Thai woman with foreign husband furious at having to pay 54,000 baht on designer goods

[Liverpool Lou]

5 minutes ago, Dialemco said:

She got caught and paid a small fine. Just goes to show the so called well heeled tourists do nothing for the Thai economy.

She didn't get fined, she paid the required duty.

[kingstonkid]

5 hours ago, Denim said:

Time to ditch the fake Rolex and fake Gucci wallet for my next trip.

Probably charge you for duty for real thing.  In Canada I can remember having to register cameras and such before leaving so I didn't get dinged coming back from Germany.  

 

Pakistan was easier something about having a special passport kept the custom agent at bay

[KanchanaburiGuy]

41 minutes ago, BE88 said:

Why someone travels with the original Chanel box, that's why they are angry, they lost 54,000 of benefit

 

I see Thai TVs and appliances with original factory plastic and stickers on them, all the time. Right now, I'm looking at a ten-year-old+ Panasonic refrigerator with the original, yellow, "energy saver" sticker still on the door. The TV that sits atop it still has clear plastic all the way around the perimeter of the 55 inch screen!

 

Being in the original Chanel Box.......... means nothing! 

 

Not in Thailand......... not to Thais. 

 

????????????

 

Cheers! 

[Liverpool Lou]

1 hour ago, pokerface1 said:

If customs wants to be fair then they could have recorded the items in question and once the travelers check in to leave Thailand and return home then  a check of those items could easily be made.

And if that Thai citizen didn't leave Thailand they're ok to be effectively exempted from import duty?   That doesn't make any sense.

[John Drake]

Several years ago, somebody posted the Thai Customs duty schedule. What I remember reading back than was that Thai Customs can tax your used underwear if they assess it above a certain amount. And if you were bringing things back into Thailand that you had bought in Thailand earlier you were also required to provide receipts of your original purchase.

[RichardColeman]

They must have a field day when a plane load of Indians arrive with their Pattaya bound jewelry - if it exists

[Liverpool Lou]

9 minutes ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

1 hour ago, pokerface1 said:

IMO its a cash grab. If customs wants to be fair then they could have recorded the items in question and once the travelers check in to leave Thailand and return home then  a check of those items could easily be made. At that point anything item that wasn't present would be taxed. 

That's why I side with the travelers.

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Bingo. 

Nothing more needs be said. 

Bingo, my buttocks.   Before "nothing more needs to be said" the law would have to be changed.  

[John Drake]

39 minutes ago, darrenr said:

So what happens when I bring my personal IPad Pro (worth 60,000 baht), my Bose headsets worth 12,000 baht and my iPhone 13 Pro max worth 60,000 baht , does this mean they could be seized ? And or I have to pay tax for my personal items of use ?

Yes. It's difficult to get in or out of Thailand without paying something extra.

[Liverpool Lou]

10 minutes ago, Guderian said:

Nice to see that Thailand really is returning to the pre-pandemic normal.

Nice to see that some Thaivisa posters are returning to the pre-pandemic normal of making up their own interpretation of Thailand's Customs/importation rules.

[Photoguy21]

They wanted me to pay import duty of a few old T-Shirts and other items which were obviously a few years old. I didnt but wont add more than that

[Bert got kinky]

26 minutes ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

I often wear watches valued at well over a million Baht.... but if I have bought them outside Thailand I mail the boxes and papers back here and wear the watch through Customs with my G-Shock I wore going out in my bag.

 

You pay well over a million Baht for a watch?

All that tells me is that you have more cash than brains.

 

The clock on my I-phone is very accurate, and I can also make phone calls on the device, as well as performing many other valuable functions, what's more is that the clock was free.

Please enlighten us, what other function do your watches perform apart from costing as much as a 2 bedroom townhouse?

 

[KanchanaburiGuy]

19 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

"Have you any evidence to support that "they obviously did?"

Yes, obviously; I read the op, did you?   If they hadn't exceeded the personal allowance they wouldn't have been taxed.

