Tax on Online Purchases in Thailand: Plan for New Duties of Up to 30%

Tax on online purchases in Thailand may change: the government has approved a review of import duties on goods arriving through express delivery and international mail. Customs payments on international postal items have already been collected since January 1, 2026 (2569 in the Thai calendar), but the new rates of up to 30% have not yet taken effect: Cabinet approval does not yet mean publication of the final tariff act. As of November 10, 2026, Thailand’s Customs Department has announced a planned review, so buyers from overseas online stores need to distinguish between current payments and future tariffs, which will depend on the product’s classification rather than the name of the marketplace.

What is known

The Cabinet has approved a review of duties on imported e-commerce goods. As stated in an official statement from the Customs Department, the review concerns express delivery and international mail: the amount of payment is determined by the customs classification of the goods, the upper limit is 30%, not a single rate for all parcels.

This page was updated on November 10, 2026, but that is not the date the tariffs take effect. Authorities link the review to supporting competitive conditions for local small and medium-sized businesses. According to an estimate by the head of the customs agency cited by Matichon, 241 million small imported parcels were delivered to consumers in 2025 (2568 in the Thai calendar).

Tax on Online Purchases in Thailand: Current Rules

The Postal Customs Service confirms customs payments on international shipments from January 1, 2026. According to Matichon, VAT is charged on the first baht of the import value up to 1,500 baht. The new duty schedule is not yet in effect.

VAT and import duty are different payments: it is incorrect to add their percentages into a single blanket surcharge, as the calculation depends on the shipment. A purchase shipped within Thailand is not necessarily considered a foreign import. More details — about shopping in Thailand.

In the register of royal decrees of the Revenue Department, Decree No. 807 extends the reduced VAT period to September 30, 2027. Decree No. 799 applied to the previous deadline of September 2026. The rate should be checked against the text of the decree.

Which duties are planned to change by product category

The newspaper Matichon gives examples of the proposed changes. The table shows previously reported rates and the plan, a tariff not yet in effect.

Plan based on November 2026 data, Matichon; the exact rate depends on the tariff line and the final regulatory act.

For interchangeable tools the limit is 25%. The overall maximum of 30% does not replace the tariff for a specific item.

When the new rates could take effect

According to the newspaper Matichon, the new act should take effect within 15 days after publication in the Royal Gazette. The expected launch target is no later than January 1, 2027, but the publication of the document itself has not yet been confirmed.

Until official publication, the stated percentages cannot be considered binding.

Marketplaces, tax payment and seller fees

The Customs Department is discussing the exchange of product data with Shopee, Lazada, TikTok, Shein and Temu. This does not confirm automatic withholding of duties on every order: check the payments for each specific purchase.

Since March 21, 2026, TikTok Shop has changed the base for calculating the seller commission, but the 3.21% rate has not changed: previously the base was the buyer’s payment minus refunds; now it is the buyer’s payment plus the platform discount. This is not a government duty paid by the buyer. From November 4 to December 3, 2026, a separate draft of rules on fees and delivery is also under discussion.

Tax residency is not linked to the parcel duty

The duty applies to the import of goods; income tax applies to a person’s income. A tax resident of Thailand is a person who has been in the country for a total of 180 days or more in a tax year.

The agency’s clarification on foreign income applies to income received from January 1, 2024 onward, provided the residency conditions are met. Income received from a foreign source before that date does not become taxable merely because it is later transferred to Thailand. More details — about Thailand’s tax system for expats and about the taxation of foreign income · RU.

What to do

Before paying, check the country of dispatch, the final amount and the import payments. Keep order and payment confirmations in case of an overstated customs valuation.

Postal customs allows an overstated valuation to be disputed using purchase documents; the appeal procedure should be double-checked. Do not understate the value on the declaration. Conditions and rates may change after the new act is published; check its status and effective date in announcements from the Customs Department.