Customs Import Tax ............Again

[Bernard]

My daughter has sent me a few items from Hong Kong for the kitchen and I have received a letter from the "Thailand Postal Service" saying that I should go to the Customs Office in Prachuapkirikhan because they want to open the package for inspection and cannot do so without me being present. I have made numerous phone calls explaining that there is nothing in the package that will attract import tax but they still insist that I undertake the 200 Kms round trip.

Anyone heard of this before?

[dozer]

Over the years I have had numerous packages opened and resealed by customs, in BKK and I know folks who have had to go up to BKK for customs clearance, but I have never come across this from the customs in Prachuap .

[thepalmbistro]

I have had one a couple of those letters in the past year.
One in which I had to go to Parchub Kiri Khan for, the reason behind this was my mother sent the package from the states via regular post, put the name of the company and no ones name, they wanted to make sure what it was and it was not for work, Only problem was they sent the letter to me via regular Thai mail and it got delayed so by the time I got it and went to Prachub, they had sent the parcel back to the states. I finally got it sent back using UPS 4 months after it was originally sent.
The second letter I recieved (parcel from Hong Kong) said I had to go to the local post office in Hua Hin. They had already valued it based on the senders notes and I paid there.

Its a bit of a palarva going to Prachub for a parcel but I dont think your going to get them to budge.

[dozer]

Going to HH post office to pay customs is the norm,but having to go to Prachuapkirikhan would be a real pain,but I agree there is no way they will change their mind, so if you want the package then it's a 200km trip for you.

[brianks]

Several years ago I sent a broken dental plate to the US to be repaired. When it was sent back they valued it at the replacement value of the plate which was $1,500 and not the value of the repair. Got the infamous letter and went to the P.O. and they told me I had to go to the Prechaup office to retrieve the package. We drove down there and it was no easy task to find this office which is located outside of town on the coast road. When we asked for the package they said we owed 15,000 baht for customs and of course I protested telling them that it was a used dental plate and sent to the U.S. only for repair. No give in so I told them to ship it back to the sender as I was not going to pay the kings ransome they wanted. Wife had to call back for two months before they finally said they had finally sent the package back to the sender. Fortunately a friend returned to the States and picked the package up and delivered it to me 3 months later.

Very recently I had some special size running shoes sent over to me and had to go to the P.O. I could see from the tracking info. that it was sitting in the P.O. but no notice sent or received. Took them over 30 minutes to find the package, find the customs paperwork (justifying the 500 baht charge plus 20 baht collection fee) and (the fun part) requesting a receipt for the payment instead of just handing the money over to them as they wanted me to do. It was really interesting to see all the hoops and approvals the teller had to go through to generate a receipt.

[Spitfire]

It's 'hit and miss' with postal stuff as things are inspected at random. The international post is definitely still subject to tax etc, as some try to circumvent it and the general deal is most gets through with a token amount inspected.

Sometimes you get away with it and sometimes you don't, which results in a request to turn up at the post office and pay the tax or whatever other fluffy garbage they deem necessary on an item to get it cleared and in your possession......which is what originally supposed to happen despite the best efforts of others.

[Lung Per]

You will get absolutely nowhere by contesting the decision of a Thai customs officer. Once he has made up his mind he will not loose face. Thai culture.

[Bernard]

(justifying the 500 baht charge plus 20 baht collection fee) and (the fun part) requesting a receipt for the payment instead of just handing the money over to them as they wanted me to do. It was really interesting to see all the hoops and approvals the teller had to go through to generate a receipt.

I like the sound of asking for a receipt and will do the same. At least I'll get some amusement from a ridiculous and unnecessary journey.

[Bernard]

I have an appointment at the Customs Office in PrechuapKiriKhan tomorrow. Does anyone know the full address please?

[Bernard]

I have an appointment at the Customs Office in PrechuapKiriKhan tomorrow. Does anyone know the full address please?

Well I eventually found the Customs House so for those of you unfortunate enough to have to go through this ridiculous farce, the address is as follows:

Pin Anuson
Prachuap Khiri Khan
อ.เมืองประจวบคีรีขันธ์‎ 77000
Thailand

Leave route 4 and take route 326 into Prachuap KiriKhan. Turn left at the traffic lights and go over the bridge with the sea on your right. Travel for 2.6 Kms and the office is on the left and marked "Customs House".

[Farang]

Customs House is in the north of the city right on the beach road.

[Bernard]

That's not bad Farang but you overshot the target by about 300 metres. Its a bit further back towards the traffic lights.

As an aside; I asked the Customs Officer how Duty was calculated and he said that "duty is payable on "the value" of the item being brought into Thailand regardless of its age. So, if you have owned an item for 50 years and it is valued at £1,000 you will be charged "import duty". Also, the greater the value the larger the percentage of import duty.

I will definitely NOT being shipping anything else to Thailand.

[Ginjaninja]

Guys,
I'm having problems with FedEx/BKK customs just now and have been fighting to clear a shipment for over four months now.
I accept that I have to pay import duty of up to 60% on new items however the full price they want is well in excess of 60% (closer to 80%).
My girlfriend (Thai) spoke to them on the phone and she tells me that they charge import duty on the actual shipping costs. I've never heard of this before and sounds completely ridiculous.
Anyone heard of a similar issue?
Thanks,
GN.

[Frank Hovis]

All countries in the EU charge import duty on both the value of the goods and the cost of shipping, so I can imagine Thailand would be the same.

[Ginjaninja]

Thanks Frank.
FedEx have emailed me again today and they want 21,202 THB for duty, service charges and the customs fee.
This is over 94% of the original shipment value purchased from the U.K. How can this be possible?
WTF?

FN.