GST on online sales over $20

[misterforgetfulsbooks]

Why not just get ebay to collect it off the sale of anything sold here in Australia?

ie: you sell items in Australia, you pay Australian taxes - level playing field

[toysandthings12]

Yes, charging GST on income parcelpost goods from overseas sellers is a great idea.

We should also do full customs checking on each n every parcel too.

Make sure it has Australian standards certification for electrical use n consumer safety.

These 2 issues combined should slow down hinder make a minor speed hump

for the masses of sales going to overseas sellers.

This would drive customers back to local sellers.

Which would fix our economy.

Otherwise the idea of raising GST just drives customers to overseas sellers even more.

The only other option is to drop GST totally and restore back to level playing field.

Raise income taxs n remove big business tax legal dodging.

Subsidies local freight instead of incoming overseas freight.

GST consumer tax only works if the consumers r spending locally n the tax gets collected.

[chameleon54]

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@gec2002 wrote:

Sorry you are wrong it is not proposed to collect GST on sales to Overseas customers at any sale price.  The change in GST is only relevant to items imported into Australia which are currenty GST exempt if less than $1000, ie items purchased from Overseas and imported into Australia, not those sold by Australians to Overseas customers.

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Yes agreed, sorry I didnt explain that bit very well. I should have said sales from OS suppliers, not just "OS sales". Reading it back it could come across as you say and could confuse some people..

[everard6920]

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@toysandthings12 wrote:

Yes, charging GST on income parcelpost goods from overseas sellers is a great idea.

We should also do full customs checking on each n every parcel too.

Make sure it has Australian standards certification for electrical use n consumer safety.

These 2 issues combined should slow down hinder make a minor speed hump

for the masses of sales going to overseas sellers.

This would drive customers back to local sellers.

Which would fix our economy.

Otherwise the idea of raising GST just drives customers to overseas sellers even more.

The only other option is to drop GST totally and restore back to level playing field.

Raise income taxs n remove big business tax legal dodging.

Subsidies local freight instead of incoming overseas freight.

GST consumer tax only works if the consumers r spending locally n the tax gets collected.

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Yes and no.

Don't believe everything the government tells you: this will be a costly exercise for everyone involved. As recently as January, the government was saying that this would cost too much to implement, and now, Joe Hockey is claiming we suddenly have the technology to make it cost-effective. I'd like to know what that technology is. The National Bank, for example, have said that the revenue generated for this will be nowhere near what the government is saying it'll be.

People don't only buy overseas because it's cheaper, they buy overseas because of the range of goods available. Due to our small population and geographic isolation we are at a disadvantage in terms of the range of goods available here. The government keeps using the UK as an example for this, but the UK has neither of those problems.

If it were just the GST, I think most people would be okay with that. But you can bet that the fees and duties associated with its collection will be ridiculous, even for small overseas purchases.

[chameleon54]

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@gec2002 wrote:

Sorry you are wrong it is not proposed to collect GST on sales to Overseas customers at any sale price.  The change in GST is only relevant to items imported into Australia which are currenty GST exempt if less than $1000, ie items purchased from Overseas and imported into Australia, not those sold by Australians to Overseas customers.

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My bad aside, you havnt addressed the key argument that the proposal to add GST to all sales into Australia from OS sellers is simply a grossly inefficient tariff which will waste a lot of ordinary peoples money for absolutely no gain to society whatsoever. 

It would be much simpler and more cost effective to issue all retailers with a centrelink card which they took to a centrlink office with their sales figures each month and just pay them taxpayers money, pro rata, direct into their bank accounts. At least it would be transparent. I,m not sure all of the clothing and textile workers, car manufacturing workers, Ozy fruit and veg growers or the workers at the Australian submarine and ship building site in Adelaide would be that happy though.

This proposal to employ a whole new department of public servants to administer a new tax ( read industry protection tariff ) at a greater cost to the taxpayer than the tax will actually recoup is just another grossly inefficient, waste of money and another drag on society. We are already struggling to pay for politicians grandiose schemes, living away from home allowances and helicopter flights, not to mention rising domestic power and water bills.

If I,m paying more money out of my taxes to employ extra public servants, I would prefer they where teachers and nurses thanks. At least society benefits from these professionals.

[digital*ghost]

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@gec2002 wrote:

So what your saying is its OK while I pay no GST on imported materials and have an unfair advantage but its wrong if you have to pay what other manufacturers pay now.  So having a 10% advantage by not paying GST on items sold (you said you are not registered) and a further 10% advantage by currently not paying on imported materials is not enough.

You buy your materials o/s now for $10 and sell for $22    Profit  $12

A GST registered businees that buys in more than a $1000 lot o/seas

Buys their material $10 unit cost plus 10% GST = $10 + $1 GST = $11
Sell the item for $22 which includes $2 GST.  Profit $22 - $11 - ($2 GST Collected - GST $1 Paid) = Profit  $10

You may well argue that they buy at a lower unit cost because they buy in bulk, but that has nothing to do with GST.

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Say what? 

Why do so many people do this? It seriously gets on my nerves and I will never understand it. 

Please point out to me where I specifically said anything in particular was "wrong" and/or "ok". I'm fairly certain I did not do either.

