What are the duty implications when moving household goods from Canada to Thailand for a Thai citizen's spouse?

IF your wife is a thai and she can prove that she is moveing back to live in thailand permanately and what you are moveing is hers , being married , she will not be taxed . I brought a 6 metre container with all my stuff back in 2013, as a builder ,lots of tools , had a friend whose kid worked in exporting in thailand , big mistake , when it got here there was no friend to be seen , cost me 130k bhart and most likely more if I had not threatened to cut his balls off. Who ever you use get a quote total door to door and settle for that amount with custom fees paid , the better companies know all about the coruption in thailand and will give an all up price , it really can be a hassle if you try to cut corners as I did !

I hired a reputable corrupt import agent I trusted. Every step came with a receipt for cost except for that one 5,000 Baht charge that had NO explanation.

Items were taxed at declared value , one box of hand tools did disappear.

Overall, fairly painless.

HINT :

1- only items that are not available in Thailand or are extremely pricey here were included in shipment.

2 - chose an airline that allows 2 bags per person , and bring many items yourself, it may take a couple trips to get personal belongings that I'll fit in suitcases , I found it worth the wait .

Normally, you are entitled to a duty free shipment of personal effects one time in your life. I did that many years ago and just paid a lump sum to my agent (forgot the figure now, it was in 2012) to cover demurage, his work and trucking from Bangkok, no duty fee was collected.

Just get new stuff in Thailand. Much easier.

If she’s a returning Thai it should be Zero

We bought in dogs a d it was 4000 baht duty

A 40ft companies was 130,000 vat and duty

English and Polish on retirement visa

We shipped a 40 foot container in 2022 under my wife’s name as a returning Thai. Our total duty was about 1000 baht on some arbitrary item which I don’t recall. The inventory was done by the packers so some labeling was vague which might have helped. The key is that everything was “used” personal items.

I brought in about 25 collectible porcelain tea cups and they charge me 30% duty tax and they came up with the price of $80 per cup so I paid close to ฿20,000 to bring it into Thailand. 

Canadian stuff is generally rubbish and completely replaceable here

Send in wife's name one time no duty !

Sell it and buy new in Thailand. I know a lot of foreigners who ship their stuff and now they say they never would do it again!

We have just had a bill of 45k bhat on £30k worth of furniture, this included port storage, import duty and various other extras which are chargeable, we thought this was quite reasonable.

Hi everyone me and my wife are moving from Australia

Anyone from here moved goods from Australia to Thailand and if so what was it like and costs ?

Last time I looked into it, there was a 6 month window from entering Thailand to bring your stuff over, duty free.

You can buy all the kitchen appliances here, ridiculous to bring 110v stuff here. Unless your stuff is super valuable or sentimental it consider selling and buying new here

As others have said check with immigration and customs for current rates, rules and exclusions. One other thing I haven't seen mentioned is classification and a lot of things can be classified as Used Personal Items. Be sure to ask about that. Also look into what is cheaper to just replace here even though you won't get much selling it. Used appliances are a good example, just get new ones here. Their bulk and weight makes them more expensive to move than their worth.

Your pets don’t want to come to Thailand.

On your wife name should be free for 1 container

We came from Australia and paid no duty on any of our stuff

We bought all our kitchens things even electrical coffee machines witch was more expensive here

My husband has a record collection and a sound system for the records

But no furniture ours wasn't worth bringing

My understanding is if you both lived outside thailand for at least 2 years there is no duty on household goods. We shipped 4 pallets and paid zero. If you are west coast there is a great company in Seattle...

Problem is

They give you a price on a item ...pay it or ship it back .

Sell 90 percent there

If your Thai wife is still a Thai citizen, if she signs for all shipping and puts everything as hers on the manifest, she is allowed to bring in everything duty/tax free one time if relocating back to Thailand from abroad. We paid zero duty for a 20' container on arrival from the USA. Mountain bikes, ladders, patio furniture, tools, artwork, kitchen appliances, step down transformer, vintage China dinnerware, etc.

Feel free to msg me if you need more details.

We got rid of everything. The shipping costs were ridiculous. Everything here is a heck of a lot cheaper.

As others said, each shipment is different. But we shipped a fair amount of furniture, plus household goods like pots & pans, clothing, and quite a lot of books (academic researcher in the family) & our customs duty was, I think, about $1200 USD. For us it was definitely worth it. As you said, we had good quality furniture that we could not afford to replace, plus some were family heirlooms we couldn’t part with. (To clarify, not antiques worth millions, but, say, a mid-century sofa that might cost $4k to replace if you could find one. We’d only end up with IKEA if we had to buy all new,) in short: it wasn’t enough to stop us from bringing our stuff.

Not worth it.

Some Canadian furniture and items won’t even hold up their the climate and or local pests.

Shipping is expensive and the taxes and duties are insane. Most ppl downsize huge or store in home country with family or storage place.

Getting extra luggage when you come and pay for that and leave the rest.

I had quite a bit of stuff myself. Shipping is outrageous 18" x18" × 18" plus 20lbs = $870.00 at the time. Plus you may have to drive to Bangkok to pick it up ! For me that more than 4 hours away. So, i value my time as well and the headache of dealing with port authorities.

One extra 62 inch linear suitcase x 50 lbs. = $200.00. × Up to 6 to 8 extra suitcases on certain airlines. Have you've checked Sea container shipping. Everything will need to go through customs and many have reported missing items. Make sure you have photo documentation and an detailed manifest and appraisal sheet to insure any shipped items. I ended up flying a few times with the extra suitcases. I also let alot of stuff go because it is much more cost effective then shipping was for me, and blessed all my children.

You do what works for you.

I found it refreshing to unload life and embrace my new journey.

Cheers

I don't think you'll be needing any winter clothing from the north !! just saying ...

Only precious things worth the trip. Long time ago people moved appliances but now these things getting cheap in Thailand. Only things with memory or art works worth the trip.

I think you need to do a bit of detailed research ? My Thai Wife has been in the UK 5 years - She used to work for a Big Thai shipping Company ( She did warn me that Thailand is strict about putting tariff,s on certain goods . I guess like everything in life the Devil is in the Detail? We have have a local shipping company who deal with people moving to Thailand /Other places . You can find them by doing a Google search . Good Luck .The name of the Company is -Seven Sea,s .

a Thai wife can ship back to Thailand almost everything, household items, tools and furnitures, (!) duty free. You need to check further, see what the rules say. Thai Customs has a website that details everything, in both languages. Don't rely on the advices of all those half-witted attention seekers in the Facebook groups. Stick to what the admins and moderators are telling you. Brandon also gave you the hint to check further

Speak to an importer, do all in your wifes name she is allowed a certain amount not sure how much.

Long time since I did it, so not 100% on the rules now, but returning thais get 1 shipment duty free. The shipment was all done in my name, I just needed to show my wifes passport, as well as mine, for customs, when it arrived.

I thought that u were allowed 6 months duty free when moving?

If your Thai wife has been gone for a certain number of years, then she should be able to bring certain items back without any tax. She will need to look into the details, and everything will need to be shipped in her name.