Airport Customs & Tax

[Viper]

Here is a warning to everyone who imports goods into Thailand:

I have a business in Thailand selling model aeroplanes, and just recently I had an order get flown in by air freight by mistake.

To cut the long storey short as you can imagine the hard work and hassle i had to get the shipper to take responsibility for there mistake.

Well that didnt happen and they just cut straight out of there contract and told me to pay them the equivalent sea shipping rate and told me to seek another shipper to forward my goods out of customs & duty. This was a long battle believe me. Anyhow once i found another freight forwarding company and passed on the relevant paperwork, they sent me the duty charge which turned out to be just a fraction less than 100% the value of my goods. On top of that was storage charges, shipping service, sea freight service (from siam-trans, the original contractors) pick-up, customs formalities, Airfreight charge, transportation charges, cc fee 3%, Caf 2%, VAT, and 2 under the table charges. One to the police and one to customs officers. I mean <deleted> is all this crap about? Im so angry with this system it happens every time i get something flown in by air. I hardly get any problem by sea way. I personally think that the customs procedures in Thailand are all under looked by the government and are still working as in the old Taksin days. All the Thai companies I know have had or are having the same trouble as me, and most of them tell me Suvharnbumi customs or thief's. There not far wrong there i tell you. BE AWARE WHEN USING AIR FREIGHT!

[ukrules]

You are right to be angry here, everyone who could rip you off or gouge you for money here has done so including the Government.

[mca]

I have a business in Thailand selling model aeroplanes, and just recently I had an order get flown in by air freight by mistake.

Couldn't they fly themselves?

(Sorry. Couldn't resist. Thanks for the heads up regarding air freighted stuff)

[thaihome]

I wouldn’t begin to defend the Thai Customs Dept, they are acknowledged to be the worst Government entity without any doubt. One problem with air freight that gets people who don’t know is the cost of shipping is included in the assessed value for calculation of the duty.

TH

[CrazyFarang]

I wouldn't begin to defend the Thai Customs Dept, they are acknowledged to be the worst Government entity without any doubt. One problem with air freight that gets people who don't know is the cost of shipping is included in the assessed value for calculation of the duty.

TH

Well, if this can cheer you up, it's the same in Italy, you pay the duty on the goods AND for freight!

[DocStrangelove]

So when you ship via sea freight you can avoid paying import tax?

[chuang]

Here is a warning to everyone who imports goods into Thailand:

I personally think that the customs procedures in Thailand are all under looked by the government and are still working as in the old Taksin days. . BE AWARE WHEN USING AIR FREIGHT!

Thaksin bashing again......and I think the customs procedures have been going on way before Thaksin government...

[h90]

Here is a warning to everyone who imports goods into Thailand:

I have a business in Thailand selling model aeroplanes, and just recently I had an order get flown in by air freight by mistake.

To cut the long storey short as you can imagine the hard work and hassle i had to get the shipper to take responsibility for there mistake.

Well that didnt happen and they just cut straight out of there contract and told me to pay them the equivalent sea shipping rate and told me to seek another shipper to forward my goods out of customs & duty. This was a long battle believe me. Anyhow once i found another freight forwarding company and passed on the relevant paperwork, they sent me the duty charge which turned out to be just a fraction less than 100% the value of my goods. On top of that was storage charges, shipping service, sea freight service (from siam-trans, the original contractors) pick-up, customs formalities, Airfreight charge, transportation charges, cc fee 3%, Caf 2%, VAT, and 2 under the table charges. One to the police and one to customs officers. I mean <deleted> is all this crap about? Im so angry with this system it happens every time i get something flown in by air. I hardly get any problem by sea way. I personally think that the customs procedures in Thailand are all under looked by the government and are still working as in the old Taksin days. All the Thai companies I know have had or are having the same trouble as me, and most of them tell me Suvharnbumi customs or thief's. There not far wrong there i tell you. BE AWARE WHEN USING AIR FREIGHT!

You need a good agent for customs clearing+the right documents. Under table is only necessary if you have undervalue invoices. Pretty straight forward in Thailand, we have an import twice a month without any problem ever.

