Buying web services from a UK company: what your accountant needs

The real reason a Thai owner hesitates to hire a foreign company is usually not the price. It is the quiet worry about what their accountant will say, and whether some tax surprise is waiting. Almost no foreign supplier answers this plainly, so here it is.

Two things change when you buy a service from a company registered abroad rather than in Thailand: VAT, and withholding tax. Your cost does not change. Your paperwork does. Below is what changes and what your accountant needs, so they can check it before you sign anything.

This is not tax advice. We are not your tax advisers. This is a plain description of the mechanism so your accountant has something concrete to check, and applies your actual situation.

What does not change

The price is the price. We quote in baht, up front, and the figure you agree is the figure you pay us. The items below are about how the transaction is recorded and reported in Thailand, not about a hidden surcharge on top of the quote.

What changes: VAT (the reverse charge, form PP.36)

When a business in Thailand pays a supplier abroad for a service used in Thailand, the VAT is not charged by the supplier. Instead you self-assess it and remit it, on form PP.36 (ภ.พ.36). It is the standard mechanism for imported services and your accountant will know it well.

For a VAT-registered business, the VAT you remit under PP.36 is generally claimable back as input tax, so it nets out and the real cost to you is zero. For a business that is not VAT-registered, your accountant will tell you whether it is a real cost in your case. Either way it is a known, ordinary line, not a trap.

What changes: withholding tax and the treaty

Payments for services across a border can attract withholding tax under Thai law. This is where the paperwork matters.

Thailand and the United Kingdom have a double taxation agreement. Under it, business profits of a UK company with no permanent establishment in Thailand are generally not taxed in Thailand, which can reduce or remove the withholding. But relief under a treaty is not automatic. To apply it, your accountant needs the supplier's UK Certificate of Residence on file, at or before payment.

We provide an HMRC Certificate of Residence with every contract as a matter of course, so you are never left withholding by default simply because the paperwork was missing. If a foreign supplier cannot give you one, that is worth asking about before you commit.

What to hand your accountant

Before the first payment, give your accountant:

• The quote, in baht, and the contract.
• Our full company details (UK company name and number).
• The HMRC Certificate of Residence we provide.

With those, they can record the VAT correctly under PP.36 and apply the treaty relief to the withholding. That is the whole of it.

The honest summary

Buying from a UK company changes how the transaction is reported, not what it costs you. The one thing that can go wrong is missing paperwork, and that is exactly the thing we provide up front. The pricing page has the same information beside the numbers, our terms set out how VAT is handled, and if your accountant has a question we have not answered, send it to us. If they find anything in the above they disagree with, we would genuinely like to hear it.

We are not your tax advisers and this is not tax advice.