New import duty collection push

[Just Weird]

1 hour ago, Pdavies99 said:

Depends who delivers, DHL automatically charge duty every time.

All the courier companies do, they have to, as they're contracted by the Customs Dept to collect duty on behalf of the department.

[Max69xl]

On 12/29/2019 at 10:07 PM, Kwarium said:

In Sept. there was a news item about new xray machines at swampy for arriving luggage and a statement that all bags will be scanned by the new year.

 

It would be great to hear updates on the current situation with the red and green lanes after baggage claim.

 

Now that phones cost 30,000 I think 20,000 maximum is ridiculously low for a duty free allowance!

 

Any recent travelers have experiences to share? 

Do you keep your phone in your checked in luggage? 

[CliffH]

So let's say I buy a £1,000 camera in LHR, fly to Swampy and get stung with import duty.  Would I get the tax returned upon my leaving Thailand with the camera at a later date?

What if I went through the green channel with this camera?  As far as I'm concerned, it's a personal item.  If discovered by x-ray, would they slap a fine on top of the import duty?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

11 minutes ago, Max69xl said:

Do you keep your phone in your checked in luggage? 

 

It's a bit confusing... I believe, some time back, there was some kind of proposal or announcement that the custom's exempt amount was going to be raised from 20K to 80K. And if you do a Google search today, you'll find some sites referring to Thailand having an 80K baht exemption.

 

But when I go straight to the Thai Customs website today, it still says 20K baht exemption. So whatever happened to the 80K proposal/announcement, who knows....

 

http://www.customs.go.th/list_strc_simple_neted.php?ini_content=individual_160503_03_160905_01&lang=en&left_menu=menu_individual_submenu_01_160421_01

 

Here's an example of the 80K baht reference:

 

https://www.tourismthailand.org/Articles/plan-your-trip-customs-and-immigration

 

 

Edited December 31, 2019 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[lopburi3]

26 minutes ago, CGW said:

I ordered a couple of pairs of slip on plastic shoes, better quality than is available on the local market but still cheap, they were cancelled by Lazada after a week or so as a "prohibited Item" first time that has happened. Had quite a few items cancelled and refunded lately, something going on, or maybe Christmas rush?

That sounds more like counterfeit items being rejected.  Thailand has indeed clamped down on such sales lately so expect more taking to the online sales and pressure on to weed them out.

[poohy]

4 hours ago, Curt1591 said:

The Thai government is getting tax crazy. 

Not only are they implementing VAT on imported goods, they have started up with an annual property tax. And, all Thai nationals, whether working or not, will be required to file income tax.

I'm sure they will come up with all sorts of new ways to pick everyones' pockets!

Well Bavaria's not cheap ????

[featography]

3 hours ago, topt said:

Do you have a reference for this as I don't remember reading anything ?

Shouldn't be a surprise. The wife told me some time ago that in the news it was reported that Thailand has borrowed so much money from China, they cant even pay the interest on that money. She said,  ''Watch, they will tax us all to pay the loan''. 

[Peterphuket]

Lazada, I use regular but some product are much more expansive, compare for example DJI drone's, or Philipshave, all very expansive at Lazada.

[Suradit69]

1 hour ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

But of course, one major problem with using Amazon's own direct international shipping is that a good portion of their catalog is not eligible for international shipping for whatever reasons. So the only way to get things like Fire tablets or Fire TV devices, among many others, is to have Amazon ship them to a U.S. address and handle it there onward to Thailand

Some years ago I bought my Kindle sent directly from Amazon, but I don't recall whether I placed the order through Amazon UK or US. I do recall that it involved courier shipping and prepayment of Thai customs duty. But that was quite awhile ago.

 

when I've ordered software (not from Amazon) directly downloaded not shipped,  I've been charged Illinois sales tax since my credit card address is in Illinois, but of course Thai customs weren't involved.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

7 minutes ago, Suradit69 said:

Some years ago I bought my Kindle sent directly from Amazon, but I don't recall whether I placed the order through Amazon UK or US. I do recall that it involved courier shipping and prepayment of Thai customs duty. But that was quite awhile ago.

