Thailand Customs to Apply VAT on All Postal Imports

[webfact]

 

Thailand's Customs Department will start charging Value-Added Tax (VAT) on all imported postal goods next month. The move comes in response to the influx of cheap imports from China, which have an unfair advantage over domestically taxed goods.

 

At present, imports sent via post aren't subject to VAT or import duties if each item's cost, insurance, and freight (CIF) value is less than 1,500 baht. However, plans from the Finance Ministry intend to enforce VAT collection on all imported goods, regardless of their value, but continue to exempt import duties.

 

According to Lavaron Sangsnit, the finance permanent secretary, this new tax policy will be established quickly by the Customs Department, which is a swifter approach than revising the Revenue Code. Nevertheless, the VAT-exempt rule will not apply to prohibited items, Sangsnit added.

 

The source from the Finance Ministry revealed that each country sets its VAT threshold based on its economy. In Thailand, the limit was raised from 1,000 to 1,500 baht per item in 2018.

 

Figures indicate that Thailand records more than 30 million parcel imports every year, with over half of these parcels claiming CIF values of less than 1,500 baht. Significant amounts of cheap goods are driven by online platforms retailing Chinese goods.

 

However, assessing the tax on each individually boxed item is a daunting task for customs officers, opening the need to devise effective methods of tax collection on low-cost goods.

 

File photo for reference only

 

[BritManToo]

Can't imagine China allowing this to happen!

[jimgilly]

So does that mean you will have to go to the post office for every package coming in from another country to pay this BS tax?   On top of this,  they are working overtime trying to find how they can extract more money from expats living here.  There are better places in this world to be and I for one will be moving on.  Get out while you can because things are just going to get worse in the future.

[mania]

23 minutes ago, webfact said:

However, plans from the Finance Ministry intend to enforce VAT collection on all imported goods, regardless of their value, but continue to exempt import duties.

A rose by any other name is still a stinkin tax 😉

[John Drake]

Prayuth was better.

[JoePai]

12 minutes ago, jimgilly said:

There are better places in this world to be and I for one will be moving on.  Get out while you can because things are just going to get worse in the future.

Bye bye   

[redwood1]

So on a package thats worth 100 baht....They will have to process the package how many times to make sure they get their 7 baht tax?

 

Then you must go down to the post office and stand in line to pay your 7 baht tax to get your package...lol

 

Edited April 29 by redwood1

[NotEinstein]

This is obviously aimed at the huge amount of Lazada and Shopee parcels direct from China via the delivery services, not via the post office. I guess it will be up to the delivery guy to collect the tax payment upon delivery, or else how is it supposed to work?

[ezzra]

There are bunch of people sitting out there thinking day and nights how to gouge more money from people,

never less, always more...

[SpaceKadet]

13 minutes ago, NotEinstein said:

This is obviously aimed at the huge amount of Lazada and Shopee parcels direct from China via the delivery services, not via the post office. I guess it will be up to the delivery guy to collect the tax payment upon delivery, or else how is it supposed to work?

Simple. The seller will just increase the price.

[redwood1]

8 minutes ago, SpaceKadet said:

Simple. The seller will just increase the price.

 

Well that would mean a higher tax would need to be paid some where along the line...

[Celsius]

So i dont get it.

 

If you order on lazada do you pay tax now?

 

This would make zero sense and it would be a logistics nightmare.

[jimgilly]

44 minutes ago, JoePai said:

Bye bye   

Stay put.  You are where you deserve to be.

[NotEinstein]

27 minutes ago, SpaceKadet said:

Simple. The seller will just increase the price.

While that would get the seller the tax money, it is out of the customs & excise control, so surely not the solution for them.....

Edited April 29 by NotEinstein

[Celsius]

28 minutes ago, SpaceKadet said:

Simple. The seller will just increase the price.

 

This makes zero sense.

[Presto]

1 hour ago, redwood1 said:

So on a package thats worth 100 baht....They will have to process the package how many times to make sure they get their 7 baht tax?

 

Then you must go down to the post office and stand in line to pay your 7 baht tax to get your package...lol

 

I would imagine that f.i. Lazada sellers, and for some reason a lot of their goods come from China, will just add the vat to the price?

 

[Jeffrey346]

Just received an item declared at $185. no VAT was charged

[soalbundy]

1 hour ago, mania said:

A rose by any other name is still a stinkin tax 😉

Ought to add no end of time for deliveries, have they enough personnel for this?

[Celsius]

3 minutes ago, Jeffrey346 said:

Just received an item declared at $185. no VAT was charged

 

Yea....no one at the post office got time for that 

[RandolphGB]

This is not difficult to implement.

