Online shopping attracts attention from Customs Department

We’re getting more used to online shopping. And the Thai Customs Department are getting better at tracking and taxing incoming goods.

The Customs Department has stepped up its tax collection for online shopping and provided more convenient services for taxpayers, Kulit Sombatsiri, director general of the Customs Department, said on Thursday.

E-shopping for overseas goods had led to tariff collection worth about 5 million baht every month, he said.

To provide services for taxpayers, the department will send tax bills to their address, so they can make an e-payment transaction with the department and they do not need to visit a Post Office for tax payments.

The department also found many shoppers illegally bought marijuana from the US after many states legalised consumption of the drug, he said.

He said the department will start to introduce online customs procedure on September 1 to alleviate imports and exports. Tax evaders will be punished severely if they repeat an offence, he warned.

Kulit Sombatsiri, director general of the Customs Department

STORY: The Nation