Customs Duty on Mail

[DGIE]

Nice info. so I don't want to receive parcels from other countries when it is more than 1K baht.

 

I guess the Customs Officer didn't have any Christmas spirit at all.

[oxo1947]

Had it been marked "gift" there is a chance, but only a chance, that it would have gone through. The error was the £80 value. That attracted the 20% import duty.
Just like in reverse, you send to the Uk over £30 (I think it is) It also attracts duty, not exclusive to Thailand, many countries have this.
Best way is to just send standard airmail and no issues, in my experience.

 

Things are tighter than that MJ....when I travel to the UK (3 months ago) I get a company in the USA to send me some vitamins melatonin which are not sold both here or in the UK...... my order came to £29.95

this is part of the letter received from what is now a privatized company working for the UK gov.

Invoice value  £29.95  (this included the posting fee the goods were only £19.95)

Vat £6.84

Entry Fee---£8***

 

Total £14.84...on a £19.95 purchase

 

*** This is the fee the private company gets for stopping and holding each package.

 

Re the not paying the fee in Thailand---you do not lose the package---This has happened to me---it is returned to the poster, as it would be if they could not find the recipient.  You would possibly get away with a gift item in the UK.

[hansnl]

^^^^^Yep, thanks ukrules.^^^^^

 

Like you, I've had parcels in the past with no duty to pay. This is the 1st time they've made me pay duty.  So I have never before realised there could be a liability for duty on this type of item.

 

The Customs Officer has discretion about whether or not to charge duty. Just wasn't my lucky day when parcel 2 arrived. The Declaration did say 'Xmas Gifts' (as well as listing the items) so I guess the Customs Officer didn't have much Christmas spirit.

 

 

The issue is the custom declaration.

It should list the contents of the package AND the value.

If the value is not mentioned, the custom officer, or the customs agent. has the discretion to value the contents.

 

Mind, the duty is the basis for all other taxes, like VAT, local tax, and any other tax mentioned in the books for a certain article.

And, don't forget the customs fee.

 

Had a large A3 computer scanner sent to me by mail (track & trace) from Germany to Thailand.

The total value of the scanner including transport and insurance was around € 250. (THB 10500)

The charges were 700 Baht, being the VAT at 7%.

Why?

Computer product are non-duty products, which means no other charges, only VAT, rounded off to the nearest full hunderd baht.

 

The English language customs website of the Thai government is very clear and informative.

 

 

 

[dotpoom]

Had it been marked "gift" there is a chance, but only a chance, that it would have gone through. The error was the £80 value. That attracted the 20% import duty.
Just like in reverse, you send to the Uk over £30 (I think it is) It also attracts duty, not exclusive to Thailand, many countries have this.
Best way is to just send standard airmail and no issues, in my experience.

Sent 5  packages home by Air Mail over a number of years...only one ever arrived...don't send any more. Registering them was out of the question as the cost was about 3 times more expensive that the cost of the item.....Letters seldom arrive either.

[Maggusoil]

We got stung once like this. Now I put children's gifts $25 on everything and haven't had a problem since

[pachoderm]

AMAZON??? I wonder what the deal would be with almost $2000 US worth of goods coming in a package from Amazon USA? This includes a camera worth just under $1000. Should I break it up into as many packages as possible? I was hoping to save on postage by getting them to send it all together.
I just had $250 worth of new books sent here from the states and there were no customs charges. There does not seem to be any rhyme or reason to the application of the rule....?

[liddelljohn]

ONLY USE DHL for documents ,, NEVER USE FEDEX they are  run by Thai mafia and corrupt officials,,was told that by a FEDEX office in Houston that Thai office is out of control  they told me to use the postal service ,,,,  Use post for everything else ,, put a value of $20  and never have any problems

 

UK post charge a £8- handling fee now for parcels received if customs duty payed  so they are  just as bad

[Joe Mamma]

I had a nice digital mixer sent from the UK thru the global shipping scam on Ebay. Even though the outrageous customs and shipping costs were pre-paid, customs opened it and resealed it quite inferior. The shipping damage was cosmetic and lucky me,  it works. A friend recently moved here and i twisted his arm to get a container and not ship and double pay for his personal things. He is still thanking me.