 

"Can you prove that some of it........ or most of it........ was NOT things that shouldn't have been charged duty, as the travelers claim; personal possessions that will LEAVE Thailand when they go home (therefore not "imported?")"

I don't have to prove anything, the Customs officers who issued a receipt have to.  If she disputes the charges she can appeal.

 

Imported items that may be taken out of the country are not exempted from duty.  That she has the ability to take them out of Thailand does not mean that they were "not imported" into Thailand.    And, if she does take them back to Korea she may find that she's hit with Korean import duty if she doesn't have receipts for everything!

 

"If the item is just passing through Thailand, it is NOT an "import."

Yes, it is.  The items were being imported into Thailand, by definition...they were being brought into the country.   A Thai citizen would have a hard job justifying your "passing through" theory.

 

"The couple admitted that at least one item was a gift for someone in Thailand---the shoes---and would rightly be called an "import." 

Every item they brought into the country from another country was an import.

See, this is where my comparison to a "transit visa" comes in. There's a subtlety here that seems to be escaping you. 

 

Just because a word applies technically, that doesn't mean it applies the same way to every situation.

 

If it worked as you imply, the Thai government would be getting rich on duties, because pretty much anyone who arrived with a suitcase instead of just a carry-on (the suitcase itself substantially eating into the 20,000 baht plateau!) would be subject to duty! Why? Because virtually everything in their possession would be considered [technically] "an import"............and it doesn't take much at all to exceed 20,000 baht (not when the price of the suitcases themselves are factored in!) 

 

Except that ISN'T how it works. 

 

Going by the strict, pedantic definition of "import" that you have chosen to focus on.......... is not very helpful........... because that's just not how the real world works!

 

Cheers! . 

 

[Liverpool Lou]

1 minute ago, KanchanaburiGuy said:

33 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

"Have you any evidence to support that "they obviously did?"

Yes, obviously; I read the op, did you?   If they hadn't exceeded the personal allowance they wouldn't have been taxed.

 

"Can you prove that some of it........ or most of it........ was NOT things that shouldn't have been charged duty, as the travelers claim; personal possessions that will LEAVE Thailand when they go home (therefore not "imported?")"

I don't have to prove anything, the Customs officers who issued a receipt have to.  If she disputes the charges she can appeal.

 

Imported items that may be taken out of the country are not exempted from duty.  That she has the ability to take them out of Thailand does not mean that they were "not imported" into Thailand.    And, if she does take them back to Korea she may find that she's hit with Korean import duty if she doesn't have receipts for everything!

 

"If the item is just passing through Thailand, it is NOT an "import."

Yes, it is.  The items were being imported into Thailand, by definition...they were being brought into the country.   A Thai citizen would have a hard job justifying your "passing through" theory.

 

"The couple admitted that at least one item was a gift for someone in Thailand---the shoes---and would rightly be called an "import." 

Every item they brought into the country from another country was an import.

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See, this is where my comparison to a "transit visa" comes in.

This Thai woman was not transitting.

[geisha]

So are they going to rip,off the wealthy Saudi families when they come ???

[8OA8]

I remember years ago during a visit to Toronto where one of the other guests that was staying with us was busy removing the designer labels and sewing Marks and Spencer labels in their place, labels she had brought over to Canada with her.

She was a high profile actress (appearing on BBC at least once, maybe twice a week) When I asked her why change labels, she explained that she almost always got stopped by UK Customs on her return to the UK and the M&S labels saved her a fortune.  

[jonclark]

49 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

This is a discussion about Customs officers, not Immigration officers, isn't it?

sorry didnt realise you were an admin on here - Neeranam and I were just having a pleasent side discussion. Sorry to have upset you. 

[Excel]

29 minutes ago, Bert got kinky said:

You pay well over a million Baht for a watch?

All that tells me is that you have more cash than brains.

 

The clock on my I-phone is very accurate,

You pay well over 35 - 45,000 baht for a smartphone ( i-phone) and that tells us you too have more cash then brains ????

