thaibook Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 I understand that if a Thai who has lived outside the Kingdom returns she is allowed to bring her personal possessions tax free. Vehicles and electrical equipment are not allowed however. Would anybody be able to confirm this and that a hifi system would be considered electrical but the speakers would not? Are there any conditions? Many thanks for all answers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glegolo Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 (edited) The ground rule is in practise: A thai national shall have stayed outside Thailand in excess of 1 year in total, THAT will give him/her taxfree-dutyfree import of personal belongings. Now the big thing is; WHAT is considerated to be personal belongings?? And it is just "here" where the customs hit the most people. It is just here where they have found the loophole to exercise their "stuff" and gaining "favours" from importers unfortunately... The customs reduce what is to be considerated to be personal belongings to a very few kind of items/stuff, and by that can tax people after their own will. I have found that for i.e. a 20´container, mostly and more often, the customs will hit you with about 20-30.000 baht in duty.... Regarding your quuestions about electronic. I do not dare to definitively give you an answer,,,, Because Laem Chabang customs is treating you different than Lat Krabang customs and different than Modern Terminal Bangkok customs do..... But mostly to my own experience, all stuff belonging to that electronic system will be on duty... But besides that, no problem... glegolo Edited July 16, 2020 by glegolo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john terry1001 Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 well over ten years since we did it so the rules may have been 'modified' a little, but basically: The Thai national must have lived outside Thailand for at least two years. The Thai national must be in Thailand when the container arrives for ID purposes. Always send the container from abroad direct to your Thai home, not just to a Thai port, to save extra 'Tea Money' payments when it arrives. Only 'used' items allowed, nothing new. NO cars/motorcycles allowed. NO exercise equipment allowed. Only household goods allowed (eg: we put our golf clubs in the container instead of taking them on the plane. They were not considered household goods so we had to pay import duty, even though they were actually bought in Thailand). Only ONE of each electrical item allowed (we paid duty on a second TV, but a printer and separate printer/scanner were considered different items so were duty free). Garden equipment (lawn mower. spades, etc) was allowed. The import duty was quite cheap........two sets of golf clubs and one TV was less than 2k baht from memory. Sent from the UK via Laem Chabang port to our house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unheard Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 I keep hearing that as long as your electronics do not exceed two pieces of the same kind for a family, then they won't touch it. And can not be brand new, especially still in box or wrapped in factory packaging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john terry1001 Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 6 minutes ago, unheard said: I keep hearing that as long as your electronics do not exceed two pieces of the same kind for a family, then they won't touch it. And can not be brand new, especially still in box or wrapped in factory packaging. We came back as a family, my Thai wife, Thai stepdaughter and me. But we still had to pay duty on the second TV. Everything in my wife's name and only she could use the duty free allowance. Only one of each electrical item allowed. My stepdaughter didn't count for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unheard Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 1 minute ago, john terry1001 said: We came back as a family, my Thai wife, Thai stepdaughter and me. But we still had to pay duty on the second TV well that was over 10 years ago. I wonder about now.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubonjoe Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 Not visa related moved to here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john terry1001 Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 (edited) 19 minutes ago, unheard said: well that was over 10 years ago. I wonder about now.... I accept that.................but I've also been watching the powers that be change and modifying various rules and regulations for over twenty years now but I can't ever remember them changing anything that makes it easier/better for us. ???????? Edited July 16, 2020 by john terry1001 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandyf Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 37 minutes ago, john terry1001 said: well over ten years since we did it so the rules may have been 'modified' a little, but basically: The Thai national must have lived outside Thailand for at least two years. The Thai national must be in Thailand when the container arrives for ID purposes. Always send the container from abroad direct to your Thai home, not just to a Thai port, to save extra 'Tea Money' payments when it arrives. Only 'used' items allowed, nothing new. NO cars/motorcycles allowed. NO exercise equipment allowed. Only household goods allowed (eg: we put our golf clubs in the container instead of taking them on the plane. They were not considered household goods so we had to pay import duty, even though they were actually bought in Thailand). Only ONE of each electrical item allowed (we paid duty on a second TV, but a printer and separate printer/scanner were considered different items so were duty free). Garden equipment (lawn mower. spades, etc) was allowed. The import duty was quite cheap........two sets of golf clubs and one TV was less than 2k baht from memory. Sent from the UK via Laem Chabang port to our house. Friend of mine did it in his wife's name about 12/14 years ago. He sent everything he wanted which included all his office equipment, computer & A0 printer(architect). He also sent his motorbike. Came into Bangkok and they had to go to customs, nothing was said about anything being disallowed just had to pay some duty which wasn't a great deal, only had to pay on the motorbike and an electrical item, freezer or fridge that they claimed was brand new. He seemed to think that was a bit of a face saving exercise but more than happy with the outcome. When I did it a couple of years later, I had to do it in my own name and paid a bit too much attention to the agent in the UK. Should have taken all I wanted as I never had to go through customs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thaibook Posted July 16, 2020 Author Share Posted July 16, 2020 Thank you for the responses. It seems to be more flexible than I thought and the inevitable payment reasonable. Of course as the move might not be for another year or so the rules or their interpretation may have changed by then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unheard Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 If you have a shipping company specializing in servicing Thai nationals in your country (not just any shipping company) they would have the latest up to date information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pib Posted July 17, 2020 Share Posted July 17, 2020 Thai Customs webpage talking shipping of personal/household goods into Thailand...be sure to look at the various sublinks that provide details to include the FAQ sublink. http://apps.customs.go.th/list_strc_simple_neted.php?ini_content=pbc_01&ini_menu=menu_pbc&left_menu=menu_pbc_01&lang=en&root_left_menu=menu_pbc&left_menu=menu_pbc_01 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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