Thailand applies the WTO Valuation Agreement. Six methods, applied in strict order — you may only move to the next when the current one cannot be used.
01Method 1 — Transaction value
The price actually paid or payable, adjusted. This covers the large majority of declarations.
Additions to the price if not already included:
- Commissions and brokerage (except buying commission)
- Cost of containers and packing
- Assists — materials, tools, dies, moulds, and design work supplied free or at reduced cost by the buyer
- Royalties and licence fees the buyer must pay as a condition of sale
- Proceeds of any subsequent resale that accrue to the seller
- Freight and insurance to the Thai port of entry (Thailand assesses on CIF)
Deductions if separately identified:
- Post-importation construction, assembly or maintenance
- Transport after importation
- Duties and taxes payable in Thailand
- Buying commission
Conditions for using method 1: no restrictions on the buyer's disposal of the goods, no conditions making the price undeterminable, no resale proceeds accruing to the seller unless adjusted for, and — the important one — the parties must not be related in a way that influenced the price.
02Methods 2–6, in order
- Identical goods — transaction value of identical goods exported to Thailand at about the same time.
- Similar goods — same, for commercially interchangeable goods.
- Deductive value — the resale price in Thailand, less local costs, profit and duty.
- Computed value — cost of production plus profit and general expenses. Requires the producer's cooperation, so it is rare.
- Fall-back — reasonable means consistent with the principles of the Agreement, using data available in Thailand.
Methods 4 and 5 may be swapped in order at the importer's request.
03Related-party transactions
If buyer and seller are related — common with multinational groups shipping to their Thai subsidiary — customs may question whether the relationship influenced the price. You support the declared value by showing it closely approximates a test value: the transaction value of identical or similar goods in sales to unrelated buyers, or a deductive or computed value.
Keep the transfer pricing documentation in the customs file. It is the first thing asked for.
04Duty privileges worth knowing
Legitimate ways to reduce the duty burden:
- FTA preference — Form D (ASEAN), Form E (China), Form AK (Korea), Form AJ (Japan), RCEP, and others. Requires meeting the origin rule.
- Bonded warehouse — duty deferred until goods leave the warehouse for the domestic market; no duty at all if re-exported.
- Free Zone / IEAT Free Zone — goods may be stored, processed and re-exported without duty.
- Section 29 duty drawback — refund of duty on imported inputs used in exported products.
- BOI privileges — exemption on machinery and raw materials for promoted activities.
- Tax incentive schemes for raw materials used in export production.
Each carries a compliance obligation. A bonded warehouse with sloppy records is worse than no bonded warehouse, because the reconciliation failure is assessed across the whole inventory.