How Much Will An Extra Litre Of Scotch Cost Me In Duty?

[OnNutter]

Hello all,

Can anyone tell me what I can expect to pay in duty on two extra litres of Scotch over the duty free allowance. I have searched the web for answers but to no avail, consular web sites just state duty will be charged at a fixed rate...but without info as to what the rate is! I'm sure someone out there amongst the wise and well travelled will be able to give me a clue what to expect.

Please don't bother to tell me to go through the green channel with the extra amount as people do it all the time, plenty get caught, loose their booze and are fined 30,000 Baht for smuggling, I'd rather pay the duty and keep a clean slate with the Thai government thanks!

Yours in anticipation, On Nutter

[QED]

Not possible I'm afraid, unless you have an import license you are not allowed to bring in more than your allowance.

Feel free to go through the red channel, but you will lose your booze and get fined for smuggling (and lose your legitimate bottle as well).

Either chance the green lane or don't bring it.

[Musongman]

I was very surprised to see the rules of what we can bring into Thailand recently. I have always brought what I needed without regard to laws or regulations that may apply. The penalties are quite stiff and I am going to have to watch it in the future, as I am sure one time as I go through the Green Zone, I will be pulled over!!

[PhilHarries]

Please don't bother to tell me to go through the green channel with the extra amount as people do it all the time, plenty get caught, loose their booze and are fined 30,000 Baht for smuggling, I'd rather pay the duty and keep a clean slate with the Thai government thanks!

That's an ionteresting question though. AFAIK all the people in the horror tales of losing all their dutiables, getting a hefty fine and being forked around for hours tried the green channel. I don't know what would happen in the red zone, I don't think anyone has tried it.

I assume by your willingness to pay the duty your not just bringing in a couple of bottle of Johnny Red otherwise just buy it in country.

[uwe_rayong]

Not possible I'm afraid, unless you have an import license you are not allowed to bring in more than your allowance.

Feel free to go through the red channel, but you will lose your booze and get fined for smuggling (and lose your legitimate bottle as well).

Either chance the green lane or don't bring it.

I doubt very much that you will get a fine for smuggling if you use the red channel. By using the red channel you show your willingness do pay import duties.

IMHO worst thing that can happen is that they confiscate the bottles and give you a bill because they need to destroy it.

Because your import is a private matter without any commercial intent , I think that there is no import license necessary.

However, if you use the green channel the fine for smuggling is possible. If you use the green channel you can`t say: please destroy it.

If you use the red, you can do so.

[connel707]

I was very surprised to see the rules of what we can bring into Thailand recently. I have always brought what I needed without regard to laws or regulations that may apply. The penalties are quite stiff and I am going to have to watch it in the future, as I am sure one time as I go through the Green Zone, I will be pulled over!!

I wanted to bring in some extra Viagra, but was warned that the penalties were pretty stiff...!!!!! carefull not to get "pulled"

[cdnvic]

I doubt very much that you will get a fine for smuggling if you use the red channel. By using the red channel you show your willingness do pay import duties.

IMHO worst thing that can happen is that they confiscate the bottles and give you a bill because they need to destroy it.

Because your import is a private matter without any commercial intent , I think that there is no import license necessary

Incorrect information that could land the poster in trouble. There is no legal way for a non-importer to bring in over a litre of alcohol. There are no extra duties you can pay, you simply can't do it.

You can take your chances at not getting caught, but if you are unlucky and get caught the penalties are much more severe than what the above poster guessed at.

Punishment if Failure to declare!

It will lead to a fine amounting to 4 times the value of undeclared items plus tax and duty, or imprisonment for not more than 10 years, or both. Such undeclared items are confiscated.

Tourism Thailand

[torrenova]

There is a published document, http://www.thaiembdc.org/Ann_Doc/ANN061109.pdf which states what the fine would be for bringing in excess cigarettes. I understand that the fine is equal to 10 times the actual tax which would be payable on those cigarettes. The same document also mentions liquor but simply states that people can bring in only 1 litre each.

I'm not sure I go along with cdnvic's rather simplistic viewpoint that "you simply can't do it" because it illogical and fundamentally flawed, though I accept there does not appear to be a written document available at present which states how you bring in excess items.

Firstly, if there was no way to declare things, because it just wasn't allowed, then there would be little need for a red channel would there ? Imagining a situation where either everything is within limits and within the rules or it is simply not allowed makes a red channel redundant. That the red channel exists for people to go through, to declare items, would seem to indicate (though more so in a rational country I admit) that they wished to declare an item and pay the tax owed on it.

Secondly, the fine on cigarettes is listed as 10 times the actual tax on cigarettes (not specifically on this document I acknowledge but it is and other similar documents shown this as 10 times quite clearly). Would it therefore not be logical to expect the declared but not fined tax payable to be 1/10th of the fine or equal to the actual tax due ? If so, then the principle could be equally applied to alcohol. In fact it already is as the fine for excess alcohol is again 10 times the tax due.

Thirdly, the argument that either you bring in only the limits or nothing at all is too simplistic. All too often rules are posted which do not show the true picture but which only deal with part of the issue. This paper deals only with the issue of non declared excess. It does not even comment on the fine for excess alcohol. It does not deal with the declared excess. Now either law makers "forgot" about this, which I find hard to believe, even given that we are talking about Thailand, or there is as yet some non widely circulated document, perhaps only in Thai, which states what to do about taxing items which fall outside of the duty free allowances.

[old wanderer]

Why does not one of our members who frequently travel in and out of the country, simply ask at the airport.....Sure beats all the speculation. They have a line from making declarations and paying duty, so stands to reason there is a purpose to this red line for items to declare.

[MisterBean]

Came through there recently and the signs were very clear to me. I don't remember the exact wording but it said to discard the excess over your limit as there is no option to pay duty.

[PattayaParent]

I saw bins in front of the Custome desk with discarded over the limit booze and fags in it when I last came in.

If you are not bringing anything in can you have a Lucky Dip in the hin when you enter?

[IMA_FARANG]

Governments run on rules, not logic. Whether it would be more logical for them to charge you a extra duty for exceding the allowance or not means nothing. Governments enforce the rules, not logic.

The rules give you and allowance of "duty fre" (a misnomer because such goods usually cost more than similiar goods cost in the country your're "duty freeing" the goods to). You can't exceed that allowance.

I think it was mentioned that if you go two liters over the limit each liter will cost you 4 times the price of the goods. Rather expensive Scoth for exceeding the duty free allowance. Why even bother?

Bottom line: You can't pay for extra bottles on your duty free allowancs. The two liters over your allowance will be confiscated. If you try to sneak through customs and get caught each bottle will cost you 4 times the price of the goods, and may be confiscated anyhow.

So don't do it.

[Boon Mee]

Easier to go to Tescos and buy the liquor and pay almost the same price as so-called "Duty Free" these days.

[Crossy]

I arrived at 1AM sunday morning. Since the customs lady was not busy I asked.

After some misunderstanding (she thought I actually had over the limit) the information received confirms the above, no way to pay the extra duty