 

Shopee, Lazada, AliExpress etc etc just need to collect the 7% at checkout and pass it onto the Thai government. The amount will be hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

 

Somebody has to pay for the Shinawatra family's private jets and property empire. And it sure as hell isn't going to be them. 

[grubman]

1 hour ago, jimgilly said:

So does that mean you will have to go to the post office for every package coming in from another country to pay this BS tax?   On top of this,  they are working overtime trying to find how they can extract more money from expats living here.  There are better places in this world to be and I for one will be moving on.  Get out while you can because things are just going to get worse in the future.

Do you think that expats are the only one that are ordering item from overseas, i am sure that the expat community is a very small percentage of orders that are being shipped from oversea. 

 

I'm sure there are many Thais ordering items from online platforms that are being shipped from oversea which will be including in the new tax grab 

 

Maybe the online platform can have the tax added in the final price, Amazon do this and you know the tax amount on check out... 

 

 

[garzhe]

"However, assessing the tax on each individually boxed item is a daunting task for customs officers, opening the need to devise effective methods of tax collection on low-cost goods"

 

Like many other Ideas, are they competent to implement it? 

 

 

[Robert Paulson]

There’s a tax you’ll pay on this tax

[goatfarmer]

1 hour ago, NotEinstein said:

This is obviously aimed at the huge amount of Lazada and Shopee parcels direct from China via the delivery services, not via the post office. I guess it will be up to the delivery guy to collect the tax payment upon delivery, or else how is it supposed to work?

It won't work. Another bright idea that will quietly get shelved.

[PB172111]

1 hour ago, jimgilly said:

So does that mean you will have to go to the post office for every package coming in from another country to pay this BS tax?   On top of this,  they are working overtime trying to find how they can extract more money from expats living here.  There are better places in this world to be and I for one will be moving on.  Get out while you can because things are just going to get worse in the future.

lol….you will find that many other countries are doing the same thing. Thailand is just a bit late to the party

[Trip Hop]

7 minutes ago, Presto said:

I would imagine that f.i. Lazada sellers, and for some reason a lot of their goods come from China, will just add the vat to the price?

 

Not unless Lazada sets up a system similar to what Amazon & EBay have whereby if you’re ordering from a different country, they charge you any import duty/VAT and then passes this directly onto the treasury. Your parcel is marked that all duty has been paid so it doesn’t get held up at the post office or wherever waiting for you to pay. 

[Marco51]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

File photo for reference only

 

Thailand's Customs Department will start charging Value-Added Tax (VAT) on all imported postal goods next month. The move comes in response to the influx of cheap imports from China, which have an unfair advantage over domestically taxed goods.

 

At present, imports sent via post aren't subject to VAT or import duties if each item's cost, insurance, and freight (CIF) value is less than 1,500 baht. However, plans from the Finance Ministry intend to enforce VAT collection on all imported goods, regardless of their value, but continue to exempt import duties.

 

According to Lavaron Sangsnit, the finance permanent secretary, this new tax policy will be established quickly by the Customs Department, which is a swifter approach than revising the Revenue Code. Nevertheless, the VAT-exempt rule will not apply to prohibited items, Sangsnit added.

 

The source from the Finance Ministry revealed that each country sets its VAT threshold based on its economy. In Thailand, the limit was raised from 1,000 to 1,500 baht per item in 2018.

 

Figures indicate that Thailand records more than 30 million parcel imports every year, with over half of these parcels claiming CIF values of less than 1,500 baht. Significant amounts of cheap goods are driven by online platforms retailing Chinese goods.

 

However, assessing the tax on each individually boxed item is a daunting task for customs officers, opening the need to devise effective methods of tax collection on low-cost goods.

 

-- 2024-04-29

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If they flatrate parcels independant of what is inside, VAT will in future also have to be paid for books? Books are duty- and VAT free internationally.

[Bangkok Barry]

1 hour ago, jimgilly said:

So does that mean you will have to go to the post office for every package coming in from another country to pay this BS tax?   On top of this,  they are working overtime trying to find how they can extract more money from expats living here.  There are better places in this world to be and I for one will be moving on.  Get out while you can because things are just going to get worse in the future.

 

Where will you go where things are not getting worse? I guess many of us would like to know so we can follow you.

[AAArdvark]

14 minutes ago, Jeffrey346 said:

Just received an item declared at $185. no VAT was charged

By post?

[Bangkok Barry]

5 minutes ago, Marco51 said:

If they flatrate parcels independant of what is inside, VAT will in future also have to be paid for books? Books are duty- and VAT free internationally.

 

Please do not confuse Thailand with the real world.