Personal Possessions

[robbiebaby]

I finally popped the question, and she said yes, so am now going through the processes, including retirement visa in Thailand.

I'm back in my own country now, selling off property etc.

I have a few acres of land in my own country, and my wife to be has the same in Thailand.

Can I bring my motorised hobby farming equipment with me; it's very useable on my fiancee's land.

Are these items personal possessions?

I'm talking a quad bike, ride on mower, chain saw, rotary hoe, tree branch shredder, etc.

Or does personal possessions be simply clothing, furniture and appliances??

Who can tell me what personal possessions are???

Would love to bring my car as well.

Any info gratefully received.

[lopburi3]

On what basis are these items being shipped? Motorized vehicles are never duty free and chainsaws are a controlled item (requires a government license). Normal duty free import is for those on work extensions of stay and even then often wind up with duty to pay.

[gotlost]

lb3 is correct. They will tax about 280% of vehicles value. Chain saws do need license but every store in Thailand is selling them. Only bring what you can put on the plane and buy her.

[garyh]

lb3 is correct. They will tax about 280% of vehicles value. Chain saws do need license but every store in Thailand is selling them. Only bring what you can put on the plane and buy her.

Did he ask about Sin Sod?

[fatfather]

I do not have to be right, but I like to place my experience here. When I quit residence in my home country I also had a wonderfull collection of tools and machines in my workshop and I really wanted to take them with to Thailand, but after trying to find out how to do this I got frustrated very quick. As mentioned before the costs are high i.e. shipping and the custom fees (don't want to call it tax) and the comments of people who already went through this procedure. This made me sell all the staff with the idea in my mind to buy everything new in Thailand. But.... many things are very hard to get here (mostly only in Bangkok China Town or specialised dealers in Bangkok) and the prices for the right quality is as high as in Europe. I many times think that I should have taken the efforts and the costs to get my staff here. Too late, I now have to work with bullsh_it tools and a tear in my eyes when remembering what I once possesed.

fatfather

(Didn't sell my land. It's always good to own land, it's definitivly better/saver than money in a bank)

[JimsKnight]

On what basis are these items being shipped? Motorized vehicles are never duty free and chainsaws are a controlled item (requires a government license).

Chainsaws are licensed to buy but if you import it (like a lot of expats do) then you essentially can retrospectively get the license when it arrives, if customs make a fuss that is

[justcruisin]

When I moved to Thailand I decided that I need good tools and brought over a chest weighing about 80Kg,I only wish that I brought over more,having given away lots off stuff and having to buy again here.

As far as I know,as stated on the immi. website,a personal vehicle can not be imported on a Non-O Retirement Visa.

If you are coming from Aus,it maybe worth checking further about importing your machinery as Thailand has a free trade agreement with Australia.Ensure you use a reputable international shipping transport company when you send things over,It will save a lot of time,money and headaches!

[Mario2008]

It is not so much personal items, as it are used household items in reasonable quantity. Used is understood to be at least 6 months old.

You can look at the Thai customs webiste for more information. But you don't seem to be going to work in Thailand, in which case you won't qualify.

Use an agent, they can negotiate a very favourable fee with customs.

[garyh]

It is not so much personal items, as it are used household items in reasonable quantity. Used is understood to be at least 6 months old.

You can look at the Thai customs webiste for more information. But you don't seem to be going to work in Thailand, in which case you won't qualify.

Use an agent, they can negotiate a very favourable fee with customs.

Just went through this, Customs wanted to know what was less than 12 months old. We bought a 20' container of our household goods from Australia in my wifes name as she had been in Oz for 6 years. Things we had that where dutiable, 2 flat screen TV's (1 is allowed duty free) tools like power saws, air compressor etc and my sons toys, toys are not exempt from duty believe it or not. Thailand end was handled by Santa Fe, we paid no duty at all.

[thailandbluegrass]

As far as the farm equipment goes I would suggest getting prices on the same equipment here in Thailand and then compare it with what you could sell your items for in your home countrly plus the cost of shipping. You might find it cheaper to buy here and get the Thai warranty and most likely (depending on the brands you have) be able to get equipment bought in Thailand serviced easier rather then having a Thai mechanic work on a brand of equipment he has never heard of. Plus parts would be easier to buy here.

I know when I wanted to ship my Harley here years ago they wanted 700% tax on import at what THEY consider Market Value.

[tombkk]

When I moved to Thailand I decided that I need good tools and brought over a chest weighing about 80Kg,I only wish that I brought over more,having given away lots off stuff and having to buy again here.

As far as I know,as stated on the immi. website,a personal vehicle can not be imported on a Non-O Retirement Visa.