What I did do was point out the proposed changes will affect different businesses in different ways (mine included) and that those affects won't be good for all businesses - either in comparison to other local businesses, overseas businesses, or both.

Do I have concerns for my business if this is implemented? Of course, I would have to be ignorant and/or idiotic not to, but I haven't complained, or said it's not fair....have I? 

Nor have I provided any kind of cost breakdown for my business, all that is pure conjecture on your part. It would be simpler if you didn't try to imagine the costs of my business compared to local businesses selling similar things. 

[gec2002]

"Please point out to me where I specifically said anything in particular was "wrong" and/or "ok". I'm fairly certain I did not do either."

"items that retail below the proposed threshhold, and especially those who keep their purchases under the current threshold (eg moi), they'll be less competitive than they aready are with OS sellers, and less competitive than large retailers who have bigger buying power and can get cheaper unit prices to help off-set import charges"

Speaking of assumptions please show us where you plucked this figure from

"A) you can sell your goods after they start costing you 20-30% more,"  considering the threshold hasn't even been set yet

And while at it the current GST collection for retailers is a cost to retailers in excess of 10%,.  Do you think doing your BAS every month or 3 months is without cost, and that is passed on to consumers. Perhaps it should be made that Australian retailers don't have to collect or pay GST on items sold for for less than $1000 in B&M businesses. When viewed in that light I think its easier to see that at the moment its unfair on retailers trying to compete against overseas sellers who avoid the tax.

Sure it would have an administive cost, but please don't think the current local GST collection only costs 10% of the profit margin for retailers. Ask anybody who grapples with their BAS, time is also money.

PS I made no assumptions on your business model other than those you stated.  But then again you don't mind a broad sweeping statement yourself. 

"that those affects won't be good for all businesses - either in comparison to other local businesses, overseas businesses, or both."

Please don't make assumptions about my business either please.

[lyndal1838]

Overseas sellers are not avoiding any tax.....they are not liable to pay Australian taxes.   You make it sound as though they are deliberately defrauding the ATO.

[digital*ghost]

I am at a complete loss.... 

"

"Please point out to me where I specifically said anything in particular was "wrong" and/or "ok". I'm fairly certain I did not do either."

"items that retail below the proposed threshhold, and especially those who keep their purchases under the current threshold (eg moi), they'll be less competitive than they aready are with OS sellers, and less competitive than large retailers who have bigger buying power and can get cheaper unit prices to help off-set import charges""

I will repeat, where in that paragraph did I say anything was wrong, or ok? I can't see where I made any kind of judgement call about the proposal at all. The paragraph you quoted doesn't say "it's wrong", it just says the affect on businesses like mine is not going to be positive, which is not inherently a complaint, furthermore there's no intimation of right or wrong, just a statement of fact. 

"

Speaking of assumptions please show us where you plucked this figure from

"A) you can sell your goods after they start costing you 20-30% more,"  considering the threshold hasn't even been set yet"

I already did that, in response to the first time I was asked. I suggest you go back and read post #16

"Please don't make assumptions about my business either please."

Where in heaven's name did I do that? This line ""that those affects won't be good for all businesses - either in comparison to other local businesses, overseas businesses, or both." is just reiterating my primary point, that the proposal will be good for some, but not all. I didn't say anything about your business, nor presume where on the spectrum it may lie. 

[englishrosegardens]

Just replying in general, not specifically to digi...

In certain areas it's getting harder and harder to buy what you want in Australia, either online or in a b&m store, but especially in b&m stores.  I do a fair bit of craft work and some supplies are probably only available in half a dozen b&m stores in the whole country. Other supplies used to be fairly readily available in shops but they only stock the fastest selling items now, so one has no choice but to go overseas.  If it's not available here, I'm not doing a local out of business by buying elsewhere.

Someone mentioned that the Australian govt can't make sellers in other countries collect taxes on their behalf.  So how come the EU can make sellers of digital goods in overseas countries collect VAT on all digital goods sold to people living in the EU?  If they can do it, I'm sure our govt could also do it. 

I believe it's being extended to physical goods in 2016, which will replace the expensive collection methods which are currently in place.  In other words, instead of the EU buyers being slugged with extra fees for administering the scheme, the sellers of the goods will do all the work of collecting and paying the money.  It's even worse than it sounds because it has to be paid on ALL sales, ie. there's no minimum threshhold for charging and collecting VAT.  Even worse still, there are something like 26 different EU countries, all with varying rates for different types of items.  For small sellers who post to the EU, there's an agency you can register with who does the calculations for you, but unless a selling site has the right infrastructure, you won't know how much extra you need to charge on top of the sale price.  Amazon and other sites implemented it so sellers wouldn't have to do the calculations, but etsy refused and said it wasn't their responsibility (they may have changed on that stance since I read up on it in January).  The whole thing came about because Amazon and others registered their European branches in Luxembourg because they had the lowest VAT of 3%, and the EU was missing out on a lot of taxes. 

Australia may just wait and see how the EU administers this new scheme, and then follow suit. 

[lurehouse]

Lets cool it guys, the main thing about all of this is I am happy now that Gerry Harvey and his rich mates can now buy a couple of new racehorses that us peasents can bet on...............