July 1st No more overseas purchases allowed ????

[hotrodvideo]

Did I hear this right ?...... As reported on 3AW radio this aftternoon , an  Ebay representitive said they will block  Australian buyers from purchasing overseas so that eBay will not have to collect the 10% GST for the Australian government as of July 1st

[tezza2844]

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@davewil1964 wrote:

You're assuming the people who make the decisions have brains. On past performance that is not a guarantee, at least as far as Australia is concerned.

Admittedly, past performance does not guarantee future performance. Trends do tend to be indicative, though.

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I think you will find that this is the same mob (LNP) who still haven't got all their 2014/15/16 Budget thro the Senate yet.

[digital*ghost]

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@phorum_junkie* wrote:

Here in the UK VAT is collected on imported items over a very low sum but it is the buyer who pays and the money is collected by whoever makes the delivery be it Royal Mail or a courier company. Neither the company sending the goods or any third party facilitating the deal are involved.

If it is going to be the responsibility of ebay to collect (not pay, that will always be the buyer) the GST then I can well see how they would just throw the towel in and block overseas purchases. The administrative cost would be so much it woould mean fees increasing to an unsubstainable level.

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The interesting thing is, is that (AFAIK, anyway - correct me if I'm wrong) VAT in the UK is indiscriminate in so far as the seller / sender is concerned, it's based purely on the value of the contents (£15 for merchandise, a bit more if marked as a gift, if I remember correctly), whereas this proposal is applicable only to businesses who are turning over AUD$75k to Australian buyers. 

That throws some interesting questions up, because will that mean eBay needs to "income test" sellers to determine which ones will have GST applied at the point of purchase? If eBay is deemed to be the business turning over that $75k and therefore GST becomes payable on all international goods sold here- why / how would that not apply to ALL items sold via eBay, regardless of the item location, since they operate in the same capacity for Australian sellers as they do international sellers? 

Currently, Australian businesses who sell via eBay are responsible for registering to collect and remitting the GST, so I have to wonder why it becomes a different matter if that seller is located overseas - that would actually suggest consumers would be paying GST on goods they don't need to be, because many sellers on here would have no requirement to register to collect GST themselves, be they Aussie or international. It would also mean buyers have a greater incentive to seek out alternatives to eBay (which is probably why they're now upset). 

[letscleanupmycupboards]

Isn't gst a tax for products purchased from businesses registered for gst in Australia? Surely an eBay seller overseas selling things from home as a hobby is not going to attract gst.

Maybe the Australian government needs to start cracking down on Aussie businesses and individuals who avoid tax.

Years ago some university proposed that if they abolished sales tax, gst, income tax etc across the board and instead, regardless of income, you paid a measly 1% fee on every $ that went into your bank account the revenue they would make would eclipse current figures 10 fold. Most Aussies would love that instead of the 20-50% income tax we pay. But businesses who dodge tax would never go for it.

[audistarelectronics]

Gee, it might just give these off shore sellers a dose of truth syrup regarding item location. If they want to claim the items are really in ''Darwin'', they might just need to open a warehouse there? But really, Darwin? One would think the ideal location would be Sydney or Melbourne, along with all the other ''honest'' sellers. Our govt needs to have a look in it's own backyard also, with the current news saying that there are several local multi millionaires grossing over  millions a year, and are still able to get their taxable income down below the minimum tax threshold, some where around $18,500 or something similar. You tell me how this could be honestly possible? And the are worried about the measley ebay purchases that could catch ''all that loose cash''.

[lyndal1838]

Somehow I don't think the government is going to lose any sleep if ebay decides to stop international trading.

Ebay would have to be a very small player in international sales...there are much bigger fish to fry.

[springyzone]

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@audistarelectronics wrote:

Gee, it might just give these off shore sellers a dose of truth syrup regarding item location. If they want to claim the items are really in ''Darwin'', they might just need to open a warehouse there? But really, Darwin? One would think the ideal location would be Sydney or Melbourne, along with all the other ''honest'' sellers. Our govt needs to have a look in it's own backyard also, with the current news saying that there are several local multi millionaires grossing over  millions a year, and are still able to get their taxable income down below the minimum tax threshold, some where around $18,500 or something similar. You tell me how this could be honestly possible? And the are worried about the measley ebay purchases that could catch ''all that loose cash''.

