another pre budget leak?

[davidc4430]

just heard on abc radio talk that in the 2017 budget will be a plan to get ebay to collect GST on all overseas purchases.

i know its been talked about in the past but this is the first time i've heard it as an actual possibility.

how it will be enforced and who will collect the money will be the main problem i think.

a mega big company like ebay is prolly not going to roll over to the aussie govt without a fight as this would prolly cause sales of overseas items to fall and therefore profits to ebay also to fall.

[davidc4430]

eBay threatens to block Aussie shoppers

http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/ebay-threatens-to-block-aussie-shoppers/news-story/40...

[lyndal1838]

David you need to read the Trading boards for information on the GST being applied to all imports.

It is a little more than a budget leak and way more than a possibility.

You might like to read some of the submissions to the government regarding the implementation.

[imastawka]

Ebay's submission to Parliament is down the bottom of the page -

http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Economics/GSTLowValueGoods/Submission...

[tezza2844]

When they say that the sellers will have to collect the GST on behalf of the Government I think(?) that means the Sellers will have to collect and remit the monies to Aust. Goverment. E-bay is only a platform for sellers to sell their goods, any monetary transfers are usually thro PayPal. so all I can say that this is another of the "pipe"  dreams we are getting from this Government

[lyndal1838]

It will be almost impossible to enforce it if it is up to the sellers to collect it.  This is what ebay is saying....they are not selling anything therefore should not have to collect any money.

How many overseas sellers would sell $75,000 worth of goods to Australian buyers. 

I believe the most effective way to enforce it would be to have all carriers collect the GST at point of entry to Australia.....Australia Post, air couriers and sea mail, no exceptions.

[tezza2844]

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

It will be almost impossible to enforce it if it is up to the sellers to collect it.  This is what ebay is saying....they are not selling anything therefore should not have to collect any money.

How many overseas sellers would sell $75,000 worth of goods to Australian buyers. 

I believe the most effective way to enforce it would be to have all carriers collect the GST at point of entry to Australia.....Australia Post, air couriers and sea mail, no exceptions.

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But how much would it cost for these carriers to collect and remit to Government on a item that cost a only couple dollars ?

[lyndal1838]

That is the point of contention...how much is it going to cost to collect a few dollars in GST.   If it has to be collected from overseas sellers how many of them will co-operate if it is going to cost them money.

And it does cost money....even very small Aussie companies with a couple of thousand $ turnover per week have to spend half an hour or so of an employees time every month doing the paprwork and remitting the money to the ATO.

[davidc4430]

I believe the most effective way to enforce it would be to have all carriers collect the GST at point of entry to Australia.....Australia Post, air couriers and sea mail, no exceptions

and how will these carriers know the value of whats in every box? open every box, figure out what is in it, then find a value for it?

or are they expecting the overseas seller to honestly put a label on the outside of the box explaining whats in the box and how much you paid for it? yeah that'll work.

in this box is a "whatever" valued at $1.300 US. like that'll get to the customer without someone pinching it.

[lyndal1838]

Oh David....you don't have a cue, do you?

Every parcel from overseas has a Customs Declaration of contents and value just as Australian sellers have to put a Customs Declaration on anything they send overseas.

Obviously there will be spot checks on random parcels just as there are now.  And obviously there will be some sellers/buyers who will try to rort the system just as they do now.

But on the whole the system works now so there is no reason to think it will not work the same way in the future.