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What are the import duties and taxes for shipping a laptop from the USA to Thailand?

import duties Thailand customs import tax shipping to Thailand laptop import FedEx DHL VAT customs clearance HS code

June 15, 2020

4 years ago

Janos **********

ORIGINAL POSTER

Hi.

Anyone knows about import duties and fees, taxes etc into Thailand?

My friend would send me a (1600usd worth) laptop from USA to Thailand, Phuket.

I was enlightened by someone that ill have to pay extre on top of the shipment cost, i already pay for fedex.

Ive been researching for it but confusing numbers all over the place.

Probably somwone here from US would know it better or anybody.

Thanks :)

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TLDR : Answer Summary

Shipping a laptop to Thailand from the USA can incur various import duties and taxes. The general consensus among users is that laptops are duty-exempt but subject to a 7% VAT based on the declared value. Handling fees may also apply depending on the courier service (FedEx, DHL, etc.). Some users reported receiving packages without any taxes, likely due to customs not inspecting them, while others mentioned paying significant fees. It's important to provide accurate information on customs declarations and be aware that customs officers may assess additional charges based on the package's declared value and contents.

Amy ******

Hey well, because of COVID 19 there are additional charges for everything for their additional custom clearance. I bought a bottle of cream from iceland for my psoriasis and I ended up paying tax and clearance for 1200 BAHT (I thought it was a rip off) it was from DHL And took 1 month to clear. A friend send a bag from China to me for instagramming, and I have to pay 680 BAHT (12%) of the bag cost also when it arrived . so i don'tk now its very expensive i think for anything import

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Charles ********

I blew out my Motorcycle Dirt Bike Boots the second week I was back in Thailand on a six month stay in October 2019. I went online and ordered in a new pair of boots from the States. They only took 4 days to get to Bangkok, but Customs wanted an invoice to calculate the "duty" which was not on the outside of the box. I spent a month getting the information to Customs. When the boots finally arrived in Chiang Mai they wanted about 30% Duty (6300b).

And to add insult to injury the boots ran large and I was swimming in them.

Moral of the story: Make sure the shipper puts an invoice on the outside of the box.

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Ivan ************

That is the correct duty for clothes. I'd disagree with making sure there is an invoice on the outside, it worked out bad for you in this instance but most of the time when there ISN'T an invoice on the outside, if it is a small parcel they won't stop it at all. Invoice attracts duty.

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Charles ********

: I was in a bind. I was going to be in Thailand for another five months without boots to ride my Dirt Bike. I had already gotten out the Vaseline and was prepared to pay the Duty. The hassle was not having them for an extra month because they couldn't figure out how much Duty to charge me.

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Charles ********

: Unfortunately a set of dirt boots in a brightly colored, fairly large, manufacturers box, commands attention. But I get your point if the box is fairly discreet.

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Charles ********

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Steve ******

Very expensive

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Steve ******

Ask your carrier Janos, it’s not worth trying to surmise how much you’ll pay.

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Janos **********

ORIGINAL POSTER

i called customs what they would charge for a laptop. General duty is 0%. However for laptop bag, clothes etc is 30%. I need to pay 7% vat of the sum of the laptop value +shipping cost + insurance. Ill find out soon tho and ill update it here... good luck for me :D

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Steve ******

@Janos *********

ask your carrier Janos, customs will tell you anything.

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Janos **********

ORIGINAL POSTER

i asked the carrier, fedex. They say ask the customs. So thats why i contacted them :)

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Steve ******

@Janos *********

typical. It depends on who is on on the day.....good luck anyway. Buy one here. I think it would be cheaper option. Or wait until someone can bring it for you. Safer and cheaper.

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Janos **********

ORIGINAL POSTER

i already bought it and nkw sitting at my friends place in NJ until we figure out how to send it to me without huge taxes :)

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Steve ******

@Janos *********

luck to you 😂😂😂

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Steve ******

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Steve ******

Cost me

*****

฿ import tax.

