Importing Household Items ...on A Non-immigrant "o"?

[rainman]

My mom arrived in Thailand early last year and has been on 3 month visas since. She will receive her retirement visa next month and then wants to send some household items (about 20 boxes, with sea freight) from overseas to Thailand.

Now I've been reading the following page regarding household items at Thai Customs website:

http://www.customs.go.th/Customs-Eng/House...eHold#clearance

It says that:

It is important that the used/secondhand household effects must be imported not earlier than one month before or not later than six months after the arrival of the importers. Under exceptional circumstances, Customs may extend the time limits for the importers.

Does that mean not more than 6 months after she first arrived in Thailand? Or not more than 6 months after she received her retirement visa? I would assume the 2nd one, but not sure.

Then a bit further down, in red, it says:

Note : Nonresidents entering into the Kingdom with a non-immigrant visa "code O" who wish to retire in Thailand or accompany spouses of Thai residents are not qualified for (1)

I wonder if that means retirement visa holders cannot qualify for duty free household items moving at all ..or they're just exempt from the requirement (1) a bit above that.

Very confusing indeed and unfortunately the moving company (Allied) doesn't have the answers for it either. She did send about 10 boxes using Allied with sea freight when she first arrived here (on a tourist visa) last year, also with household items and didn't need to pay any taxes at all.

[LivinLOS]

Even when it was a requirement they still blackmailed me a bribe to get my stuff back.. Once they saw it was projection home theater and 1000's of USD valued speakers in the package the laws didnt matter..

Using the big name companies like asian tigers paid door to door can lower or eliminate this I read..

[rainman]

I think the only electronics that are in those boxes are 3 computers (old ones, from like 2001) and a flat screen computer screen, also old and used. We'll be using Allied (http://www.allied.com/) as with the shipment last year, where we paid no taxes, but all that was in that shipment was clothing, towels, small kitchen utilities and photos, etc. Pretty much the same now, except for those 3 computers.

[LivinLOS]

I seem to remember another clause was only 1 of each item..

They argued my DVD collection was 500x one item rather than 500 different DVD's.. Same with my audio CD collection..

[rainman]

That fits nicely ...those boxes contain at least a few hundred books, movie cassettes and DVDs

[Patriciachas]

That fits nicely ...those boxes contain at least a few hundred books, movie cassettes and DVDs

Would duty have to be paid on CD,s and own recorded DVD,s? or are they allowed

[Tod Daniels]

When I moved here in late 2004 early 2005 I used a mover from the US which contracted with a Thai shipper. I had my handmade bedroom furniture, office equipment, tons of cat furniture for my two cats and far more household stuff than I needed shipped out here.

The shipper here said I would have to pay around 1200 baht on the shipment and that customs might “open a box or two to check”. I figure I had over $20,000US in value of the stuff I brought here. Once it cleared customs, the company brought everything out, uncrated it, put it in the rooms I wanted it in.

All in all it was the most flawless international move I ever did. Compared to Brazil, Dominican Republic, and Peru it was a piece of cake here.

I concur with the advice of earlier posters to use a known international shipper here. They are all too familiar in how much “grease to give the wheels to stop squeaks”. Santa Fe, Asian Tiger, or just Google shippers here in the glorious "Land 'O Thais" and call around to see what prices you get.

As my stuff was shipped container freight it did take close to 8 weeks to arrive at my home here after leaving the US. That included a week in customs while the shipper hashed out the 'import fee', which was 1200 baht as they stated initially.

Good Luck

[redwood13]

I wonder if that means retirement visa holders cannot qualify for duty free household items moving at all ..or they're just exempt from the requirement (1) a bit above that.

Very confusing indeed and unfortunately the moving company (Allied) doesn't have the answers for it either. She did send about 10 boxes using Allied with sea freight when she first arrived here (on a tourist visa) last year, also with household items and didn't need to pay any taxes at all.

Holders of "retirement visas" do not qualify for duty free entry of personal effects. The rule was changed about 3 years ago.

-redwood

[rainman]

Does anyone know if holder of marriage visas qualify? In that case, I could bring it in under my name. My mom did already, like I said, do a shipment of personal effects here through sea freight last year and it went straight through, didn't need to pay anything.

Now we're looking at using the same company again (Allied Moving). Their estimate is 80,000 Baht for handling everything, right to the house. Or 30,000 Baht only to the port in Bangkok. The 2nd option seems cheaper at first glance, but probably more expensive if we have to pay duties, customs clearance, etc.

[lopburi3]

I believe the red print on this link answers the question - no. Although understand the English leaves a bit to be desired.

