Alfa Romeo Owners Club of Australia Forum

General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Citroënbender on July 05, 2018, 09:00:48 AM

Title: Sub-$1K International Purchases and GST - Any Experiences Yet?
Post by: Citroënbender on July 05, 2018, 09:00:48 AM
Asking out of curiosity. Have a set of shocks on B/O with the Tweekers, paid up last month but due to post in August...

The Fleabay community discussions seem to represent a general morass of puzzlement, save for the apparent comments that nobody has heard of changes to the way parcels are being treated incoming.  I haven't asked Shop4Parts if they will be collecting the GST. 

Also wondering if I use (say) Fleabay France to buy something destined for Australia, whether they will be obligated to collect GST.
Title: Re: Sub-$1K International Purchases and GST - Any Experiences Yet?
Post by: bazzbazz on July 05, 2018, 07:55:48 PM
It's got nothing to do with overseas suppliers, they won't collect anything. You will be required to pay the GST when the delivery arrives in Australia and goes through customs.

That how I believe it's supposed to work, anyone who knows better feel free to correct.
Title: Re: Sub-$1K International Purchases and GST - Any Experiences Yet?
Post by: Citroënbender on July 05, 2018, 08:36:22 PM
This implies to the contrary:

https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/busi/cargo-support-trade-and-goods/importing-goods/duty-rates-and-taxes/low-

Also the above is referenced in discussion about halfway down this page:

https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Buying/GST-on-all-imports-July-2018/td-p/2141509/page/8

Clear as mud.  ???

I've received today, goods from a UK sale processed on July 2nd (CC payment), so after the "start date" for whatever the changes actually are.  There was no GST charged by the vendor, none collected en route (FedEx), and no VAT either.  IOW, same old, same old. Have to wonder if for now that's how many transactions will continue.
Title: Re: Sub-$1K International Purchases and GST - Any Experiences Yet?
Post by: aggie57 on July 05, 2018, 09:34:39 PM
My business regularly buys software from the US and other places. This week I saw a $200 odd purchase from Norton's for anti-virus that had GST applied for the first time. They collected the GST and noted the new rules on the invoice. It's not a physical item but it's goods so the same rules apply.
Title: Re: Sub-$1K International Purchases and GST - Any Experiences Yet?
Post by: Citroënbender on July 05, 2018, 10:07:29 PM
There must have been an Australian aspect to the vendor or payment channel, though? 

If not, will it be something they eventually just pocket? If they've established a precedent they will need to uphold it for every transaction - and presumably remit each identifiably to the ATO.

I'll play with a few options over the next couple of weeks, to see if there is any sense in it, as found.
Title: Re: Sub-$1K International Purchases and GST - Any Experiences Yet?
Post by: poohbah on July 05, 2018, 10:59:26 PM
I saw something in the paper the other day that said one of the big US retail sites (Amazon maybe?) was rerouting all Australian users through its .au site, which is set up to handle GST.
Title: Re: Sub-$1K International Purchases and GST - Any Experiences Yet?
Post by: Paul Gulliver on July 05, 2018, 11:42:17 PM
Just saw this on EB Spares web site.
https://blog.ebspares.co.uk/australian-deliveries-and-gst/

Title: Re: Sub-$1K International Purchases and GST - Any Experiences Yet?
Post by: bazzbazz on July 05, 2018, 11:51:42 PM
I cant wait till the ATO tries to get small businesses in places like Uganda or Venezuela to cough up the GST they have gathered from sales to Australians to hand over the money.  ::)

;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: Sub-$1K International Purchases and GST - Any Experiences Yet?
Post by: Citroënbender on July 06, 2018, 03:44:58 AM
Quote from: Paul Gulliver on July 05, 2018, 11:42:17 PM
Just saw this on EB Spares web site.
https://blog.ebspares.co.uk/australian-deliveries-and-gst/
Shop4Parts must be having a good chortle, their website only states that taxes etc are the purchaser's responsibility.
Title: Re: Sub-$1K International Purchases and GST - Any Experiences Yet?
Post by: LaStregaNera on July 06, 2018, 08:29:22 AM
Buy something through Ebay - and they'll finger you for the GST (even though the seller is not going to get anywhere near the GST threshold of $70,000AUD worth of goods a year).
I suspect some sellers will give the ATO this response:
(https://www.autosportsltd.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/steve-two-fingers.jpg)
Title: Re: Sub-$1K International Purchases and GST - Any Experiences Yet?
Post by: aggie57 on July 06, 2018, 01:20:53 PM
Quote from: Citroënbender on July 05, 2018, 10:07:29 PM
There must have been an Australian aspect to the vendor or payment channel, though? 

If not, will it be something they eventually just pocket? If they've established a precedent they will need to uphold it for every transaction - and presumably remit each identifiably to the ATO.