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Janos **********

ORIGINAL POSTER

I stay in phuket at the moment. Can u tell me what the item was u imported? Coz there are exemptions on certain things

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Steve ******

@Janos *********

charity second hand clothes and a notebook. I should have taken the advice I was given, that was “don’t do it”. But you really need to check it for yourself.

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Janos **********

ORIGINAL POSTER

there is a reason im asking the question about the box in my previous comment :)

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Janos **********

ORIGINAL POSTER

right. Where they packed in the same box? I mean the clothes and laptop?

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Steve ******

@Janos *********

no, not the same box.

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Steve ******

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Janos **********

ORIGINAL POSTER

do u have experience about it?

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Steve ******

@Janos *********

yes.

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Steve ******

Check with the freight company, how much you have to pay when it gets to Bangkok!

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Steve ******

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Edward ******

Buy a used one here cheaper than paying to much to

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Ivan ************

You've already bought it, so what are you going to do at this point, what are your options other than to send it? It should be just 7% VAT, no duty. Now it is _possible_ that Thai customs will misvalue or misclassify it and want more. I would consider that unlikely, but it's not impossible. But I don't see what options you have right now other than to send it and see what happens.

If they did miscalculate the duty when it arrives, you do have the option of rejecting the shipment and it would go back to the sender in the US. I have done this, once, and it went back fine. Although that item was something peculiar that you could debate what the correct HS code for it was, a laptop is straightforward.

In normal times, if you had a person in the US who was travelling to Thailand, a laptop is never going to be taxed at all if it arrives with a person on a plane. But you aren't likely to have that option any time soon.

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Jeff *******

@Ivan ***********

use regular post rather than FedEx etc if you can. I think laptops are still exempt from tax but if they aren't, FedEx etc are certain to attract the tax man

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Janos **********

ORIGINAL POSTER

@Ivan ***********

i dont have anyone coming form there no :) i made another comment whats going on now.

Ill get the process stsrted tonight which is morning est time so lets see what :)

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Janos **********

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Peter ***********

Yes don't bother, you will be ripped. If customs doesn't take it first.

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Ivan ************

this simply isn't true. Laptops are duty free. Why do you even bother with a comment like this?

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Janos **********

ORIGINAL POSTER

@Ivan ***********

it was sarcastic dont worry :)

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Ivan ************

it just does my head in people with no clue making these comments. Glad you were able to confirm with customs, good luck with it.

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Ivan ************

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Janos **********

ORIGINAL POSTER

@Peter **********

very nice comment, and helpful. Thanks

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Janos **********

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Jeff *******

Worth remembering that import duties vary a lot by category. Some things are zero tax and some things will destroy your bank account.

Packages worth thb1000 or less = no tax. Not sure of the exact number off the top of my head

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Robert **********

they also tax the shipping, not on what you pay fedex etc but on an imputed price depending on the size of the package. It’s probably doable. I’ve bought many items from amazon USA btw , never had a problem

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Ivan ************

that is not the case in my experience. They do tax the shipping cost but it's the actual cost, they don't make up a new one. You pay tax on the total you paid, including shipping. If shipping is "free" you pay no tax on shipping, but "free" shipping just means the cost was included in the price.

I am not sure where people get this idea they make it up, I think it's a misunderstanding of the idea that they do tax the total price including shipping. If they didn't tax the total including the shipping, people could just sell stuff for $1 plus $1,000 shipping.

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Jeff *******

@Robert *********

Amazon charge tax up front I think. And sometimes customs ignore the commercial invoice and make up a value.

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Robert **********

amazon charges shipping, tax and customs up front. If the charges are more, they eat that. If less they refund you in 60 days

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Sammy *******

@Robert *********

yes, I've had no problems ordering with Amazon. are they shipping to Thailand again? they had stopped, it appeared, for a while during covid outbreak.

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Sammy *******

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Joe ***********

prantip plaza

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Joe ***********

buy the laptop in bangkok save the hassle

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Sammy *******

@Joe **********

that's the best advice.

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Ivan ************

There are laptops that you either can't get here, or that are exorbitantly priced. Stuff that is distributed here is very reasonably priced, I got a ThinkPad for quite a bit lower than the US price. But other stuff- the Dell XPS in particular, is very expensive here.

