How to claim GST back if going O/S soon? Tourist Refund Scheme?

robotdad on 12/03/2012 - 11:50
Last edited 12/03/2012 - 12:16 by 1 other user

How does this work? I am heading out of the Country soon and I would like to take advantage of this.

Is this the Tourist Refund Scheme? http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page4646.asp

---

About the Tourist Refund Scheme (TRS)
The TRS enables you to claim a refund, subject to certain conditions, of the goods and services tax (GST) and wine equalisation tax (WET) that you pay on goods you buy in Australia.

To claim a refund you must:

• Spend $300 (GST inclusive) or more in the one store and get a single tax invoice
• Buy goods no more than 30 days before departure
• Wear or carry the goods on board the aircraft or ship and present them along with your original tax invoice, passport and international boarding pass to a Customs Officer at a TRS facility
• Claims at airports are available up to 30 minutes prior to the scheduled departure of your flight.
• Claims at seaports should be made no earlier than 4 hours and no later than 1 hour prior to the scheduled departure time of the vessel.

The refund only applies to goods you take with you as hand luggage or wear (unless aviation security measures, effective from 31 March 2007, in regard to liquids, aerosols and gels prevent you from doing so) onto the aircraft or ship when you leave Australia. It does not apply to services or goods consumed or partly consumed in Australia, such as wine, chocolate or perfume. However, unlike other tourist shopping schemes, most of the goods, such as clothing and cameras, can be used in Australia before departure.

The TRS is open to all overseas visitors and Australian residents, except operating air and sea crew.

The GST refund is calculated by dividing the total amount of the purchase by 11. The WET refund is 14.5 percent of the price paid for wine. For example, if you buy goods for a GST-inclusive price of $660 you will receive a refund of $60. If the $660 is made up of a camera ($460) and wine ($200), you will receive a total refund of $89 (total GST refund of $60 plus $29 WET refund on the wine).

New aviation security measures, effective from 31 March 2007, will affect the amount of liquids, aerosols and gels (LAGs) that can be taken as hand luggage on flights into and out of Australia. Further information in regard to the new measures is available from the Department of Transport and Regional Services (DOTARS).

While TRS claims can still be made for liquids, aerosols and gels, those goods that cannot be taken on board as hand luggage due to the new aviation security measures should be packed in the traveller's hold luggage. However, if those goods are oversized, for example a case of wine, they must be sighted prior to check-in at the Customs Client Services counter.

• 

  datty on 12/03/2012 - 11:54

  +3

  I did this a few months ago when I flew overseas.

  Basically purchase something >$300 (in my case a set of headphones) and keep the receipt/invoice with you. The purchase must be made within 30 days of you departing the country.

  Once you get to the airport, look for the TRS counter. There they will look at your invoice, ensure that it qualifies for a GST refund, check that the item is the same and they will credit the GST back to your debit/credit card.

  The credit takes a few business days to clear.

  • 

    ylangylang55 on 20/11/2013 - 17:18

    I asked the shopper and he told me claim within 60 days

    • 

      hctan on 08/12/2013 - 00:58

      His link says 60 days but his post says 30 days. Please amend!

      • 

        Richfield on 08/12/2013 - 08:17

        What do you expect, it's from 21 months ago.

• 

  mr_alligator on 12/03/2012 - 12:33

  +1

  Its pretty straight forward once you go there. Note that it does not have to be 1 item, it could be multiple items as long as the invoice total is more than 300 and it is a single tax invoice.
  So if you go to Harvey Norman and buy multiple things - make sure you get a single tax invoice and you would need to carry the items with you when you fly, although it is unlikely that they will check it properly.
  Furthermore if you buy a laptop or something, they always ask for your name on the invoice, so make sure the name of the person on the laptop matches with the person claiming TRS.

• 

  auna on 12/03/2012 - 13:13

  +1

  So is it possible to do this for the ipad 3? Big W with staff discount then GST refund would be the cheapest price I can think of.

  • 

    Evil-Elmo on 12/03/2012 - 13:22

    If you buy it within 30 days or flying and carry it with you (to show TRS) then you should be able to.

  • 

    Davo1111 on 12/03/2012 - 13:39

    you also need to carry the item overseas. afaik the "new" ipad is still preorder

  • 

    robotdad on 12/03/2012 - 15:11

    The very reason why I asked this question was because I was thinking of buying 2X 16gb wifi iPad2 or iPad3 (haven't made up my mind yet and it depends on the availability of the iPad3) as travel entertainment. Still looking at BigW locally or may avoid all the GST refund business buy buying offshore.

