We have decided to stay in Chiang Mai after a year trial. We are going to be shipping our stuff to Thailand. We didn't ship before 6 months because we were renting our home out in USA as a furnished rental. We have now sold the house and are ready to ship some furniture and personal effects. I have been told there is a way I can extend the import exemption on a one time shipment. But I need to know where in Chiang Mai I go to get that extension document? Or am I SOL? Need to know asap because we are headed to USA in 10 days. It will make a huge difference in what I sell back in USA and what I decide to ship. If I am SOL any idea how customs duty is determined? Is there a place where I can "discuss" the valuation.

I paid 110,000 baht in customs duty when I imported my container of goods from US 7 years ago. I tried to find out evaluation before shipping but couldn't and found out when it arrived at Thai customs.

Some major international shipping companies know 'friendly' Customs agents, and the duties are considerably slashed. This happened the first time we moved to Thailand. The original charges were reduced to 1/5 after some 'school tuition' money was paid. Although the cost of the larger company was higher than some of the small, independent shippers, the overall fees turned out far less.

Postallady, despite what some legal services websites say, there is no import duties waiver for people coming into Thailand on retirement visas -- only for returning Thai nationals and for those coming in with 12 month visas and work permits.

The advice you're receiving here is good -- some import agents can work out good deals and it's rather hit and miss. You'd be better off posting this question on the Visa forum of Thai Visa -- it's the first subforum. For example, here's just one of many threads on that topic which ran on that forum:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/649410-bringing-items-in-on-retirement-visa/page-2?hl=%2Bimport+%2Bduty+%2Bretirement+%2Bvisa#entry6677646

Already covered here, don't post the same subject in two different forums or a MOD will close one down

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/684260-how-do-i-get-an-extension-on-import-duty-exemption-for-personal-goods/

So let's close this one. Please follow the link above. Thank you.