You have a legit registered company here right?

[h90]

I wouldn't begin to defend the Thai Customs Dept, they are acknowledged to be the worst Government entity without any doubt. One problem with air freight that gets people who don't know is the cost of shipping is included in the assessed value for calculation of the duty.

TH

Well, if this can cheer you up, it's the same in Italy, you pay the duty on the goods AND for freight!

yes that's correct! Duty from the landed costs, VAT on top of it.

[thaihome]

I wouldn't begin to defend the Thai Customs Dept, they are acknowledged to be the worst Government entity without any doubt. One problem with air freight that gets people who don't know is the cost of shipping is included in the assessed value for calculation of the duty.

TH

Well, if this can cheer you up, it's the same in Italy, you pay the duty on the goods AND for freight!

yes that's correct! Duty from the landed costs, VAT on top of it.

All over the world…

TH

[h90]

I wouldn't begin to defend the Thai Customs Dept, they are acknowledged to be the worst Government entity without any doubt. One problem with air freight that gets people who don't know is the cost of shipping is included in the assessed value for calculation of the duty.

TH

Well, if this can cheer you up, it's the same in Italy, you pay the duty on the goods AND for freight!

yes that's correct! Duty from the landed costs, VAT on top of it.

All over the world…

TH

yes

After dealing with different customs I must say Thailands customs is one of the nicer one. US or Germany is far less helpfull

[Huey]

Maaaan don't get me started. On airfreight I was lucky. It was the ocean freight where I got my crap pushed back by the customs. It was a similar case to yours where my shipping agent messed up. I set my wife up this year with her own small cosmetics line. Our agent told my supplier in China to send the container to BKK. Where they would work their connections and get my stuff through, as they have done before. However this time she didn't tell my supplier WHICH port in BKK (there are 3) and it got sent to one where they didn't have the connections. And man....I got reamed! like First you need a Aoi Yor cert (similar to a FDA cert in the states) so we had to go and get all the specifications for every color of every type of cosmetic (over 250) then after doing that for no less than 2 months, there was the matter of tax @ 40% and fees and fines and sick buffalo insurance, stick rice kanom money.... By the time they got finished I had to pay like 80% of what the true value of my products were. Fortunately cosmetics have a high profit margin but still I got totally hosed.

If anyone wants to know the name of this agent they can PM me just so you can avoid her if you import.

[h90]

Maaaan don't get me started. On airfreight I was lucky. It was the ocean freight where I got my crap pushed back by the customs. It was a similar case to yours where my shipping agent messed up. I set my wife up this year with her own small cosmetics line. Our agent told my supplier in China to send the container to BKK. Where they would work their connections and get my stuff through, as they have done before. However this time she didn't tell my supplier WHICH port in BKK (there are 3) and it got sent to one where they didn't have the connections. And man....I got reamed! like First you need a Aoi Yor cert (similar to a FDA cert in the states) so we had to go and get all the specifications for every color of every type of cosmetic (over 250) then after doing that for no less than 2 months, there was the matter of tax @ 40% and fees and fines and sick buffalo insurance, stick rice kanom money.... By the time they got finished I had to pay like 80% of what the true value of my products were. Fortunately cosmetics have a high profit margin but still I got totally hosed.

If anyone wants to know the name of this agent they can PM me just so you can avoid her if you import.

the usual way is: BEFORE it arrives the documents will be done, based on the tariff numbers which should be very clear on cosmetic. Than it can be delivered on the same day it arrives. If it stays longer at customs you have to pay a storage fee. (A good clearing has its one storage and does not let it go to customs before everything is clear).

I think I know another 10 agents which I can tell to avoid. Most have no clue about the tariff numbers and the whole process. I never saw a good clearing agent lower than 5000-9000 Baht per clearing (incl. transport to the factory). And still you must know the tariff numbers yourself. These numbers are the key to everything.

If it starts "at this port I have connections" than it is something zick-zack and things like you tell are happening.

[CWMcMurray]

I wouldn't blame this one on customs... you went with an agent who told you that they will use their connections to import your goods illegally and bypass the import permit regulations...