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Janos **********

ORIGINAL POSTER

@Ivan ***********

i called customs office. They said as its a laptop the general duty is 0% according to its HS code.

It would be 30% for a laptop bag. Weird.

So what i have to pay on delivery is that (value of the laptop+shipping cost+insurance(optional))*7%= its around 4000thb which is fine. I hope this will be the right info. Ill update here when i recieved it

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Janos **********

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Janos **********

ORIGINAL POSTER

@Joe **********

i already bought it! And u would not find this version here. That was the reason i bought it from the USA

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Sammy *******

@Janos *********

but before buying did u research how u were going to get it to Thailand?

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Joe ***********

@Janos *********

go to prantip plaza and you ll be surprised what you find there

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Ivan ************

he's already bought it. It's not big of a deal to have a laptop sent here, honeslty.

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Ivan ************

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Janos **********

ORIGINAL POSTER

i called fedex, they say for my item to be shipped from the US address to my address would cost me 300 usd plus ill have to pay tax. I found a page ipsparcel.com which also giving the option to send by fedex but only for 131 usd. and there is a note saying this: "The price includes CUSTOMS CLEARANCE in Thailand and delivery to the recipient. DUTIES and TAXES are NOT included in this price and they will be collected from the recipient upon delivery". Some people here suggested to look up for the laptop hs code. i did. its 84-71-30-20. On this website,

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i find it general duty 0%. But if its a laptop bag, then its 30%. I got that. Some say for laptop only have to pay 7% vat, which would be fine if i send it by fedex. Im unsure about the meaning of customs clearance, duty and taxes. I just would wanna know when my laptop arrives, 1600usd worth, the delivery guy charge 7% of the value of the item, or there will be more charges? For me vat is the tax, but who knows if its the right term for it. or according to HS code the general duty is 0% on the laptop, but would that be the duty itself or there is another duty?

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Ivan ************

Like I have said to you already you should pay 7% VAT plus whatever the courier handling fee is when it gets here. If you send it USPS (including a service like EMS) the handling fee will be 20B paid at your local post office.

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Ivan ************

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Minh *******

My friend sent me something worth 75 USD from the US to Thailand Post office here and I had to go to the main office and paid 3,000 baht tax to receive it. Never again!

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Janos **********

ORIGINAL POSTER

that seems like 100% tax. What was it if its not a secret?

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Minh *******

@Janos *********

tattoo machine set 🙂

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Minh *******

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Wayne ********

fedex are the worst they will dump it at customs and you will have to make arrangements to clear it and pay duty

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Wilmont ******

It’s like it has been said on here, if they look you get charged if not you’re ok. Me onetime my daughter sent my niece here in Thailand 10 packages of Kool Aide from Dallas Texas and they wanted 400 baht tax. Plus they seem to charge whatever they want when they want.

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Ivan ************

Laptops are duty exempt. Some things like clothes or electric bikes do indeed have very high duties. But not laptops. It's 7% VAT only. I have imported a laptop and only paid 7% on the declared price.

MOST electronics are the same, duty exempt, 7% VAT. I have paid the same on a GPS and some other stuff as well.

You can look this stuff up here. Note you need to select "General Rate (Section 12)" to see the actual rate, the first rate is a ceiling rate in legislation and does not indicate the current rate.

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Rob ******

@Ivan ***********

so many schemes, so many old wives tales 😂

I find that actually sharing this information doesn't convince anyone. I stopped replying. Just let them lie on their forms and try sending it to their thai neighbors and have their family learn to write Thai script to save them nothing ...

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Ivan ************

I think maybe this changed at some point, the image above says 2017 although I have a feeling they were duty free before that. But for sure they were not always, and so maybe people are remembering old information.

And I don't doubt that sometimes Thai customs does come up with an unreasonable valuation or miscategorises something for duty and there is a hassle sorting it out

But I think 95% of the time when people are complaining about high duties it is the genuine correct duty being charged. Something simple like clothes are 30%+7%=39% which is quite a lot, and so people go bananas when their clothes are stopped.

