The GST on ALL imports coming July 2017

tonyjzx on 08/01/2017 - 19:13

reference article:

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/gst-se…

My question to you guys is what your are doing in the 5 months or so to this deadline.

I know we all like buying random crap from the various china sites.

I'm not scared of the GST per se, but more of what kind of arcane 'admin fee' they add on top.

So for me, whatever crappy nicknacks including phones and watches I want, I'm buying now.

Its better to buy now than to regret the coming of the taxman.

I buy the random sub $20 thing off ebay as if its nothing and I would like to thing such things still might slip thru after July as too small to bother but do I chance it?

General Discussion

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Comments

  • juventino on 08/01/2017 - 19:29
    +1

    well, from the article, there won't be admin fee involved since the burden of collecting GST is passed on to the overseas retailers. Customs aren't required to open the parcels to check if GST has been paid or not. And they cant force the overseas retailers to collect GST either

    Plus it will take some years to get the practice well and down the road. If you're buying from small and medium vendors, you're likely to be safe since they are targeting big businesses ( Apple,Ebay, Amazon etc) in the beginning.

    Worse comes to worst, I will still buy from overseas, 10% GST means nothing compared to the savings I will get from overseas retailers

  • voteoften on 08/01/2017 - 19:33

    It'll be the businesses that have to collect it. If a random eBay seller overseas sells less than $75,000, that are exempt. I think they are only visiting the really big sellers and asking them to cooperate. I wouldn't worry about crappy purchases from obscure sellers. It looks like the onus of collection and remittance will be on the sellers that they tap on the shoulder.

  • modsec802 on 08/01/2017 - 21:08

    Does this mean TRS will no longer apply if you're bringing the goods back in?

    • juventino on 08/01/2017 - 23:46

      it will still apply. TRS is for goods purchased from Australian retailers, not overseas.

  • Davo1111 on 08/01/2017 - 21:20

    They'll just get PayPal to charge GST.

    Might actually force people away from PayPal

    • retiredfeline on 08/01/2017 - 21:29

      How would PayPal know what the payment was for? Sometimes I use PayPal to donate to an overseas cause.

      • Davo1111 on 08/01/2017 - 21:39
        +1

        Get sellers to claim GST free entitlement. Or charge you, then you have to request it back

        Edit: charaties get charged different PayPal fees

        • retiredfeline on 08/01/2017 - 21:42
          +2

          PayPal is a payment method not all destinations are sellers. Transfers to friends can also be done in PayPal. It would be more logical to hit eBay.

        • Davo1111 on 08/01/2017 - 21:56
          +1

          When you send money it asks you why. With the exception of merchants because it already knows it's for goods

        • retiredfeline on 08/01/2017 - 22:00

          @Davo1111: Small merchants on eBay have addresses like [email protected]. It's unclear whether that's a personal account or a company one, and they may be blurred anyway. And as for collecting the reason from the sender, nobody knows if what's typed in is truthful.

          Colour me sceptical, that's all.

        • Davo1111 on 09/01/2017 - 11:18
          +1

          And as for collecting the reason from the sender, nobody knows if what's typed in is truthful.

          It's been the same for a while, you get no paypal protection and if paypal finds out, they'll freeze your account for an indefinite period of time.

          It doesnt take much to work out who is running a business and who has a personal account.

    • Clear on 08/01/2017 - 21:38
      +2

      Time to move to Alipay I suppose.

  • tonyjzx on 08/01/2017 - 21:28
    +4

    Obviously companies like gearbest and whatever would have more than $75k of revenue however I doubt the chinese would be willing unpaid tax collectors for the aus, govt.

    Sure we can expect amazon and whatever to submit but i suppose we bank on the recalcitrance of the chinese.

  • burningrage on 08/01/2017 - 22:15

    Just so you know, LinkedIn has already charging GST on its premium-account.

    http://www.businessinsider.com.au/linkedin-is-going-to-start…

  • Odin on 09/01/2017 - 08:47
    +6

    I've written about this before. The entire purpose of this is to introduce admin fees and additional transit time to make the experience so unbearable that people will be forced to shop at Gerry Harvey's stores.

    Even though they say they won't impose admin fees, I guarantee a few months or a year after this is introduced, they'll say

    "We need to clamp down on those who won't comply, we need to do something!"

    "Let's set up a system where there will be a GST collection agent who can sort this out for us"

    Then your online purchases will work like this:

    1. Buy from website
    2. Website sends to australia
    3. Goes through GST collection agent (by this time you would've normally received your package)
    4. GST collection agent sits on it for about a week, then decides to send you a bill after they "assess" the value of your goods + a "processing and handling" charge of let's say, $14.95
    5. You receive the bill, and pay. It takes a few days for payment to be processed.
    6. GST collection agent sits on it for another week after payment, then eventually "releases" your package to be delivered like normal
    7. You receive your package about a month late + have to pay for the privileged of having some private company (profanity) you around like this.

    Mark my words, I bet that's what they're aiming for.

    It's not about collecting GST, it's about inconveniencing people so much that they won't online shop.

  • desafinado74 on 09/01/2017 - 09:27
    +3

    Another very stupid move by this current government. Let's hope it does not pass through the senate.

  • Chris Topher on 09/01/2017 - 19:18

    Quite a lot of my parcels from Asia/etc. have the contents labelled as 'Gift' or 'Donation'.

    That won't help evaluate tax liability.

  • djkelly69 on 09/01/2017 - 21:58

    Did you really use an SMH article as a reference??

  • burningrage on 23/02/2017 - 18:59

    Steam is next to add GST.

    https://www.kotaku.com.au/2017/02/steam-games-are-getting-10…

    and do remember, if they charge you in AUD, DCC (International Transaction Fee) may apply so another 3.3% to 4.4% on top of Currency Conversion Fee.

    Always reject to charge in AUD.

  • Zachary on 27/06/2018 - 12:06

    …well we're one year late…

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