1 week Ago
The Excise Department was instructed to expedite implementation of its zero tolerance policy for excise tax evasion, cracking down on violations of excise laws. According to Deputy Finance Minister Paopoom Rojanasakul, the focus is preventing and combatting illegal goods that are smuggled without payment of related taxes, particularly across borders and via online channels. Increased seizures reflect the commitment of the Excise Department to prosecute and take action against those who sell or possess smuggled goods, he said.
The department recently signed a memorandum of understanding with two private courier companies -- Global Jet Express (Thailand) Co and KEX Express (Thailand) -- to collaborate on inspecting, seizing and confiscating goods, strengthening efforts to prevent and combat goods smuggling via delivery services for the purpose of evading excise taxes. The agreement allows the Excise Department to inspect packages suspected of containing tax-evading items, as tax evasion is increasingly occurring via social media purchases and the use of private courier services. Prior to this, private courier inspections required search warrants.
According to Mr Paopoom, in the first six months of fiscal 2025 (Oct 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025), there were 18,254 instances of illegal excise goods seizures, up 13.7% year-on-year, with total fines estimated at 2.7 billion baht.
The majority of cases involved alcohol (46%), followed by tobacco products (41.6%). Some 8,396 illegal alcohol shipments were seized, according to the department.
The seized goods included 65,241 litres of domestic alcohol and 14,348 litres of foreign alcohol. Some 7,597 illegal tobacco shipments were seized, comprising 298,002 packs of domestic tobacco and 2.12 million packs of foreign tobacco.
Aside from alcohol and tobacco, other items seized for tax evasion included motorcycles, cars, playing cards, perfume, cosmetics, beverages, oils and oil products, and batteries..