People don't seem able to accept that there is a system and a tariff database and some stuff is very high and other stuff is zero, and that most of the time, _if stopped_, they are actually going off the legit rates which you can check in advance.

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Janos **********

ORIGINAL POSTER

@Ivan ***********

some mentioned that laptop is exempt. So no tax, no duty no fees etc. What do u know about that?

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Ivan ************

they are duty exempt but you still need to pay 7% VAT. If you send it through the post it should be 7% + 20B Thai Post handling fee. If you send courier should still be 7% but the handling fee will be a bit higher.

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Janos **********

ORIGINAL POSTER

@Ivan ***********

what confuses me is that how come clothes not duty free but a 1600usd worth laptop is?

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Ivan ************

@Janos *********

because Thailand has an indigenous clothes industry. Most of the highest tariffs are protectionist. Hence why electric scooters are non existent here, Thailand has a big petrol motorbike industry to protect and the tariff on imports is insane. Thailand does actually produce a lot of electronics, but for global multinationals.

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Janos **********

ORIGINAL POSTER

I keep looking on the internet and find different data. All mess.

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Rob ******

@Janos *********

use the site Ian linked. Use the rate code that provides you the lowest duty while still being accurate. Part of the customs officer's job is to take incorrectly filled forms (declaring "used clothes" rather than "used garments, manufactured in Bangladesh") and translate what's there to what's in the tarrif schedule. If you do that work for them, it can pay off. They aren't going to spend ten minutes trying to save you a serious chunck of change.

For instance, if you sent a watch from the US and just labelled it "watch" you could be paying 35% duty. If you labelled it correctly, "automatic wristwatch, made in Japan" you'd get it duty free. The officer has no incentive to help you... That's why you must do your own research.

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Rob ******

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Janos **********

ORIGINAL POSTER

may i ask where did u import it from?

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Ivan ************

China, Taiwan, Singapore, UK, Germany, Netherlands. All the same, some stuff it does vary on the origin, there are FTAs with for example, China, ASEAN, Australia/NZ, but laptops it's the same, duty exempt wherever it comes from.

The laptop, specifically, from China. I have also got stuff from the US but it has not been stopped so I paid zero.

Almost any time I have been asked for tax, it has been exactly what I was expecting and was not inflated. ONE time the amount asked for was debatable, but I am not sure what the correct HS classification for the item was and the amount they wanted (30%+7%) was possible. All other times it was exactly what I was expecting, even if sometimes a bit high, I could see in advance on that site what it was going to be.

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Ivan ************

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Thierry *******

on the customs sticker, you put used item 120$and send the invoice of the object in normal shipment

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Janos **********

ORIGINAL POSTER

the invoice still would show the real price.

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Thierry *******

@Janos *********

you get the invoice and warranty sent by regular mail usps, and the case is in the bag😉😉😉😉

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Thierry *******

@Janos *********

i collect recors , we do it like that whith sellers foreigners

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Thierry *******

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Wojciech ***********

Taxes in Thailand are random, if you do not believe it, just import more often, you will one day :)

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Wojciech ***********

Live and learn :)

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Ivan ************

They are not random. You can look this stuff up on the customs site. It varies massively by what the exact thing is, and further many packages simply are not stopped. People take from this that it is totally random, but it's not.

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John **********

@Ivan ***********

well sounds quite random to me... "it varies massively by what the exact thing is" ugh!!!

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Ivan ************

it's not random in the sense that every single thing has a HS code and a duty associated with it.

It's something Europeans living in the EU aren't usually aware of because we usually buy stuff from elsewhere in the EU where there is no duty and no extra tax and don't have to go through all this.

You are going to have the exact same thing in the UK once you have properly Brexited, you will need to look up the exact HS code for anything coming in to the UK to find out how much duty is due. And this varies depending on the item. Just like in Thailand.

Look at this example from UK customs, five different duty rates for different types of silk! It's the same everywhere, you are just more sheltered from it if you are in a large single market and buy everything from within that market (EU, US, etc.)

