As title says, getting my watch serviced for $650 and wondering if I can get gst back at Sydney Airport.
Can I Claim GST refund on Watch Service?
bion83 on 28/04/2016 - 12:55
Last edited 28/04/2016 - 12:55
Last edited 28/04/2016 - 12:55
Comments
Thanks, should have googled properly
You can only claim tangible items that attract GST and have been purchased in Australia in accordance with the TRS conditions.
As a watch service isn't a tangible product, you cannot claim a GST refund on this.
$650 for a service?! Rolex…?
Omega
Showoff! ;)
How often do you have to service it? I'm looking at 3k omega as special present to myself but high maintenance costs scare me
Beautiful!
I pose this question…
What if the service breakdown was:
parts $350
labour $300AND the tax invoice included the serial number of the watch.
hmmmmmm
What if the service breakdown was:
parts $350
labour $300If that was legit people would be getting massages.
with the breakdown
Oil $350
massage $50happy ending…..$priceless
If you can justify and bring the full bottle of oil to the airport, then you can argue it's a legit claim.
Depending on where you are going, wait until you travel to get your watch serviced. I have a collection of swiss autos (including an Omega Aqua Terra) and I have been toying with the idea of waiting until I go to the US next time to get it serviced, I cant remember but I think i read somewhere about people making recommendations for Omega authorised servicing in the US for a fraction of the price you are quoting.
I think that is possible if you're going on a long holiday.. i.e. 6 weeks to be safe.
The other thing is in the US, there are many independent authorised Omega service centres that aren't owned by Omega (same as Rolex) so the turn around will be faster than the official boutique in the USA or Australia where only the Swatch group is authorised to service your Omega. Same as Rolex.
With a independent authorised Omega service centre, you may also speak to the actual watchmaker who will service your watch.
It's cheaper than Australia, but definately not a fraction of the cost here.
I was thinking in future to take my Rolex to be serviced in Hong Kong, the problem is the time it takes to service it will be longer than my holiday.
I serviced my watch before in Europe at independent watchmaker. Wait time was about week but I had to prebook and was slightly cheaper than Omega.
FYI Omega has set price for watch service, unless you can save money on exchange rate there is not much benefit in doing it overseas plus waiting time it huge. At Sydney Omega boutique it's about 4-6weeks.
I left my watch with then purely that after service you also get full 2 year warranty which is nice piece of mind on $10k piece.
I have a different view on this.
Certain services are not tangible - or they are not attached to a product.. If I get my gardens landscaped I can't take anything out of the country to claim back. A watch however it tangible and it could be argued that it had been partly at least remanufactured. Sounds a lot for this service, maybe it's got new guts installed in it.
Another angle maybe to have the transaction done as a sale and buy-back of the whole item. The numbers can be worked out to achieve the desired value for GST purposes.
Finally it's worth a try. Get the receipt written as "Refurfurbished Omega "S/N" … It's down to the officer at the border to decide. You might be lucky. Look for a blonde.
https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Ente/Tour/Are-you-a-traveller
No you cannot claim on services