Government changes tack on online shopping GST to avoid price hikes

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Forums › Politics › Government changes tack on online shopping GST to avoid price hikes

tripp

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#242262 18-Oct-2018 10:08

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12144433

I for one am happy about this. I don't mind paying GST but removed the duties etc for goods under $1000 is a great idea

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#2110312 18-Oct-2018 10:19

That seems like a fair compromise. I don't mind paying the GST but the duty etc would've been a killer, especially if applied under $400. Glad to see a sensible decision being made.

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SaltyNZ

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#2110313 18-Oct-2018 10:20

This is potentially even more interesting. The short story is that the reason you can get stuff shipped from China for free is that they have had an exception to the global standard shipping fee structure since 1969, and it is being shut down. I haven't seen anything to indicate that NZ is going to follow suit, but note that this is not actually a Donald Trump thing: it has been under negotiations for some time apparently. The EU are also looking into it.

Personally if we did follow suit that would be a good thing. The amount of cheap s*** flowing from China to landfill via a short detour into our houses might slow down a bit.

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wellygary

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#2110318 18-Oct-2018 10:26

MCD:

That seems like a fair compromise. I don't mind paying the GST but the duty etc would've been a killer, especially if applied under $400. Glad to see a sensible decision being made.

But its pure politics, and basically means everyone pays through taxes to cover the cost of people who import things...

MPI spend currently collect $42 million a year from the BSEL, now its not clear how much of this is on personal imports, but given they talk about 1.8 million items, i'm guessing most is small items,

https://www.mpi.govt.nz/dmsdocument/27483/send

antoniosk

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#2110319 18-Oct-2018 10:27

This still depends on the foreign supplier being willing to register for GST, collect and make payments thereafter. Changing the threshold for imposition of duties and tax sounds like a compromise based on effort vs return - at what point is the cost to collect higher than what you’re collecting ?

I hope it doesn’t lead to an AmazonAustralia style situation where orgs decide they can’t be bothered because NZ isn’t worth enough, forcing people into more YouShop style shipping (which is OK as an experience but I’ve found some us companies won’t ship to freight forwarders either).

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#2110320 18-Oct-2018 10:28

Good news.

sbiddle

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#2110330 18-Oct-2018 10:45

There was probably no real choice for the government but to increase the limit from $400 to $1000 for duty and IETF.

It was unfair that somebody importing products worth $401 was effectively subsidising the MPI charges somebody buying goods under $400 when the MPI costs were all about user pays meaning that everybody should pay their way.

surfisup1000

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#2110346 18-Oct-2018 11:01

If retailers are so intent on a 'level' playing field, the customs and duty should be removed altogether.

Amazon may stop shipping to new zealand altogether, anyway.

sbiddle

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#2110366 18-Oct-2018 11:07

surfisup1000:

If retailers are so intent on a 'level' playing field, the customs and duty should be removed altogether.

Amazon may stop shipping to new zealand altogether, anyway.

Why would Amazon stop shipping to NZ? They have collected GST, duty and IETF for NZ for the last ~7 years will have very minimal change compared to other retailers who will have to register and start collecting taxes.

antoniosk

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#2110372 18-Oct-2018 11:14

sbiddle:
surfisup1000:

If retailers are so intent on a 'level' playing field, the customs and duty should be removed altogether.

Amazon may stop shipping to new zealand altogether, anyway.

Why would Amazon stop shipping to NZ? They have collected GST, duty and IETF for NZ for the last ~7 years will have very minimal change compared to other retailers who will have to register and start collecting taxes.

Yep. Amazon appears to have invested in making this multi country tax regime work for them, which is good I guess.

After amazon, not really sure who’s left that matters?

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#2110383 18-Oct-2018 11:20

Seems reasonable although I can't say I am happy to pay yet more tax.

I still do not really see how the NZ government can make overseas companies comply unless they are very large companies - let us imagine, for example, a boutique handmade firearms company in the USA making aftermarket grips, rails and so on for guns. Say they employ 5 people in deepest Kansas. How exactly will the government of NZ get them to charge GST?

surfisup1000

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#2110385 18-Oct-2018 11:24

sbiddle:

Why would Amazon stop shipping to NZ? They have collected GST, duty and IETF for NZ for the last ~7 years will have very minimal change compared to other retailers who will have to register and start collecting taxes.

Considering they did this in Australia (amazon australia is hardly a replacement for amazon US either).

I don't think the issue is their ability to collect .

https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/we-regret-any-inconvenience-this-may-cause-amazon-to-stop-shipping-to-australia-from-july-1/news-story/0842f955c18b0f84c3cee7046f63b894

Rather, it is to warn governments of small nation that amazon is more powerful than them.

surfisup1000

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#2110388 18-Oct-2018 11:27

Geektastic:

I still do not really see how the NZ government can make overseas companies comply unless they are very large companies - let us imagine, for example, a boutique handmade firearms company in the USA making aftermarket grips, rails and so on for guns. Say they employ 5 people in deepest Kansas. How exactly will the government of NZ get them to charge GST?

They can't. No jurisdiction.

They could return shipments though I suppose.

I really hope this backfires on new zealand too, with foreign governments making new zealand exporters pay tax in their countries too.

Geektastic

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#2110392 18-Oct-2018 11:29

surfisup1000:

Geektastic:

I still do not really see how the NZ government can make overseas companies comply unless they are very large companies - let us imagine, for example, a boutique handmade firearms company in the USA making aftermarket grips, rails and so on for guns. Say they employ 5 people in deepest Kansas. How exactly will the government of NZ get them to charge GST?

They can't. No jurisdiction.

They could return shipments though I suppose.

I really hope this backfires on new zealand too, with foreign governments making new zealand exporters pay tax in their countries too.

I suppose they could do that - but they would have to open every single package and inspect the paperwork etc in order to first determine whether GST had been charged or not...! That is likely to be prohibitively time-consuming I imagine.

wellygary

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#2110393 18-Oct-2018 11:30

Geektastic:

Seems reasonable although I can't say I am happy to pay yet more tax.

I still do not really see how the NZ government can make overseas companies comply unless they are very large companies - let us imagine, for example, a boutique handmade firearms company in the USA making aftermarket grips, rails and so on for guns. Say they employ 5 people in deepest Kansas. How exactly will the government of NZ get them to charge GST?

If they sell less than 60K annually to NZ they are exempt... and to be honest I suspect customs etc know the big import sources.... if they get the top 80% I suspect they will be more than happy...

kobiak

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#2110396 18-Oct-2018 11:33

surfisup1000:

I really hope this backfires on new zealand too, with foreign governments making new zealand exporters pay tax in their countries too.

already. Company I work for, now collects aussie GST.

actually, no price for end consumer, but there's additional cost for business :(

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