Customs Question

[bdevaux]

I'm a 56 year old American currently living in Sri Lanka on a Resident Visa. I will be moving to Bangkok in early February with a Non-Immigrant O-A visa issued by the Thai Embassy in Colombo. I have looked at old threads and visited the Thai Customs website but I'm still uncertain - very uncertain - about what personal effects I can bring without having to pay duty. Some of my belongings will be checked baggage on my flight and the remainder will come as "unaccompanied baggage" the following day via Sri Lankan Airlines. Most of my stuff is clothes, books, etc. but I do have 300+ cds and some hi-fi equipment.

Will I have any problem bringing these items with me and/or is there anything I can do to minimize the chance of problems?

[astral]

This has been covered here.

You may well get away with what you carry but you will need an agent to clear the unaccompanied baggage,

and there will be a "tea money" payment involved.

[lopburi3]

You do not have duty free privileges so don't bring anything you are not prepared to pay duty on.

[bdevaux]

I'm a 56 year old American currently living in Sri Lanka on a Resident Visa. I will be moving to Bangkok in early February with a Non-Immigrant O-A visa issued by the Thai Embassy in Colombo. I have looked at old threads and visited the Thai Customs website but I'm still uncertain - very uncertain - about what personal effects I can bring without having to pay duty. Some of my belongings will be checked baggage on my flight and the remainder will come as "unaccompanied baggage" the following day via Sri Lankan Airlines. Most of my stuff is clothes, books, etc. but I do have 300+ cds and some hi-fi equipment.

Will I have any problem bringing these items with me and/or is there anything I can do to minimize the chance of problems?

Astral - thanks for the reference. I didn't search other sub-forums; I'll expand my search next time.

Lopburi3 - thanks for the unambiguous response.

I looked at the Customs website and it appears to be a "crapshoot" as to what I'll pay in Duties my belongings. Does that seem accurate?

[lopburi3]

That seems to be the case. But it usually is not that large an amount, except when talking about vehicles.

[kriswillems]

We're planning to move to Thailand in July. I went on a holiday to Thailand in Januari (on a holiday). I arrived by airplane.

My wife called to the customs department before going to Thailand. The lady of the customs department said she could import used personal household stuff until 6 month after she moved back to Thailand. The only condition was that she could prove that she lived more than 1 year in Europe. The lady told her that she wouldn't have to pay any import tax.

Whem we arrived in the new airport we went straight to the customs department to verify this story. The kind and helpfull officer confirmed it and said that she could start moving things 6 months before she would arrive in Thailand until 6 months after she arrived. Even if she would move things by boat/container she wouldn't need to pay any import tax.

PS. my wife is Thai

Edited January 26, 2007 by kriswillems

[lopburi3]

Yes but unfortunately the poster does not appear to have that option.

[Axel]

...she could start moving things 6 months before she would arrive in Thailand until 6 months after she arrived. Even if she would move things by boat/container she wouldn't need to pay any import tax.

PS. my wife is Thai

The time span is one month before or not later than six months after the arrival.

There are some limitations, on electrical appliances only one piece of a kind.

[LivinLOS]

We're planning to move to Thailand in July. I went on a holiday to Thailand in Januari (on a holiday). I arrived by airplane.

My wife called to the customs department before going to Thailand. The lady of the customs department said she could import used personal household stuff until 6 month after she moved back to Thailand. The only condition was that she could prove that she lived more than 1 year in Europe. The lady told her that she wouldn't have to pay any import tax.

Whem we arrived in the new airport we went straight to the customs department to verify this story. The kind and helpfull officer confirmed it and said that she could start moving things 6 months before she would arrive in Thailand until 6 months after she arrived. Even if she would move things by boat/container she wouldn't need to pay any import tax.

PS. my wife is Thai

Sure those are the rules.. But this is Thailand and once they have your stuff expect to have it ransomed back to you..

I also had a Thai wife who had lived out of Thailand and when I brought my stuff was back in the days when a long stay visa was OK for me too.. It was all in her name.. They just impounded it.. Spread it all around a non secure compound (over million bahts worth of home theater).. The final straw was suggesting maybe they needed to crack open my 7500 USD marble speakers to 'have a look inside'..