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Ivan ************

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Nick ****************

If you buy in Thailand and there is an issue you can take it into genius bars in the UK or States and change it.

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Nick ****************

Both DHL and Fed ex have an agreement with Thai customs. Some duty is always charged so the couriers can add their service charge. What they tend to do is google the product to get a price and then levy up to 30% plus service charge. So if it's for example a Macbook Pro they would google take the upper price if 2599 dollars charge 20% plus service so around $600 or

*****

baht.

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Ivan ************

This is not true. I have got electronics through couriers (a laptop through Fed Ex and a GPS through DHL) and only paid 7% VAT + the courier's collection fee, which was a few hundred baht, nothing crazy.

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Sammy *******

@Ivan ***********

agreed I have done the same from Amazon, delivered by dhl. no exhorbitant charges.

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Sammy *******

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Melissa ****

what about cpu? 😐

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Melissa ****

this one

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Janos **********

ORIGINAL POSTER

whats cpu?

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Melissa ****

@Janos *********

um.. the bulky thing for a desktop

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Janos **********

ORIGINAL POSTER

. Oh u mean that cpu. So what about it? :) i dont get it how its related to duty and fees?

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Melissa ****

@Janos *********

if I'm bringing it in to luggage does it get taxed too? that's the question😅 sorry

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Robert **********

I believe you can bring in about ฿20,000 in luggage without tariff

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Melissa ****

@Robert *********

thank you so much!

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Janos **********

ORIGINAL POSTER

i see :) ive got no clue.

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Melissa ****

@Janos *********

haha I'm just riding along on your post hoping someone can give me an answer too since it's similar hahaha

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Michael ********

only if they check your bag

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Melissa ****

@Michael *******

aww man.. That means it's taxable 😭? Thanks!

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Melissa ****

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Robert **********

I believe laptops do not attract customs duty. Here is an Amazon example, shipped to Bangkok.

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Jeff *******

You may not have to pay anything. Got a very expensive Dell sent from the US. Insured. Zero tax or VAT.

Computers used to be exempt if you're not importing to sell. Probably still are, but check. Pre COVID-19 they could get sloppy about checking packages and you'd escape tax. Now they seem to inspect everything.

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Marc *********

what i have paid is 17% sometimes 10% it really depends on who is doing the paperwork.. FedEx is cheaper than DHL, this is why i now use FedEx

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Bob **********

I'd figure about 30-33% but it depends on who looks at it it's up to them to appraise it nothing moving very fast if you use USPS might check DHL of Fedex

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Marcus **********

They will make sure you get the package right to your front door.

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Marcus **********

820 baht per kilogram. No other charges.

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Marcus **********

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Michael ********

Dont do it especially now i am sure customs want to up there revenue

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Marcus **********

Use a logistics company that ships direct to your door. You don't need to pay tax. I will find the contact for you.

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Michael *********

I sent a ~ 100 chf package from Switzerland and had to pay almost 100$ on top of the shipping cost (using UPS)

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James **********

Wouldn’t fix my iPhone because it was bought in the USA

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Jeff *******

@James *********

there are tons of good repair shops that will do it well for cheap.

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James **********

bought a new iphone

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Jeff *******

@James *********

if the old one is GSM and unlocked you can get it fixed and use it here as a backup

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James **********

main board was n/g

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Jeff *******

@James *********

yah main board isn't worth replacing, even here. Parts still cost the same

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Jeff *******

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Joe **********

About 30% ax would be safe to estimate

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Ivan ************

Laptops are duty free. Only 7% VAT

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Michael ********

more like 100 % for farangs

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Michael ********

My wife got computer on e bay sent from states about 5 % tax.

My Dad sent birthday present for my son with Farang name put 30 pounds on parcel. With shipping etc cost me 2500 baht to get clear. I was really happy when he opened up and was Plan Toy made in Thailand i could have bought in shop for 800 baht. Nothing has my name on it now and we got labels written in English and Thai now for family to print out.

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Michael ********

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Ian ***********

Buy local and save the hassle

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Janos **********

ORIGINAL POSTER

@Ian **********

i already did the purchase

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Janos **********

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