the company's name. The quotation also states whether the figures shown are before or after tax. If a matter ends earlier than expected, the engagement letter has already said how the work already done is charged.
SEPARATE
Billed separately, at cost
These are third parties' charges, not ours. They are set out in the quotation and billed at cost.
- Government feesPaid to the authority itself — the Department of Business Development, the Department of Employment, the Immigration Bureau, the Social Security Office — at the rate that authority publishes for the filing concerned.
- Translation and certification of translationsAs a rule, documents issued abroad need a certified Thai translation before they can be filed; the cost follows the number of pages and the language they start in.
- Notarisation and legalisation abroadDepending on the issuing country, the fees of a notary, of that country's own authorities, and of a Thai embassy or consulate where consular legalisation is still required, charged by those bodies directly.
- Courier and document deliveryOriginal documents that have to move between countries are sent by a trackable service and billed at what it cost.
- Travel outside Bangkok and the surrounding provincesWhere a filing, a site inspection or a hearing takes place outside Bangkok and the surrounding provinces, travel and accommodation are billed at cost.
- Court feesCourt fees are the court's, not the firm's. The amount depends on the type of case and the sum claimed, some kinds of case, the Labour Court among them, work to their own fee rules, which are checked matter by matter, and further costs such as service of process arise as the case runs.
- Enforcement and execution costsTracing assets, seizure, attachment and public auction each carry the Legal Execution Department's own fees and expenses, and what has to be placed with the Department before a step can be taken is set out in the quotation for the enforcement itself.
QUESTIONS
Questions about fees
Can a fixed fee change once the work has started?
Not while the work stays inside the scope agreed. The hours actually taken are the firm's risk, not yours. What changes a price is a change of scope — the company turning out to be a foreigner under the Foreign Business Act B.E. 2542 with an activity that falls in the schedules, so that permission is needed first, or an authority requiring a set of documents issued abroad to be done again. In that situation we say so before doing anything, and quote the additional work in writing. You decide whether it is done.
What do you need to know before you can quote?
The facts that decide the scope: who the shareholders are and of what nationality, whether any of them is a foreign company, what will actually be done in Thailand, how many foreign nationals will work here, which country the documents will be issued in, and whether there is a deadline to meet. Those come out of a first conversation, and the quotation follows in writing. We do not give a figure before knowing whether the business needs permission at all, because that figure would be wrong.
Are government fees paid to you or to the authority?
To the authority. The firm receives no part of it. These amounts are asked for ahead of the step that needs them, and are recovered at exactly what was paid, with the receipt and nothing on top. Translation and legalisation work the same way. All of it is shown on its own line, separate from the professional fee, in the quotation and again on the invoice, so that it is visible which money is the firm's and which is not.
What happens to the fee if an application is refused?
The fee pays for the work done — preparing the matter, filing it and answering what comes back — not for the result. No lawyer can guarantee an outcome. Government fees already paid went to the authority and are not held by the firm. Whether a re-filing or an appeal is inside the original fee or is charged separately is set out in the engagement letter before the work begins, not after a refusal arrives.
ENQUIRIES
