@amysiewling wrote:
Yes Im in a very similar situation, overseas purchase too
EBay admit they have collected GST but say they forward it to the ATO, so they can't refund it and asked me to get the GST refund from the ATO
So I contacted the ATO who said they eBay need to refund the GST and eBay's directions were odd
I took eBay what the ATO said and they escalated my matter to management but they never got back to me
So i contacted the ACCC, who said it is the seseller's responsibility to refund the GST, I tried to explain that the seller didnt collect the tax and probably wasnt even aware of the tax and ACCC responded saying seller's would be aware of the tax if they are selling goods in Australia and in this situation the seller would need to claim the GST back through their own country's tax department.
In my opinion, there is a loop hole. I think the ATO has put this recent rule in place knowing how many overseas eBay, Amazon, Aliexpress purchases get refunded, lost or never sent and they are pocketing the GST knowing that the seller's have no way of claiming the tax back as they would not be registered forGST in Australia.
ACCC seem too think this is all ok, so consumers can only loose out.
The GST rules on imports treat sites like eBay as the seller, so when the ATO states it's the seller's responsibility to refund the GST, they are (in effect) saying it is eBay's responsibility. This is how I would present the information to ebay if the circumstances allowed - they are the seller, the legislation states the refund is their responsibility and they are obliged to comply. the problem here, though, is they have no official evidence that a refund of GST is due, they have a transaction where payment was made in full, none of which was refunded when the seller sends money directly.
It is possible to apply to the ATO for a GST refund on goods brought into Australia, but I'm not sure if the process applies to online purchases where the buyer is in Australia (the only information I have ever found regarding this, it was specifically in relation to Aussies and travel).
eBay is really weird with regards to how they treat transactions - each item in an order is a separate transaction in all aspects, with the very notable exception of cancellations. Currently, in the majority of cases, it's not possible for a seller (or buyer) to cancel only one item in an order, the entire order needs to be cancelled and refunded.
It is possible to do a partial refund through ebay if the seller is on managed payments - the managed payments system is pretty new, though, and has been rolled out to limited sellers in limited countries, so for now, if it is an international transaction where GST has been applied, the best way to deal with it is officially cancel and refund the entire order through eBay, and then re-purchase the items you still want and can be sent etc.
