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Seeking Advice In Bringing Household Goods To Thailand


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Posted

Written on page 1 of this thread "(2.2) The work permit from the Department of Labor to work in Thailand for at least one year."

That is from a web site, not from any decree, law, or act that I have seen or been told about. And that paragraph seems to have to do with people working.

People resuming residence in Thailand are people that have lived in Thailand before and are returning to live in Thailand again. Those people would have had the eligibility on their first time of residence, whether they are Thai or non-Thai.

At any rate, apparently no one knows what law, decree, or act says that a person living the rest of their life in Thailand cannot qualify. The last Tariff Decree I can find reference to is Tariff Decree 2550 in 2007, or something like that. In the English interepretation which I saw it doesn't say anything about people living on a so-called retirement visa not qualifying.

What it seems to me is that a person must have something saying they can live in Thailand for at least 1 year. A person that got a Non-Imiigrant O visa would not qualify unless or until that visa is made a Non-Immigrant O-A. Reputable legal offices see it that way and Royal Thail consulates in many web sites, which I know could be wrong, seem to see it that way.

I am still waiting for answers from an attorney and from Thai Customs also.

What the law is and what someone, either a Thai Customs official or anyone else, interprets may not be the same.

I have no vested interest other than I would like to know what is actually correct. From the posts it seems it has been done.

MSPain

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Posted

I will make it quite simple for you. I have been dealing with the customs dept. for 12 years and only a foreigner with a work permit valid for 12 months is eligible for tax and duty free privilege. If you don't believe me, or the customs dept. then go ahead and keep arguing.

Posted

I will make it quite simple for you. I have been dealing with the customs dept. for 12 years and only a foreigner with a work permit valid for 12 months is eligible for tax and duty free privilege. If you don't believe me, or the customs dept. then go ahead and keep arguing.

All I am asking is what law or whatever it is makes it so. You did not provide that so I asked an attorney and Thai Customs. As I have already said, if I get an answer I will post it.

I would believe Thai Customs and an attorney more than any post on a forum, and that is not anything against you in particular.

This is from a legal company in Thailand web site regarding what they call a Thai Retirement Visa, which, according to the web site, they guarantee their services:

You have six months from your entry to Thailand to bring in from your home country your household items.

After you have been granted a permit to stay for a year in Thailand, your belongings will not be taxed. However, if your permit to stay is for less than one year, these items will be taxed 20% import duty plus 7% value-added tax.

The period of six months starts the date that you initially entered Thailand on the retirement visa O-A visa, regardless whether you leave or re-enter Thailand after that date. However, the deadline is somewhat flexible. If your personal items are due to arrive in Thailand more than six months after the entry date, you should inform Thai Customs about this at least two months before the six-month deadline.

I don't doubt your experience at all.

Posted

I will make it quite simple for you. I have been dealing with the customs dept. for 12 years and only a foreigner with a work permit valid for 12 months is eligible for tax and duty free privilege. If you don't believe me, or the customs dept. then go ahead and keep arguing.

All I am asking is what law or whatever it is makes it so. You did not provide that so I asked an attorney and Thai Customs. As I have already said, if I get an answer I will post it.

I would believe Thai Customs and an attorney more than any post on a forum, and that is not anything against you in particular.

This is from a legal company in Thailand web site regarding what they call a Thai Retirement Visa, which, according to the web site, they guarantee their services:

You have six months from your entry to Thailand to bring in from your home country your household items.

After you have been granted a permit to stay for a year in Thailand, your belongings will not be taxed. However, if your permit to stay is for less than one year, these items will be taxed 20% import duty plus 7% value-added tax.

The period of six months starts the date that you initially entered Thailand on the retirement visa O-A visa, regardless whether you leave or re-enter Thailand after that date. However, the deadline is somewhat flexible. If your personal items are due to arrive in Thailand more than six months after the entry date, you should inform Thai Customs about this at least two months before the six-month deadline.

I don't doubt your experience at all.

It is all written on the Thai customs website. As I said, I deal with the customs dept daily, have been for 12 years...http://www.customs.go.th/wps/wcm/connect/custen/individuals/importing+used+or+secondhand+household+effects/importingusedsecondhandhouseholdeffects

Posted

I will make it quite simple for you. I have been dealing with the customs dept. for 12 years and only a foreigner with a work permit valid for 12 months is eligible for tax and duty free privilege. If you don't believe me, or the customs dept. then go ahead and keep arguing.

All I am asking is what law or whatever it is makes it so. You did not provide that so I asked an attorney and Thai Customs. As I have already said, if I get an answer I will post it.

I would believe Thai Customs and an attorney more than any post on a forum, and that is not anything against you in particular.

This is from legal company in Thailand web site, which, according to the web site, guarantee their services:

You have six months from your entry to Thailand to bring in from your home country your household items.

