With the majority of electronics coming from o/s, I'm curious to know does GST need to be charged at any point for the buyer or seller for <$1000AUD value.
Are GST registered sellers required to charge GST if their buyers are essentially the 'importer'?
What about those Australian sellers like Kogan that dropship from HK and are otherwise based entirely in Australia? Can those sellers charge a buyer GST?
I'm confused; I was describing Kogan's operations.
If a company drop ships from HK, then they presumably would have no interest in charging GST as they simply have to hand it over to the government.
I don't know if they WOULD be able to charge it if you asked them to, but I expect they could "sell" it to Kogan Australia and then charge you GST.
If you're that worried about the ethics of not paying GST, then just send a cheque to the ATO.
It depends on who you pay. If you pay an Australian company they have to charge you GST. If you pay an overseas company directly you are responsible for paying GST on import but this is not collected for under $1000. Hence Aussie companies grumbling that they are disadvantaged by this GST-free threshold.
If they're not drop shipping, then they're importing by the container load, as such, the value of the container is >$1000 and they pay GST.
The GST is calculated per shipment, so for drop shippers, they usually sneak under the $1000 limit.
Exhibit A: Kogan
If you buy a Kogan-branded product the "merchant" is Kogan Australia, GST is paid and you get a GST tax invoice and you can claim TRS if you go overseas.
If you buy a Kogan-sold-but-other-branded product, like an iPhone, then the "merchant" is Kogan HK, you are importing direct from HK as a "private importer", no GST is paid, you do not receive a GST invoice and you cannot claim TRS if you go overseas.