GST on all mail order items

[GPSGuided]

Just heard on the radio that our treasurer Joe Hockey has announced that ALL future international mail order purchases will attract the GST. No more $1000 threshold.

No ideas how nor the timeline of implementation but it sure will hit our equipment purchases. Another cost on top of our falling exchange rate.

[icefest]

I think it's just talk at the moment: https://www.google.com.au/search?q=GST& ... ST&tbm=nws

[GPSGuided]

The radio report was pretty definite on the decision but I too am sceptical of the implementation. It'll hurt Amazon and other large firms as the govt surely will target them first.

[Hiking Noob]

It's a good idea and they are morons for not having the tax in the first place, all it did was cost them money and hurt local retailers by having such a ridiculous threshold.

Prices in shops stay as they are and imports cost what they should, wonder if they change what happens when you do go over a grand, I've done that before and it's not fun.

[perfectlydark]

Its a terrible idea and will cost a fortune. If they ever put this stupid idea in motion join the protest movement to order as many $1 items as.you can to inflate their handling and processing costs...and dont bother.collecting or paying.any demanded fees.
The threshold existed for this very reason and if they think this will make people go out in droves and max out their.credit cards at harvey norman theyre dreaming.
End rant. I just hate stupid illogical ideological driven decisions

[GPSGuided]

Whilst charging GST is ethically correct but the way it's being brought out, is just a form of protectionism, driven by local business interests. Fact of the matter and with knowledge of how state sales tax and mail orders worked in Nth America, the govt should have anticipated and accepted this 'loop hole' when GST tax reform was introduced. With talks of upping the GST to 15%, someone got worried. Can't win them all in a globalised economy and the govt should also address the cost efficiency of our retail industry in terms of international competitiveness.

[wayno]

i'd still buy from overseas, often i'm buying items i can't get at home,

[GPSGuided]

i'd still buy from overseas, often i'm buying items i can't get at home,

But you don't have this present problem there in NZ. Or is your govt going to follow suit?

[wayno]

i think our threshold at present technically is $60 , in practice i've found its $300, but the govt says there is going to be a much lower threshold brought in. i was pinged once for going over the $300 threshold, cost me $100 in duty and gst...

[GPSGuided]

That's a lot of duty and GST for $300.

[wayno]

That's a lot of duty and GST for $300.

my thoughts at the time arent printable..

[vicrev]

The way I read it,the BUYER is going to pay the GST ,not the seller....Seems like the Gov is going to send all these people overseas to meet with the online companies,Amazon etc.etc & thrash out payment back to Oz....we will see how many snouts will fit into the trough now !!...

[simonm]

It looks like it will be implemented in July 2017 with zero threshold.

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015 ... hore-goods

[wayno]

i would have thought a zero threshold will make the cost of administering it rather high... wouldnt it have been sensible to put a higher threshold on it?

[simonm]

Yeah I am not sure of the practicality of it Wayno but apparently the onus will be on the various companies to collect the tax.

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/joe-h ... 017-2015-8

[GPSGuided]

The govt is appeasing the local retailers and treasury coffers. I can see how they'll hit those high profile online retailers eg. Amazon, while smaller outfits may get away with it, letting the buyer chance it on the receiving end. What are they going to do with family gifts? It'll be interesting to see how they'll implement it, could be a massive farce.

[MrWalker]

i would have thought a zero threshold will make the cost of administering it rather high... wouldnt it have been sensible to put a higher threshold on it?

The way I heard it the buyer will pay the extra Admin costs, so the idea of buying lots of $1 items won't work.
If you buy from the big firms (Amazon) they will just charge 10% extra and send it every quarter to the tax office. So you just pay 10% more than you would now.
If you buy from a company that doesn't have this arrangement then the post office or courier will hold it until you turn up instead of leaving it on your doorstep. When you pick up the item you will pay the post office the $1 tax plus a handling fee of about $17, so the post office or courier is not out of pocket for collecting the $1 tax. The handling fee will be much the same for any item where tax was not paid in advance.
So it's quite true that the admin charges make it not worth collecting, but the buyer will be the one paying the admin charges.

[GPSGuided]

Yeah I am not sure of the practicality of it Wayno but apparently the onus will be on the various companies to collect the tax.

Why would an online retailer (just about any brand out there) based in Texas or Shenzhen give a damn what Joe Hockey wants? With a small relative market here in Australia, I'd say few if any would bother with the extra work to implement when many in the U.S. won't even bother to collect state sale taxes for cross-state orders. Wait and see!

[north-north-west]

So we go on a spending spree for the next two years. And then lock up our wallets and bunker down.

[GPSGuided]

If you buy from a company that doesn't have this arrangement then the post office or courier will hold it until you turn up instead of leaving it on your doorstep. When you pick up the item you will pay the post office the $1 tax plus a handling fee of about $17, so the post office or courier is not out of pocket for collecting the $1 tax. The handling fee will be much the same for any item where tax was not paid in advance.

That's highway robbery to charge $17! Let's see how the legislation will be dealt with in the Senate.

