50% Import Tax On $99 Us Item?

[buzzer]

Hi,

I just learned that my software upgrade arrived. The manufacturer is in France. I paid via the internet $99 + $25 for a grand total of $124 USD. When it was delivered to my friend's shop they informed me I owed. ฿ 1,686 = $49 US. Close to 50% tax. I refused the item, and got a call from TNT shipping within about 2 minutes. I dug up my receipt, and called them back. This time they told me the ฿ 1,686 included shipping. I explained that I already paid for the shipping, and asked to speak to someone I could understand better. They said they would get back to me Monday.

1. What's the proper import tax % for something in that price range? 2. Are they allowed to tax the $25 shipping? 3. Are there any other lawful fees they can add?

This past 2 years 3 out of 4 packages sent from the US were lost. 1 of those 4 was lost, and the shipper refunded my payment, only to get the items back 5 months later. He shipped them to me again without incident. Amazon.com lost out $330.00 on a large order that was lost. All these were through the Thai Post - Samui. A 5th item arrived broken, so I went to customs to see if I could get a working item without paying another ฿ 3,000 in import tax. They said, "Sure! Just come back tomorrow!" (With everything, including the item, photos, passport copy, a letter from the Post Office, and tons of other stuff). I asked if there would be a fee, they said, yes - that it would be about ฿ 300 - 400. The next day I went in with all the required items and they said the fee was ฿ 3,000, to waive the ฿ 3,000 import tax.

The second time I was sent the item, I was in Bangkok at a hotel, and it was addressed to there. It was delayed (temporarily lost) for 3 weeks. This forced me to stay in the hotel nearly a week longer than I proposed, and when they 'delivered' it, it was to a Post Office across town - they wouldn't delver it to my hotel, or even to the Post Office for that area. So, I was in a taxi for a round trip scenic tour of Thonburi.

Thanks - Buzzer

[TheLaughingMan]

What exactly are you asking? It seems with your massive experience you are not some naive newbie to Thailand. Surely you see that they simply try to extort as much money as possible out of people and there is no enforced official amounts? 50% tax is my experience too. That does not make it the official tax amount, just the amount you must pay or not receive your item. We are at their mercy.

[JohnGotti]

you should have just paid and been happy it got there this time... or choose a better shipping service!

[Priceless]

[...]

1. What's the proper import tax % for something in that price range? 2. Are they allowed to tax the $25 shipping? 3. Are there any other lawful fees they can add?

To be really nitpicky, it is not formally tax, but import duty. Yes, this is supposed to be based on "cif", i.e. cost, insurance and freight. And, please, note that "cost" is not what is on the invoice, but the customs department's "assessment" value of the goods. In other words, you can't win Just consider whether the stuff is worth the total cost to you, otherwise let them keep it.

/ Priceless

Edited May 23, 2009 by Priceless

[Mark Wolfe]

Go to the customs house and make your case in person.

I had an old camera sent over two weeks ago from the US and it was valued at 150 dollars. The charge on this end was a total of 12%.

My advice is to have whatever you want sent valued as low as you can possibly make it. Check Ebay and make print out a page with your item used (if you can) to show its relative value. AND always use the normal post office service. Specialty services like FedEx charge as much as they possibly can on EVERY item. The post office is often slack and lets things go by.

On a similar note, my mother sent me a package last Xmas. It was assessed at something like 600 baht in duties. The package had not even been opened. What was inside? Wrapped in Christmas paper were a bunch of chocolate chip and sugar cookies and a couple of chew toys for my dogs (that's my mom for you). That was it. I am not sure what the duty is on homemade cookies, but I couldn't be bothered driving all the way to customs to argue. But it shows what a farce the whole "assessment" thing is. I guess they must have used their X-ray vision....

[imaneggspurt]

I had 4 identical parcels sent with a value of $20 on each one, 3 were delivered tax free, the last one ( came a week latler ) i was charged 1200 baht, ,on other occasions i have been charged 100 per cent, so now i play the game i have all goods sent declared low and get charged up to 100 per cent which i pay with a smile, there is no logical explanation as to how they arrive at the charges they do,.even cif figures do not add up, one parcel i had with a value of $400 i was charged 12000 baht import charges,.amazing thailand indeed,.

[stoneman]

I have seen an increase in customs charges over the past 6 months and I have a theory as to the reason..

The Thai government is basically broke...All budgets for all departments are being cut drastically. So I think that the customs office, along with several other depts, including the BIB's will be adding all kinds of new and increased charges to cover their budget short fall..

