GST etc on imports

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MikeB4
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#958087 27-Dec-2013 19:47

Geektastic:
KiwiNZ: Many countries have duties on various products for various reason, a common reason is to protect local industries.

Agreed, however NZ has no clothing or shoemaking industry worth a 10% across the board charge to protect. Even most NZ designed clothing is made abroad.

We do actually do some things very well here, maybe you need to look around a bit more.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

old3eyes

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#958092 27-Dec-2013 20:13

KiwiNZ:
Geektastic:
KiwiNZ: I see no problem with the biosecurity levy, it costs considerable money to protect our borders. Our economy could very easily wrecked with out the searches etc.

But no levy would apply to one thing that could cost only $1 less than something else.

Biosecurity is not dependent on the cost of the items, so a letter with zero monetary value could cause more damage than a $10 million shipment of diamonds if it contained say Foot & Mouth.

I agree it costs money to protect the borders (although being European, we have never bothered as things can make their own way quite easily and even Rabies is now not quarantined for within the EU for pet movement etc) but I think it should be targeted more towards items likely to possibly represent a biosecurity threat (i.e. not clothes or shoes!).

Shoes are a very high biosecurity risk

New Shoes?? You're joking aren't you..

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old3eyes

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#958095 27-Dec-2013 20:16

KiwiNZ:
Geektastic:
KiwiNZ: Many countries have duties on various products for various reason, a common reason is to protect local industries.

Agreed, however NZ has no clothing or shoemaking industry worth a 10% across the board charge to protect. Even most NZ designed clothing is made abroad.

We do actually do some things very well here, maybe you need to look around a bit more.

But these are the high priced locally made stuff like cloths not the el cheapo stuff that people import and the same goes for shoes, We don't make the likes of Nike or Converse here they're all imported and sold for a great mark up..

Regards,

Old3eyes

MikeB4

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#958097 27-Dec-2013 20:34

old3eyes:
KiwiNZ:
Geektastic:
KiwiNZ: I see no problem with the biosecurity levy, it costs considerable money to protect our borders. Our economy could very easily wrecked with out the searches etc.

But no levy would apply to one thing that could cost only $1 less than something else.

Biosecurity is not dependent on the cost of the items, so a letter with zero monetary value could cause more damage than a $10 million shipment of diamonds if it contained say Foot & Mouth.

I agree it costs money to protect the borders (although being European, we have never bothered as things can make their own way quite easily and even Rabies is now not quarantined for within the EU for pet movement etc) but I think it should be targeted more towards items likely to possibly represent a biosecurity threat (i.e. not clothes or shoes!).

Shoes are a very high biosecurity risk

New Shoes?? You're joking aren't you..

Single item shoes need to be checked that they have not been used and have contamination on them

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

MikeB4

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#958099 27-Dec-2013 20:38

old3eyes:
KiwiNZ:
Geektastic:
KiwiNZ: Many countries have duties on various products for various reason, a common reason is to protect local industries.

Agreed, however NZ has no clothing or shoemaking industry worth a 10% across the board charge to protect. Even most NZ designed clothing is made abroad.

We do actually do some things very well here, maybe you need to look around a bit more.

But these are the high priced locally made stuff like cloths not the el cheapo stuff that people import and the same goes for shoes, We don't make the likes of Nike or Converse here they're all imported and sold for a great mark up..

We still make good products

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

mattwnz

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#958109 27-Dec-2013 21:52

They do still make clothing and shoes in nz, but it is more boutique stuff. It is a bit like tariffs where countries impose tariffs on imported products to protect their own industries from imports, and it makes free trade agreements difficult.
People are buying a lot more stuff overseas, but it is mainly for two reasons, and that is that the NZ dollar is so strong, but many people are benefiting as a result, with record low mortgage payments with the super low interest rates. Also the very poor selection in NZ stores. For example I recently purchased a nice watch from amazon. It was $300 in NZ dollars. The same watch on a NZ retailer, although an overseas owned chain, was $750.
Another example is I had to had to get a part for a European toilet system, just a few of these special silicon gaskets. The part in NZ was $60. I got the same original part off eBay for less than $10 with free delivery, and or was being sold from the UK by a plumbing company. The part would cost less than $1 to make.
So get in now while the exchange rate is good, because these things go in cycles. Once the NZ dollar drops, it will again be cheaper to buy stuff in NZ again.

