what is the new limit or is it on everything (which that will be crap if the case)

I believe it is everything.

well that is crap (I must of been sleeping under a rock) and will change things and make expensive things even more expensive and looks like that will kill my mods (snackbar mods)

as if getting screwed on freight isnt enough

We are STILL " The lucky country "

Death and taxes

Thanks for the heads up pinsanity.

No idea how the ATO is going to enforce it for smaller suppliers, like most OS parts vendors.

This is what I was wondering, as well. We are shipping more FAST Pinball product to Australia but I don’t expect we will be at $75,000AUD annually soon. If customs wasn’t already a pain, what’s next? Send a company P&L with all orders?

Aaron
FAST Pinball

From the ATO:

https://www.ato.gov.au/Newsroom/smallbusiness/GST-and-excise/Do-you-import-goods-worth-A$1,000-or-less-/?sbnews20180619

from the link @cook71

"12 June 2018

From 1 July 2018 overseas businesses that meet the GST registration threshold of A$75,000 will need to charge GST on goods that are:

less than A$1,000 (low value)
imported into Australia
not GST-free (such as most basic food, alcohol, tobacco, or tobacco products).

How will this affect you?

You will be charged GST on low value goods that you import if you are:

not registered for GST, or
are GST registered but importing goods for personal use.

You should not be charged GST if you:

are registered for GST
import the low value goods for business use in Australia, and
provide your ABN to the supplier and a statement that you are registered for GST.

If you're charged GST incorrectly you should contact the supplier to let them know that you're registered for GST, and request a refund.

Note that not all receipts that have GST applied will be tax invoices. They will need to contain an ABN to be considered a tax invoice. Overseas suppliers may be registered in the simplified GST system and have an ARN instead of an ABN."





I am still puzzled over this, and maybe I just don't want to get it but:
- there must hundreds of thousands of packages coming from ebayers, businesses etc from overseas into Aus - so the ATO want everyone of the sellers to detail their sales to Australia - could they be bothered going through the process as well as charge us GST?
- who gets the GST if an overseas company charges GST?

Just sounds like it is either going to be a giant pain in the arse for the ATO or overseas companies will refuse to sell to Aussies....

Maybe I am not understanding but what if I want to buy $200 of pinball parts from say Pinball Life.
- Does PBL have to register with ATO that they do or don't sell over or under $75K worth of parts to Aus a year
- If over do they have to register documentation with ATO and then charge us 10% GST
- If not does any postal authority charge when it comes to the country based on the value on the box or a invoice.
- or is this only for businesses that import goods ????

found this from a Sydney paper back in April

"The catch? “The new online tax will only be collected from self-declaring overseas retailers with turnovers of more than $75,000 and the Australian Tax Office has no power to punish those beyond the ATO’s jurisdiction,” reports The Sydney Morning Herald. “The tax is designed with the near impossibility of its collection in mind,” RMIT economist Christopher Berg told the newspaper. He added that the most the ATO could do to non-compliant businesses was to slow down the processing of packages at the Australian border.

It remains to be seen which overseas retailers charge, collect and remit the new tariff but we’re predicting that most of the bigger businesses will comply, given their success in the Australian market. If this means no longer shopping tax-free, let’s then hope our local retailers benefit in the process."



so sounds like it is up to the overseas retailers to register or not, and if not the packages are on purpose held up in customs / border entry.

Yeh, that’s what I was thinking - the package will maybe have to have a declaration visible on the outside showing the tax has been paid. Otherwise it gets help up and you have to do your own entry. That would be he logical way to do it.

But I doubt it’s going to be that sophisticated. The big companies will have to tow the line and remit directly to the ato. The rest will be subject to random checks by AusPost.

Not sure what the big international couriers are going to do. Will they collect on all packages?

Whole thing sounds like a typical half-assed attempt to keep local retailers/importers happy, while at the same time not doing anything about it.

sounds very much like our australian govt implementing another half assed idea that will cost more to consumers and a headache to all involved

The tax collection is aimed at mega retailers like Amazon etc who are selling 100s of millions of dollars of gear every year to Aussies, putting Aussie businesses out of business, and paying no Aussie tax at all.

NZ is implementing a similar scheme as well. I think with a higher threshold.

I wouldn’t be too worried about your pinball parts at this stage. To collect GST on every package at the border would be nigh on impossible ...

rd

Not true they had it before, anything over $50 duty and tax they collected

Now on everything at the border, not to hard to do

The logistics of that are pretty mind boggling.

You’d have to hold (ie warehouse) every single parcel that comes into the country.

> In 2012–13, around 180 million international mail items arrived in Australia in the form of letters, express mail service, parcels and articles ordinaire (AO). (That’s 490,000 PER DAY!!!)

Then document and value every single package.

Then contact tens of thousand people every day, and send them bills via mail (who’s email addresss in on the package?) and hold the package for week (s) until they pay .... all to collect $5 on a $50 package? Or $2 on a $20 package?

Are they going to charge everyone some fees as well? They do here in NZ, if the goods are over $400 NZD you get a bill in the mail with 15% GST, plus some other charges on top. So the 15% $60 gst on a $400 package quickly becomes $100. And it holds up your package for a week at least. Of course, everyone either buys goods under $400 or lies about the value on the package, then they get delivered straight to you.

rd

Rotordave, they used to do that in the days before GST
i used to buy Laser Discs from the US, parcels would be held at the post office until sales tax was paid

today it would not be hard for delivery drivers to carry a portable EFTPOS terminal

Oh yeah ... in NZ, everything used to have duty added.

I remember in about 1980, we ordered some plastic kitsets from a place in Philadelphia via mail order. I think the value was like $60 NZ at the time. About 3 months later, we get a letter saying that our parcel has arrived, come get it from the local post office, and pay $100 duty. My mum had a full on heart attack. Haha.