I'll play with a few options over the next couple of weeks, to see if there is any sense in it, as found.

This one was Symantec. I'm sure they have plenty of GST inputs as well.
Title: Re: Sub-$1K International Purchases and GST - Any Experiences Yet?
Post by: Citroënbender on July 18, 2018, 10:21:54 PM
It's semi-related to the GST caper; in the vein of Amazon, Demon Tweeks has started geoblocking its UK site to Oz (per ISP) browsers.
Title: Re: Sub-$1K International Purchases and GST - Any Experiences Yet?
Post by: Citroënbender on August 02, 2018, 09:55:00 PM
Whether it's Fleabay policies biting, or Brexiteer navel-gazing, I'm currently finding the Ebay UK second hand dealers much less enthused about selling to Australia other than by using the Global Schlepping Program - which inconveniently doesn't recognise the savings of multiple items purchased where post/pack is unlikely to change significantly due to extra items.
Title: Re: Sub-$1K International Purchases and GST - Any Experiences Yet?
Post by: Citroënbender on August 08, 2018, 08:48:24 AM
I note, Demon Tweeks now has the option of which country and currency you're shopping or browsing in. That's good, perhaps there was a vociferous pack of angry bunnies.  :D

Fleabay have just skimmed me for £1.70 GST, however almost all the remaining Triumph car stuff I need can be bought from small UK vendors whose sentiment echoes the famous picture above. And I'm browsing LeBonCoin more too.  ;D
Title: Re: Sub-$1K International Purchases and GST - Any Experiences Yet?
Post by: Citroënbender on August 29, 2018, 10:42:59 AM
OK,

First up my most recent Demon Tweeks / Oz Post experience.

Bocks of shox arrived in the country. A week later I get proforma letter from Oz Post on behalf of ABF... allegedly no breakdown invoice with the articles (which, to quote the famous breakfast cereal advert "I find that very hard to believe") so I have to clarify the position.

I write to DT and ask for a certified copy of the invoice, printed to PDF. They oblige within 24 hours. Value of the goods is $950-odd, the rest freight.  I follow the proscribed procedure to forward this to ABF and within half an hour receive an automated email saying my item has been approved for release.

In other words, same old, same old.  :)

I note one of the French used parts brokers (proxyparts) is still happy sending to Oz, hors taxes. I mention this because like Spain and Portugal you can luck in with parts from a dry, warm region - never seen gritted or salted roads.
Title: Re: Sub-$1K International Purchases and GST - Any Experiences Yet?
Post by: kaleuclint on September 02, 2018, 05:47:41 PM
Bought stuff from chainreactioncycles.com (http://chainreactioncycles.com) today.  They are applying GST. ::)
Title: Re: Sub-$1K International Purchases and GST - Any Experiences Yet?
Post by: Citroënbender on September 02, 2018, 06:52:03 PM
Bet you were impressed.

I dearly wish we blue collar people could be assessed to pay our taxes (including GST) in kind, even if it were rated at award wages.
Title: Re: Sub-$1K International Purchases and GST - Any Experiences Yet?
Post by: Citroënbender on January 30, 2019, 07:08:21 AM
To update, Shop4Parts have explicitly told me they consider compliance irrelevant as their net sales to Australia don't approach the mandatory threshold.

Win.  :)
Title: Re: Sub-$1K International Purchases and GST - Any Experiences Yet?
Post by: Citroënbender on February 10, 2019, 08:40:03 PM
Wooden spoon to Fleabay. I've been pinged about $70 in GST across two purchases this January.

Nowhere can I access a Tax Invoice to save / print, let alone one showing the GST explicitly. Nor can I find a specific point-of-contact for GST enquiries on Fleabay.

That, IMO, puts them on par with Shonky Bob who says "Oh, I left my invoice book at home, I'll drop your tax invoice in on Monday" - and predictably never does.

It will be interesting to see where this ends up!
Title: Re: Sub-$1K International Purchases and GST - Any Experiences Yet?
Post by: ScottS on February 11, 2019, 03:41:32 PM
Quote from: Citroënbender on February 10, 2019, 08:40:03 PM
Nowhere can I access a Tax Invoice to save / print, let alone one showing the GST explicitly.
Hi CB,

Ordered some stuff through eBay from a business in the US this month. GST component shows up on the Order Details page.
Title: Re: Sub-$1K International Purchases and GST - Any Experiences Yet?
Post by: Citroënbender on February 11, 2019, 05:17:59 PM
Ta muchly for that, I think the site subtly changes format every other day!

The "Printer Friendly" page you can access off that, gets me close enough for bookwork IMO - but it has two shortcomings - it doesn't say "Tax Invoice" anywhere, and it simply says Tax - not GST.