Finance panel okays 7% VAT on products ordered online from foreign countries

[snoop1130]

Finance panel okays 7% VAT on products ordered online from foreign countries

By The Nation

 

 

The Finance Ministry aims to tax online products from foreign countries to provide fair competition to Thai manufacturers.

 

Finance permanent secretary Prasong Poontaneat said the tax reform committee approved the decision to collect 7 per cent value-added tax on goods ordered online from other counties and also cancel the tax-free status on imported products priced below Bt1,500 to be fair to Thai manufacturers, who produce similar goods and who are charged 7 per cent VAT. The policy is now awaiting the green light from the cabinet.

 

In reply to a question, principal adviser on Customs Control Development Chaiyuth Kumkun said that in the case where personal belongings in a foreign county were sent back to the host via mail, the owner of the belongings would not be taxed. Customs will consider such evidence as the item’s condition, a photo of the owner with the belongings, or any evidence to affirm that the items were bought in Thailand.

 

“If the value of the belonging isn’t worth enough to sell as an expensive second hand item, the officer might not tax the owner,” Chaiyuth said.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/business/30379552

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2019-12-17

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[tracker1]

This will be interesting so what is not manufactured by someone in Thailand will be tax exempt ! funny they already tax things that aren't manufactured in Thailand or are unobtainable Hmmm

 

[Scot123]

They are crooks and thieves. I ordered a t shirt and fleece jacket from the UK. My wife picked it up from the post office and was charged 100% tax on the whole thing including postage. She paid it knowing I really was looking forward to it arriving and knowing if I new I would tell them to shove it where the sun doesn't shine. 

[baansgr]

Lazada sell many products from abroad...will 7% be added when purchasing? 

[GeorgeCross]

applying it and collecting it are two totally different ball games ????

 

unless they actually think Thai law extends beyond Thai borders 

 

 

Edited December 17, 2019 by GeorgeCross

[donnacha]

7 minutes ago, GeorgeCross said:

unless they actually think Thai law extends beyond Thai borders

Well, the EU certainly do.

[donnacha]

The ultimate death blow for Thai tourism, to cap all their fine work leading up to it over the past five years, would be if some enthusiastic customs officers at the airport start levying various taxes on laptops being brought in by tourists.

This would, of course, be done to protect the cutting-edge Thai computer industry from unfair competition from Apple, HP, and Dell.

Don't think it couldn't happen.

 

 

 

Edited December 17, 2019 by donnacha

[donnacha]

The problem with this 7% VAT will be that, to collect the 10 baht you owe on your 140 baht teeth-whitening strips from Aliexpress, you will have to queue up at the carrier's depot in your city to pay the 10 baht and an additional 80 baht administrative charge.

While I understand the principle behind it, I predict the implementation will be an absolute clusterf*ck, ultimately giving a big boost to the already robust smuggling industry. 

[kwak250]

Got a pair of Nike air trainers sent from the uk that cost £60 only to be told by Thai customs they were valued at 7000 baht and got taxed about 1500 baht .

Still cheaper than buying here and at least they wont fall apart after a brisk walk.

[robblok]

This will be a disaster to uphold and will make my online shopping a bit harder. 

 

They should just keep on doing what they do with normal taxation it includes the 7% already this is nothing new. The thing is they need to check all parcels from foreign countries now. They did not do this before.

 

I wonder how they want to implement this. 

[cdmtdm]

this is aimed at eBay , amazon , iherb, they do not have companies setup in Thailand & the govt does not collect any tax ...Amazon was recently forced to open up a company in Australia in order to continue trading ..... I think its fair but I suspect Lazada will get ignored due to its Chinese content ...

[ThomasThBKK]

27 minutes ago, robblok said:

This will be a disaster to uphold and will make my online shopping a bit harder. 

 

They should just keep on doing what they do with normal taxation it includes the 7% already this is nothing new. The thing is they need to check all parcels from foreign countries now. They did not do this before.

 

I wonder how they want to implement this. 

especially that they kill the goddamn 1500 THB limit that every other country in the world has.

 

This will now take months to receive a package if they have to check every single mail envelope coming into the country. 

 

They never thought about this point, they never think.

Edited December 18, 2019 by ThomasThBKK

[robblok]

2 minutes ago, ThomasThBKK said:

especially that they kill the goddamn 1500 THB limit that every other country in the world has.

 

This will now take months to receive a package if they have to check every single mail envelope coming into the country. 

 

They never thought about this point, they never think.

Yes because now they need a 100% check, that is never ever going to work. Stupid rules without thinking about how to implement what they think up. That is typical Thai.

 

[BestB]

Fair competition for Thai products?????
 

