Thai Customs Department targets online shopping

[webfact]

Tax boss targets online shopping 

By The Nation 

 

Kulit

 

The Customs Department has stepped up its tax collection for online shopping and provided more convenient services for taxpayers, Kulit Sombatsiri, director general of the Customs Department, said on Thursday.

 

E-shopping for foreign goods had led to tariff collection worth about Bt5 million every month, he said.

 

To provide services for taxpayers, the department will send tax bills to their address, so they can make an e-payment transaction with the department and they do not need to visit a Post Office for tax payments. 

 

The department also found many shoppers illegally bought marijuana from the United States after many states legalised consumption of the drug, he said.

 

He said the department will start to introduce online customs procedure on September 1 to alleviate imports and exports. 

 

Tax evaders will be punished severely if they repeat an offence, he warned.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30352794

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-08-23

 

[Basil B]

I can see this hitting Ebay buyers as much stuff comes from China and I know that many Chinese sellers declare nominal 1$ value instead of the true sale value on the customs declaration.

[stanleycoin]

Think they will need about 100% more staff. 

new jobs for lots of people. 

[Esso49]

The number one corrupt agency in Thailand is doing a "catch-up".  

[leeneeds]

Alibaba, Lazada the rules are clear as mud,

if they allow the sending of whatever is bought instead of hanging on to the item for weeks on end it may help some of us,

[Cadbury]

Why don't they do something useful like inspecting the toxic waste containers and preventing them from being cleared off the wharves to go to the illegal Chinese recycling depots. 

Or would that be like taking money out of their pockets?

[Wilsonandson]

The department also found many shoppers illegally bought marijuana from the United States after many states legalised consumption of the drug, he said.

Sh1t it didn't get through customs. Plan B, time to head to Laos.

[happy chappie]

In my next life I want to come back as a Thai customs and excise officer.my watch collection would make the toads (prawit) look pathetic.anyway great idea because we know how good thais are at paying bills especially when they've got the goods.im going to run up a massive tax bill and tell  them the goods were all faulty and I sent them back.thatll stump them.

[anon537687643]

What a pathetic bunch! Tax so they can put in their own pockets or waste on some junk !


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[MaxLee]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Tax boss targets online shopping 

 

Cut off the internet, problem solved 

[CGW]

Most of the goods I buy come from on-line shopping, cheaper, easier and far more choice. If the goods are less than~$80 they will never tax them, goods over that value its hit and miss, the more expensive postage you pay for from overseas the more chance you have of paying taxes, even with taxes the goods work out far cheaper than buying "local" the cartels have the local market well under their control!

Never use DHL, you will pay taxes every-time, they have some sort of deal going with customs, use UPS at your peril, though not as bad as DHL. Best is USPS parcel post, rarely do they bother to tax, the more expensive options they do tax more often than not. Royal mail from the UK is another they rarely bother to tax.

Using the cheaper rated post services is far more cost effective, my success rate has been 99%, even with the one parcel I have lost, money was refunded.

[Esso49]

1 minute ago, CGW said:

Most of the goods I buy come from on-line shopping, cheaper, easier and far more choice. If the goods are less than~$80 they will never tax them, goods over that value its hit and miss, the more expensive postage you pay for from overseas the more chance you have of paying taxes, even with taxes the goods work out far cheaper than buying "local" the cartels have the local market well under their control!

Never use DHL, you will pay taxes every-time, they have some sort of deal going with customs, use UPS at your peril, though not as bad as DHL. Best is USPS parcel post, rarely do they bother to tax, the more expensive options they do tax more often than not. Royal mail from the UK is another they rarely bother to tax.

Using the cheaper rated post services is far more cost effective, my success rate has been 99%, even with the one parcel I have lost, money was refunded.

I agree with you that DHL must  have a deal.  The worst for many years now

[zzaa09]

48 minutes ago, markaoffy said:

What a pathetic bunch! Tax so they can put in their own pockets or waste on some junk !


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Well sure.