Stoneman

[buzzer]

My experience has obviously been different from all of yours. The first package I had sent to me was forwarded to me by a friend of items from various sources. Insuring something for more than it's worth is generally pretty cheap with UPS and FedEx. So he did me a 'favor' by insuring it for double its value. So I was charged close to 50% for import duties. I quickly learned that they are going to look for whatever evidence of cost they can find, and have found that to most often be the insured value. A lot of shippers will have a minimum of $100 insured value, so the Thai's will key on that.

Since then I have tried to talk shippers into insuring it for their replacement value, as it will be them, not me, that lose in case of loss or damage. This has worked out well for me, and I regularly pay between 15 - 25% of the declared/insured value, never more than that. Posters TheLaughingMan and JohnGotti, have a different experience, and approach to dealing with things obviously. I told TNT I would pay much, much less than they were asking. I'll see how that turns out on Monday. To answer TLM's What are you asking question, I'm trying to figure out whether I will let them take 25% of $99 or of $124. Above that, they can keep it. Hope they can figure out how to use the software without the authorization code.

The best thing to do is get it sent to a Thai that you trust, with their name and address in Thai on the parcel. While the US (and I assume other Postal Services) want the name in the language of their country, it is quite acceptable to print a Thai version, or a Thai/English interlinear version, and stick that on in a prominent place. This, of course makes for more work on the part of the shipper, and I've only used this method with family members back home, who wouldn't mind doing this for me. But packages sent to me this way have come in with little or no duty.

Thanks for trying to help.

Buzzer

[buzzer]

Hi,

Just a quick not to let you know how things went down. I told the representative from TNT that what they were charging was stupid, and whoever formed their policies was stupid, and that she was... not stupid, just doing her job. I informed her that a software upgrade package I get every 2 years or so weighs 10 times as much, costs twice as much, is delivered in 4 days and I pay about 10%. I said if they came up with a reasonable price to call me back, but any unreasonable offer would be a waste of time for both me and her.

I related the information to the manufacturer in France, and they gave me an option unavailable as a rule. They provided me with a link and password to download the software, and gave me double credit for what I paid for shipping that I can use for any future product purchases. Very understanding, very polite, and a great resolution to the problem. TNT, who would hope for some ill-gotten gain, ends up paying - at least in time and energy, and are left, at the end of the day with zero baht.

Reasoning with TNT didn't do any good, nor did I expect it to. But, if you are paying more than 25%, just don't do it! No sense feeding the corrupt system.

Thanks,

Buzzer

[bravingbangkok]

Thailand is just

GREAT !

[TopDogger]

I related the information to the manufacturer in France, and they gave me an option unavailable as a rule. They provided me with a link and password to download the software.

They need to get with the times...

[farseer]

A while back a company in the US sent a small item, costing around B300, but the post office people wanted me to pay B1,200 in tax, I told them to keep it and just got a refund from the company.

I have found that it is very, very unwise to have things sent to Thailand through couriers like TNT, DSL, FED EX. as every parcel ends up with a huge tax bill.

[raro]

[...]

1. What's the proper import tax % for something in that price range? 2. Are they allowed to tax the $25 shipping? 3. Are there any other lawful fees they can add?

To be really nitpicky, it is not formally tax, but import duty. Yes, this is supposed to be based on "cif", i.e. cost, insurance and freight. And, please, note that "cost" is not what is on the invoice, but the customs department's "assessment" value of the goods. In other words, you can't win Just consider whether the stuff is worth the total cost to you, otherwise let them keep it.

/ Priceless

Very well put! Duties are levied on the VALUE of the goods upon ARRIVAL in the country of destination. This includes the travel from the country of origin.

Since the duties add more value to the goods imported, the Value Added Tax is imposed also on the duties. Not only in Thailand but everywhere in the world.

Different to many other countries is that Thailnad does not honour "sample without value" - everything is subject to duties, also sample shipments.

50% import duties are alays 50% - not depending on the value of the imported goods.

[TheLaughingMan]

Very cool that the company let you download the software and gave you extra credit to make up for your trouble. Just wish there was a way you could rub it in the faces of the ones that tried to extort you.

[buzzer]

50% import duties are alays 50% - not depending on the value of the imported goods.

Hi,

I have no idea what you're saying here. With all due respect, I've never paid 50% - usually closer to 10 - 15%, I think once close to 25%.

A friend told me that TNT is an especially bad idea. He couldn't explain it well, but I got the impression that TNT is government run. like TOT and TAT. Personally, of all the courier services I've used I''ve never had a problem with UPS. I used FedEx once, and it seemed pretty pricey.