 

These days, Amazon U.S. themselves definitely does not ship Fire TVs or Fire tablets direct to Thailand. And when I check about Kindles, I find the same result.  Can't speak to how Amazon UK handles such things.

 

 

[from the home of CC]

5 hours ago, Curt1591 said:

The Thai government is getting tax crazy. 

Not only are they implementing VAT on imported goods, they have started up with an annual property tax. And, all Thai nationals, whether working or not, will be required to file income tax.

I'm sure they will come up with all sorts of new ways to pick everyones' pockets!

how do you think western governments pay for the services they provide to people?

[Suradit69]

1 hour ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Sorry, can you explain that?  You mean they are charging a UK VAT on the front end, but then what happens after that? Who/why is later substracting the VAT amount from your bill?

 

The prices in their online catalogue include UK VAT. When I initially order, the order summary shows the full VAT inclusive amount, but when the order is processed and charged to my credit card, they reduce the amount actually charged because , apparently, items sent out of UK are exempt from VAT.

 

Lands End in the US started using shipping via courier and Thai duty prepayment which more than doubled the cost of purchases. The last time I used Lands End in Uk they were still shipping, cheaply, by post office. They left Thai customs to decide about duty. Pretty sure I've only paid duty about 10 times out of 20 or so shipments and the amount I paid was relatively trivial compared to what Lands End in the US wanted me to prepay.

 

incidentally all their shipments by post office arrived quickly and with no other problem.

[Suradit69]

11 minutes ago, from the home of CC said:

how do you think western governments pay for the services they provide to people?

I'd like to say they do it by collecting taxes, but these days a lot of western government services are paid by piling on mind boggling amounts of debt that will never be paid off.

[from the home of CC]

43 minutes ago, Suradit69 said:

I'd like to say they do it by collecting taxes, but these days a lot of western government services are paid by piling on mind boggling amounts of debt that will never be paid off.

 That's due to bureaucratic bumbling, overpaid government executive positions that are self serving and the really bad decisions made by so called 'educated' people who create more problems than solutions by their ego fueled misspending. There's plenty of money available (hell, in Canada most of my life I was taxed over 30%) but western style governments with their out of step lackeys don't have a clue, so consequently the money is consistently flushed down the toilet, hence the operation of civil society always in the red..

[natway09]

When it comes to tax the Thai authorities are just learning from our home countries on how to fill the coffers.

With the multitude of on line sales it is an area toughening up on.

New tax Director ,,, new broom.

NZ & Oz now allow only 19 cigarettes duty free,,,,,,,,,is this next

 

[Headgame]

3 hours ago, Just Weird said:

How could any items that are not imported attract import duty?

Sorry about that, you are obviously correct, no duty on local items.

[Curt1591]

2 hours ago, from the home of CC said:

how do you think western governments pay for the services they provide to people?

They have been doing it forever. However, one of the things I repected about the Thai government was that once one bought a house, they paid tax and then it was theirs. There was no annual tax.

The "Things I Respect about the Thai Government" list is quickly thinning out!

 

[from the home of CC]

7 minutes ago, Curt1591 said:

They have been doing it forever. However, one of the things I repected about the Thai government was that once one bought a house, they paid tax and then it was theirs. There was no annual tax.

The "Things I Respect about the Thai Government" list is quickly thinning out!

 

when I left Canada my property taxes were over $3000 a year, my friends condo fees were $4000 a year, imo that would of chased out many expats here already...

[Creasy]

Landed just before lunch on Boxing Day at Suvarnabhumi .

Waltzed through with suitcases loaded with wine, spirits and food stuffs.

mrs did mention that on the way back from the toilet while i was waiting at the baggage carousel she noticed a bunch of Asian girls all being stopped at customs .