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Geektastic

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#958135 27-Dec-2013 22:56

mattwnz: They do still make clothing and shoes in nz, but it is more boutique stuff. It is a bit like tariffs where countries impose tariffs on imported products to protect their own industries from imports, and it makes free trade agreements difficult.
People are buying a lot more stuff overseas, but it is mainly for two reasons, and that is that the NZ dollar is so strong, but many people are benefiting as a result, with record low mortgage payments with the super low interest rates. Also the very poor selection in NZ stores. For example I recently purchased a nice watch from amazon. It was $300 in NZ dollars. The same watch on a NZ retailer, although an overseas owned chain, was $750.
Another example is I had to had to get a part for a European toilet system, just a few of these special silicon gaskets. The part in NZ was $60. I got the same original part off eBay for less than $10 with free delivery, and or was being sold from the UK by a plumbing company. The part would cost less than $1 to make.
So get in now while the exchange rate is good, because these things go in cycles. Once the NZ dollar drops, it will again be cheaper to buy stuff in NZ again.

Cheaper possibly, but that won't alter the fact that sometimes we simply cannot get what we want here.

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#958137 27-Dec-2013 23:02

KiwiNZ:
old3eyes:
KiwiNZ:
Geektastic:
KiwiNZ: Many countries have duties on various products for various reason, a common reason is to protect local industries.

Agreed, however NZ has no clothing or shoemaking industry worth a 10% across the board charge to protect. Even most NZ designed clothing is made abroad.

We do actually do some things very well here, maybe you need to look around a bit more.

But these are the high priced locally made stuff like cloths not the el cheapo stuff that people import and the same goes for shoes, We don't make the likes of Nike or Converse here they're all imported and sold for a great mark up..

We still make good products

Indeed. But not in many areas such as sports shoes. Even a wool running shoe invented here is being relocated to Europe I read this week. Based on observation I'd say over 90% of clothes and shoes worn here are not made here. Adding 10% duty to 90% of our clothes seems a trifle unfair in a nation where low wages and high prices are a common complaint.

freitasm

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#958141 27-Dec-2013 23:17

It comes to down to this: it's cheaper to buy Icebreaker tops, jackets, socks on Amazon (including postage) than it is to buy Icebreaker in Wellington. Even if you add 15% on that it will still be cheaper by a large margin.

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mattwnz

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#958142 27-Dec-2013 23:24

Geektastic:
Cheaper possibly, but that won't alter the fact that sometimes we simply cannot get what we want here.

Any store will possibly be able to order something in for you, but you will be paying a premium. Buying from overseas essentially cuts out that middleman.
What I really dislike is how many stores are now pricing products in NZ, where the regular price is higher than it used to be, but they have regular 'sales' on rotation, which brings the price back down to what it should be, as well as running loss leaders to get people into the stores. There are some stores that never run sales, and have an everyday low price, which is often around the same price as a store that has the product discounted.
It is all psychological, as kiwis love a sale, and if something has 25-50% off, they will often buy it on impluse, because they have instantly 'saved' money. I used to do this myself in the past, but have woken up to it.
But as this has been a record year of sales in NZ retailers, they can hardly complain too much about personal imports affecting business. Many of retailers are just a middleman anyway, so cutting out that middleman does save money for the consumer, which has to be a good thing. The ones I do feel sorry for are the ones that are selling NZ made high quality goods, where they are trying to compete with cheap imports which are often inferior quality. This is why I try to buy NZ made stuff where I can.

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#958165 28-Dec-2013 01:44

Geektastic: This is in the press again with the usual discussion.

I received today notice of the following duties payable on a single item of clothing from the USA which cost US$247 inc delivery:

"Revenue Type IMPORT DUTY" "Amount $24.70"
"GST" "$49.61"
"IMPORT TRANSACTION FEE" "$25.44"
"GST ON IMPORT TRANSACT FEE" "$3.82"
"BIOSECURITY LEVY" "$15.33"
"GST ON BIOSECURITY LEVY" "$2.30"

"Total payable for this transaction" "$121.20"

It seems like a huge amount in extra charges for no real reason, as a single item of new clothing represents the same biosecurity risk as a jumper knitted and sent by my Mum on which no duty is payable.

That is more than the 'whats my duty' website calculates it at. Maybe you should question the amount, because the NZ cusomts website calculates it from 106.94 - 112.35, depending on what the delivery component was. It does say it is only an estimate, but some of those look to be fixed fees.Also if the goods were just $25 cheaper, it doesn't appear you would have had to pay anything. So it is a bit of a lesson for all, to make sure that you use the calculator before purhcasing, especially items with duty on them.

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old3eyes

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#958177 28-Dec-2013 08:25

KiwiNZ:
old3eyes:
KiwiNZ:
Geektastic:
KiwiNZ: I see no problem with the biosecurity levy, it costs considerable money to protect our borders. Our economy could very easily wrecked with out the searches etc.

But no levy would apply to one thing that could cost only $1 less than something else.