[wayno]

Yeah I am not sure of the practicality of it Wayno but apparently the onus will be on the various companies to collect the tax.

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/joe-h ... 017-2015-8

ha, they wont want to play tax man for the aussies... they'll just ban shipping to aus or put a minimum price on orders to make it worth their while.

here its customs who contact the buyer for the tax

[wayno]

So we go on a spending spree for the next two years. And then lock up our wallets and bunker down.

yeah fortunately i'm already at the bunker down stage... i've got nowhere left to store extra gear...

[MrWalker]

If you buy from a company that doesn't have this arrangement then the post office or courier will hold it until you turn up instead of leaving it on your doorstep. When you pick up the item you will pay the post office the $1 tax plus a handling fee of about $17, so the post office or courier is not out of pocket for collecting the $1 tax. The handling fee will be much the same for any item where tax was not paid in advance.

That's highway robbery to charge $17! Let's see how the legislation will be dealt with in the Senate.

The $17 was an example given by the Mercury newspaper today. I'm not sure about their sources, but it explains how it could work.

Large retailers with sales over $75,000 per year would be required to register with the ATO, charge the GST upon purchase and pay the tax to the Australian government.
Smaller operators, if they choose not to register, would have to have their packages assessed for GST liability by Australia Post or a private cargo operator, which would incur a processing fee.
If any change mirrors overseas measures, consumers would have to go to their local parcel pick-up, pay the GST and also pay a ‘parcel pick-up’ tax before they can get what they ordered.
Under the same approach as the UK system, a $20 book purchased online from an unregistered business could end up costing an extra $2 in GST, plus $16.97 for the parcel pick-up tax.

[AlexB]

I'm betting this is based on a change to UK/EU tax law about a year ago. Google "#vatmess" and the effect it had on vendors in other countries. A knitting website I use had to spend months of developer time changing their pattern distro system so they wouldn't be breaking EU law, even though they're US based. All this for downloading knitting patterns that typically cost $1-$7. I wouldn't be surprised if many vendors just say "too hard" and refuse to deal with us. But I'm not going to go to Hardly Normal for digital products like my favourite knitting designer's patterns, or obscure ebooks about mushroom farming, or a BPL subscription. I'm much more likely to figure out something clever with VPNs like we all did for Netflix before it came here.

[AlexB]

MrWalker, those sorts of fees sound quite similar to what used to happen when I lived in Canada and ordered from the U.S. At least Canada Post delivered to your door, though, and you could pay then and there rather than having to go and pick up.

Companies who did a lot of shipping to Canada would ship in bulk to a remaining centre across the border, who would pay just one fee, split up the bulk parcel and remail the single items onward. At least I'm assuming that's what happened, and that they factored the costs of this into the shipping rates to Canada, as there were certainly a number of larger businesses whose parcels never incurred fees at my end.

The difference with Canada or the EU (as in my post above) is that they're not as isolated as we are, and the EU in particular has lots of big vendors and consumer choice. If a Brit can't buy (conveniently/affordable) from outside the EU, they're not as inconvenienced as if an Australian can't buy from outside Australia, because they have more local choice. For Canadians, it's easier to hop across the border as needed. We're far more at risk of being an isolated backwater

[GPSGuided]

Well, will just have to take more overseas trips!

[stry]

I have been buying from overseas suppliers since the late 70s. More so since the early 90s.

My reasons have remained constant, and are:

1/ The main and very dominant reason has been to obtain items that were simply not available in Australia.

2/ Much less important - Occasional BIG savings over the same items purchased locally. Small savings(like GST), why bother ?

3/ Convenience. I live in a rural area. Click and wait - easy.

I would never stuff around for the sake of not paying GST. The imposition of GST on my offshore purchases won't change the reasons listed above, and so, wont change my shopping habits.

[icefest]

It looks like it will be implemented in July 2017 with zero threshold.

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015 ... hore-goods

My highlights:

Whoooopee free travel!

Mr Hockey said tax office staff will travel around the world to sign up vendors.

This actually sounds reasonable. If they only get amazon etc, who have an appropriate system in place then it'll be cheap to collect.
Sadly amazon has not a single reason to do so,

only vendors with Australian turnover of $75,000 will need to register and charge the GST

“If it was going to be a case of inspecting every parcel, that would be plainly ridiculous. There has been three or four different proposals put forward. This is the best proposal because it’s consistent with what is happening internationally. It is also the case that the companies are more willing now than they were a short period of time ago to comply,”

typical male..

(Just Joking)

One tax Hockey said he’d look at abolishing earlier this year is going to stay: the GST on feminine hygiene products. The treasurer blamed his state counterparts for failing to agree on getting rid of the “tampon tax”.

[vicrev]

I suppose we will just accept it like we do everything else....put up by the best Government,Prime Minister,Treasurer,we have ever had..they are beyond reproach..just ask them.........

[perfectlydark]

Id advise anyome to write to their MP. There is no reason to accept madness as inevitable. Even better if you are in a liberal electorate. They may ignore you. They may send a form letter in reply. From what im seeing online though this policy might just have been the nail in the coffin for this govt so make some noise while you still can.