Will GST be charged on items bought from overseas and shipped to an Australian address?

[melkin2209]

I buy second hand collectables from small sellers located in the US and Europe. If I have them shipped to me in Australia will GST somehow be charged from July 1? What if shipping is to a US address?

[4green2000]

just did 6 test purchases from OS (us,china,india) and none had gst applied to the postage. only the 10% on the goods. eg, $20 item plus $10 postage the total was $32 all up...if postage included the gst it would of been $33 in total. from my understanding gst is only applied to goods not postage.

[4green2000]

---

@4green2000 wrote:

just did 6 test purchases from OS (us,china,india) and none had gst applied to the postage. only the 10% on the goods. eg, $20 item plus $10 postage the total was $32 all up...if postage included the gst it would of been $33 in total. from my understanding gst is only applied to goods not postage.

---

BTW, also found gst is also applied to used items from OS not just new..

[countessalmirena]

---

@digital*ghost wrote:

---

@padi*0409 wrote:

Edit. You kind of beat me to it Digi..............sigh.

---

I was spent about a minute trying to come up with a clever, ninja-related response. Then realised I was just staring blankly at my keyboard and thinking about ninjas - certainly not the mark of a wily ninja with lightning fast reflexes. 

---

Ninja-κῦδος stealthily given.

  

After all, it wouldn't be a proper (忍者 response if it were in plain sight...

“Katatagae no jutsu  is totally unexpected by the enemy, and if you do this you can avoid the enemy passwords or aikei standing or sitting signals and therefore infiltrate easily and at your will.” - from THE BANSENSHUKAI (translated by Antony Cummins).

Spoiler

It's all about stealth.

[lyndal1838]

---

BTW, also found gst is also applied to used items from OS not just new..

---

The GST has always applied to used goods as well as new.  Why would it be any different now that it has been extended to catch the small international purchases?

[4green2000]

---

@lyndal1838 wrote:

---

BTW, also found gst is also applied to used items from OS not just new..

---

The GST has always applied to used goods as well as new.  Why would it be any different now that it has been extended to catch the small international purchases?

---

if you read the entire thread you would notice some posters aint sure where gst is applied when buying from OS.

i stated "BTW, also found gst is also applied to used items from OS not just new"

you stated gst is applied to postage too...really? i just bought an item from the US and all i paid was $2 gst on a $20 item with $5 postage.why wasnt i charged 50 cents gst for the postage ?

[lyndal1838]

Was your purchase through ebay or was it direct from another website?

I paid for 2 items through ebay and the GST was charged on the items plus the postage.

[papermoon.lady]

I don't think it should applied to postage either.

The rules are (from another site): One oddity of the system is that G.S.T. (Goods and Services Tax) applies to domestic postage, but not to international postage. As a result, different stamps must be used for the two purposes.

This is about items leaving the country, but I think it should be the same for items entering the country?

On another site that I don't have the time to find again right now because I am in a hurry I read that GST should not be applied to international postage, but can be applied to handling.

[4green2000]

---

@lyndal1838 wrote:

Was your purchase through ebay or was it direct from another website?

I paid for 2 items through ebay and the GST was charged on the items plus the postage.

---

from ebay yep..no gst was applied to my post cost only on the item itself.

[Anonymous]

---

@papermoon.lady wrote:

I don't think it should applied to postage either.

The rules are (from another site): One oddity of the system is that G.S.T. (Goods and Services Tax) applies to domestic postage, but not to international postage. As a result, different stamps must be used for the two purposes.

This is about items leaving the country, but I think it should be the same for items entering the country?

On another site that I don't have the time to find again right now because I am in a hurry I read that GST should not be applied to international postage, but can be applied to handling.

---

The gst is only applied to things bought by Australians.  The Australian govt can't make overseas people pay tax on anything they buy from us, they pay taxes to their own govt.  Overseas sellers collect gst on the Australian govt's behalf with the new gst but it's the Australian buyers who are paying the tax.  

GST has always applied to the item & postage cost on items over $1K that attract customs duty, so why not on smaller items?

[3932louise]

We purchase small items from overseas for sporting gear, even with the GST they are still cheaper than buying in Australia, so we’ll continue purchasing overseas.