Duty On Household Goods If Moving To Los With A Retirement Visa

[scudman]

Moving to LOS next year. Planning on using the Retirement Visa. I want to bring in a bunch of used household stuff. Furniture, pictures, knick knacks and the like. Do I have to pay any duty on this stuff at Customs in BKK?

Thanks.

[astral]

The simple answer is yes.

However I suggest you find a clearing agent in LOS who will arrange a pre-agreed value for the payment.

[bigmove]

Moving to LOS next year. Planning on using the Retirement Visa. I want to bring in a bunch of used household stuff. Furniture, pictures, knick knacks and the like. Do I have to pay any duty on this stuff at Customs in BKK?

Thanks.

Yes you will pay duty depending on the value of the items. Just to give you an idea pls. see info below.

THAILAND CUSTOMS PROCEDURES & CUSTOMS REGULATIONS

Household goods and personal effects essentially fall into two categories:

1. EXEMPT FROM DUTY :

A. DIPLOMATIC: Please note documentation processing for diplomatic shipments takes approximately 10 days by the respective embassy. It is therefore necessary for us to receive all documentation as early as possible prior to shipment arrival in order for us to check and pass to embassy for earliest processing to avoid port storage and demurrage charges.

B. 1 YEAR WORK PERMIT: Only a full 1 year work permit will be considered for duty exemption. No other work permit will be considered. Original passport and original work permit must be presented to Customs for inspection. Bond facility is not available pending issuance of work permit.

C. RETURNING THAI: Only Thais who have been overseas for a full year or more will be considered. Too frequent traveling back and forth can cause problems should Customs deem the owner to have not been permanently based in origin country. Each stay in Thailand must not be more than 3 month each time. Shipper has never imported goods into Thailand. Original passport (old passport might be needed), copy of a house certificate and copy of Thai ID card must be presented during the customs inspection.

FURTHERMORE, the following restrictions must always be met for B&C above or the entire shipment will be classified as non-exempt:

1.1. Shipment must originate from same country as owner's last place of residence or place of work.

1.2. Shipment must arrive in Thailand not earlier than 1 month prior to owner’s arrival/return to Thailand.

1.3. Shipment must arrive in Thailand not later than 6 months after owner’s arrival/return to Thailand

1.4 Thai customs allow one air and one sea shipment.

1.5 Must contain used items (not new).

1.6 Only one of each type of electrical appliance is allowed, duplicate appliances will be charged full duties.

2. NON-EXEMPT FROM DUTY:

High duties are placed on all goods not conforming with section 1 above. Particularly high duties apply to electrical goods, plasma TV, carpets, pianos and luxury goods.

Note: Toys, baby items, foodstuff, alcohol, office item including files, bicycle, exercise equipment, sport equipment, golf set, musical instruments including pianos, luxury items including crystal glasses and porcelain vases, fax machines can cause problems as will not considered for duty exemption especially sending via air freight.

Note: Prohibited articles include firearms, ammunition, pornographic literature, short-wave radios, medical equipment, and Buddha head, gold and silver.

Note: Wine and spirits, foodstuff, Buddha statue require special import licensing and should not be included in the shipment without prior consultation.

Note: For all inbound shipments (except diplomatic) the consignee must have have the actual passport for clearance. Clerance with complete documents takes about 3-5 working days.

Hope this will help. PM me for more details i work for a moving co.

[Naam]

Yes you will pay duty depending on the value of the items. Just to give you an idea pls. see info below.

forget about that and take "astral's" advice! two years ago i brought in a 40' high cube container stuffed to the brim with 60 cubic metres. the clearing agent in BKK negotiated a flat amount of duty which was peanuts taking into consideration the actual value.

[d44]

forget about that and take "astral's" advice! two years ago i brought in a 40' high cube container stuffed to the brim with 60 cubic metres. the clearing agent in BKK negotiated a flat amount of duty which was peanuts taking into consideration the actual value.

May I ask which company you used and how much you paid?

I have a quote from asian tigers with a bottom line of over USD 8000 for a 20ft container door to door from europe.

[Naam]

forget about that and take "astral's" advice! two years ago i brought in a 40' high cube container stuffed to the brim with 60 cubic metres. the clearing agent in BKK negotiated a flat amount of duty which was peanuts taking into consideration the actual value.

May I ask which company you used and how much you paid?

I have a quote from asian tigers with a bottom line of over USD 8000 for a 20ft container door to door from europe.

have sent a private message to you.

[samran]

On moving companies and customs: Having moved a couple of times, Transpro/Asian tigers have done a fantastic job for the best price. Door to door from UK to BKK.

My theory is, if you deal with an established player, you are dealing with people who have already greased the wheels with customs so to speak so that all their customers get hassel free service. Trying the DYI thing with customs is asking for it.

No, I don't work for them, no, they aren't a sponsor of TV. Just a personal experience.

[thaihome]

Have moved around Asia several times. Asian Tiger of Santa Fe have done great jobs everytime. Last move into Thailand was without work permit. Asian Tiger arranges a pre-agreed value for the duties of 30k baht and container was delivered in 1 day from arrival.

TH

[ProThaiExpat]

Consider the shipping cost and importance of the item to your happiness before spending the money to ship and dealing with the cost of getting your stuff out of customs.

When I moved, my evaluation was that I saved a bundle by buying everything new in Thailand. Mementos, photos and essential memorabilia can be shipped as excess baggage with companies who charge a mere fraction of what airlines charge for overweight.

Example, from Australia Emerates charges 40AUD per kilo for overweight while Jetta picks up and charges 3.50 AUD a kilo to Thailand.

[vegas]

Transpro/Asian Tigers/Santa Fe?? Are they all the same company? Woulda thought if you had used them you would remember the name.

The term you guys are looking for is TEA MONEY. Rather than paying duty you hand over a token sum to grease the palms. Every moving company/freight forwarder can assist. Do it yourself at your own risk.

[samran]

Transpro are part of the Asian Tigers group. They advertise themseves as Transpro/Asian tigers.

Santa Fe are a seperate company. We could mention more, including Crown Relocations for instance. All do a spectacular job, but for quotes on the actual moving work, in the couple of times we have asked around, Transpro were the best quote by far. The tax/tea money/customs issue is seperate.