Thai Customs Department cracking down on import tax evasion

[webfact]

Customs Department cracking down on import tax evasion

 

 

BANGKOK, 25 May 2017 (NNT) – The Customs Department is keeping an eye on illicit businesses circumventing taxation such as travelers that return with goods for commercial purposes and shipping companies with fraudulent manifests while also considering cooperation with companies such as Alibaba, EBay and Amazon to combat non-regulated e-commerce. 

Customs Department Director-General Kulis Sombatsiri said the office is working to improve its efficiency in collecting intelligence, letting on it is connecting with domestic and foreign agencies and utilizing technology to better handle importers and shipping companies circumventing customs payments. 

The department is especially focusing on blacklisted shipping companies and individuals that are carrying goods in to Thailand from their travels. It has been detecting individuals returning to the Kingdom with upwards of 20 bags or several kilograms of supplements, indicating intent to sell the products commercially. 

Tour guides are also being monitored as they are in a position to illegally import goods. The department is trying to detect such activities via social media, where sellers often present import goods as pre-orders, requiring them to obtain the products from abroad. 

Areas the department is paying special attention to include shipping company manifests that can be doctored and online goods that are sold at unlikely prices.

 

-- nnt 2017-05-25

[worgeordie]

Everything except,"Supercars"

regards Worgeordie

[Cadbury]

Perhaps rather a crackdown on those not paying the required "administration fee" to avoid being caught for import tax evasion. 

 

They could probably get some "admin" tips from the RTP as to how to caste their net wider.

[clockman]

Customs the second most corrupt department. Never investigated?

[Orton Rd]

The largest business concern in Thailand pays no tax at all and never will, yet they want to pick on people returning with a few bits and bobs from holidays abroad 

[YetAnother]

in thailand, it is news when people do their jobs

[fruitman]

Did he also explain how they could avoid tax on all the supercars? 

[kartman]

On 5/25/2017 at 8:26 AM, worgeordie said:

Everything except,"Supercars"

regards Worgeordie

Being Impounded across Bangkok right now

[Kabula]

How many crack downs does this make this year?

 

The more crack downs the less business owner's can smile.

[Moti24]

I had a shipment from Hong Kong, valued at 1400 Baht.  The allowance is 1500 Baht. The customs valued it at 1600 Baht and I had to pay almost 300 Baht import duty.  When I queried it at the local post office, and showed my invoice, paid in Thai Baht, I wax told they could send it back to Bangkok, but it might not come back.  I paid the import duty.

 

Three hundred Baht or 3 million Baht, it doesn't matter.  They don't understand principles here; "Pay up, or **** off".

Edited May 25, 2017 by Moti24

[hanuman2543]

Looks like importers of " car parts" are excluded. 

[chainarong]

8 hours ago, worgeordie said:

Everything except,"Supercars"

regards Worgeordie

DSI Tarit is probably a consultant

[Sydebolle]

There must be a motivation behind any action.

Look through the most ridiculous import tariff on the planet, if not the galaxy and then it is clear why everybody tries to cheat. Those duties and excise fees are completely off the scale.

I travelled a lot and in my humble opinion the best system I ever saw was in Switzerland. Duties and excises are bearable; nobody in his right or wrong mind would smuggle cars or "bags or several kilograms of supplements" because the duties are a fraction of the value of the merchandise. 

The assessment is not based on commercial value but on weight. Puzzled, I asked a customs officer who said, paperwork can be tampered with, weight is weight. So, importing a car is based on the weight of the car and the size of the engine and, guess what - nobody cheats. Winners all along. 

But then, there is no will to change anything at the second most corrupt governmental organization in the land for what would you do with all those crooks if they could not steal money at all those customs offices? 

[FitnessHealthTravel]

This will require not only a LOT of personal and resources. They also need to speak and read many languages. There are hundreds of these 'types' of stores on Line, Instagram, Facebook etc.  While they could make some money from it, this operation will most likely cost them more than they make.  While I'm here...anyone want to buy a...

[Retiredandhappyhere]

When I moved to Thailand I had my household furniture etc shipped over under the "duty free" laws,   Bangkok customs phoned me demanding 17000 bahts as otherwise they would open the container to check its contents.  I said you can open it as everything is in order and exactly as per the manifesto.   They said that if they broke the seal and opened the container, they "could not guarantee that things would not be stolen" .   

 

I fell victim to their scam and paid the 17000.  

[yellowboat]

Thailand Customs Department most of the time has know idea as to what they are taxing. It makes doing business in the country that much less bearable. 

Edited May 25, 2017 by yellowboat

[williamgeorgeallen]

9 hours ago, clockman said:

Customs the second most corrupt department. Never investigated?

another case of do as i say dont do as i do. 

[YetAnother]

39 minutes ago, Sydebolle said:

But then, there is no will to change anything at the second most corrupt governmental organization in the land

thais dont look at it this way; they view all that cheating and corruption in the same way as double pricing; foreigners are rich; swindling them is 'right'

[thaiguzzi]

Jeez, the guy in the pic in the OP looks like a bundle of fun. I can imagine having a few pints and a good old banter with him down the pub. Not.

