eBay to charge GST?

[flashback_deals]

There is an article in today's Herald Sun about online sites such as eBay to start charging Australian customers GST, I think the suggestion has been made to the goverment to do it

This means if it goes through, our bills will rise by 10%

[digital*ghost]

That article is saying it wants eBay etc to add a 10% GST charge to items under $1000 that customers buy from overseas. (It would be for items under $1000 because GST is charged on goods over that amount along with import duties etc).

[flashback_deals]

Now I understand, what happens if we sell something overseas, is that changing too? as far as i know there is no GST on sales if your customer is overseas.

I cant see how eBay can add GST when they are not the seller

[***super_nova***]

What it means is that every parcel that comes into the country from o/s would have to be assessed by the customs, and then collected from the PO, and the 10% fee would have to be paid on collection.  It would be very expensive to do, lucky to break even, and that is why the government keeps rejecting the proposal; I bet AP is also not interested in becoming a tax collector, not to mention that all o/s parcels would have to be stored at the local PO until collected.

That is how it works in most o/s countries, but it was always like that, just the charges change.

[digital*ghost]

Getting eBay and other sites to adf the GST at point of purchase would actually take a lot of administration out of the hands of local entities, which is probably why it's been suggested as an alternative to collecting it when the purchase reaches Australia.

[bsal6160]

Good on you Julia. Another nail in your political coffin if this goes ahead.

[digital*ghost]

Now I understand, what happens if we sell something overseas, is that changing too? as far as i know there is no GST on sales if your customer is overseas.

I cant see how eBay can add GST when they are not the seller

Some Australian sites display a purchase price that doesn't include GST, so when an Oz resident purchases the GST is added during the checkout process.

eBay doesn't have that functionality, so the prices of all items listed here are essentially GST inclusive (so you could say that OS buyers technically pay it anyway).

There is already a system in place on eBay and other sites for sales tax to be added to a purchase price based on the customer's location, I don't know much about how that works - where the extra $'s go, how it gets handled, who does the paperwork and so forth, but I'm assuming they're suggesting the same (or a similar) system be implemented for Oz buyers.

[rabbitearbandicoot]

"eBay doesn't have that functionality, so the prices of all items listed here are essentially GST inclusive (so you could say that OS buyers technically pay it anyway)."

I see. So what you are saying is that all sellers are registered for GST and do their bas returns religiously, and send off the GST $ to the govenment. I am impressed. Here was I thinking that no-one on here paid GST.

[lyndal1838]

Small time sellers who are not GST registered do not have to worry about it, but large sellers who are registered have to remit the GST to the government as every other GST registered entity does.

If you do your reading you will see the ebay purchases are GST inclusive.

[ecutalk]

only those who sell over the GST threshold have to be registered for GST.

government should make up its mind what it wants to do... first they're talking about GST on imports above $30 (productivity commission says itll cost more to enforce than it will make from it). now they want online retailers to collect the money. they obviously dont know how ebay works if they think thats going to work.