Interesting Read About GST Collection from Overseas Sellers/Websites

[clarry100]

Wonder how they intend to enforce collection of GST from the 1000's of Chinese-based sellers who continually flood the ebay.AU site with inferior cheap products and knockoffs.

Shut down/block ebay.AU if they don't comply???

I can just see all the Chinese sellers saying yep no worries we will increase all our prices by 10% and send you a GST cheque each quarter -- NOT.

https://www.choice.com.au/shopping/online-shopping/buying-online/articles/gst-overseas-website-block

[x3n0m]

How about getting ebay to pay some tax instead?

Go wash your mouth out with soap .. we all know that when a corporation earns Billions in profits they are under no obligation pay any tax in Australia ..

it's the new economy .. in the Cayman Islands .. its all about jorbs and growf didn't ya know?

[lyndal1838]

Sorry, but I don't agree with you....why register for GST with all it's paperwork etc before you have to?  Once you are registered you have to remit your GST even if you are below the threshold.

The idea of the $75,000 limit is to allow businesses to get established before they are hit with extra costs....take advantage of the Government's largesse...there is precious little of it around.

[airshark3d]

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

Sorry, but I don't agree with you....why register for GST with all it's paperwork etc before you have to?  Once you are registered you have to remit your GST even if you are below the threshold.

The idea of the $75,000 limit is to allow businesses to get established before they are hit with extra costs....take advantage of the Government's largesse...there is precious little of it around.

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Yes, I understand you fully and completely agree that it was built to accomodate startups. I actually was on that mindset before. The problem I had was when I transitioned from below the threshold to the 75k threshold. I built my clientele around my price and suddenly had to increase it due to GST. Also, I was way over my head on the books since I calculated everything without GST. I had to pay heaps of money for an accountant to sort out the mess I create. Then again, it differs from industry to industry. I would have to admit, mine was a bit complicated.(mix of PSI and non-PSI revenue)

As a matter of fact, I actually made more money after I registered in a sense that I get to claim GST credits.

The only cost associated with GST is the paperwork(or accountant). It can be easily done with accounting softwares available today.

[airshark3d]

I think the best advice when selling online would be to include GST already in your price. By the time you get to 75k, then register...and consider the additional 10% you were charging prior to being registered as a startup cash bonus. 🙂

But always assume that you will be paying for it sooner or later.

[clarry100]

But when it comes time to register for GST and hence increase your prices to cover it you don't need to increase them by the full 10% because any GST you pay on business expenses can be decucted from what you have to pay to the ATO.

Each business is slighttly different but the increase would typically be around 5% only not the full 10%.

[airshark3d]

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@clarry100 wrote:

But when it comes time to register for GST and hence increase your prices to cover it you don't need to increase them by the full 10% because any GST you pay on business expenses can be decucted from what you have to pay to the ATO.

Each business is slighttly different but the increase would typically be around 5% only not the full 10%.

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Yes, quite true. It depends on the circumstances I guess...and whether your profit margins are high or low.

[lyndal1838]

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@tomtek_outdoors wrote:

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

Sorry, but I don't agree with you....why register for GST with all it's paperwork etc before you have to?  Once you are registered you have to remit your GST even if you are below the threshold.

The idea of the $75,000 limit is to allow businesses to get established before they are hit with extra costs....take advantage of the Government's largesse...there is precious little of it around.

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Yes, I understand you fully and completely agree that it was built to accomodate startups. I actually was on that mindset before. The problem I had was when I transitioned from below the threshold to the 75k threshold. I built my clientele around my price and suddenly had to increase it due to GST. Also, I was way over my head on the books since I calculated everything without GST. I had to pay heaps of money for an accountant to sort out the mess I create. Then again, it differs from industry to industry. I would have to admit, mine was a bit complicated.(mix of PSI and non-PSI revenue)

As a matter of fact, I actually made more money after I registered in a sense that I get to claim GST credits.

The only cost associated with GST is the paperwork(or accountant). It can be easily done with accounting softwares available today.

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I would say that actually handing over the GST to the government is a fairly significant cost.....the paperwork costs us nothing as I do it myself.  The accountant only does the tax returns.

[airshark3d]

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

I would say that actually handing over the GST to the government is a fairly significant cost.....the paperwork costs us nothing as I do it myself.  The accountant only does the tax returns.

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LOL! I know how it feels. Right now, I have a great sum of money just sitting in an account, waiting to be handed over to the taxman this coming BAS quarter. Sometimes I look at it and ask myself how many fishing rods I can buy with it. 

My accountant did give me pretty good advice about it before though. He said  "It is not your money...Never think that it is your money... It is the Mafia's money (those were his words)...You are just collecting it for them... If you touch it, they will hang you...". I didn't have a problem paying GST after that talk. LOL!

[lyndal1838]

It is a long time since I had that little pep talk with our accountant.

I did the BAS quarterly with the business that was operating in 2000 but when we started the current one I chose to do it monthly...it is not quite as frightening to hand over $3000-$4000 as it is to hand over $10000+.