He also admitted that according to the rules there was no tax due.. But it might take a long time to get it cleared according to the rules.

[illy]

this is a topic i , too, have been reading about and watching every thread but there still seems to be no definite answer on. i guess the description "crapshoot " sums it up best. i intend to be in thailand by may 07 and will be bringing a fair amount of sound and musical equipment [its my occupation] but i still cant seem to get any proper guidleines regarding the tax i may or may not have to pay. i guess i will find out when i get there and hope for a good mooded customs agent!! and be equiped with 'tea money'.

[samran]

Re: Thai nationals importing stuff. I brought my stuff in as a Thai national, and it was duty free. Stamps from the PP showing I was out of the country for 18 months proved that i was eligible for the exemption, and a stamp was placed in my Thai PP saying my duty free allowance was now utilised once our stuff had arrived. Having said that, it was house hold stuff and nothing valuable, so I paid nothing apart from what i paid to the shipping company in London when we moved.

I'm sure livinginlos story is true however, customs will try and get you by the balls.

My best recommendation is simply to let a registered shipper with a good local partner here in Thailand handle it all, door to door. Do not do it yourself. The benefit of a shipping company is that cause of their regular dealings with customs, they would have paid something that would make all their shipments go through with the minimal amount of hassel. Take advantage of the economies of scale there.

I'm not saying things won't go wrong, but in my opinion it effectively minimises the risk. Let the agent deal with it all.

FYI, we dealt with Transpro-Asian Tigers on the Thai end. They were great.

[raro]

this is a topic i , too, have been reading about and watching every thread but there still seems to be no definite answer on. i guess the description "crapshoot " sums it up best. i intend to be in thailand by may 07 and will be bringing a fair amount of sound and musical equipment [its my occupation] but i still cant seem to get any proper guidleines regarding the tax i may or may not have to pay. i guess i will find out when i get there and hope for a good mooded customs agent!! and be equiped with 'tea money'.

We are in this business and have handled lots of inbound and outbound personel effects shipments.

As a rule of thumb, only returning Thai nationals and foreigners working in Thailand have the right to import persoanel effects duty free.

If you need more info on this rather comlex issue, you may send me a PM.

cheers

raro

[angmohquee]

I'm a 56 year old American currently living in Sri Lanka on a Resident Visa. I will be moving to Bangkok in early February with a Non-Immigrant O-A visa issued by the Thai Embassy in Colombo. I have looked at old threads and visited the Thai Customs website but I'm still uncertain - very uncertain - about what personal effects I can bring without having to pay duty. Some of my belongings will be checked baggage on my flight and the remainder will come as "unaccompanied baggage" the following day via Sri Lankan Airlines. Most of my stuff is clothes, books, etc. but I do have 300+ cds and some hi-fi equipment.

Will I have any problem bringing these items with me and/or is there anything I can do to minimize the chance of problems?

I also came from Sri Lanka with my wife in 1999 on a non immigrant B visa. Brought a whole mountain of stuff and I paid 60K baht to customs. Argued with the agent I was using but the customs official assessment was in excess of that figure

[s.pylos]

I might have been lucky as I shipped 7 boxes from London to Bangkok by boat. They arrived here two months after my arrival and I got them delivered to my room by the local agent of the London Company after giving them my passport. I did not have to pay anything. The content was mostly books, Cd (a lot), clothes, speakers + ampli, I was on a Tourist visa.

The box had been open and the content checked as evidenced by the cut into on of my jacket that was on top of the box...

[sandy]

[hotgeekus]

I shipped six cubic meters (1800 lbs) from USA to BKK with Allied Pickford. Both ends were very efficient and good.

A word of advice, send it late as possible, as I had to wait for work permit before they would release my stuff. I had work permit issued before it arrived so it was no problem. Also, told that I would have to pay 16,000 baht or 18,000 baht in customs tax with every box opened.

Since I was not paying and I had it insured for 3 times the value I was hoping that they dropped it into the ocean. Lucky for the insurance, I did not pay either, employer just called and it was released the next day.

Obviously this does not help you, but.....

