$1000, GST, Customs, Gifts, Repairs, etc.

[*CountessA*]

Customs cracking down on eBay, online store purchases entering Australia

http://www.goodgearguide.com.au/article/375895/customs_cracking_down_ebay_online_store_purchases_entering_australia/

A document from the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service from late January details a three month campaign to crack-down on expensive parcels entering Australia marked as gifts or with a declared value under $1000, exempting them from liability for GST or duty payments. The document notes that the campaign aims to ensure that GST and duty exemptions for low-value goods entering Australia are not being "abused or exploited" by importers.

This is a fair idea, actually. Legitimate businesses importing goods from legitimate suppliers to sell here wouldn't dream of playing dishonest games with declaration of value; I see no reason why people importing goods to sell here on eBay should feel it's okay for them to lie about the value of the goods, or for the seller exporting to Australia to lie about it.

[*Brum6y*]

My seller friend is very aware of the value of what they import and has never been tempted to mess around with the figures.  Aside from the basic morality of 'being honest', by 'playing by the rules' they don't have to worry about looking over their shoulder and can just concentrate on building their business.  Another positive is that when a stuff-up does happen (they had one last year) then all the details will stand scrutiny, the error can be seen and the situation rectified.


Besides, it stands to reason, anyone who runs a business and tries to cut corners with false declarations is not going to last long ... they are going to get caught at some point.

[low-enghooi]

I have 2 questions.

1. How do you handle a non-commercial shipment with value exceeding $1000?

An example, say I post a coin worth over $1000 to a dealer in Australia for opinion and the dealer is to post back the coin to me after the work is done. Let's just say this is free work (goodwill) In that case should I declare it as a gift with $0 value or the actual value and pay GST?

2. When exporting, a lot of Australian (and many other countries, except maybe USA) seller will most likely willing to declare an item as gift with very low value for the reason the parcel may gone missing if full actual value is declared. Do keep in mind not every country has GST. So how do you go about this?

I am not trying to lie but rather want all my parcels from overseas seller to reach me very safely.

[*CountessA*]

It's specifically an issue when someone sends a parcel TO Australia and writes down a false value and/or says it's a "gift".

Gifts sent to you

There is no longer a concession for goods sent as a gift. Goods that are gifted, donated, loaned or supplied free of charge are still subject to assessment for duty and other taxes and charges if they have a value of more than A$1,000 or if the goods are tobacco and/or alcohol products.

If you are unable to provide evidence of the value of the goods, the legislation provides other ways of determining value.

The ‘gift concession’ (by-law number 9740019) was revoked on and from 1 October 2008, after the low value goods threshold was increased to A$1,000.

That makes it unambiguous. If the item is worth more than $1,000, it should be declared as such - gift or not. It's just too dodgy to play games by declaring a false value.

[low-enghooi]

OK. If it is not a gift. Let's take a very specific example here.

Say if I buy an industry CRT display monitor from an Australian supplier for A$1001.00 and the monitor is not working. So I have to send it back for replacement.

I declare the value of $1001.00 here. Do the Australian supplier has to pay GST for this supposed to be a replacement item? And what if I bought 10 and total value now become $10001. 10% GST is ...

Logically if I am the supplier I will want a waiver here.

So where do the law cater for this? This is real business here. Not lying custom business.

[low-enghooi]

If you are unable to provide evidence of the value of the goods, the legislation provides other ways of determining value.

I assume this is applicable to collectible items. If so that is most interesting.

Where do legislation determine the value? Take a brightly cleaned coin as example. A coin with $0 collector value may suddenly become a $1001 coin to people who don't know about coins, hence 10% GST applied?

[*CountessA*]

Are all importations taxable?

Some goods imported into Australia are not subject to GST.

These are:

    * goods that would have been GST-free or input taxed if supplied within Australia, such as basic food, certain medical aids and appliances, cars for use by certain people with disabilities, and precious metals, and
       
    * goods that qualify for certain customs duty concessions.

Goods that qualify for certain customs duty concessions and are also non-taxable for GST include the following items from Schedule 4 to the Customs Tariff Act 1995:

    * item 15 – goods imported by overseas travellers (provided the goods imported by travellers are not in excess of the duty free allowance)
       
    * items 17 and 17A – goods returned to Australia in an unaltered condition (conditions apply)
       
    * items 18A and 18B – goods returned after repair or replacement under warranty
       
    * item 18C – global product safety recall goods
       
    * item 21 – goods imported for repair, alteration or industrial processing, then exported
       
    * items 23A and 23B – certain bequeathed goods
       
    * items 25A, 25B, 25c – trophies, medals, etc (won or awarded), and
       
    * items 32A and 32B – 'low-value goods' or goods on which customs duty and taxes is $50 or less and which have a customs value of less than $1,000.

[*wheels*]

I think that 'money' is exempted from GST import rules. I'll try and find some info.

[*wheels*]

http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page5350.asp#e936

GST is payable on imported goods unless the goods are covered by an exemption. Where imported goods are covered by an exemption, Customs provides exemption codes that can be used in Customs' systems to claim the tax exemption. A list of available exemptions (and associated codes) is provided below.

GST exemptions provided by the GST Act

Subsection 13-5(3) - Money

Subsection 13-5(3) in the GST Act provides an exemption for importations of money.

Description
The following description is provided as a guide only. Refer to the relevant legislation for a full description.


Money (as defined by s 195-1of GST Act)

Exemption Code
GSTE=
G135

[low-enghooi]

I am not sure how this work. I remembered a dealer once told me to declare my coin value to $100 as he said he will be charged GST for amount more than $100.