Corrupted individual/govt profiting is what it's all about. 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

4 hours ago, CGW said:

Most of the goods I buy come from on-line shopping, cheaper, easier and far more choice. If the goods are less than~$80 they will never tax them, goods over that value its hit and miss, the more expensive postage you pay for from overseas the more chance you have of paying taxes, even with taxes the goods work out far cheaper than buying "local" the cartels have the local market well under their control!

Never use DHL, you will pay taxes every-time, they have some sort of deal going with customs, use UPS at your peril, though not as bad as DHL. Best is USPS parcel post, rarely do they bother to tax, the more expensive options they do tax more often than not. Royal mail from the UK is another they rarely bother to tax.

Using the cheaper rated post services is far more cost effective, my success rate has been 99%, even with the one parcel I have lost, money was refunded.

 

This above is very good advice, and matches my own experience in past years up to the present.

 

However, here the question is the future. This B.S. article from The Nation in this thread tries to make it sound like Customs is doing some kind of good thing for shoppers, when in fact, it's likely just the opposite.

 

A few months back, there was a different thread here where there were officials reports and news that Customs was proposing to do away entirely with the current 1500 baht and under valuation exemption for small packages.  Supposedly meaning they were planning to try to start taxing EVERYTHING that's imported via online purchases, no matter how small or what the content was.

 

And I can't tell from the horrible article that leads this thread of whether that proposal is in fact what they've ended up with, or it's something entirely or partly different. Absolutely no clue. And BTW, how is anyone going to be a "tax evader" if Customs starts mailing to your home tax bills re imported packages after the fact?

 

 

 

[stud858]

Aliexpress have started adding the 10% gst for shipping to oz. I wonder if they keep it for themselves.

Thailand could do the same. Much easier.

Tax me baby!

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

In checking further on this, I now see a Bangkok Post article also dated today (Aug. 23) that's a lot more informative and clear in comparison. (Can't link to it or quote it here per TVF policy... however...)

 

According to the Post article, the 1500 baht small package VAT tax exemption is going to remain in place, which is a big change from the government's prior proposal to eliminate it. And instead, they're talking about tougher measures to deal with under-reporting of valuations in imported packages and other types of scamming the Customs system.

 

Interestingly, big shot Jack Ma of Alibaba fame was in Thailand not long ago signing agreements to significantly expand Alibaba's investments in Thailand and its EEC, and during that visit, he actually called on the Thai government to increase the current 1500 baht small package exemption.

 

So now, it doesn't sound like the government is going to do that, but they're also not going to do away entirely with the small package exemption as had been proposed last year.

 

So, all in all, for the average consumer online buyer of small goods abroad, it sounds like not much is going to change -- unless you're someone who declares 500 baht packages that are in fact worth 5000 baht. Which is not advisable, especially looking forward.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Here's the prior thread from earlier this year where there were posts and links explaining the government's proposal at the time to eliminate the 1500 baht small package exemption. Hope that's now a dead deal, as per today's Bangkok Post Business section report.

 

 

Quote

 

But I now see a March 26 BKK Post article about the 1500 baht VAT exemption repeal measure being still in the bill that they said is headed for Cabinet consideration soon. They talk about planning to begin charging the 7% VAT, but no mention about adding customs duty.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Here's a decent article from this past June, a bit from a business perspective, that nonetheless explains the different valuation ranges and how those affect whether imported packages face VAT and Customs assessments.

 

https://www.grantthornton.co.th/insights/articles/can-thailand-customs-rules-strike-the-right-balance-for-the-digital-economy-part-1/

 

The article included this chart that I found especially helpful and informative, and pay particular attention to the category 3 section for packages valued 1500 baht and under.

 

 

Now, despite the small package exemption mentioned above, my personal experience has been that some of the express shippers like DHL and FedEx in particular will still assess VAT and/or Customs duty charges at times on low value imported packages, sometimes by disregarding the real purchase values of items and substituting their own pulled from who knows where inflated valuations. But that's what they do.

 

On the other hand, small value (under 1500 baht) imported packages sent via national postal services like USPS in the United States and delivered in Thailand by Thai Post almost never are waylayed by VAT or Customs duty charges. And usually get delivered to your door with not one baht extra owed. Hopefully, that current practice will remain moving toward the future.