I think its safe to say that pretty much every where in the world if you operate illegally its only a matter of time before you get caught...

You should have applied for the necessary import permits before importing the goods.

Maaaan don't get me started. On airfreight I was lucky. It was the ocean freight where I got my crap pushed back by the customs. It was a similar case to yours where my shipping agent messed up. I set my wife up this year with her own small cosmetics line. Our agent told my supplier in China to send the container to BKK. Where they would work their connections and get my stuff through, as they have done before. However this time she didn't tell my supplier WHICH port in BKK (there are 3) and it got sent to one where they didn't have the connections. And man....I got reamed! like First you need a Aoi Yor cert (similar to a FDA cert in the states) so we had to go and get all the specifications for every color of every type of cosmetic (over 250) then after doing that for no less than 2 months, there was the matter of tax @ 40% and fees and fines and sick buffalo insurance, stick rice kanom money.... By the time they got finished I had to pay like 80% of what the true value of my products were. Fortunately cosmetics have a high profit margin but still I got totally hosed.

If anyone wants to know the name of this agent they can PM me just so you can avoid her if you import.

[CWMcMurray]

If the goods are sent by Ocean, given the long transit times, you will normally have plenty of time to ensure that all the documents are correct and that everything is set up for a smooth customs clearance prior to the goods arriving.

One of the big problems that occur with Air freight shipments is that people do not consult their customs broker in Thailand before the goods are uplifted at the origin. The transit time for air may only be a couple of days (or 1 day if direct flight), so there is no time to sort things out while the goods are in transit.

In this case it seems you did get the shaft from your supplier, but one way to avoid this is to ensure that the shipping terms in your PO are either Exworks or FOB. This will mean that you will be the party to nominate the freight forwarder and that you will be able to control the process (i.e when to pick up, when to ship, ensure that shipping docs are correct, choose airline/liner and shipping schedule).

This will also help to avoid storage charges. The cargo terminals at the airport only allow 2 days of free storage, so if the documents are not correct or if the shipping docs are not received in advance then there could be delays in customs clearance which will result in storage charges.

For example:

Lets say that your supplier send the shipment with an ETA in Bangkok on the evening of 22 Oct, the 23rd was a national holiday and your company is closed over the weekend, so you can not arrange for customs clearance until Monday. So 22nd and 23rd is free, but now if everything is perfect with the docs and no problems with customs and you can clear the goods on Monday you are still looking at 3 days of storage.

Now if you are controlling the freight, you instruct you freight forwarder to ensure that all of the docs are in order and the goods arrive on Sunday...they receive the shipping docs from their partner on Sat (they still work a half day on sat) and they draft the import entry prior to the goods arriving (they are familiar with your goods and so already have the Thai Translations and proper tariff codes). The goods arrive on Sun and the goods are cleared within Monday, no problems and no storage charges...

Controlling the freight will help you to solve many of the problems that may occur...

Without knowing more of the details about the actual shipment, I can not say for sure, but I would guess that the reason the import duty was so high may be because the House Air Way Bill was not rated.

If the rate is not shown on the HAWB, then the rate on the MAWB will need to be used to calculate the CIF value of goods. The rate shown on the Master Air Way Bill is usually the IATA rate, which is much higher than actual freight cost. This will inflate the value of goods and increase Duty and VAT amount.

Again, if you are controling the freight, you can ensure that your actual selling rate is put on the HAWB, if your supplier is controling the freight then this may not be done.

Here is a warning to everyone who imports goods into Thailand:

I have a business in Thailand selling model aeroplanes, and just recently I had an order get flown in by air freight by mistake.

To cut the long storey short as you can imagine the hard work and hassle i had to get the shipper to take responsibility for there mistake.

