Customs scraps order requiring Thai travellers to declare valuables

The Thai Customs Department says it will scrap an order that requires Thais leaving the country to declare their personal belongings they take out of the country so that they won’t be taxed when they return.

The requirement was heavily criticised when it was announced because the procedure of declaration at the international airports would be complicated and time consuming adding more paperwork and bureaucracy to the already paperwork-intensive process.

Outgoing Thai travellers were being asked to present two sets of photos of the valuables that they wanted to take out of the country and then bring them back. Items such as cameras, smartphones, video recorders, tablets and computers were just some on the proposed list. Customs officials would then issue a receipt which would have to be kept and represented when they return from their travels to ensure tax exemption.

Director-general of the Customs Department, Kulit Sombatsiri, says that the scrapping of the order was designed to make travel easy and efficient during the Songkran festival.

But he noted that checking of items brought back into the country would be randomly checked as usual, with some travellers suspected to be traders to be given special attention.

SOURCE: PBS English/The Nation