 

 

[Suradit69]

2 hours ago, from the home of CC said:

 That's due to bureaucratic bumbling, overpaid government executive positions that are self serving and the really bad decisions made by so called 'educated' people who create more problems than solutions by their ego fueled misspending. There's plenty of money available (hell, in Canada most of my life I was taxed over 30%) but western style governments with their out of step lackeys don't have a clue, so consequently the money is consistently flushed down the toilet, hence the operation of civil society always in the red..

No argument from me. We keep being told operating with spending deficits isn't a problem, mostly by the people who want to spend but don't  want to align spending with tax sourced income.

 

Budget deficits may be good during slow economies, but in good times like we have now we can't keep spending on credit. Much of American debt is held by foreigners and that becomes a security risk.

 

2007-2008 was a scary time. The next credit collapse won't be easily remedied by raising more debt and having no where to go with interest rates.

 

Glad I'm old. Hope I won't be around when the fecal matter hits the fan.

[Monomial]

9 hours ago, UTH001 said:

Bought a blender on aliexpress a few weeks ago. The item was $62 (Baht 1,860), the import duty and fees were Baht 765. First time ever I had to pay such fees when buying online. I felt the duty was way over the top but what can one do...

 

The rule right now is that when shipped by Thailand Post, anything under 1500 baht is not charged a duty or VAT. This only applied to Thailand Post. Not the private couriers like DHL and FedEx. However, as of tomorrow, that rule is no longer effective. On Jan. 1st, anything sent by Thailand Post may be subject to customs and VAT, independent of value. It remains to be seen how the customs inspectors at Thailand Post are going to implement this. But $62 has always been over the limit, so not surprised you got hit.

 

Waiting with baited breath to see how some of my Aliexpress orders which have not yet arrived are going to be impacted.

 

 

 

[WayWokeWhiteGuy]

1 hour ago, Curt1591 said:

They have been doing it forever. However, one of the things I repected about the Thai government was that once one bought a house, they paid tax and then it was theirs. There was no annual tax.

The "Things I Respect about the Thai Government" list is quickly thinning out!

 

 

I think you are incorrect about no annual tax in Thailand. My wife pays taxes on her properties every year.

 

It's very low, and (apparently) a lot of people ignore it but I think it's there. 

[richard_smith237]

Just now, Monomial said:

 

The rule right now is that when shipped by Thailand Post, anything under 1500 baht is not charged a duty or VAT. This only applied to Thailand Post. Not the private couriers like DHL and FedEx. However, as of tomorrow, that rule is no longer effective. On Jan. 1st, anything sent by Thailand Post may be subject to customs and VAT, independent of value. It remains to be seen how the customs inspectors at Thailand Post are going to implement this. But $62 has always been over the limit, so not surprised you got hit.

 

Waiting with baited breath to see how some of my Aliexpress orders which have not yet arrived are going to be impacted.

 

 

We bought my son son some Pajamas from Next (online) - Cost $39 (free delivery) 1170 baht, well under the 1500 baht tax cut off. 

 

Nevertheless we received a message from DHL (who next used to ship the item) that we needed to pay 800 baht Tax !!!! <deleted> !!!  My Wife contacted them and contested this with DHL, the Tax was somehow lowered to 500 baht !!

 

I was overseas so couldn’t really get involved, but I was still highly irritated by this. But, I’ve also brought loads of stuff in tax free so can’t really complain too much !

 

 

IF we are now to be taxed on ‘anything and everything’ being shipped in it just means I’ll make all my purchases on overseas trips and forget about getting the smaller items shipped to Thailand. 

 

 

[Monomial]

6 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

We bought my son son some Pajamas from Next (online) - Cost $39 (free delivery) 1170 baht, well under the 1500 baht tax cut off. 

 

Nevertheless we received a message from DHL (who next used to ship the item) that we needed to pay 800 baht Tax !!!! <deleted> !!!  My Wife contacted them and contested this with DHL, the Tax was somehow lowered to 500 baht !!

