- Thailand Customs has launched a new five-year Voluntary Disclosure Program, effective 1 October 2026 to 30 September 2031, allowing importers/exporters to disclose historical underpaid customs duty and related taxes before audit, investigation, or enforcement.
- The program covers errors such as incorrect tariff classification, incorrect customs valuation, and other declaration mistakes that caused underpayment.
- Eligibility is limited to false-declaration cases under Section 202 of the Customs Act, not duty evasion/smuggling cases; there must be no clear intent to evade duty, the goods cannot be prohibited/restricted/IP-infringing, and the taxpayer cannot already be under audit, investigation, search, or prosecution.
- Available benefits include settlement of duty and related taxes with Customs, waiver of criminal prosecution and criminal fines, and a reduced duty surcharge under the applicable ministerial regulation.
- Customs may expand its review based on information submitted in the disclosure, so businesses should carefully define the scope and verify supporting records before applying.
Source: bakermckenzie.com
Note that this post was (partially) written with the help of AI. It is always useful to review the original source material, and where needed to obtain (local) advice from a specialist.