Biosecurity is not dependent on the cost of the items, so a letter with zero monetary value could cause more damage than a $10 million shipment of diamonds if it contained say Foot & Mouth.

I agree it costs money to protect the borders (although being European, we have never bothered as things can make their own way quite easily and even Rabies is now not quarantined for within the EU for pet movement etc) but I think it should be targeted more towards items likely to possibly represent a biosecurity threat (i.e. not clothes or shoes!).

Shoes are a very high biosecurity risk

New Shoes?? You're joking aren't you..

Single item shoes need to be checked that they have not been used and have contamination on them

Now your talking like a true public servant..

Regards,

Old3eyes

TinyTim

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#958181 28-Dec-2013 08:59

sbiddle:
Geektastic:

Also, we fund Customs from our taxes. Why are we having to pay them twice to do what we are employing them for?

Many Govt departments operate on a cost recovery basis when they provide services.

Except they are not providing the importer with a service; they are providing the government with a service. So, effectively it's a tax on a tax.

Before this tax on a tax (plus GST on your tax on your tax, so it's there's tax on a tax on a tax), the threshold was set because anything below the threshold wasn't cost effective to collect. Now that the collection charge is extra, the threshold could be anything.

I guess we should be thankful we don't have to pay collection tax on our GST returns and income tax/PAYE. The IRD incurs costs collecting those too.

TinyTim

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#958185 28-Dec-2013 09:14

mattwnz:
Geektastic: This is in the press again with the usual discussion.

I received today notice of the following duties payable on a single item of clothing from the USA which cost US$247 inc delivery:

"Revenue Type IMPORT DUTY" "Amount $24.70"
"GST" "$49.61"
"IMPORT TRANSACTION FEE" "$25.44"
"GST ON IMPORT TRANSACT FEE" "$3.82"
"BIOSECURITY LEVY" "$15.33"
"GST ON BIOSECURITY LEVY" "$2.30"

"Total payable for this transaction" "$121.20"

It seems like a huge amount in extra charges for no real reason, as a single item of new clothing represents the same biosecurity risk as a jumper knitted and sent by my Mum on which no duty is payable.

That is more than the 'whats my duty' website calculates it at. Maybe you should question the amount, because the NZ cusomts website calculates it from 106.94 - 112.35, depending on what the delivery component was. It does say it is only an estimate, but some of those look to be fixed fees.Also if the goods were just $25 cheaper, it doesn't appear you would have had to pay anything. So it is a bit of a lesson for all, to make sure that you use the calculator before purhcasing, especially items with duty on them.

Don't forget it's $US, so /.81.

But this is odd - the clothing was $US 247 but why is the duty $NZ 24.7? Maybe you got off lightly...

On the other hand, was there no explicit delivery charge? Because you don't pay duty on delivery.

freitasm

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#958214 28-Dec-2013 10:11

TinyTim:
mattwnz:
Geektastic: This is in the press again with the usual discussion.

I received today notice of the following duties payable on a single item of clothing from the USA which cost US$247 inc delivery:

"Revenue Type IMPORT DUTY" "Amount $24.70"
"GST" "$49.61"
"IMPORT TRANSACTION FEE" "$25.44"
"GST ON IMPORT TRANSACT FEE" "$3.82"
"BIOSECURITY LEVY" "$15.33"
"GST ON BIOSECURITY LEVY" "$2.30"

"Total payable for this transaction" "$121.20"

It seems like a huge amount in extra charges for no real reason, as a single item of new clothing represents the same biosecurity risk as a jumper knitted and sent by my Mum on which no duty is payable.

That is more than the 'whats my duty' website calculates it at. Maybe you should question the amount, because the NZ cusomts website calculates it from 106.94 - 112.35, depending on what the delivery component was. It does say it is only an estimate, but some of those look to be fixed fees.Also if the goods were just $25 cheaper, it doesn't appear you would have had to pay anything. So it is a bit of a lesson for all, to make sure that you use the calculator before purhcasing, especially items with duty on them.

Don't forget it's $US, so /.81.

But this is odd - the clothing was $US 247 but why is the duty $NZ 24.7? Maybe you got off lightly...

On the other hand, was there no explicit delivery charge? Because you don't pay duty on delivery.

Sure don't pay duty on delivery but pay GST on shipping. The OP didn't give all the information for us to calculate it.

I see the discussion has gone into "why Biosecurity and why Duty" veering away from the topic I thought it would be. The OP mention the GST survey in the topic, so I replied with thoughts on having GST collected in all imports, regardless of amount. It seems that was lost or people don't know the Retailers Association is lobbying the government to do that.

Might have to create another topic.

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