    I'm heading to Hong Kong/Macau and maybe Shenzhen…Would I be better off just buying my iPads there?

    • 

      datty on 12/03/2012 - 15:26

      +1

      Also keep in mind that there is an allowance of $900 per person.

      I used up my allowance when I left ($900) and was advised that I would not be entitled to purchase any items duty free such as Cigarettes and Alcohol.

      Even though they say that, I still managed to purchase 2 cartons of cigarettes on the way back in. I guess just don't declare anything on your way back in and they can't check your claim on the TRS.

• 

  Davo1111 on 12/03/2012 - 13:38

  +2

  hi robotdad. Basically you go through immigration, and just as you enter the duty free shops theres a big sign pointing to TRS. You queue up like a bank. Then when you get to the front they "inspect" your items and reciepts. They stamp the reciept and from memory they give the refund to your card on the spot.

  • 

    robotdad on 12/03/2012 - 15:04

    Thanks Davo1111…Sounds like a goer.

  • 

    joannatan on 12/03/2012 - 21:12

    +1

    make sure you claim 30 minutes before your flight departure

• 

  voteoften on 12/03/2012 - 15:01

  In Perth it is immediately after going through immigation. On your right, you can't miss it.

• 

  robotdad on 12/03/2012 - 16:07

  I just found this mega discussion on Whirlpool: http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/713473

• 

  mrhorseham on 12/03/2012 - 17:28

  I've always wondered about this and i'm a little confused how it works. So say i bought a macbook pro at 10% sale so got it for $1259.10, then went O/S and claimed back GST ($114.46) giving me a macbook pro for $1144.64? But what i'm confused about - is it only available to tourists leaving aus permanently? or is a person still eligible if someone just goes on a holiday for 2 weeks then comes back?
  Thanks guys.

  • 

    Davo1111 on 12/03/2012 - 19:08

    http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page4646.asp

    If the goods are to be brought back into Australia, please be aware that they may be subject to GST. Normal passenger concessions apply and include any items for which a TRS claim has been approved (excluding most personal items such as new clothing, footwear and articles for personal hygiene and grooming). If the value of those goods together with overseas purchases exceeds the passenger concession, the goods must be declared to Customs on your return to Australia. Penalties apply to undeclared taxable goods.

    AFAIK you're supposed to pay tax on items purchased overseas (or in australia tax free) that are $400 value [citation needed - but thats what's written on the customs card]. Therefore you would officially need to pay tax when entering the country again. However, the system doesn't currently check to see if you're importing the items you exported. Unless you out-rightly said "oh i got this in the TRS" and hadn't unboxed the stuff, they probably can't tell.

    • 

      Ozbargainer85 on 20/03/2012 - 17:41

      I believe it is $900 rather than $400 - see http://www.customs.gov.au/webdata/resources/files/GuideForTr… Page 13 (page 8 of the PDF)

      "General goods
      If you are aged 18 years or over, you can bring up
      to A$900 worth of general goods into Australia
      duty-free. If you are under 18 years of age there is a
      A$450 limit. General goods include gifts, souvenirs,
      cameras, electronic equipment, leather goods,
      perfume concentrates, jewellery, watches and sporting
      equipment."

  • 

    joannatan on 12/03/2012 - 21:11

    you shouldn't bring the item back to australia in theory, but they can't check if you bring back the item or not as there is no alert on their system if this people has claim gst when they depart from australia or not

• 

  dealman on 20/03/2012 - 17:36

  Also for laptops please be aware they need to see it after immigration, you can't put them in main luggage if you are taking a few with you. All of them need to go through immigration and lugged along..

• 

  mitochondReon on 20/03/2012 - 22:31

  Please note that in Sir Kingsford Smith International Airport (not sure about others) they only accept credit card for payment of gst refund, I presented my atm card initially but was asked for a credit card instead.

  You then will received a refund from Global Refund Mondial. However, the refund resulted to a reduction on my AMEX point balance, so I chased up their customer care for a reversal of such incorrect transaction. Whenever a refund is received, the AMEX system automatically deducts the corresponding amount assuming that you would have earned points for that transaction earlier, not sure about other credit card companies. So make sure to check your point balance and ask for a reversal if you encounterd any problem. It took them roughly around 3 weeks to adjust my points.