Well that didnt happen and they just cut straight out of there contract and told me to pay them the equivalent sea shipping rate and told me to seek another shipper to forward my goods out of customs & duty. This was a long battle believe me. Anyhow once i found another freight forwarding company and passed on the relevant paperwork, they sent me the duty charge which turned out to be just a fraction less than 100% the value of my goods. On top of that was storage charges, shipping service, sea freight service (from siam-trans, the original contractors) pick-up, customs formalities, Airfreight charge, transportation charges, cc fee 3%, Caf 2%, VAT, and 2 under the table charges. One to the police and one to customs officers. I mean <deleted> is all this crap about? Im so angry with this system it happens every time i get something flown in by air. I hardly get any problem by sea way. I personally think that the customs procedures in Thailand are all under looked by the government and are still working as in the old Taksin days. All the Thai companies I know have had or are having the same trouble as me, and most of them tell me Suvharnbumi customs or thief's. There not far wrong there i tell you. BE AWARE WHEN USING AIR FREIGHT!

Edited October 31, 2009 by CWMcMurray

[h90]

If the goods are sent by Ocean, given the long transit times, you will normally have plenty of time to ensure that all the documents are correct and that everything is set up for a smooth customs clearance prior to the goods arriving.

One of the big problems that occur with Air freight shipments is that people do not consult their customs broker in Thailand before the goods are uplifted at the origin. The transit time for air may only be a couple of days (or 1 day if direct flight), so there is no time to sort things out while the goods are in transit.

In this case it seems you did get the shaft from your supplier, but one way to avoid this is to ensure that the shipping terms in your PO are either Exworks or FOB. This will mean that you will be the party to nominate the freight forwarder and that you will be able to control the process (i.e when to pick up, when to ship, ensure that shipping docs are correct, choose airline/liner and shipping schedule).

This will also help to avoid storage charges. The cargo terminals at the airport only allow 2 days of free storage, so if the documents are not correct or if the shipping docs are not received in advance then there could be delays in customs clearance which will result in storage charges.

For example:

Lets say that your supplier send the shipment with an ETA in Bangkok on the evening of 22 Oct, the 23rd was a national holiday and your company is closed over the weekend, so you can not arrange for customs clearance until Monday. So 22nd and 23rd is free, but now if everything is perfect with the docs and no problems with customs and you can clear the goods on Monday you are still looking at 3 days of storage.

Now if you are controlling the freight, you instruct you freight forwarder to ensure that all of the docs are in order and the goods arrive on Sunday...they receive the shipping docs from their partner on Sat (they still work a half day on sat) and they draft the import entry prior to the goods arriving (they are familiar with your goods and so already have the Thai Translations and proper tariff codes). The goods arrive on Sun and the goods are cleared within Monday, no problems and no storage charges...

Controlling the freight will help you to solve many of the problems that may occur...

Without knowing more of the details about the actual shipment, I can not say for sure, but I would guess that the reason the import duty was so high may be because the House Air Way Bill was not rated.

If the rate is not shown on the HAWB, then the rate on the MAWB will need to be used to calculate the CIF value of goods. The rate shown on the Master Air Way Bill is usually the IATA rate, which is much higher than actual freight cost. This will inflate the value of goods and increase Duty and VAT amount.

Again, if you are controling the freight, you can ensure that your actual selling rate is put on the HAWB, if your supplier is controling the freight then this may not be done.

I can recommend cargo-partner the staff is helpful and the manager is Dutch and always available to make things moving. If someone needs the contact email-address PM me.

I just had a difficult sensitive import with them and they explained everything for me + managed the packing in Italy (as I don't speak Italian)

[Kf6vci]

I don't want to hijack the OP's thread. Q: Does this apply to a small flat rate Priority Mail carton from the U.S.?

Watches for repair / no insurance / no delivery in 3 weeks

At this point, I would even welcome a "80% charge" versus a total loss.

They really should clamp down on mail theft and prosecute offenders severely!

Chris

[Maigo6]

Maaaan don't get me started. On airfreight I was lucky. It was the ocean freight where I got my crap pushed back by the customs. It was a similar case to yours where my shipping agent messed up. I set my wife up this year with her own small cosmetics line. Our agent told my supplier in China to send the container to BKK. Where they would work their connections and get my stuff through, as they have done before. However this time she didn't tell my supplier WHICH port in BKK (there are 3) and it got sent to one where they didn't have the connections. And man....I got reamed! like First you need a Aoi Yor cert (similar to a FDA cert in the states) so we had to go and get all the specifications for every color of every type of cosmetic (over 250) then after doing that for no less than 2 months, there was the matter of tax @ 40% and fees and fines and sick buffalo insurance, stick rice kanom money.... By the time they got finished I had to pay like 80% of what the true value of my products were. Fortunately cosmetics have a high profit margin but still I got totally hosed.