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It can be an eye opener to see what business people can claim on tax. I have a sister whose husband runs his own business (he is a builder) and they are 100% honest, go through an accountant, but my oh my, the things they can claim and the trust funds they have etc. They can move cash around so it attracts the least possible tax. It is all legal but there are deductions there the average wage earner can only dream of.

How millionaires can get their taxable income so low is a mystery but then again, I've never been a millionaire and always have had to pay full tax.

I was thinking the same as you-some of the off shore sellers might have to come clean about their location.

I guess we'll find out soon enough.

[hus2385]

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

Somehow I don't think the government is going to lose any sleep if ebay decides to stop international trading.

Ebay would have to be a very small player in international sales...there are much bigger fish to fry.

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What if all of the 'big 4' came to the same decision?

amazon-ebay-etsy-and-alibaba-say-online-retailers-wont-comply-with-gst-change

[lyndal1838]

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@hus2385 wrote:

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

Somehow I don't think the government is going to lose any sleep if ebay decides to stop international trading.

Ebay would have to be a very small player in international sales...there are much bigger fish to fry.

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What if all of the 'big 4' came to the same decision?

amazon-ebay-etsy-and-alibaba-say-online-retailers-wont-comply-with-gst-change

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Amazon, ebay, etsy and alibaba quite rightly say they are not the retailers so should not be expected to collect the GST and how many of the overseas sellers would be selling $75000 worth of goods into Australia.

I doubt that the government will understand the argument until the big 4 as you call them actually do pull the plug....then the s**t will hit the fan when Australians are unable to buy from overseas.   Only then will the government understand the arguments being set out now and then watch the backpedalling and exemptions.

[caryns]

No GST is not payable on second hand items UNLESS you are a business registered for GST. A private individual selling/buying second-hand items does NOT charge/pay GST (e.g. an eBay seller who is not a business and who is selling clothing they no longer need cannot charge GST and neither can the buyer be charged it). So if I buy second-hand clothing from a private individual in the USA who is clearing out their closet I am not liable to pay GST at all. This was told to me by an accountant.

[hus2385]

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

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@hus2385 wrote:

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

Somehow I don't think the government is going to lose any sleep if ebay decides to stop international trading.

Ebay would have to be a very small player in international sales...there are much bigger fish to fry.

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What if all of the 'big 4' came to the same decision?

amazon-ebay-etsy-and-alibaba-say-online-retailers-wont-comply-with-gst-change

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Amazon, ebay, etsy and alibaba quite rightly say they are not the retailers so should not be expected to collect the GST and how many of the overseas sellers would be selling $75000 worth of goods into Australia.

I doubt that the government will understand the argument until the big 4 as you call them actually do pull the plug....then the s**t will hit the fan when Australians are unable to buy from overseas.   Only then will the government understand the arguments being set out now and then watch the backpedalling and exemptions.

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True, lyndal. 

And I agree that the Govt will inevitably have to "amend" some aspect of this, once the complexities of it become clear. Seems to have been precious little forethought about the whole thing, typically...a Gerry Harvey-wishlist no doubt 

However the Govt appears to be judging the $75K minimum on a basis of the "platform" and not any individual seller, so whether or not you are a private individual is not going to matter. 

"He said foreign small businesses are particularly disadvantaged on compliance because of the $75,000 GST turnover threshold.

A Chinese hat merchant selling into Australia through AliExpress will see GST will be applied to every single sale, even if this Chinese seller's entire Australian revenue is just a couple of hundred dollars for the relevant year.

"This is because the proposed measures force the threshold to be assessed at the platform level, in this case AliExpress reaching A$75,000 as a whole, rather than based on the individual seller's turnover."

"However, if that exact same hat merchant used their own platform in the form of an individual website, there is no GST unless and until they exceed $75,000 worth of sales in Australia. When they do exceed this mark, the onus will be entirely on them to report and collect the tax."