Tariffs on 1,100 items may go

 

 

The Finance Ministry is seeking cabinet approval to waive import
 tariffs on more than 1,000 items, says Customs Department
director-general Kulit Sombatsiri.

If approved, 56 categories of imported goods and a total of
1,100 items will be allowed into the country without tariff,
 Mr Kulit said.

Although the tariff waivers will shrink tax revenue by about

3 billion baht, it will help local manufacturers with their cost

 of materials, especially intermediate types used in the final

production stage of high-value goods.

 Under the current import tariff structure, Customs waives

import duty for goods that local producers require as raw

 materials and capital goods. Intermediate materials or

those in semi-production are charged at 3% and final products

 or ready-to-use items incur 7-10%, depending on the category.

The tariff on intermediate products will be abolished because

those items are materials for value-added products and

government policy is to promote value-added industry to

 strengthen Thailand's competitiveness, Mr Kulit said.

"Some items will be able to ship in without tax," he said.

"Basically, we set the tax rates on import duty for various

 products. Some local producers still require safeguarding

 from imported goods.

" Customs has set a revenue target for fiscal 2016 ending in

 September of 124 billion baht. Despite the proposed tariff

cuts, the department still hopes to meet the target.

 In the first three months of fiscal 2016, Customs collected

 31 billion baht to surpass its target by 1.8%.

Apart from the new tariff rates, Customs is also trying to

 improve efficiency in many aspects of trade facilitation.

 For example, it is applying standard prices to imported goods.

 Goods prices require officials to survey several markets to

ensure that importers are taxed based on fair market prices.

 Standard prices will be applied as base prices to be used at

all eight checkpoints nationwide.

 "This year, we aim to finish the standard prices for the first

36 items, mostly soft commodities such as onion and garlic,

" Mr Kulit said.

"These goods are the most heavily imported items.

" Standard prices applied across the board will help prevent

 mistakes of individual judgement.

Customs is also developing a mobile app for use by checkpoint

officials as a tool for monitoring import-export volume.

 Other changes include a revision to the rule that gives those

transiting cargo to other countries unlimited time for storage

 at the checkpoint depot.

Under the new rule, they can leave their goods before transiting

to other countries for no longer than 90 days. If they fail to

collect their goods within 90 days, the goods will be seized

and become government property.

The move is aimed at cutting Thailand's cost of storage and

 maintenance, especially for used cars, and the government

hopes to make more revenue from the storage space.

News,Business News,Bangkok Post,25 January 2016.

 

 

Agree if the tariff waives for this goods import can help

boost benefit for the value added industry.

And we can gain form the value added industry more than

the tariff tax loss.

 

Sincerely Yours.