The Australian Government is going to impose the GST 10% on all over seas transactions

[marakorpa]

The Australian Government is going to impose the GST at 10% on all overseas trading in Ebay.  This looks like we will soon have a 15%GST before the next elections.

It also means that Australian buyers will not only be paying the exhorbinate postage costs that come out of the US and the UK but as these are services we will also be paying 10% more to cover GST.

A simple example is thus: An item selling at $20au with the usual UK postage at around $35.00au will now cost another 55 cents.  A lot of us are bypassing UK and US items now, with the next impost Ebay is going to struggle holding on to the market. IMO.

[go-tazz]

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@harley_babes_hoard wrote:

"What it effectively means is that we're going to have taxation officials travel around the world and visiting these companies and asking them to register for GST purposes."

Mr Hockey said only foreign companies with an annual GST turnover of $75,000 or more would be affected, and the measure could apply before July 2017 if possible.

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So it's just another travel rort setup so that once the pollies retire they'll be the "obvious" choice to become

these tax officials,(this way they can still get free overseas travel at the tax payers expense),

The rate some of them spend the "travel" money at will mean that the tax departement might get be in front 

about 20 years down the track.

Then if it all collapses because it's not worth it they can all retire or go back to politics.

Just imagine rocking up to a business and telling them that they need to give 10% of their sales to the Aussie

tax office for GST purposes,(can't see to many saying: sure why not,we don't need it),

There might be a few that could regard it as blackmail or extortion in that either they comply or you'll be seen in

a bad light by the world.

[zanadoo_56]

If the value of the Oz dollar keeps going down against US and UK currencies, that is more likely to put a stop to my spending long before the GST comes in.

Also, the govt talks about overseas companies and GST.  I buy most of my overseas stuff from 'mum & dad sellers' as they are often collectables etc, not store bought stuff.  The cost to getting the GST for those purchases must surely outweigh the money collected.

[lyndal1838]

The ATO does not get any GST out of the small sellers in Australia so what makes them think they can get any from small sellers overseas.

The only sensible was is what they are doing now...collect the GST at the point of entry to Australia.

Which means we will be paying anything up to 40% to cover the fees involved in collecting that 10% GST.

The GST is not to be feared....it is the other charges that are the problem.

[zanadoo_56]

True, sneaky charges are usually lurking behind the visible ones.

Some natural items don't include the GST but if they are altered in some way they do.  In the past I used to buy stuff from dealers for which I had to pay no tax (this was pre-GST) but if the items were made into something the tax was 30%.  The GST comes in and these items naturally incur the GST.  What got me however, was that the original 30% tax was not scrapped.

[digital*ghost]

I have to say I'm surprised they made it on all goods (i.e. a $0 threshold) - not so surprised the government finds a convoluted way to try and implement it, and one that favours big business (both here and overseas). 

What they are planning is to get larger companies to collect the GST at point of sale, in turn eliminating the high processing fees that would be applicable if it was collected at point of entry (which they plan to do for all other goods). I can pretty much guarantee that most of them will want to comply, because it means they can still keep their goods relatively competitively priced since the additional costs of collecting etc probably wouldn't add up to the processing fee that will be levied on goods from smaller businesses who don't have to register to collect it - with the possible exception of if they sell on a site like eBay, who may opt to collect it on behalf of all sellers.

The EU introduced a seller-collects system and applied it to all digital goods sold there, no matter where the seller is located. Another site I sell on is currently collecting it from all sellers, and applying the FVF after the tax has been added on to the price, which IMO is more wrong than the FVF on postage, but I can see eBay thinking that's such a neat idea. >_> 

[everard6920]

I'm reading that the GST will only be levied if you purchase from an overseas vendor with an annual GST turnover of $75,000 or more. Has anyone got a link to an article that contradicts that?

That's how it currently works WITHIN Australia, right? For example, I am not registered for GST because my annual turnover is less than $75,000.

If they're going to do as others have said on this thread, and apply the GST/collection fee when the article enters to country if it's from a company that ISN'T registered, that is nonsensical. That will be very costly to implement. Do we know that they're doing that, or are we just speculating?

ETA: "JOE HOCKEY: In relation to the amount of money that it will potentially raise, we've got to do further work in that regard. It's hugely important to understand that one of the impediments to delivering on this integrity measure in the past has been the enforceability of it and that's because previously there were proposals that each parcel that comes into the country should be inspected and determined whether that was less than a certain value.

Quite frankly that was ridiculous and it was one of the reasons why ourselves and other jurisdictions resisted going down the path of fixing the low value threshold. However, as a result of our work in G20 and in OECD, there is now a growing global consensus where the vendors of goods and services overseas will willingly apply consumption taxes to their goods and services sold into a particular jurisdiction. "

[everard6920]

Also, (and I have a feeling this is a stupid question) - would it apply only to overseas companies with sales over $75,000 from the AUSTRALIAN market? Or $75,000 total sales?

[imastawka]

Dunno if it helps, but I put this link up in another thread last night

and was promptly ignored.

Mr Hockey said only foreign companies with an annual GST turnover of $75,000 or more would be affected, and the measure could apply before July 2017 if possible.

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-21/gst-to-be-applied-to-all-products-services-sold-by-vendors/671...

[imastawka]

Like I said - promptly ignored

I could fire a cannon through here and not hit anyone     

[digital*ghost]

There are two issues at hand.

The first is what the GST will apply to - and the answer to that is everything being imported, because the threshold is $0.

The second is how it will be collected.

 Source of my info, from my previous post which mentioned the two different systems (seller-collects at point of sale if they register for GST, or levied at point of entry in all other cases) : http://www.news.com.au/finance/money/treasury-flying-blind-on-online-shopping-tax/story-fnagkbpv-122...

"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,” said Choice’s director of campaigns and communications, Matt Levey."