[White Tiger]

We recently received a small egg incubator from Australia via EMS, declared at about 4000 Baht, duty plus VAT came in at about 500 Baht. Since 90% of packages get through with no duty I happily paid.

 

I'm intrigued as to what your item was to attract such a high rate?

Contents listed on customs declaration: Diary, 2 shirts, 2 Blouses, Lip gloss. Value stated on the customs declaration £80 (Thai customs added the number 4,000 in manuscript).

 

Total duty levied 1,584 Baht.  On my post office receipt the total of 1,584 was broken down as: NON VAT 1564, VAT 20.

 

Another poster said that clothing attracts a high rate of duty so I'm guessing the clothing items caused the high duty on my parcel. 

 

(Maybe if I save the receipt I can try to recover the VAT at the airport the next time I leave Thailand. Maybe a 20 Baht VAT recovery would cause someone in customs a lot of headaches, much form filling in, and might make them think twice before charging duty on small value amounts in future... probably something for another thread,  ).

[7by7]

I can't see why people are making such a fuss.

 

Any country has the right to charge whatever duty and/or tax on imported items that they wish; whether those items be imported by post or some other means.

 

The customs department of any country also has the right to open parcels sent from abroad to check the contents.

 

Most of the time people receiving items sent via the post get away without paying anything, as I always have when sending items to Thailand, but if you are caught and charged duty then you can't really complain.

 

It's like going through the green channel at an airport with more than the allowed duty free cigarettes or booze; 999 time out of a thousand you'll get away with it; but the one time you are stopped and you have to pay the duty you can't really complain.

[thailandbeachisland]

You do not seem to understand that the only rule is NO RULE.

 

They can open any parcel with or without customs declaration, and with any value declared.

 

Customs declaration is BS and no customs in the world give it any interest, only stupid post officers believe that it is useful.

 

The only document that can be useful if you want to pay tax is an invoice as customs MIGHT use it to calculate tax if they do not have this item in their list or if they estimate that your declared price is OK, but they also have no obligation and can decide that an item that you declared at 100 Thb value costs 10000 !

 

 

[White Tiger]

I can't see why people are making such a fuss.

 

Any country has the right to charge whatever duty and/or tax on imported items that they wish; whether those items be imported by post or some other means.

 

The customs department of any country also has the right to open parcels sent from abroad to check the contents.

 

Most of the time people receiving items sent via the post get away without paying anything, as I always have when sending items to Thailand, but if you are caught and charged duty then you can't really complain.

 

It's like going through the green channel at an airport with more than the allowed duty free cigarettes or booze; 999 time out of a thousand you'll get away with it; but the one time you are stopped and you have to pay the duty you can't really complain.

 

While I like your analogy of going through the green channel at the airport, I'm not convinced it's the right one to make.  Here on the Thai Customs website page dealing with importing postal items, it starts by saying that “the Customs formalities in respect of items carried by post are somewhat different from those applied to goods carried by other means”.

 

http://www.customs.go.th/wps/wcm/connect/custen/individuals/importing+postal+items/importingpostalitems

[White Tiger]

You do not seem to understand that the only rule is NO RULE.

 

They can open any parcel with or without customs declaration, and with any value declared.

 

Customs declaration is BS and no customs in the world give it any interest, only stupid post officers believe that it is useful.

 

The only document that can be useful if you want to pay tax is an invoice as customs MIGHT use it to calculate tax if they do not have this item in their list or if they estimate that your declared price is OK, but they also have no obligation and can decide that an item that you declared at 100 Thb value costs 10000 !

 

 

 

As other posters have also made clear, there are rules in Thailand. You will find the rules using this link:

 

http://www.customs.go.th/wps/wcm/connect/custen/individuals/importing+postal+items/importingpostalitems

 

To suggest there are no rules is silly.  It seems to me that what there is (sometimes) an absence of is common sense.

 

Yes of course Customs authorities can (and do) open parcels – nobody here suggested otherwise.  I have a suspicion you have not read all the posts in this thread.

[7by7]

 

It's like going through the green channel at an airport with more than the allowed duty free cigarettes or booze; 999 time out of a thousand you'll get away with it; but the one time you are stopped and you have to pay the duty you can't really complain.