My girlfriend sent a good 150# of stuff in different boxes to me here (her stuff, shoes etc) by usps and it made it here no problem. I paid nothing on top, but it was split into about 6 different boxes.

Edited January 29, 2007 by hotgeekus

[soundman]

this is a topic i , too, have been reading about and watching every thread but there still seems to be no definite answer on. i guess the description "crapshoot " sums it up best. i intend to be in thailand by may 07 and will be bringing a fair amount of sound and musical equipment [its my occupation] but i still cant seem to get any proper guidleines regarding the tax i may or may not have to pay. i guess i will find out when i get there and hope for a good mooded customs agent!! and be equiped with 'tea money'.

When I moved to Thailand about 5 years ago, i brought about 500Kg's of personal effects & sound equipment over a month later by air freight. I decided I wanted to see how the system worked & spent the better part of a day walking around the cargo section of the old airport to various counters & departments. The customs people couldn't be bothered checking the boxes, & as long as my forms were in order were quite happy to let my stuff pass. I had all my sound gear noted with approx. values, but because there were only one or two of each unit & it was labelled personal sound gear, they weren't interested on collecting duty or tea money for that matter. All up cost me about 3000+ Baht.

The second time I imported "personal effects" to thai, I couldn't be bothered spending a whole day at the airport. i employed one of the many touts outside the cargo section, cost was about 5,500 baht all up & i was loaded & out of there in hour and a half.

Never tried sea freight.

Soundman.

[ThailandTony]

After finishing a contract in Dubai this time last year I shipped all household items in my name door to door (Asian Tigers again, very efficient) in a 6m container, declared value THB 700K ish. Got a call from Asian Tigers offering the official or non-official way, 56K or 18K. I liked the unofficial route and 4 days later rocked up at my house in Chaiyaphum 1st thing in morning and by mid-pm had unloaded the contents of a 4-bed house, assembled items requiring assembly, lugged it all upstairs and had lunch! All of my stuff was less than 12 months old (official line on importing duty-free is it has to be over 12 months, I think?) and had multiple TV's, DVD's and other electronics.

Only complaint, I expected the original container which I had supervised the loading of, to be the one delivered to me. The shipper had removed and re-packaged onto truck and trailer and caused a bit of damage to a glass cooker top and a TV that they dropped on its ear whilst unloading, but Asia Tigers were very professional and I had insurance.

Good luck with the move!

[d44]

from Thai Customs:

"It is important that the used/secondhand household effects must be imported not earlier than one month before or not later than six months after the arrival of the importers."

I wonder how is this interpreted.

Very first arrival on VOA many years ago?

Arrival after last week's 90 day run?

Arrival after spending days filling a container in Europe or whereever?

Also, the following worries me:

"Nonresidents are required to submit the following documents:

1 The letter issued by the Immigration Department confirming that an annual temporary stay is granted;

2 A one-year (or more) work permit issued by the Department of Labor;"

It seems to me the if you do not have an extension of stay, you cannot have 1 year WP; just one that's extended 3 months at a time.

[d44]

no one?

[tijnebijn]

Don't forget to devalue your stuff,so if you have to pay any taxes,you will pay less........

I send my cd's by post(hundreds) and wrote down few money on the package,and only had to pay a small procent of the value written on it.If you write more you pay the sme percentage over more value.And maybe they not even check it,like the rest of my equipment,no taxes But maybe that is a little scary cause of the damage that may occur.

[Axel]

from Thai Customs:

"It is important that the used/secondhand household effects must be imported not earlier than one month before or not later than six months after the arrival of the importers."

I wonder how is this interpreted.

Very first arrival on VOA many years ago?

Arrival after last week's 90 day run?

Arrival after spending days filling a container in Europe or whereever?

Also, the following worries me:

"Nonresidents are required to submit the following documents:

1 The letter issued by the Immigration Department confirming that an annual temporary stay is granted;

2 A one-year (or more) work permit issued by the Department of Labor;"

It seems to me the if you do not have an extension of stay, you cannot have 1 year WP; just one that's extended 3 months at a time.

- 1month/+6 months refers to your entry to which extented permitted stay for one year was granted and WP issued.

No work permit = no duty exemption.

And don't forget, no duty exemption for retirees.