 

I was overseas so couldn’t really get involved, but I was still highly irritated by this. But, I’ve also brought loads of stuff in tax free so can’t really complain too much !

 

 

IF we are now to be taxed on ‘anything and everything’ being shipped in it just means I’ll make all my purchases on overseas trips and forget about getting the smaller items shipped to Thailand. 

 

 

DHL has always charged duty on everything. The 1500 baht limit only applies to Thailand Post.

 

Still, duties are a game here. You can always negotiate.

 

[lopburi3]

33 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Nevertheless we received a message from DHL (who next used to ship the item) that we needed to pay 800 baht Tax !!!!

DHL and other courier services have long had a special agreement to pay tax without normal exam delay to speed delivery.  So the 1,500 baht exemption is not provided.  

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

1 hour ago, Monomial said:

 

The rule right now is that when shipped by Thailand Post, anything under 1500 baht is not charged a duty or VAT. This only applied to Thailand Post. Not the private couriers like DHL and FedEx. However, as of tomorrow, that rule is no longer effective. On Jan. 1st, anything sent by Thailand Post may be subject to customs and VAT, independent of value. It remains to be seen how the customs inspectors at Thailand Post are going to implement this. But $62 has always been over the limit, so not surprised you got hit.

 

Waiting with baited breath to see how some of my Aliexpress orders which have not yet arrived are going to be impacted.

 

Where are you getting the Jan. 1 effective date for that (the end of the 1500b exemption) from?

 

Last I read, it was still a proposal that had to go to the Thai Cabinet for approval...

 

Quote

He said the Revenue Department is adjusting the tax structure on foreign products sold in Thailand. They will be taxed from the first baht. The prices of goods ordered from abroad will be collected 7 per cent VAT from the first baht. If Thailand doesn't have any protective measure against the invasion of foreign goods online, the country will see a trade deficit with China, affecting a wide range of retail businesses nationwide including the production sector

 

https://www.nationthailand.com/business/30379814

Edited December 31, 2019 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

46 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Nevertheless we received a message from DHL (who next used to ship the item) that we needed to pay 800 baht Tax !!!! <deleted> !!!  My Wife contacted them and contested this with DHL, the Tax was somehow lowered to 500 baht !!

 

Clothing and related items seem to have some of the highest Thai Custom's Duty rates around.... Apparently, they REALLY don't want folks bringing imported clothing into Thailand.

 

I remember getting what amounted to a 50 or 60% Thai Customs duty on a clothing shipment that I had the misfortune of allowing to be sent by DHL many years ago before I understood how things worked here. In that instance, the total cost of the shipping, duty, tax and insurance charges assessed by DHL ended up being a higher amount than the actual retail purchase price items that were being sent. Never again!!!

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

1 hour ago, Monomial said:

The rule right now is that when shipped by Thailand Post, anything under 1500 baht is not charged a duty or VAT. This only applied to Thailand Post. Not the private couriers like DHL and FedEx. However, as of tomorrow, that rule is no longer effective. On Jan. 1st, anything sent by Thailand Post may be subject to customs and VAT, independent of value. It remains to be seen how the customs inspectors at Thailand Post are going to implement this. But $62 has always been over the limit, so not surprised you got hit.

 

The BKK Post had an article only on Dec. 18 on the topic saying a tax reform committee had endorsed eliminating the VAT exemption, and that the proposal would need to be forwarded to the government for consideration and approval.  Kind of hard to imagine they got it approved and documented in just the past week for implementation by Jan. 1.

[PETERTHEEATER]

11 hours ago, Curt1591 said:

And, all Thai nationals, whether working or not, will be required to file income tax.

Please provide a source reference for your statement

Enter. Thanks.

[mokwit]

1 hour ago, Monomial said:

However, as of tomorrow, that rule is no longer effective. On Jan. 1st, anything sent by Thailand Post may be subject to customs and VAT,

So we will be traveling to Phrakanong and then queing up 3 times to pay 30 baht VAT (done that when they opened a correctly labelled duty exempt item).