A friend of mine bought a t-shirt online from the states and had it delivered by UPS or some similar commercial courier. He was horrified to find that he had to pay almost 50% of the item cost as a tax (cant remember exactly what the tax was called) before he could collect it.

I would like to buy books and CDs from a UK online retailer, but am having second thoughts now.

Can anyone point me to the rules relating to tax on such purchases, or have any direct experience of doing this.

D

From the Phuket Gazette.....

Charges for importing CDs

I ordered four CDs that I could not find in Thailand from the online store Amazon.Com. They arrived in two packages. The first included three CDs. This was valued at 2,000 baht by Customs and the parcel had to be collected at the main Post Office in Phuket Town. Customs duty was 600 baht, the VAT was 172 baht and the Post Office service fee was 20 baht. The money had to be paid before I could receive the parcel.

The second parcel contained one CD and was delivered to my address with no duty or fees imposed. There appears to be an amount that does not attract duty and other fees. I have queried Customs but the reply was somewhat confusing. Can someone clarify this for me?

Wednesday, May 21, 2003 Peter Freer.

“If your imported items are valued at more than 1,000 baht, you will be asked to pay customs duty, VAT and other relevant fees.

In your case, you had to pay for the first parcel that contained three CDs because it was valued at 2,000 baht. However, there was no duty and VAT for the second parcel because it was valued at less than 1,000 baht.

VAT is charged at 7% of the total price while the duty is based on our manual, which is about 1,000 pages thick and indicates appropriate duty on all imported items. ”

Wednesday, May 21, 2003

Thera Prasathitthavorn,

Assistant Customs Officer,

Phuket Customs Department.

Duties on imported garments are high because they are protecting their local production.