Probably the Western version of a customs big wig looks the same...

[Khon Kaen Dave]

12 minutes ago, thaiguzzi said:

Jeez, the guy in the pic in the OP looks like a bundle of fun. I can imagine having a few pints and a good old banter with him down the pub. Not.

Probably the Western version of a customs big wig looks the same...

Didnt you know? Amazing Thailand, is renowned for its beautiful beaches, friendly, helpful people .And their quaint customs.

[docshock13]

Haha. This is rich. Cracking down on import tax evasion. Last time I checked, if u didn't pay up you didn't get ur goods. The only people POSSIBLE of evading the import tax are those that gave hefty backhanders to the PTB@Thai Customs and had their shipment/supercars released with appropriate documentation. 

How about cracking down on those on the take within Thai Customs? (rhetorical question). 

Business as usual here. Deflection, diversions, misdirections, finger pointing and crackdowns until things get back to normal. Funny place, Thailand. 

 

[fruitman]

10 hours ago, Moti24 said:

I had a shipment from Hong Kong, valued at 1400 Baht.  The allowance is 1500 Baht. The customs valued it at 1600 Baht and I had to pay almost 300 Baht import duty.  When I queried it at the local post office, and showed my invoice, paid in Thai Baht, I wax told they could send it back to Bangkok, but it might not come back.  I paid the import duty.

 

Three hundred Baht or 3 million Baht, it doesn't matter.  They don't understand principles here; "Pay up, or **** off".

Is that 1500 baht written somewhere on an official website? 

 

I never knew how much was allowed. This must be the reason they ship in small packages from hongkong, everything separate.

 

 

[Anythingleft?]

If the rules and regulations were clear and enforced correctly with fair duties in place that would remove a huge amount of issues directly. The upper end of the high dollar evasion will always be a cat and mouse game it is all over the world, as for the corruption that is embedded in the systems and the mindset of the people who run them...... a big task, but lots of strong words spoken of little or no consequence on what seems to be a weekly basis
I wonder when I read these articles if the people at the top actually believe themselves when they quote these lines or they know people just sigh and move onto the next topic? Perhaps thats the reaction that they hope for..

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

[Moti24]

4 hours ago, fruitman said:

Is that 1500 baht written somewhere on an official website? 

 

I never knew how much was allowed. This must be the reason they ship in small packages from hongkong, everything separate.

 

 

It's probably on a website somewhere, but it's usually advertised in the customs offices and post offices.  Everything goes through Bangkok, where they apply their rip-off exchange rates.

[snowgard]

7 hours ago, fruitman said:

Is that 1500 baht written somewhere on an official website? 

 

I never knew how much was allowed. This must be the reason they ship in small packages from hongkong, everything separate.

 

 

I got a email with the following information in 2012 from transpeed.biz after I imported something from China:

 

I would like to inform for Express clearance process in Thailand customs
regular. Thai customs regular have 4 categories details as bellows;

Cat 1 - Document weight not more than 2kg, there is no import duty.
Cat 2 - Small parcel weight up to 0.50kg and C.I.F. value not more than Thb
1,000.- there is EDI fee Thb 200 plus VAT 7%
Cat 3 - Parcel weight not more than 30kg and C.I.F. value not more than Thb
30,000.- there are import duty follow import tariff plus VAT7%
Cat 4 - Parcel weight over than 30kg and C.I.F. value more than Thb 30,000.-
and the shipment need to do special clearance like BOI, EPZ and Form E

Your shipment weight less than 30kg and C.I.F. value less than Thb 30,000.-,
then the shipment should have import duty as normal process. If you would
like to do clearance under Form E, the shipment should hold in customs and
make full clearance same as cargo shipment also have extra charge for
clearance process.

For shipment need to do clearance process with Form E, the original should
inform us before flight arrived to BKK but we haven't received any
information from your shipper or our agent, so we make clearance process as
usual.

Now my staff keeps to pushing for reply from our agent for your import duty
and special delivery because our agreement should send to you by post only.

Appreciate for your understand and will advice to you once received
information from our agent in China.

[Arkady]

17 hours ago, Retiredandhappyhere said:

When I moved to Thailand I had my household furniture etc shipped over under the "duty free" laws,   Bangkok customs phoned me demanding 17000 bahts as otherwise they would open the container to check its contents.  I said you can open it as everything is in order and exactly as per the manifesto.   They said that if they broke the seal and opened the container, they "could not guarantee that things would not be stolen" .   

 

I fell victim to their scam and paid the 17000.  

 

Exactly the same thing happened to me when I arrived many years ago.  I protested at the assessment on household effects that I had the right to import duty free and was bluntly told that my stuff would be broken and/or stolen, if I didn't pay up the protection money of over B10k that was demanded by Customs to let the stuff in sight unseen. Disgusting.