GST on online sales over $20

[misterforgetfulsbooks]

Why not just get ebay to collect it off the sale of anything sold here in Australia?

ie: you sell items in Australia, you pay Australian taxes - level playing field

[lyndal1838]

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@heihachi_73 wrote:

"Due to our small population and geographic isolation we are at a disadvantage in terms of the range of goods available here."

Don't believe everything the government tells you. Living in outer suburban Melbourne, I don't buy into the "small population" or "geographic isolation" nonsense one bit.

Do you really need the government to tell you this?

Rather than not believng the "nonsense" maybe you could look at a map of the world and check out the population figures for a few other countries.

Then maybe you will not need the government to tell you the cold hard facts.....we have a very small population and are very isolated.

[heihachi_73]

It could work, maybe we could fill Australia from top to bottom with 500 million people by 2100. Maybe we could take a page out of America's book and cut up the country with a number of smaller states. The local Aboriginals wouldn't be too happy about it though, and the vast desert in the middle may also be a small problem. It is also said that in some areas the water has a funny taste.

[ozpurebeauty]

Has anyone come across any recent information as to how this will be implemented and collected?

[padi*0409]

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@ozpurebeauty wrote:

Has anyone come across any recent information as to how this will be implemented and collected?

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Not yet, and I doubt the government is ready to look at it at the moment, it'll be in the "too hard basket"........................

[s_c_o_t_t_y_b]

I own a company in Australia and already registered for GST.  When you import items (in any quantity) you need to pay 10% gst + 5% sales tax (can be more can be less depending on the items)    So if I sell stuff inside australia - there already collecting Ebay collecting will just be double dipping by our government.  Sure you can most likely claim it back but I am not a bank for free loans either.  I belive Harvey Normans is trying to screw over the mum and dad shops and they will pay our incorruptable politicians a donation to there political party to jam anything through.  

Personally I belive the only people the GST is good for is the accountants as they have the most secure job out there since its introduction.  People should only be taxed on profits they make wether its a company or wage without the endless paperwork.  Keep it simple keep it fair and stop trying to complicate things.

[lyndal1838]

You don't seem to understand what the government is trying to achieve.

As an importer who is already paying import fees and GST it will make no difference to you at all.  The government is trying to ensure that the "little man" who buys say a packet of marker pens from Germany for $25 will pay the GST to make it more attractive to buy the same item in Australia.

It may make some difference but not as much as the government anticipates....the same packet of pens is $53 in Officeworks so I will still buy from overseas and pay the GST.   The government will get it's GST but it will not make one bit of difference to any Australian business.

[everard6920]

The government has been very quiet about this, but I still anticipate that a week or so before it's due to be implemented, they'll reveal their (flawed) plans.

I don't even know if it'll affect me, as it only applies to overseas businesses with a turnover to Australian customers of over $80,000 p/y, and I doubt my suppliers sell that much to Australians. In fact, I suspect I'm their only Australian customer. However, they do trade under a parent company and it's possible that that company will be signed up for GST. Will have to wait and see.

Whatever the government concocts, you can bet that it won't be fair across the board. As Lyndal said, Australian businesses won't benefit very much at all, because in most cases, items bought overseas are either not available here, or are more than 10% more expensive here, which means that people will continue to buy them overseas.

Not that I want to hijack this thread with politics, but young Australians in particular shop online a lot, and many of them stand to lose their penalty rates come July. Add this in, and I anticipate a large swing against the government at the next election.

[lyndal1838]

I agree that the government has been very quiet on their implementation of the new charges....as has the likes of Gerry Harvey who has been pushing for it for so long.

THB I doubt if Harvey Norman's will benefit at all....very few people would buy furniture from overseas and no-one with any sense would buy electrical items.

People who buy from large establised retail companies may notice a difference but for the likes of me who buys from small private sellers it should be negligible.   The only way for it to really work would be to collect the GST when the items arrive in Australia but I suspect the cost may outweigh the GST collected.

It will be interesting to see how it is going to work.

[digital*ghost]

The interesting thing is that nothing will change for parcels under $1k when they land here - if a seller is not registered to collect GST but should be, then to me it looks like they'll just go through customs as normal without any GST etc being applied, so I'm curious about what genuine incentive there is for sellers to increase their prices to Aussies (assuming their system can actually implement a pricing model that charges anyone in Australia 10% more, otherwise they'd either have to increase prices across the board, or pay it out themselves), to no benefit to them, while adding a bunch more paperwork and obligation. 

Seems like such a foolish way to go about it to me, when there is technology around that could have just meant a simple billing system to the buyers. I also know many sellers in international countries have the immediate reaction of "why should I have to do another country's dirty work?" and/or "they can't force Australian tax laws on [another country's] citizen" (these were the top two reactions of sellers when the EU introduced a similar system for digital items - their view was to extend it to physical items as well). 

[lyndal1838]

I couldn't agree more Digi.....why should overseas countries have to collect GST/VAT etc for other countries.

I haven't noticed Australia being forthcoming in collecting VAT for the UK government or the taxes applicable to some states in the USA.

I think I will just sit back and wait and see.   As far as my marking pens mentioned above, I will just buy them through our business account and claim back any GST....that will do the government out of about $2.50 a year or maybe less depending on how often I need to buy them.