Thai Industry Sections With the Most Unfiled Companies, 2026
In short
Wholesale and retail trade has the most unfiled companies of any Thai industry section, 291,371 registered companies with no financial statement on record as of 17 July 2026. That single sector outnumbers construction and manufacturing's unfiled companies combined, which add up to 203,012. Construction ranks second with 121,391 unfiled companies, manufacturing third with 81,621. The top ten sections hold 95.2 percent of Thailand's 723,827 unfiled companies. Wholesale and retail's own unfiled rate, 40.7 percent, sits above the national average of 36.4 percent, though mining and quarrying runs even higher on a far smaller base.
Which Thai industry section has the most unfiled companies?
Wholesale and retail trade carries 291,371 registered companies with no financial statement on record, the largest unfiled count of any industry section in Thailand, as of 17 July 2026. That single sector holds more unfiled companies than construction and manufacturing combined, which together add up to 203,012. Construction ranks second with 121,391 unfiled companies. Manufacturing ranks third with 81,621. Real estate and professional, scientific and technical services follow, each under 42,000. The ten largest sections by unfiled count hold 689,201 of the 723,827 unfiled companies counted across all classified sections, or 95.2 percent. Thailand's filing gap sits in a handful of large sectors, not spread evenly across the economy.
Unfiled companies by industry section
- Wholesale and retail trade291,371
- Construction121,391
- Manufacturing81,621
- Real estate41,036
- Professional, scientific and technical39,809
- Transportation and storage33,771
- Administrative and support32,360
- Accommodation and food service24,268
- Information and communication13,727
- Financial and insurance9,847
Figures in unfiled companies.
Wholesale and retail trade stands well clear of every other section. The gap to construction alone is 169,980 companies.
Top 10 industry sections by unfiled company count
| Industry section | Registered companies | Filed at least once | Unfiled companies | Unfiled rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wholesale and retail trade | 716,066 | 424,695 | 291,371 | 40.7% |
| Construction | 283,564 | 162,173 | 121,391 | 42.8% |
| Manufacturing | 230,396 | 148,775 | 81,621 | 35.4% |
| Real estate | 149,618 | 108,582 | 41,036 | 27.4% |
| Professional, scientific and technical | 138,982 | 99,173 | 39,809 | 28.6% |
| Transportation and storage | 85,303 | 51,532 | 33,771 | 39.6% |
| Administrative and support | 100,711 | 68,351 | 32,360 | 32.1% |
| Accommodation and food service | 83,608 | 59,340 | 24,268 | 29.0% |
| Information and communication | 52,537 | 38,810 | 13,727 | 26.1% |
| Financial and insurance | 35,577 | 25,730 | 9,847 | 27.7% |
Registered companies, filed companies and unfiled companies by section, as of 17 Jul 2026.
Why this matters
Every company registered with the Department of Business Development must file an audited financial statement each year, even a dormant shell with zero revenue (DBD, 2026). A section's raw unfiled count mostly tracks its size, so wholesale and retail leads partly because it is Thailand's largest section by registered company count. Rank by rate instead and the picture shifts. Mining and quarrying has the highest unfiled rate of any section, 56.5 percent, though its small base of 8,231 registered companies keeps its absolute count to 4,652. Wholesale and retail's own unfiled rate is 40.7 percent, above the national average of 36.4 percent. A large unfiled count does not prove a sector is badly run. It does mean that any effort to close Thailand's filing gap, a reminder campaign, a penalty review or a registry cleanup, moves the most companies if it starts with wholesale and retail, then construction.
Definitions
- Registered company
- A juristic entity recorded in the DBD company registry, whether it is currently active, dormant or has stopped operating.
- Unfiled company
- A registered company with no financial statement on record in the registry as of the data date.
- Unfiled rate
- Unfiled companies as a share of all registered companies in a group, equal to one minus the filing rate.
- Industry section
- One of the 21 lettered top level categories in Thailand's Standard Industrial Classification, TSIC, each grouping many 5-digit industry codes.
