Thai Customs sharply focused on post-clearance audits and post-review activities

Since it came into force more than three years ago, the Customs Department has endeavored to impose and amend departmental notifications and regulations in compliance with the Customs Act, B.E. 2560 (2017) (the “Customs Act”). However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Revenue Department’s enforcement of the transfer pricing regulation in 2020, the Customs Department is now carrying out stricter post-clearance audits and is more likely to challenge importers on complex issues – meaning customs valuation and utilization of customs and trade privileges – in addition to conventional issues like tariff classification, origin of goods, and import and export requirements. The transfer pricing regulation closely interacts with customs valuation, which is the procedure to determine the import value to…