Can I just stop filing and let the company go inactive?

No. A registered company owes annual audited statements, corporate returns and DBD filings whether or not it trades. Penalties and surcharges accumulate, and the DBD can strike the company off, which leaves the directors' record marked and does not settle tax liabilities. Formal liquidation is the only clean exit.

How long does liquidation take?

A company with clean, current filings can complete the registry steps in a few months; the Revenue Department's final review of the liquidation accounts is usually the longest element. A company with years of unfiled returns must complete that backlog first, which sets the real timeline.

What happens to remaining assets or cash?

After creditors and tax are settled, the remainder is distributed to shareholders according to their shareholding. The distribution is documented in the liquidation accounts, and any withholding obligation on the distribution is handled at that point.

What does closure cost?

The registry and filing work is modest; the variable is the backlog. Send the company name and the last filed year and we reply with a written quote that separates catch-up work from the closure itself.

English desk

Company closure and liquidation in Thailand

Closing a Thai company is an accounting and tax process as much as a registry one: the DBD registers the dissolution and the liquidation, but the Revenue Department's clearance — final returns, VAT deregistration, settled withholding — is what actually ends the company's life. A company abandoned without liquidating keeps accruing filing duties and penalties against its directors' names.

Request a written quote contact@thailaw-accounting.co.th

Phone +66-94-895-8999 · LINE and email accepted in English.

What this service covers

Dissolution and liquidation filings

The shareholders' resolution, dissolution registration and liquidator appointment prepared and filed with the DBD in the correct sequence.

Final tax returns

Corporate income tax returns for the final period and the liquidation period, final VAT return and deregistration, and final withholding filings.

Asset and liability settlement accounts

The liquidation balance sheet — assets realised, creditors paid, remainder distributed to shareholders — documented to the standard the DBD and Revenue Department expect.

Closure evidence file

Every filing receipt and clearance letter compiled into one file, because directors are asked for proof of clean closure years later when opening new ventures.

How the engagement runs

1. Status review
We first map what is outstanding: unfiled returns, unpaid tax, VAT registration, social security and the state of the books. The backlog defines the cost more than the closure itself.
2. Catch-up filings
Missing years are completed and filed before dissolution, because a company cannot liquidate cleanly with open filing obligations.
3. Dissolution and liquidation
Dissolution is registered, the liquidator is appointed, assets are settled, and the final accounts and liquidation registration close the company at the DBD.
4. Tax deregistration
VAT and tax registrations are closed with final returns, and the Revenue Department file is settled so nothing continues to accrue.

Deadlines, rates and filing formats change. Confirm current requirements with the Revenue Department, the Social Security Office and the Department of Business Development, or ask us to confirm them for your case before you rely on a date.

Common situations we are hired for

A dormant company that was never formally closed

Each dormant year still required audited statements and returns. We quantify the backlog, file it, and only then start the dissolution.

A business that stopped trading mid-year

The final accounting period runs to the dissolution date, and the half-year and annual obligations are adjusted to the shortened year.

Shareholders who have left Thailand

Resolutions and liquidator authority can be structured so the process completes without every shareholder travelling back, using properly executed documents.

A company with tax exposure

Where returns were under-declared, we assess the exposure and the correction route before liquidation, because liquidation does not erase pre-existing liabilities.

See the English-speaking accounting firm overview, all accounting services or the province pages below.

Questions owners ask first

Can I just stop filing and let the company go inactive?: No. A registered company owes annual audited statements, corporate returns and DBD filings whether or not it trades. Penalties and surcharges accumulate, and the DBD can strike the company off, which leaves the directors' record marked and does not settle tax liabilities. Formal liquidation is the only clean exit.
How long does liquidation take?: A company with clean, current filings can complete the registry steps in a few months; the Revenue Department's final review of the liquidation accounts is usually the longest element. A company with years of unfiled returns must complete that backlog first, which sets the real timeline.
What happens to remaining assets or cash?: After creditors and tax are settled, the remainder is distributed to shareholders according to their shareholding. The distribution is documented in the liquidation accounts, and any withholding obligation on the distribution is handled at that point.
What does closure cost?: The registry and filing work is modest; the variable is the backlog. Send the company name and the last filed year and we reply with a written quote that separates catch-up work from the closure itself.

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