 

 

More like running around looking for ways to collect money because coffees are empty 

[johng]

2 hours ago, kwak250 said:

Got a pair of Nike air trainers sent from the uk that cost £60 only to be told by Thai customs

Shoes are taxed at 30%   I found out the hard way too ????

[justin case]

I order many things online, that are not even made in thailand...

 

a descent multivitamin, probiotics, high quality fish oils... non existing in thailand

 

only crappy non bio available stuff you can find here

[unamazedloso]

Thailand's markups are insane and in some cases i feel bullied to pay the price offered like im a <deleted> or something.

I do most of my shopping online and most of it is from abroad. 7% is still cheaper than buying the same rubbish here at 1000% in some cases.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

17 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

also cancel the tax-free status on imported products priced below Bt1,500 to be fair to Thai manufacturers, who produce similar goods and who are charged 7 per cent VAT.

 

If Thai manufacturers made the same or even actually similar products to those that I buy abroad and have shipped here, I wouldn't be paying extra and going to the trouble of having them imported...

 

The simple fact is -- virtually everything I buy abroad is NOT available here at all -- not the same products, not even legitimately similar products, regardless of price.

 

Thai manufacturers are mass marketers who produce stuff that they expect Thai people to buy -- and a lot of the personal comfort products expats want and buy often are an entirely different matter.

 

If Thai manufacturers actually made the products I want here locally, I'd certainly be willing to buy them here. But at least for my import shopping habits, they simply DON'T!!!!

 

[ThaiFelix]

4 hours ago, robblok said:

Yes because now they need a 100% check, that is never ever going to work. Stupid rules without thinking about how to implement what they think up. That is typical Thai.

 

Dont forget this is Thailand.  The procedure here is a little different.  First you make a decision, make it law, and THEN you think about the pros and cons.  Dont you remember the laws/decisions/announcements on riding in the back of pick-ups, or all tourists having to wear tracking devices, all police being able to speak fluent English in 6 months etc etc.

 

This will probably be either completely canned in a month or so, or they will only collect it from the easiest sources and forget the rest.  Amazing Thailand!

 

[KenKadz]

More Thai Greed!

Foreigners Welcome!

Compensating for Lack of Tourists?

[Isaan sailor]

Thailand should tax all Chinese products, since ChiComs have had a heavy hand in bringing about this Baht appreciation.

[Roy Baht]

Foreign goods are already taxed by tariffs. This is a second tax on top of that. BTW, if they really cared about the strong baht, they would make it easier, not more difficult, to buy goods from overseas. Overseas transactions convert THB into foreign currencies, thus lowering the baht. Instead, they introduce a tax which will discourage foreign transactions.

[TheAppletons]

7 hours ago, Roy Baht said:

Foreign goods are already taxed by tariffs. This is a second tax on top of that. BTW, if they really cared about the strong baht, they would make it easier, not more difficult, to buy goods from overseas. Overseas transactions convert THB into foreign currencies, thus lowering the baht. Instead, they introduce a tax which will discourage foreign transactions.

  Exactly.  Not to mention the fact that this completely bastardizes the concept of a "value added tax".  

 

  Thailand is simply adding an additional 7% tariff on all imported goods.

 

  "A value-added tax (VAT) is a consumption tax placed on a product whenever value is added at each stage of the supply chain, from production to the point of sale. The amount of VAT that the user pays is on the cost of the product, less any of the costs of materials used in the product that have already been taxed."

 

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/v/valueaddedtax.asp

[baboon]

On 12/18/2019 at 2:43 AM, robblok said:

Yes because now they need a 100% check, that is never ever going to work. Stupid rules without thinking about how to implement what they think up. That is typical Thai.

 

Send the most fragrant cheeses over from the Netherlands. And the occasional bag of puke. Make 'em work for their extra shekels....

[robblok]

13 minutes ago, baboon said:

Send the most fragrant cheeses over from the Netherlands. And the occasional bag of puke. Make 'em work for their extra shekels....

I dont really care about the 7% its more that the whole process will slow everything down and for what. Almost no extra income. They are so affraid for competition why not make their own products of a higher quality or better price so people wont buy abroad. 

 

I mean the shipping that people pay is far more than the 7% so the thai prices are just too high or the products are not as good. 

[unamazedloso]

Where can i buy Thai products?

Do they exist?

Oh yeh some airconditioners and crappy cars no one wants unless they dont know better?

So are Thai products now going to be exempt because clearly they arent good enough or cheap enough given people buy elsewhere anyway. Thai Government are criminals. They think and operate sorta like mafia. Control, control, control... Cant have interests, hobbys or fun with out taxing it....

[UKresonant]

8 hours ago, unamazedloso said:

Cant have interests, hobbys or fun with out taxing it....

That about sums the place up now! (or not being able to do the hobby at all).