Note : Nonresidents entering into the Kingdom with a non-immigrant visa "code O" who wish to retire in Thailand or accompany spouses of Thai residents are not qualified for (1)

http://www.customs.go.th/Customs-Eng/House...nuNme=HouseHold

[paoa]

I am here on an "O"-other, retirement visa. I shipped my household goods through an international shipping line from USA to Thailand within 6 months of arrival. I was required to pay duty on my electronics gear, but not my computer, clothes of other household goods. My shipment was estimated at $20K U.S.; duty was 4,100 Baht. An interesting note: I went to customs with the local shipping agent. The agent slipped 20 Baht notes to various clerks, resulting in my duty assessment being reduced.

[lotus eater]

I used one of the biggest shippers with a presence in Thailand - ags four winds. I was well satisfied with the service. However I was still billed a hefty amount for so-called 'tea money' paid to customs in lieu of duty, which they assued me would have been higher. (Total shipment door to door cost of something over baht 200k, tea money of some 26k).

I am here on a retirement visa and the contents of my shipment were mostly books and (pretty old) household items.

I found no argument about reducing duty worked.

[redwood13]

Does anyone know if holder of marriage visas qualify? In that case, I could bring it in under my name. My mom did already, like I said, do a shipment of personal effects here through sea freight last year and it went straight through, didn't need to pay anything.

AFAIK you'd need to hold a work permit with an extension of stay to have duty free entry of personal effects.

-redwood

[rainman]

I think the best is if I go to customs directly with my mother AND my wife (who can translate). My mother, while she arrived over a year ago, will receive her annual visa shortly, so I hope that counts as being within the 6 months and not the original arrival on tourist visa. If she doesn't qualify, I guess I can ship it in my name under the marriage visa.

I'll let you know what customs has to say in a few days

[HAL9000]

I believe the red print on this link answers the question - no. Although understand the English leaves a bit to be desired.

Note : Nonresidents entering into the Kingdom with a non-immigrant visa "code O" who wish to retire in Thailand or accompany spouses of Thai residents are not qualified for (1)

http://www.customs.go.th/Customs-Eng/House...nuNme=HouseHold

Boy, have I got a lot of experience on this one! I entered Thailand on July 15th, and after two wedding ceremonies got the legal Amphor marriage registration on July 27. My household goods arrived about 3 weeks ago. It was a 20 foot Sea Land standard container with a declared value of about $1600 in personal effects.

I learned that the codes for exemption of customs duty are primarily to benefit the temporary worker, hence the work permit requirement, and not to benefit those of us who are relocating to live in Thailand. Nevertheless, I can say that a good agent for customs clearance can save you a lot of money. I paid about 9000 Baht in customs duties, which I thought was quite reasonable. Afterwards, reading the link on this website, I learned that many of the things I brought in normally carry a heavy tax:

http://www.thaivisa.com/340.0.html

My shipper told me that my tax was low, too, because my things were used, not new. Still, I feel most fortunate for the low tax I paid to receive my things.

[HAL9000]

I used one of the biggest shippers with a presence in Thailand - ags four winds. I was well satisfied with the service. However I was still billed a hefty amount for so-called 'tea money' paid to customs in lieu of duty, which they assued me would have been higher. (Total shipment door to door cost of something over baht 200k, tea money of some 26k).

I am here on a retirement visa and the contents of my shipment were mostly books and (pretty old) household items.

I found no argument about reducing duty worked.

We were first offered the option of "tea money" too, but they said after trying that there is no more "tea money" in lieu of duty. Still, with no receipt from customs we wonder if they paid less tea money than what they charged us for "duty". But I am satified to have received my things cheap enough. I think maybe one thing that helped us to resist their efforts to increase the duty is that we told them that we were already spending $4000 to move $1700 worth of things, so if the price was going to go up, we were just going to abandon the shipment and let customs dispose of it.

[rainman]

Digging up my own old thread here. I'm about to send all the stuff to Thailand, but I'm seriously thinking about removing those computers. My wife has a relative working at customs and she said that they could charge up to 100% of the new value of each computer as tax, which would mean about 40k Baht per computer, plus a flat screen monitor.

I am thinking better to have them removed from the container and given to friends as a gift than to send them here and potentially face insane taxes. Anyone have experience with importing computers to Thailand on a retirement or marriage visa?

[jackspratt]

Given that computers have a zero rate of customs duty, I think it unlikely that you would be charged 100% tax (which may also include VAT).

My experience in May when I imported a 2nd hand PC, together with flat screen monitor and printer ( plus assorted other personal effects, all together totaling 3 tea-chest size boxes), was about TBH1000 in what I suspect was tea money.

Each of the boxes had been opened and resealed by Thai Customs.

I was on a non O-A visa.

[PattayaParent]

AFAIK you'd need to hold a work permit with an extension of stay to have duty free entry of personal effects.

-redwood

I still ended up having to pay 20,000 baht to get my stuff in even though I had the corerct visa and had applied for WP.

It was either that or pay 500 baht a day demurrage until the WP was issued and I could bring the goods in Duty Free.

Fortunately the company paid it as I argued that it was part of my shipping allowance that had not been exceeded.