If anyone wants to know the name of this agent they can PM me just so you can avoid her if you import.

So, if you had imported goods into Thailand illegally without paying any tax at all, that would have been ok ?

[CWMcMurray]

If you need to send the goods out of Thailand to be repaired and then re-import without paying duty on the goods you should do an official export customs clearance when you send the goods (make sure to save export docs).

When you re-import the goods you will need to show export docs (serial number

and invoice value need to be same), you will then only need to pay import duty on the "repair" cost, which should be listed as a separate line item on the invoice.

I don't want to hijack the OP's thread. Q: Does this apply to a small flat rate Priority Mail carton from the U.S.?

Watches for repair / no insurance / no delivery in 3 weeks

At this point, I would even welcome a "80% charge" versus a total loss.

They really should clamp down on mail theft and prosecute offenders severely!

Chris

[Huey]

Maaaan don't get me started. On airfreight I was lucky. It was the ocean freight where I got my crap pushed back by the customs. It was a similar case to yours where my shipping agent messed up. I set my wife up this year with her own small cosmetics line. Our agent told my supplier in China to send the container to BKK. Where they would work their connections and get my stuff through, as they have done before. However this time she didn't tell my supplier WHICH port in BKK (there are 3) and it got sent to one where they didn't have the connections. And man....I got reamed! like First you need a Aoi Yor cert (similar to a FDA cert in the states) so we had to go and get all the specifications for every color of every type of cosmetic (over 250) then after doing that for no less than 2 months, there was the matter of tax @ 40% and fees and fines and sick buffalo insurance, stick rice kanom money.... By the time they got finished I had to pay like 80% of what the true value of my products were. Fortunately cosmetics have a high profit margin but still I got totally hosed.

If anyone wants to know the name of this agent they can PM me just so you can avoid her if you import.

So, if you had imported goods into Thailand illegally without paying any tax at all, that would have been ok ?

If you pay tax or you pay the tax collector how do you ever know? Once the money leaves your hand it's gone. And frankly; I don't care where it goes after that. Just so long as what is agreed upon up front stays that way. For exsample if someone says yeah I can get it through for X amount of money, by whatever channel, I just caculate the cost and agree or dissagree. I don't care how they get it through so long as it gets through.

You know, what pisses me off a bit about the leagle system in Thailand is that they arn't fully corrupt and they arn't on the level. For exsample, in the States you have a very clear set of import rules, you pay the licencesing fees, do the paperwork and in a reasonable amount of time you can import. There are recourses and the laws are availible and clear.

In Iraq (I have imported and exported from there as well) there is no real law thats properly observed, it's hard to find when you want it, and even if you did it wouldn't matter. It's nearly 100% corrupt. However, it's MUCH easier than Thailand or America, you just pay the correct person at the docs and your stuff gets through. period. Simple as that.

At the end of the day in any situation you need to pay. I'm cool with that, however I prefer either a functional law abiding system or a fully corrupt yet functional one (like Iraq) so you know what your paying up front and pepole can do the jobs they say they can do.

But Thailand no, it's neither truely lawful or fully corrupt and they have superfulous amounts of meaningless paperwork that serves no other purpose than to be annyoing and to give some rubber stamp looser a job. I would just rather pay a flat fee to Khun Somchai and keep it rolling.

But anyway, at least I got the certification I needed after 20 years of BS bettween my agent and my manufactuer. Thats a plus. I'm blessed to have a paticent and helpfull manufacture to get me all the info about all the ingrediance for all the colors about each product...twice, and get it stamped at the embassy and all kinds of other drama.

I guess what got me up set the most is this all could have been avoided if my agent simply would have given the manufactuer the correct port. It's her incompetence that fired me up and ended up costing me allot more than I should have paid.