 
While I like your analogy of going through the green channel at the airport, I'm not convinced it's the right one to make.  Here on the Thai Customs website page dealing with importing postal items, it starts by saying that “the Customs formalities in respect of items carried by post are somewhat different from those applied to goods carried by other means

 

 

The formalities may differ, but the principle is the same.

 

Parcels can be, and are, opened and checked for goods which are prohibited or carry duty; the same as a passenger in the green channel can be stopped and they and their luggage searched for the same.

 

Similarly, the recipient of a parcel which declares the contents and value of those contents will be charged any appropriate duty just as a passenger using the red channel will be.

[White Tiger]

 

.....Similarly, the recipient of a parcel which declares the contents and value of those contents will be charged any appropriate duty just as a passenger using the red channel will be.

 

 

On this one aspect of your post, I suggest it's a discretionary issue again. It's not certain that duty will be charged. I've declared goods after going through the red channel when entering the UK and been told by the customs officer words to the effect of "thanks for your honesty and there won't be any duty levied because you're only a little bit over the limit".

 

That's the same kind of discretion that can be exercised with mail when the contents are declared and they are only a little bit over the limit.

 

I accept customs officers are perfectly within their rights to charge duty in both these situations - and nowhere in this thread have I said otherwise. I guess I've just been so used to having that discretion exercised in my favour that it took me by surprise when I got hit for duty for the first time on a parcel.

 

No one wants to get clobbered for duty on their Christmas presents. Just wanted to remind others that this could happen to them too, and to offer some suggestions for minimising the risk of it happening. Others too have offered suggestions for minimising the risk of paying duty.  So hopefully this thread has served it's purpose.

[akc1956]

They just charge duty on everything cause so many are having things sent and marking them as gift thinking they wont get charged duty. So the customs just ignore it now

 

Had it been marked "gift" there is a chance, but only a chance, that it would have gone through. The error was the £80 value. That attracted the 20% import duty.
Just like in reverse, you send to the Uk over £30 (I think it is) It also attracts duty, not exclusive to Thailand, many countries have this.
Best way is to just send standard airmail and no issues, in my experience.

 

[jsflynn603]

The only package that I sent to Chiang mai was shipped through with zero charges.  Of course, everything in it that had significant value was removed along the way.

 

I'm sure that the one item that someone thought was valuable was a professional pediatric stethoscope, but though it looked fine--it was broken and no longer worked well and I was sending it to a 10 year old girl as a present who loved the idea of playing doctor.  Sadly she never got the chance.  At least the crook, or the person who bought it from him got stiffed on that one.3

 

Frankly I don't think sending any gifts to anyone in Thailand is wise--just send the monetary equivalent via WU or Xoom.

[iamariva1957]

It really boils down to what the sender writes on the customs deceleration form and the amount that they attache to each item (or the total). If it is a 'gift' then there is no commercial value as you are not re-selling it and so it is not an import. Now, by all standards that should work and there should be no customs applied. But as we all know that is not always the case. DHL and Fed Ex will simply bill the sender for all duties attached. But they also have a system where duty is not collected as they have their own people/staff and customs officials working at their own clearing centers. So that way is a crap shoot. Tractable mail from a post office anywhere is another matter. They will clear customs in the more usual way. Yes, it is discretionary for the most part regarding how much customs duty will be applied or not, but if there is no  Red Flag for them to see (such as a customs form filled with high values for items contained within) then chances are good that they will be passed through without thought. I have received many a package and small boxes (over 12 in fact) from home (US) sent Priority Mail (by USPS) with customs slips marked N.C.V (No Commercial Value) and I have never paid a dime in duty. Actually I would not mind paying that duty, for that would mean that I actually got the dam mail in the first place! I cannot tell you how many have not gotten. For tracking from other countries only will show that the package got to Thailand. After that... there will be no further news about where it is. So, enjoy the presents and the season and tell everyone that would send you something to just send the cash to your account at home! Think of visits to your favorite ATMs as your gift of choice.

[dighambara]

Per the now defunct Thai Customs website, the official limit is 1000 Baht - anything over that amount will be charged duty, but even that is subject to interpretation.

