I am going on holiday and from what I have seen, you will need to use hand luggage for the items you want the tax refund for unless it is bulky or a liquid.
If the items I want to claim for is neither of these but they will make the carry on heavier than the 7kg, would that be ok to do it at their office in the check in luggage?
The rep at border force call center was no help.
I have, but the goods I have is not over sized (individually). I just want to make sure before I pack everything then find out it needs to be taken through.
Been a long time since I have flown so don’t want any complications.
In late 2022 I took 3 x pairs of snow goggles and 3 x extra lenses to TRS in their original boxes - they advised that I could have taken them to the ABF office to have them sighted - despite the fact that they were not too big nor too heavy to have carry on. Obviously there is no hard and fast rule but if they are cumulatively "oversized" (obviously this isn't defied and would depend on the discretion of the ABF officer) or otherwise difficult to have in carry on then it should be fine - particularly if they are forming part of a single TRS claim.
Certainly it would be a fair argument that if the item(s) would exceed the carry on limit they would be "oversized"
Great thank you!
for international flights most airlines dont check the weight of checked luggage. But domestic they are little stingy
I get that but I have check in luggage space, would rather put the items in there instead of lugging it around.
Technically you can show up to the counter at the airport pre check in and have the goods sighted
I tried this once (5 years ago in Sydney) and got told if I wanted to make a claim on the item (a pair of hiking boots) I needed to take them with me to the TRS desk as per usual. I didn’t end up claiming them because I couldn’t be bothered lugging hiking boots for $32
Put them in your suitcase and show up to the airport. If you get told by the bulky counter that you need to take it to the TRS desk then you can make the call as to whether you want to take the item or just forfeit the refund
Here is my experience from a few years ago. I had some TRS-eligible items that were too big to fit in my carry-on luggage and some smaller TRS-eligible items that would have fit the carry-on, but were pushing the weight to exceed 7kg. So I put all these items in my check-in luggage, went to the customs office, opened my bags for inspection and pointed out all items on which I wanted the GST refunded. To my surprise, I was told that they'll only sign off items that were too big to put in carry-on. I was advised that I will need to take the remaining items (e.g. perfumes) with me in my carry-on to show at the TRS counter. We had to make some last-minute adjustments and were then able to put those items in the carry-on. We ended up getting our GST refund, except it took some time to make it happen. If it helps, I was flying out of Sydney.
You can still take your chances and put everything in your check-in luggage. Just be prepared to make last-minute adjustments if necessary and allow some time for this.
Safe travels!
I’m glad I’m not the only one who had this experience
Thanks to everyone that has replied. I guess will just take it to get sighted and if they don’t allow it, won’t do the refund.
I heard recently that some people were questioned as to whether they're bringing the goods back into Australia? The one time I claimed TRS back on a laptop over 1K, I declared it on the way back (if had depreciated so was fine). Can anyone advise what it's like recently? Are border control likely to stop you on the way back after TRS claims?
I found the OzB thread from a couple months back - the item is under $900 so there shouldn't be any issues. Sounds like flagging for >1k purchases is common though.
See: My goods are oversized or restricted