But in those days, there were very few international purchases. Today - thanks to the internet - there are millions.

And yes, couriers could carry eftpos. But if your couriers are anything like my ones, they never show up when I’m there, and half the time the parcel goes back to the depot.

Anyway - hope it all works out.

rd

I honestly think we all try it out and see what happens. I cannot see O/S pinball retailers registering for the Aussie Tax office, especially as the Australian government cannot force them to. I can see a major tax benefit from Ebay and Amazon.

found this article and questions and answers at the end detail more info:

https://www.penguinaccounts.com.au/gst-low-value-imports-2018/

eg

Jonathan says

June 7, 2018 at 1:05 am

I have not been able to find an answer to this question anywhere: What happens if an Australian consumer purchases less than $1,000 of goods (where GST applies), but the overseas company selling them does not have a turnover in Australia equalling or exceeding $75,000 AUD? It would seem that in such circumstances such goods won’t be subject to GST simply because there won’t be any mechanism to collect it. And if that is the case, I hope consumers buying these goods are not penalised in any way, since it is not their fault. I know the companies I buy from overseas wouldn’t have a hope of meeting the $75,000 threshold, but then again I cannot buy the particular goods they sell from large scale suppliers anyway as they are small, specialist suppliers of “niche-market” products.
Reply

Penguin Management says

June 10, 2018 at 8:38 am

Thanks for your question, Jonathan. We’ve been getting a lot of similar enquiries lately and have updated the article with some more information for businesses with less than AUD$75,000 turnover. In short, if the overseas company you are purchasing from is not registered for GST with the Australian Taxation Office, then the recipient or consumer (you) of the goods will be contacted at the border to pay the 10% GST. Hope this clarifies it for you. The Penguin Team

Did any of you guys read the ATO information?

Looks like the status quo will remain - unless you’re buying from a business registered for GST.

https://www.ato.gov.au/General/New-legislation/In-detail/Indirect-taxes/GST/GST-on-low-value-imported-goods/

<paste>

GST on low value imported goods

The Federal Parliament has passed law that will extend goods and services tax (GST) to low value imports of physical goods imported by consumers from 1 July 2018.

Businesses that meet the A$75,000 registration threshold will need to take action now to review their business systems to ensure that they are able to comply.

The existing processes to collect GST on imports above $1,000 at the border are unchanged.

In summary, the reforms:

make supplies of goods valued at A$1,000 or less at the time of supply connected with Australia if the goods are purchased by consumers and are brought into Australia with the assistance of the supplier

treat the operator of an electronic distribution platform (EDP) as the supplier of low value goods if the goods are purchased through the platform by consumers and brought into Australia with the assistance of either the supplier or the operator

treat re-deliverers as the suppliers of low value goods if the goods are delivered outside of Australia as part of the supply, and the re-deliverer assists with their delivery into Australia as part of a shopping or mailbox service that it provides under an arrangement with the consumer

allow non-resident suppliers of low value goods that are connected with Australia to elect to access the simplified registration and reporting system

prevent double taxation.

yeah read that but read like it was in a coded language.

based on what the accounts wrote, sounds like customs are going to be super busy.....

still wonder what happens if say RD sends a mate a package to Aus, if customs lets it through or wants a value and charge us......

OR

the mum and dad ebay sellers that sell their trash which might be our treasure and if customs stops packages and wants a value to charge GST and a fee - what happens in NZ for you in this situation rotordave

Not sure if this is relevant to Australia or if this information is helpful but I ordered $800NZD worth of clothes from the UK a couple years back and it took forever as an email said it was in the country but held at customs until some fees were paid and I didn't understand what I hadn't paid. When I called customs up, the guy said over the phone that over a certain dollar value I had to pay tax and pay for MAF screening. I was pretty angry and pissed off but the guy was really sympathetic and didn't agree with it either. So he said "do I know the people that you buy from?"

I said "yeah, it's my friends skate and surf shop in Devon, England." He said "next time, get the shop to label the package as a gift, NOT a purchase. Still have them state what's in it but make sure it says that its a gift; that makes it exempt from any sales taxes."

Now I do it for all my online purchases. I explain that I want them to put it as a gift and not a purchase. Sometimes they'll do it and sometimes not. Depends if it's a big company (they don't usually) but the smaller retailers usually will as it's no skin off their nose. Especially if it's a place I buy from regularly.

So far,(touchwood), I haven't had to pay any sales taxes on my 'gifts.'

From how I read the ATO information, it is as I thought it would be. And same that is planned for NZ.

Big overseas retailers (read: Amazon) will be made to register for GST and will charge you the GST at checkout, same as an Aussie store.

Also ... if you have (say) USA bought items shipped to an “on-shipper” service, that service is required to collect GST as well.

If I send Swinks a $100 pinball part as a private seller, it appears it will still be under the $1000 GST Level ... as I suggested before, the logistics required to collect tax on every single parcel into Australia would be insane.

However - if I was fortunate enough to be sending over $75,000 AUD of parts to my Aussie pals every year, the ATO might just send me a letter requesting me to get an Aussie GST number and charge Swinks the GST and pass that on to the ATO for the benefit of all Australians.

rd

Thanks very much for taking the time to investigate and let us all know, much appreciated from me. I have some small stuff arriving from the USA over the next few weeks. We will see what happens. I am not so sure that the tax office will be extremely interested in "pinball parts" arriving from overseas, there are just not that many of us.

Keep smiling!

here is a gst and duty calculator as a rough guide

https://www.wwcf.com.au/customs-duty-import-goods-and-service-tax-calculator/