DHL was absurd. Whereas UPS and FedEx call you up and say, "Your shipment's ready. Can you have X baht ready? We'll see you today!" Then a FedEx, or UPS person delivers it. Simple!

I received 2 packages from Kuala Lumpur via DHL. I paid for 3-5 day delivery. The day after it was shipped it arrived in Thailand. DHL asked me to wire transfer the money in advance. They wouldn't deliver without that up front. Then they wanted me to fax or email a copy of my passport. UPS just looked at my ID at the time of delivery (usually not even then). DHL also wanted pictures of what I ordered emailed to them. They also had no idea of when it would even be delivered. It took, in total, 11 days from KL, and this was for the "Express Delivery" that I paid for. When I complained about the delivery time, they said it was held up by customs. But the on-line tracking provided details of every movement of the package, and it was in and out of customs within a couple hours. When I pointed this out to them they suddenly became very quiet. Just for fun I asked for a full refund because they took 11 days to deliver something that I paid the 3-5 day delivery charge for. (Getting a refund in Thailand?). As I said, I only said this to upset their durian cart. In the end it was delivered not by DHL, but by 2nd party carrier.

Thanks - Buzzer

[Laughing Gravy]

I had the honour of visiting the Bangkok shipping port customs yesterday. After 3 hours of getting sent to everwhere back and two (generally mesesed around) I finally got my two boxes of Books and 2 shirts. They did try and "fleece" me on tax but my very effecient Thai friend, reminded them that books for studying are non taxable. That really angered them and they then tried to say my two shirts would weigh 5 kilos. Once again she stepped in and told them otherwise.

You have to remember that the customs are the most corrupt places in Thailand run by government officials that give the term "buffalo" a bad name. Just smile pretend you don't speak Thai (I find this best) take a competent Thai person with you and just, either pay the over inflated fee that they pluck out of thin air or be prepared to get pushed around from office to the next.

I do like the customer service award they have there and the sign that shows you the office route to go and time limit. Its 55 minutes max. When pointed out that we had exceded that by 200% (I didn't say it I just smiled and kept cool) the replies are amazing.

You really have to be so intelligent to look so incompetent. If you go to the customes don't expect first world service or even Thai service, these people are unique!

Edited June 6, 2009 by Laughing Gravy

[Oberkommando]

I get items sent to me in my name as a farang = tax or import duty.

Get items sent to a Thai in a Thai name = usually no import duty.

[Livinginexile]

My Thai wife was taxed allmost 50% on something she bought over the internet from China and this was just for a US$25 item!

She did the same, she refused to pay for it and was prepared to let it go.

In the end they only charged her 25%.

And she too had to convince them to drop the tax on the shipping.

No shipping company, it was the post office that hit her up.

[TheLaughingMan]

I had the honour of visiting the Bangkok shipping port customs yesterday. After 3 hours of getting sent to everwhere back and two (generally mesesed around) I finally got my two boxes of Books and 2 shirts. They did try and "fleece" me on tax but my very effecient Thai friend, reminded them that books for studying are non taxable. That really angered them and they then tried to say my two shirts would weigh 5 kilos. Once again she stepped in and told them otherwise.

That is fantastic, I love stories where you can stick it to them for trying to steal, and they cant even kill you for foiling their plan, excellent.

[Jungian]

My family sent a stroller from the USA as I did not want to pay 35,000B for a safe one here the grand total was $150 US and the shipping was close to $50. They forgot to send it as a 'gift' which it actually was but we had to pay 1500B tax. The next time my family sent clothing and toys for our child the grand total was $250 and $60 for shipping but there was no tax due as it was a gift and appropriately marked as such.

[Oberkommando]

My family sent a stroller from the USA as I did not want to pay 35,000B for a safe one here the grand total was $150 US and the shipping was close to $50. They forgot to send it as a 'gift' which it actually was but we had to pay 1500B tax. The next time my family sent clothing and toys for our child the grand total was $250 and $60 for shipping but there was no tax due as it was a gift and appropriately marked as such.

I've had gifts sent from my family to Thailand, clearly labelled as such and still had to pay.

[TopDogger]

I think the official rule is that if its a gift, your still liable to tax if its valued at more than B1000?

[wackysleet]

I have the standard tea chest size box sent from England every month containing my collection of books sent by my Thai sister in law or a thai friend to my wifes other sister, nothing is ever in a falang name, it is shipped over by Freedom Shipping and when the box is collected at customs, having never been opened by them and clearly stating on the manifest sheet that they are secondhand books we always get striped for 2,500 baht import duty.