If you are coming from Aus,it maybe worth checking further about importing your machinery as Thailand has a free trade agreement with Australia.Ensure you use a reputable international shipping transport company when you send things over,It will save a lot of time,money and headaches!

If you want to bring in removal goods, you need to have a new work permit. On a work permit, you can bring in one shipment of removal goodfs within the first 12 months, and it can be split into one air shipment and one sea shipment if you get the documents right.

For a vehicle (car or motorbike), you can import it as removal goods under a new work permit, but you need an import permit from the Ministry of Commerce, Foreign Trade Department. We are not aware of any such permit having been issued in the past couple of years.

[tombkk]

As far as the farm equipment goes I would suggest getting prices on the same equipment here in Thailand and then compare it with what you could sell your items for in your home countrly plus the cost of shipping. You might find it cheaper to buy here and get the Thai warranty and most likely (depending on the brands you have) be able to get equipment bought in Thailand serviced easier rather then having a Thai mechanic work on a brand of equipment he has never heard of. Plus parts would be easier to buy here.

I know when I wanted to ship my Harley here years ago they wanted 700% tax on import at what THEY consider Market Value.

They (i.e. the Customs Department) do indeed have a list of FOB values of any item from any country. For used items, a certain percentage is depreciated. There is no such import duty level as 700% though.

For vehicles, you need an import permit from the Ministry of Commerce, Foreign Trade Deparment. That is the real hurdle. Under some circumstances, you also need a permit from the Thai Industrial Standards Institute (TISI).

That said, I agree that buying the equipment here is not only less headache but also cheaper.

[Langsuan Man]

You can cite all the rules you want but at the end of the day it all depends upon how greedy is the customs inspector assigned to your shipment

[tombkk]

You can cite all the rules you want but at the end of the day it all depends upon how greedy is the customs inspector assigned to your shipment

I think your assessment is about 10 years behind the times. Thanks for posting.

[lopburi3]

Actually that is the current assessment and as of June 17, 2010 report in a major Bangkok newspaper the Customs department was the source of more corruption complaints than any other department. A simple Google will find such information.

[tombkk]

Actually that is the current assessment and as of June 17, 2010 report in a major Bangkok newspaper the Customs department was the source of more corruption complaints than any other department. A simple Google will find such information.

It is my daily experience that it is not up to the customs officer to make or ignore laws. If the customs officer asks for a bribe and you know that all your documents are in order and your goods don't need import licences, please come to me.

It was quite normal 10 years ago that they asked for tea money, but that is the exception now. You will find that often the documents are not in order and the importer says "just pay the man". This especially happens with removal goods, as the regulations in Thailand are somewhat different from other countries.

We refuse to do that. We tell people to send us the packing lists and all other documents in advance, before even sending the shipment out from origin. Then we advise them what to change, or what items not to not send. Even for commercial customers, we often face problems at customs because the documents are issued incorrectly., That's why we say we need to do the transport from origin (by air or by sea), so that we can control the documents.

By the way,. most customs clearances use the "paperless" system now. There is not even a customs officer involved who could ask for any moneys.

Was is Mark Twain, or who said it: "I am surprised how accurate newspapers are, except when it concerns issues that I know something about."

[Langsuan Man]

Four years ago I had all my household goods shipped from my last assignment in Germany to Thailand

The Expediter gave me two options

Pay 80,000 THB and get a receipt from Customs

Pay 40,000 THB and get no receipt from Customs

Personal experience is usually better than conjecture

[Richard4849]

Four years ago I had all my household goods shipped from my last assignment in Germany to Thailand

The Expediter gave me two options

Pay 80,000 THB and get a receipt from Customs

Pay 40,000 THB and get no receipt from Customs

Personal experience is usually better than conjecture

I hope you chose not to support and encourage corruption by paying the 80,000 baht -- which was likely the correct, legal amount owed.

In any case, this kind of thing is indeed not unknown. What you will NOT find is a Customs officer trying to charge you 700% duty on an item where the official duty is 100%.

That's not the way things work, or at least haven't in many, many years. Things have been cleaned up a lot.

[garyh]

Four years ago I had all my household goods shipped from my last assignment in Germany to Thailand

The Expediter gave me two options

Pay 80,000 THB and get a receipt from Customs

Pay 40,000 THB and get no receipt from Customs

Personal experience is usually better than conjecture

Guess I was lucky with our personal experience a few months ago of paying ZERO.

[Richard4849]

Also don't rule out the possibility that the expediter made up the 40,000 baht request -- and pocketed it himself.

Just like lawyers and so-called "fixers" do when handing PR and citizenship applications.