Yes, I am moving there, but I do not want to open a company just yet. I might do so in the future to ensure I pay enough taxes for meeting the requirements to become a citizen, but to grow my funds and because I get nothing in return for paying taxes there for now, I would like to keep my business in a different country.
Also, I am probably going to consult a tax lawyer there, but it still does not hurt to ask others about there experience I think.
I think there are a bunch of things about tax you don't quite understand yet - I recommend you find a financial planner who can help you navigate this.
Firstly, it's trivial for a business not to pay tax; simply don't make a profit. (Since you can simply assign any excess to yourself as salary.)
Of course you then gave a personal income tax question; and that has its own complications.
Staying with business; and assuming it makes a profit, you then have choices regarding where to register the company. At the one extreme you have zero-tax places (Isle of Man, Jersey et al) but they come with fixed high annual costs. (Not a "tax" - just payments for services.) Your choice is typically one of these, or the place you live, or the country of your passport.
Things like banking play a role. When you can't visit your bank it gets harder to resolve issues (like when they freeze the account because of money-laundering concerns.)
All this to say, Tax planning is complicated. And if you insist on playing games it gets very complicated. The internet I'd not the place to get advice. You need to speak to a professional, or more likely a professional in all the places that matter. If you are a US passport holder even more so.
You are absolutely right and of course I will pay a Thai accountant to help me with this.
I just wanted to reach out to my fellow HN users beforehand to get some insight into other people's experiences and this is one of the best places to do that IMHO as I have already read some very wise comments on this beautiful orange website which makes me want to ask here instead of some sub-reddit ;-)
Luckily I am not a US citizen (or Eritrean) so it should be a bit easier for me (fingers crossed as I type this).
Though all the digital nomads I met in Thailand kept their company / legal structure in their home country. Setting up shop in a new country - in particular in a slightly dodgy one - may not be worth the trouble to save some taxes on a modest income.
Exactly, which is a good reason for me to think about setting up a US LLC (also access to superior banking and the country that has platforms like Stripe to make my life easier).
Say what you will about the US, but to this day it remains one of the best countries in which to start a business, as far as I can tell from years of personal experience (in other countries) and research.
Most countries except the US will not tax you if you move to another country.