 

I have had a half dozen parcels marked around 1500 Baht that have come thru without censure and the reverse, an 800 Baht parcel was fined - likely because the customs official didn't believe the list of contents (15 DVDs - used items)..  Another refused parcel was worth only 1000 Baht but insured for 3000, because that was the lowest amount for insurance - yep, fined and refused, so the money was refunded by the seller.

 

I order many things from Amazon, both US and UK and never have a problem if I stay within the 1000 Baht limit.

[White Tiger]

Per the now defunct Thai Customs website, the official limit is 1000 Baht - anything over that amount will be charged duty, but even that is subject to interpretation....

 

 

 

Why do you say the website is defunct?

[pattayasnowman]

Ok having had the same nasty experience myself on several occasions over the years

 

Firstly -  Have your sender declare the goods value at  $50.00 . Upto $50 does not attract any duty

 

Secondly Have your sender ship only USPS or the postal service of your country

 

On NO Account ship DHL, /Fed Ex / UPS

 

Since you will be charged duty on the COST OF SHIPPING !!!!! using thes companies

 

A Total Rip OFF!!!!

 

 

[pattayasnowman]

You will be charged duty on the shipping cost in addition to the cost of the goods.

 

Goods   $50  shipping $30  Total for customs accessment :  $80.00

 

Just in case my previous post was not clear

[Latikaa]

I also put very low value , that is what I have been recommended

[mogandave]

I find it amusing that people get so indignant when they are caught attempting to cheat the Thai people out of tax revenue.

 

Writing “No Commercial Value” or lowballing the actual value on the invoice is against the law. You are lucky that when you get caught all you have pay is the money you attempted to cheat the Thai people out of, and not the penalties.

 

Quit whining.

[p_brownstone]

You will be charged duty on the shipping cost in addition to the cost of the goods.

 

Goods   $50  shipping $30  Total for customs accessment :  $80.00

 

Just in case my previous post was not clear

 

It is quite correct that Import Duty is charged on the value of the goods PLUS the Shipping Costs (the C.I.F. value).

 

Standard practice in most Countries, not just Thailand.

 

Patrick

[mogandave]

And the VAT is bases on the goods + freight + duty.

[mogandave]

If you want to avoid paying duties, just insist people that ship to you specify “Deliver Duty Paid” (DDP) rather than CIF on the invoice.

Edited November 24, 2013 by mogandave

[GrantSmith]

You do not seem to understand that the only rule is NO RULE.
 
They can open any parcel with or without customs declaration, and with any value declared.
 
Customs declaration is BS and no customs in the world give it any interest, only stupid post officers believe that it is useful.
 
The only document that can be useful if you want to pay tax is an invoice as customs MIGHT use it to calculate tax if they do not have this item in their list or if they estimate that your declared price is OK, but they also have no obligation and can decide that an item that you declared at 100 Thb value costs 10000 !
 
 

 
As other posters have also made clear, there are rules in Thailand. You will find the rules using this link:
 
http://www.customs.go.th/wps/wcm/connect/custen/individuals/importing+postal+items/importingpostalitems
 
To suggest there are no rules is silly.  It seems to me that what there is (sometimes) an absence of is common sense.
 
Yes of course Customs authorities can (and do) open parcels – nobody here suggested otherwise.  I have a suspicion you have not read all the posts in this thread.

OP don't worry too much about what thailandbeachisland rants about, he's got a beef with ThailandPost not allowing him to send "liquids"

:facepalm:


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[thailandbeachisland]

I find it amusing that people get so indignant when they are caught attempting to cheat the Thai people out of tax revenue.

 

Writing “No Commercial Value” or lowballing the actual value on the invoice is against the law. You are lucky that when you get caught all you have pay is the money you attempted to cheat the Thai people out of, and not the penalties.

 

Quit whining.

 

 

 

We are cheating governments from all over the world by declaring all the parcels that our company sends as "GIFT" and we are proud of it.

 

It does not always work but for small parcels the lazy monkeyx working at customs offices all over the world are too tired to open then and guess that it's true that what is inside costs less than $15, especially in US.

 

\

[harrry]

Very little needs to be opened these days.  Xray machines have become very fast and very sophisticated.