Customs Declarations (Over 10,000 Baht Value)

[Sam Drucker]

I'm going to be returning to Thailand soon (at Suvarnabhumi), and I'm going to be well over the 10,000 baht limit. (I live in Thailand and have a B visa.) I'l probably have about 20,000 to 25,000 baht in various items for my personal use, including, tools, some western packaged foods, a little bit of computer hardware, and some toiletries.

Thailand seems to be so low-key about declared values . . . I only ever see anything about it at baggage claim just before you heard out.

I guess my first question is: Do they enforce this rule strictly, sporadically, or not at all? I don't want to wave a red flag at myself by declaring in the red line if this is never enforced. On the other hand, I don't want to risk any problems if I don't declare when I should be.

Secondly, if I have to pay duty, anybody know what the rate is? Is it a flat rate on the declared value of goods over the 10,000 baht limit, or does it depend on what the items are?

Thanks!

[Mario2008]

If over 10,000 baht you have to declare. Normally they will be easy for the toiletries and food, if it is clearly for personal use. The tools could be a different matter if they think it is for professional use.

If all is for personal use and under 80,000 baht total value a flat rate is imposed.

http://www.customsclinic.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=174&Itemid=176〈=en

Customs just picks out passengers at random and have their suite case scanned.

[garyh]

I have declared a computer and the asked if it was used I said yes they had a quick look and that was it.

[richardt1808]

If the amount is indeed 10,000 Baht, my ten years of bringing in shopping worth way more than that bear testament to the fact that a foreigner walking through customs (no matter how much luggage is being carried in) is seldom going to raise any flags - period.

[chuang]

don't worry they won't itemise and calculate each item.....unless u are bringing in half a dozen luggage bag s..

[Paul3456]

A couple of years ago I switched from flying Northwest Airlines from the USA to Bangkok to now flying Korean Airlines. When arriving on Northwest I never had any problem and just walked by customs and nothing was ever said.

Now, arriving on Korean Air myself and most everyone else on the flight have to have their bags x-rayed, every time. The only time I had trouble however, was when I was bringing gifts to my girlfriend and I left them in their original boxes, all in one of the three bags I had. The customs guy looked at the x-ray machine and made me open that bag. I got lucky as he let me go but said next time I would have to pay.

I think they concentrate on certain flights because when waiting for my luggage at the carousel I noticed that the x-ray machine guys were not on duty prior to the Korean Air flight.

My advice is don't leave anything in their original packaging as customs may think you are re-selling the items.

[Sam Drucker]

Here's what happened:

Nothing.

I arrived on a THAI flight early in the morning and found the red lane customs area was not staffed. I did not total everything up that I brouht in, but I would guess it was around 20,000 baht worth. (I had a stack of receipts with me.)

As I had some frozen meat in a cooler and I was concerned about the necessity of declaring it, I went to the green lane and asked an official there. He asked about the quantity of meat, then just waved me through. So the issue of baht value never even came up, even though I had 5 pieces of luggage (two hard shell suitcases, a 40 liter cooler with the frozen meat inside, a carry-on bag, and my backpack with a notebook computer.) This time through, they did not seem to be routinely x-raying (at least one bag) from every passenger, as they were doing last October when I came through.

I really have to wonder what the purpose of the 10,000 baht duty free limit is, and if that limit is really considered obsolete and is not enforced by the Thai government? Seems to me if they were serious about that, they would require a written declaration from everyone with an itemized listing, as they do when entering the USA.

I've never gotten the impression they have any focus on what flight you were coming in on. As the customs checkpoints have passengers from numerous different flights feeding them, if they were focused on particular flights I would expect to see them looking at bag tags or questioning passengers as to what flight they arrived on. I have never found that to be the case. I used to use Northwest Orient exclusively, then switched to THAI a few years ago, and used Singapore Airlines once. I've never noticed any difference in how I've been treated by Customs based on what flight I arrived on, and they didn't even seem to know.