Hi,
Not sure if this belongs here but I believe it is some sort of financial question.
I ordered a large item from overseas (bike, worth well more than $1000) and this will be delivered to Australia.
What should I do for paying the import tax?
1 - Do nothing and wait for whoever is delivering to ask me for the import tax (How much would it be? 10%?)
2 - Do some sort of declaration to customs before the item is delivered?
Thanks!
thanks!
I am always on the unlucky side with these sort of things so I want to be prepared for the worst :D
I've seen an increase in the no. of products, that attract Import Charges, eg, purchased on eBay.com.au
Vendors say it has something to do with the shipper they've chosen, but had No answer to the Q, why
not be more competitive by choosing a shipper without the extra fee…
Are such shippers so hard to find?
Do vendors reap (rape?) a kick-back portion of the Import Charge?
Could my use of a Forwarder help eliminate the Import Charge? (Would this be cost-effective?)
Yeah just wait for it. You'll be contacted for payment befor releasing.
Make sure to ask for the breakdown of how they calculated their figure to ensure they did it correctly (or to see if they made a mistake in your favour).
I bought my now fiance's engagement ring from the US last year, and they calculated the duties/GST off the price in USD rather than the AUD price (as though it was 1:1), so was off by the exchange rate basically, in my favour. I promptly paid it when I saw that before they realised.
Wait but… how do they determine the value?
I anticipate that the only reason why I bought the bike overseas is because there was no stock here in Australia.
The thing is… the bike here in Australia would have been about $3000 more expensive.
Will they use the attached receipt?
Will they try to figure out the value from internet?
Thanks for your reply :)
The retailer will have a declaration on the box (required to ship into Australia)
customs will base the GST on this declaration
Ah thanks. this makes sense!
Did the store charge GST at point of purchase? If so then there won’t be any duty charges at Customs.
no they didn't. The bike is not shipped yet, should I go this way?
In my experience they will base the value on the declared value provided by the seller, which will include your purchase price, shipping and insurance.
The courier company should contact you when it arrives. They will convert the total above to AUD. Typically you will need to pay GST, any applicable customs duties based on the AUD-equivalent plus an admin charge. Just double check the amount they are using as the basis for taxes/duties; I've had issues in the past where an item was split into two packages and they wanted to charge me double because they has listed the purchase price against each of the boxes, instead of spread across the two.
Ah that's handy! I will tell the seller to be very clear on that!
You can figure on import charges to total about 20% on the landed cost of the goods. If you are importing from a country wih which Australia has a Free Trade Agreement, and the product is made in that country, then you will not be charged import duty, only GST and processing charges
20%? still cheaper than being ripped off here but that seems too much?
It will all depend on the value of the item as the processing charges are fixed.
Thanks mate! have you been through that? how did they determine the value?
cheers
@ets27: The cost assessed as the price of the goods plus CIF (Cartage, Insurance & Freight). Once the total value tips over the equivalent of AUD1,000 then GST etc kick in.
Several countries now use advance shipping data so that the data is sent to the receiving country in advance of the goods actually landing. Where in the past imposition of GST was a bit of hit and miss - it relied on a physical examination of the goods/customs declaration to assess if duty was payable, and in many cases they would not add the postage.
Now, with the advanced notification system all values are captured and relayed to the other country.
We import a lot of items and would always assume they would overlook postage - back in January we got stung
Goods were valued at AUD925, and shipping from USA (via DHL) was AUD500. Got hit for import costs of AUD305.
I imported a watch from overseas once and was stung with a $200 customs and provider's handling fee for a $1500 item (this was on top of GST).
It's luck of the draw
FedEx and DHL used to be ruthless about collecting GST for low value parcels and whacking a $70 admin charge as well.
They seem to have stopped this, I think, but the times I have used them in the last few years were for purchases on marketplaces like eBay where get should be already paid.
@mskeggs: Ahh that would explain it, yeah, something like $150 GST (understandable) pluse like $70 for handling with DHL. Couldn't even dispute it.
Wait for your delivery - or whatever invoice comes before that.
Sometimes import charges get charged, sometimes they don't. It's a bit "luck of the draw" thing.