Navigating through Thailand’s labyrinth of customs legislation and legal framework can be challenging for companies, especially with the vast number of different regulations that could apply when importing/exporting goods and the number of government agencies that could be involved when moving goods in- and outside of Thailand. Combined with Thai Customs becoming more sophisticated in their approach on post clearance audits and investigations to ensure compliance and collect revenue and Thailand’s customs penalty regime in case of non-compliance, companies find themselves quite often at the back foot when dealing with Thai Customs.
On the other hand, as part of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) integration process, Thai Customs has implemented procedures and special schemes to facilitate trade such as the Authorised Economic Operators (AEO) schemes, Thai National Single Window (NSW) etc. The Government has developed various attractive duty saving facilities to draw foreign investment in various economic sectors which range from duty and incentives under the Board of Investment, Free Zones privileges to duty drawback schemes. Thailand has also stepped its efforts in concluding more FTAs which provide Thai companies better market access opportunities in other countries and import duty benefits in Thailand.
To take advantage of the available opportunities, it is important for companies to understand the differences among the various customs procedures and privileges and their corresponding requirements, in order to identify the optimal privilege that is suitable for your business.
Equipping yourselves with the knowledge and understanding of the latest trends in Customs’ perspective of each technical area could help mitigate customs risks. Thus, improving your competitiveness through customs planning should go hand in hand with adoption of the best practice in customs compliance and risk management.
Our services in Thailand can be broadly categorised into “Customs & Trade Planning” and “Ensuring Customs Compliance and Managing Customs Risks”. Below are the typical services that our team in Thailand provides:
Strategic Customs & Trade Planning
Customs Compliance & Risk Management
A manufacturer of automotive parts was audited by the Post-Clearance Audit Bureau (PCAB) of Customs and was challenged on the dutiability of the royalty fees paid under a License and Technical Assistance Agreement.
How we helped
WMS conducted an analysis of the License and Technical Assistance Agreement to assess the dutiability of the royalty fees from a Thai customs valuation perspective and provided strategies to mitigate risks resulting from historic as well as future shipments.
Benefit for the client
A company approached us as it was concerned about possible non-compliance with various customs laws and regulations, and the potential for back-duties, penalties and supply chain disruptions.
How we helped
WMS provided support to minimise the duty and tax exposure as a result of non-compliance issues related to the use of duty privileges for imported automotive parts. Our work included:
Benefit for the client
Are you aware that the customs gold card scheme ended on 1 October 2013?
Gold card holders who don’t become Authorised Economic Operators (AEO) will lose their privileges.
If you answered 'no' to any of these questions, there’s a big chance you have customs risks related to your import/export operations in Thailand. Either that or you’re missing out on opportunities to save money and privileges.
The regulatory Customs environment in Thailand is complex and continually evolving. In our experience, companies find themselves on the back foot when dealing with Thai Customs, especially during a customs audit or investigation.
Equipping yourself with information on your customs operations and assessing your compliance level could help mitigate customs risks and assist your company in identifying possible customs opportunities.
We’ve developed OCAT (Opportunity & Compliance Assessment Tool) to quickly obtain information on your company’s customs operations and to provide you with a report on possible key compliance issues on past imports and identify opportunities to minimise duties payable on future imports.
The good thing for you is that the analysis can be conducted from our offices, so it won’t tie up your resources.
As part of the service, we will:
Paul Sumner
Partner, Philippines & Thailand, PwC Asia Pacific Customs and Trade
Tel: +662 844 1305