 

[anon537687643]

Best way is say screw the country and leave


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[CGW]

9 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

On the other hand, small value (under 1500 baht) imported packages sent via national postal services like USPS in the United States and delivered in Thailand by Thai Post almost never are waylayed by VAT or Customs duty charges. And usually get delivered to your door with not one baht extra owed. Hopefully, that current practice will remain moving toward the future.

Agree, in reality the amount they allow is higher, I'm sure it all depends on the postage type, if you use postage with insurance you are giving them a value so it is processed in a different way at BKK airport. I try to get suppliers to post with no insurance, not all are willing as they may be responsible for losses, as I said i have only lost one parcel so this method has worked out far cheaper. As to the future? who knows but the shear volume of parcels arriving in Thailand, which is only going to increase, must be making them think they should be getting more revenue, thankfully Ali express and others have a fair bit of political clout, long may they reign! 

[cmsally]

10 hours ago, stud858 said:

Aliexpress have started adding the 10% gst for shipping to oz. I wonder if they keep it for themselves.

Thailand could do the same. Much easier.

Tax me baby!

Australia has added GST to all international online purchases. So the big companies such as Ali, Ebay, Amazon, Etsy etc are now collecting it for them even though they are mostly trading platforms rather than sellers. "So kind of them!"

[rwill]

16 hours ago, Esso49 said:

I agree with you that DHL must  have a deal.  The worst for many years now

I have a cousin that works in customs.  He told me they hate DHL for some reason.  Thus they target them more.  So perhaps it is a lack of deal instead of having a deal.

 

[nong38]

We must punish people, that's what we do, unless the address is on "the list".

Can see the e payment dis appearing into the ether as well.

Lets make peoples lives more miserable for them and the tourists will understand and go elsewhere, meanwhile at TAT record figures again entering the country, you really would think they would have better things to do with their time, a bit of karaoke for a start, is that taxable?

[Moonlover]

18 hours ago, leeneeds said:

Alibaba, Lazada the rules are clear as mud,

if they allow the sending of whatever is bought instead of hanging on to the item for weeks on end it may help some of us,

Lazada rules are crystal clear. This is from their Q & A section in the help centre

 

Do I have to pay extra duties or taxes for Overseas Product?

 

No. All Overseas products from Lazada Marketplace are delivered at no additional cost to you, since the stated price includes customs fees and import duties. You are not expected to pay any additional duties or taxes.

If you are asked by Customs or our logistic partner to pay duties, please contact our Customer Service for clarifications.

 

'Nuff said?

[stud858]

8 minutes ago, cmsally said:

Australia has added GST to all international online purchases. So the big companies such as Ali, Ebay, Amazon, Etsy etc are now collecting it for them even though they are mostly trading platforms rather than sellers. "So kind of them!"

They would have gotten something in return. My guess is 2% them 8% oz. Anyway. Harvey Norman will be happy. And rightly so . fair is fair.

[cmsally]

6 minutes ago, stud858 said:

They would have gotten something in return. My guess is 2% them 8% oz. Anyway. Harvey Norman will be happy. And rightly so . fair is fair.

My thinking exactly, some kind of deal was done.

[Chris Lawrence]

so u can get the bud back if u pay the tax?

[fxe1200]

20 hours ago, Basil B said:

I can see this hitting Ebay buyers as much stuff comes from China and I know that many Chinese sellers declare nominal 1$ value instead of the true sale value on the customs declaration.

 That is correct. I ordered a an IP-camera in a bag from China for 1700THB and the label stated" Baby -monitor, value $1"

 

[BobbyL]

Despise this team of corrupt f'ers. 

 

I used to do nearly 99% of my shopping online in England, here it is 0%.

 

I have been stung by them a few times and the worst was when I was sent some things from England and they taxed me for my own belongings. Absolute scum. 

[observer90210]

The AliExpress CEO is going to put pressure on Thailand to Stop their tricks....and China may have a bit more [cash] power then Thailand IMHO....