After you have been granted a permit to stay for a year in Thailand, your belongings will not be taxed. However, if your permit to stay is for less than one year, these items will be taxed 20% import duty plus 7% value-added tax.

The period of six months starts the date that you initially entered Thailand on the retirement visa O-A visa, regardless whether you leave or re-enter Thailand after that date. However, the deadline is somewhat flexible. If your personal items are due to arrive in Thailand more than six months after the entry date, you should inform Thai Customs about this at least two months before the six-month deadline.

As I said in an earlier post, I went to a very large law firm in Bangkok in 2007 and importing personal effects was one of the topics we discussed. The attorney told me that the law was as you posted with regard to holders of retirement visas, but that it had changed prior to my arrival in November 2007.

One of the moderators on TV works for a large sea freight company in BKK. I spoke with him several times, sent him proposed packing lists, etc. and he told me the same thing; that I could not get around paying import duty. I would like to import some personal effects from the USA so I am interested in the discussion as well.

Posted

It is all written on the Thai customs website. As I said, I deal with the customs dept daily, have been for 12 years...http://www.customs.go.th/wps/wcm/connect/custen/individuals/importing+used+or+secondhand+household+effects/importingusedsecondhandhouseholdeffects

This is at the bottom of that page:

WARNING: The information in this website is intended as a general guideline only and subject to changes without prior notice. It does not in any way replace or supersede Customs and related laws or regulations. Before relying on the information on the Website, users should independently verify its accuracy, completeness and relevance for their purposes.

That is what I am doing.... trying to independently verify the accuracy. I am not shipping anything, so it is only because of my curiosity. I know what your experience is from your posts. I know what some of my friends experience have been from conversations with them, and I know the experiences some people have posted. They are not all the same.

I also understand that some people, including Customs officials or employees, may interpret the rules differently.

MSPain

Posted

As I said in an earlier post, I went to a very large law firm in Bangkok in 2007 and importing personal effects was one of the topics we discussed. The attorney told me that the law was as you posted with regard to holders of retirement visas, but that it had changed prior to my arrival in November 2007.

One of the moderators on TV works for a large sea freight company in BKK. I spoke with him several times, sent him proposed packing lists, etc. and he told me the same thing; that I could not get around paying import duty. I would like to import some personal effects from the USA so I am interested in the discussion as well.

I will post anything I get in reply, elektrified. So far I understand that the eligibility period is 1 month before iniital arrival in Thailand to 6 months after initial arrival. Customs officials have latitude with the after arrival, at least.

My questions were specific to "retirement" and Non-Immigrant O and O-A visas. I thought you worked here.

One reason I am curious about this is that there is so much ambiguous and conflicting information available. If any more of my friends decide to move to Thailand I would like to give them some idea of which avenues to use.

As for myself, I never shipped any household goods. I have had some experience just having things shipped to me. In the past I found that there were different "zones" for shipments to come into Thailand. The different zones had different rules, areas, and procedures. For small things shipped to me I have found the postal service the least expensive as far as customs, duties and taxes. The commercial parcel shipping companies, like FedEx, DHL, UPS, are allowed to collect the monies for the government departments. Whether they actually get a part of what they collect or not I am not sure of. When I did my research some years ago, there seemed to be different rates for the different "zones". Things have probably changed, as evidenced by the latest Decree of Customs Tariff 2550 (might be 2500) which is effective 2007.

I have never shipped anything to myself in Thailand through a shipping/freight forwarder so I don't have that experience. Kurnell has posted his experience as far as household goods. As I said above, I think you have been already too long for that????

Another thing many people seem to not be aware of is undervaluing things being shipped. Customs regulations have specific paragraphs for just those cases.

I must be really bored tonight! Sorry.

MSPain

Posted

By the way, elektrified, Many of the Royal Thai Consulate sites I looked at recently did indicate that a person changing residence to Thailand specifically for retirement was eligible for duty free importation of household goods/personal effects. Maybe you could contact one of those Consulates and ask them your questions.

Always keep in mind that whomever you deal with in Customs probably has a boss. They must do what their boss says if it comes to that situation. You have been here longer than me, so I'm sure you already know that.

MSPain

As I said in an earlier post, I went to a very large law firm in Bangkok in 2007 and importing personal effects was one of the topics we discussed. The attorney told me that the law was as you posted with regard to holders of retirement visas, but that it had changed prior to my arrival in November 2007.

One of the moderators on TV works for a large sea freight company in BKK. I spoke with him several times, sent him proposed packing lists, etc. and he told me the same thing; that I could not get around paying import duty. I would like to import some personal effects from the USA so I am interested in the discussion as well.

Posted

Thanks for all your time and effort. Much appreciated. Let us know if you hear anything. I'll do some more checking on my end but I thought I had exhausted all avenues when I went through this before.

Posted

Source a Thai shipping agent in your country and they will work with you (wink wink) if you know what I mean.

Alot of Thai shippers underatand about the taxes/dutys and for a few dollars will work with you.

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