[RJRS1301]

3 hours ago, Bert got kinky said:

Not on used goods you are physically wearing

They were not used goods and she was not wearing them.

 

The watch they tried it on in my case was used, had purchased it several years before. It happened to be in its original case. I was carrying it in hand luggage as I always travel with at least two watches.

 

[Liverpool Lou]

2 minutes ago, jonclark said:

sorry didnt realise you were an admin on here - Neeranam and I were just having a pleasent side discussion. Sorry to have upset you. 

It'd take a lot more than you to upset me!

 

"sorry didnt realise you were an admin on here - Neeranam and I were just having a pleasent side discussion".

You had been responding to my comments so it wasn't just "you and him"...and, this is a forum.   

If you want to get cosy with him, to the exclusion of other members of this forum, perhaps you should PM him!

[jonclark]

31 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

This Thai woman was not transitting.

no and she was not she was resident either - so despte being a Thai national she was here as a tourist visiting - OP states she lives in Korea with her husband. I think the detail here is why did they only target the things of value - if by your own definitions that anything brought into Thailand is an import (or cannot be proved to have been purchased in Thailnd for Thai nationals) as the 20'000 baht duty ceiling for all personal possession is very low  - surely a very, very significant number of arrivals exceed this declaration value - why are they not paying duty on their imports of personal belongings?  This is either massive negligence (using your strict application of the rules) or customs genuinly thinks that all the hundreds of thousands of people that go through the green channel have less than 20'000 bahts worth of personal belongings on them. 

Edited May 24, 2022 by jonclark

[Excel]

2 minutes ago, RJRS1301 said:

I always travel with at least two watches.

So you know the DPM Prawit then ? ????

[jonclark]

2 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

It'd take a lot more than you to upset me!

 

"sorry didnt realise you were an admin on here - Neeranam and I were just having a pleasent side discussion".

You had been responding to my comments so it wasn't just "you and him"...and, this is a forum.   

If you want to get cosy with him, to the exclusion of other members of this forum, perhaps you should PM him!

no mate you butted into a discussion we were already having!

 

[jonclark]

1 minute ago, jonclark said:

double post

 

Edited May 24, 2022 by jonclark

[vandeventer]

6 hours ago, steven100 said:

welcome to Lieland  ... er sorry '   Thailand 

Why didn't she just buy the fakes like we do?

[bluejets]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

evidence of purchase from the start of journeys was needed

So what does that mean, evidence it was bought in ones home country..???

Don't see what difference that would make.

[Bluespunk]

3 hours ago, KanchanaburiGuy said:

Yes, probably.

 

So, the next question would be........... Did the things that fell into THAT category exceed the 20,000 baht allowable? The shoes alone almost certainly wouldn't. (Could, but probably not! 555)

 

 

Good quality shoes can be very expensive and several pairs would certainly add up.

 

For example I bought a pair of non leather doc martins at Christmas in UK. Set me back 200 quid or about 8,500 baht . They are hardly luxury items.

Edited May 24, 2022 by Bluespunk

[Bert got kinky]

9 minutes ago, Excel said:

You pay well over 35 - 45,000 baht for a smartphone ( i-phone) and that tells us you too have more cash then brains ????

 

Unless........... my phone is provided and paid for by my employers. ????

 

[Excel]

5 minutes ago, vandeventer said:

Why didn't she just buy the fakes like we do?

Because I suspect she bought them at non -Thai retail prices VAT free or reclaimed and by bringing them back to Thailand could sell at a substantial profit given the much higher mark-up on most designer goods in Thailand. Lucky she was not charged with smuggling them in and have them confiscated. Its good to hear that there are honest customs officials who simply charged her import duty rather than anything worse.

[Excel]

3 minutes ago, Bluespunk said:

Good quality shoes can be very expensive and several pairs would certainly add up.

Exactly as 3 pairs = 6 ????

[bluejets]

So if I bring my iPhone in, I am over...??

 

Is there some way to show these items are coming in and would leave with you and hense avoid any misunderstanding?

 

 

Edited May 24, 2022 by bluejets