Thailand's Customs Department says it has collected more than 4 billion baht in import duty and value-added tax from foreign online purchases since imports began being taxed from the first baht on 1 January.

Customs director-general Phanthong Loykulnan said on Monday 14 September 2026, that more than 225 million imported items, worth around 14 billion baht, had generated the tax revenue. That is above the department's original 3 billion baht target.

For foreigners in Thailand, the change is particularly relevant when ordering goods from overseas websites and marketplaces. There is no longer a low-value threshold below which imported online purchases escape duty and VAT, meaning the final cost can be higher than the listed price.

Push towards locally based sellers

Mr Phanthong said the measure had received positive feedback from the Thai Chamber of Commerce and the Board of Trade of Thailand, which believe it will create a more level playing field for domestic businesses.

He said imports of miscellaneous goods from abroad had started to stabilise as consumers increasingly turned to platforms with locally based sellers.

The department is also working with the Department of Foreign Trade to crack down on products falsely labelled "Made in Thailand". The move comes as the United States has tightened scrutiny of the origin of Thai exports.

Mr Phanthong said the issue was not widespread, although some cases had been found. He said authorities would investigate whether facilities were genuinely producing goods in Thailand.

"Some factories we inspected had genuine factory licences and large machinery, but the machinery was covered with tarpaulins," he said.

He added that the issue could partly stem from the Industrial Production Index not fully reflecting newer industries, as some of its data remains based on traditional industries.

Customs collections rise across the board

During the first 11 months of fiscal 2026, from October 2025 to August 2026, the Customs Department collected about 590 billion baht in taxes and fees on behalf of other agencies. That was up 9% year on year.

Collections are expected to exceed 600 billion baht for the full fiscal year, compared with 596 billion baht last year.

VAT collected on behalf of the Revenue Department reached 380 billion baht over the 11-month period, up 11% from a year earlier, driven by strong import and export growth.

Mr Phanthong said customs duties account for a relatively small share of collections because Thailand has free-trade agreements with many countries that cut import tariffs to zero for most goods.

"Every 100 baht of imports generates only about 0.82 baht in customs duty," he said, adding that most departmental revenue comes from taxes and fees collected for other agencies.

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16 September 2026

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That's an average 17.7 Baht of tax collected per item, with an average imported value of 62 Baht per item.

I suspect the administrative cost of collecting the import duty exceeds the amount collected - and not by a small factor.

Never mind the (perceived) loss of productivity and travel costs for 225 million people to rock up to the post-office to hand over their coinage and get issued a paper receipt.

Government is a highly efficient well-oiled piece of machinery.

I remember years ago somebody in my local city council leaked a document that showed the overhead of the dog licencing department exceeded the revenue collected by a factor of 3/1. Bit of a pity, because the council's solution was to triple the licence fee. The following year the amount collected reduced by 30% from the previous year, while the overheads increased.

Governments are keen on taxing people.

Thailand following the EU with more tax on products from China.