Assumptions
- The section breakdown covers 1,986,709 of Thailand's 1,989,709 registered companies, the share with a classified industry section. The remaining 3,000 companies lack a section code and are excluded from the section table, though counted in the national FAQ figure.
- Unfiled means no financial statement is on record as of the data date. On its own it does not prove a company broke any rule. It can include companies still inside their first filing window after registration, dormant shells that never traded, or filings not yet matched into the aggregate tables.
- A parallel section level aggregate lists 715,976 companies in wholesale and retail against the 716,066 used here, a gap of 90 companies, under 0.02 percent, produced by a different classification join. This page uses the TSIC level aggregation because it is the source that also carries a filed company count per section.
Methodology
Each registered company in the DBD registry is classified to a 5-digit TSIC industry code, which rolls up to one of 21 lettered industry sections. For every section, unfiled companies equal the section's total registered company count minus the count of companies that have filed at least one financial statement, both aggregated from 5-digit TSIC rows in the registry as of 17 July 2026. The 21 section totals were cross-checked against the registry's national totals for the same date. Sections with only a few dozen registered companies, such as public administration and households, are shown in the full download but carry limited weight given their small base.
How we verified this
- Wholesale and retail trade's unfiled count was computed as 716,066 minus 424,695, giving 291,371, the exact figure used as this page's headline.
- Construction and manufacturing's unfiled counts were summed as 121,391 plus 81,621, giving 203,012, confirmed lower than wholesale and retail's 291,371.
- All 21 sections' unfiled counts were summed to 723,827 and cross-checked against classified registered companies minus classified filed companies, 1,986,709 minus 1,262,882, which also equals 723,827.
- Two separate ratios were kept distinct. Wholesale and retail's share of the national unfiled total is 291,371 divided by 723,827, giving 40.25 percent. Wholesale and retail's own unfiled rate is 291,371 divided by 716,066, giving 40.69 percent, rounded to 40.7 percent, which is the figure used in the page's prose and key stats.
- The top 10 sections' unfiled counts were summed to 689,201 and divided by the 723,827 total unfiled, giving 95.22 percent, rounded to 95.2 percent.
- The national filing rate was recomputed as 1,264,734 filed companies divided by 1,989,709 registered companies, giving 63.56 percent, so the unfiled rate is 36.44 percent, rounded to 36.4 percent.
References
- Department of Business Development. (2026). Registered juristic persons and financial statement aggregates. Ministry of Commerce, Thailand. https://www.dbd.go.th/
- AO Group. (2026). Thailand DBD financial statement filing deadlines and penalties guide. AO Group. https://ao-group.co/blog/filing-financial-statements-with-the-dbd-in-thailand/
Frequently asked questions
Which Thai industry section has the most unfiled companies?
Wholesale and retail trade, with 291,371 registered companies that have never filed a financial statement, as of 17 July 2026.
How many companies in Thailand have never filed a financial statement?
Across sections with a classified industry code, 723,827 registered companies have no filing on record. Including the small number of companies without a section classification, the national total is 724,975 out of 1,989,709 registered companies.
Does a high unfiled count mean an industry is non-compliant?
Not on its own. Wholesale and retail leads mainly because it is the largest section by company count. Mining and quarrying carries a higher unfiled rate, 56.5 percent against wholesale and retail's 40.7 percent, but on a much smaller base of registered companies.
Cite this page
Chatpong L. (2026). Thai Industry Sections With the Most Unfiled Companies, 2026. Max Data Insights. https://maxdatathailand.com/insights/thai-industry-sections-with-the-most-unfiled-companies-2026
Data & corrections
Download the data (CSV)Spot something off, or want to ask about the data? Email insights@maxsolutions.co.th. We publish corrections.
Written by
Chatpong L.Founder, Max Data, Max Solutions Co., Ltd.
Chatpong L. leads Max Data, a company-intelligence platform built on Thailand's official business registry. He writes about the structure of the Thai economy using primary registry data. His work covers company formation, industry concentration, and regional business activity.
Related insights
This page reports company-level and aggregate statistics only. It names no individuals and makes no claims about any person. Figures are provided for information and may be revised as source data updates.