What to know
A traveller may carry 50,000 baht out, or 2,000,000 to Vietnam, Yunnan province in China and the countries on its land border, and nothing caps what comes in. Anything above those figures needs the Bank of Thailand's prior approval, under Ministry of Finance notification on exchange control No. 10, in force 21 November 2020.
Declaring is a separate duty, and it runs in both directions. Ministry of Finance notification on exchange control No. 6, in force from its Government Gazette publication on 23 February 2017, sets three thresholds for anyone entering or leaving. Thai banknotes and coins above 450,000 baht must be declared to a Customs officer, as must foreign notes and coins above 15,000 US dollars or the equivalent, and a mixed holding of the two above 450,000 baht. The Customs Department treats a missing or false declaration as a criminal offence, and the Customs Act B.E. 2560 makes undeclared currency restricted goods, reaching ten years imprisonment.
Value added tax reaches a shopper at 7 per cent, the general rate stated in the Revenue Department's own guidance, last updated 23 November 2020. Section 80 of the Revenue Code sets the rate at 10 per cent, and Royal Decree No. 799 of B.E. 2568, in force since 1 October 2025, reduces it to 6.3 per cent, with a local tax collected alongside making up the rest.
A shop's ability to give a refund at all turns on its size. Section 81/1 of the Revenue Code exempts a small business from value added tax, at a turnover threshold Royal Decree No. 432 of B.E. 2548 fixed at 1.8 million baht a year, in force since 1 April 2005. A stall inside that exemption issues no tax invoice, and a tax invoice is the only thing a refund can be built on.
The refund for tourists is open to a claimant who is not of Thai nationality, not domiciled in Thailand, not airline crew on duty, and leaving from an international airport, with the goods bought from a store displaying the scheme's sign. Purchases must total at least 2,000 baht and reach 2,000 baht at any one store on any one day, a pair of floors set at the same figure by Revenue Department notification No. 231, in force 15 October 2019. The goods must leave within 60 days, counting the purchase date as day one, a rule in that form since notification No. 198 took effect on 1 September 2013.
The claim is checked twice, in two places. Where the purchases total 20,000 baht or more, the goods, the refund form and the original tax invoices go to a Customs officer at the airport before check-in, under Revenue Department notification No. 254, in force 1 December 2023. The same notification sends any listed item worth 40,000 baht or more, and any carried item worth 100,000 baht or more, to a Revenue officer past immigration. Its list runs from jewellery, gold ornaments and watches to glasses, pens, phones, portable computers, handbags, wallets and belts, and expressly excludes a suitcase.
Heading off with a card? Read how to choose a travel money card - including why you should always pay in the local currency, not Australian dollars.
Working out what the trip costs? Put your daily spend and trip length through the travel budget calculator, or convert a single amount with the currency converter.