GST on imported goods still happening December 1st?

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Ultimate Geek
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#2361388 27-Nov-2019 10:22

DonH:

Amazon US already have a flexible tax collection system to deal with state sales taxes. They probably simply added NZ as another state... 😊

UK, JP, DE etc probably have less flexible systems.

I am surprised Amazon even bothered with a market the size of ours.

Tzoi

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#2361390 27-Nov-2019 10:23

Pre-orders would probably be fine on the places that have stopped shipping to NZ otherwise, as the total sum of those pre-orders would be less than the 60k threshold for registration

sbiddle

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#2361430 27-Nov-2019 11:22

DonH:

Amazon US already have a flexible tax collection system to deal with state sales taxes. They probably simply added NZ as another state... 😊

UK, JP, DE etc probably have less flexible systems.

Amazon US have fully supported TAX / duty collection in NZ for around 8 or 9 years now. The changes they would have made now simplify things - they simply now just collect GST on everything rather than the complex system that existed before with duty and IETF + MPI fees and the $60 de minimis.

PolicyGuy

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#2361463 27-Nov-2019 12:02

Mahon:
DonH:

Amazon US already have a flexible tax collection system to deal with state sales taxes. They probably simply added NZ as another state... 😊

UK, JP, DE etc probably have less flexible systems.

I am surprised Amazon even bothered with a market the size of ours.

According to http://worldpopulationreview.com/states/, NZ has a larger population than 24 of the US States, so if you have a system that copes with the tax vagaries of, say, Alaska (pop 735,720), adding another locality with ~5M population and a nice simple single rate15% sales tax is easy peasy

old3eyes

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#2361476 27-Nov-2019 12:35

antoniosk:
I wonder if Dick Kogan Smith is implementing anything?

I think that they already charge NZ GST. They did on the last thing I bought from them.

Regards,

Old3eyes

ilovemusic

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#2361759 27-Nov-2019 18:16

how does it work buying from australia.

do they deduct aus gst then add on nz gst ?

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#2362339 28-Nov-2019 14:42

How about Red Thursday at New World, they have Butterfly chickens for $6.99, that's cheap, Love the chili and lime ones do them on the bbq. mmmmmmm bbq chicken.

Edit : Sigh please move to black Friday deal's, to many tabs open my apologizes.

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#2362342 28-Nov-2019 14:47

A reminder to everyone posting here to check the FUG, especially the part that says people can be banned if posting content that promotes or asks for ways of breaking the law.

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Nil Einne

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#2362511 29-Nov-2019 07:18

ilovemusic:

how does it work buying from australia.

do they deduct aus gst then add on nz gst ?

If they're doing things right and have over NZ$60k revenue in sales in NZ then pretty sure the answer is yes. The zero rating for exports is no different from the many other countries with VAT including NZ, and something most retailers with enough sales have been doing for ages. The collecting VAT/GST for NZ is the new part, but may or may not be something they've dealt with before. While I believe Australia is the first, and only besides NZ to have the current system where foreign companies are expected to collect VAT for physical goods (ignoring digital services) even with no local presence, the system in the EU has a very low threshold of €22. So even if the customer is the importer of record, they often have to pay and deal with customs etc. Therefore I assume some Australian company which regularly ships to EU use something in the EU as the importer of record to simplify things for their customers.

(The EU is eliminating the threshold and also requiring online market places to start collecting for low value transactions from 2021. And some EU countries have started to go it alone on that while waiting for the EU. So while they aren't approaching this in quite the same way, it seems likely that some way or other, the marketplace or seller if doing it independently and big enough is probably going to have to be the one collecting VAT. Of course, the EU as I guess is part of their purpose is also trying to simplify things by allowing a one stop shop etc, something we can't do. And the EU does have the advantage that it's likely most online marketplaces and even many large sellers probably have some presence in at least on EU country making compliance requirements easier.)

While it's true we're a lot lot lot smaller than the EU, and a lot smaller than even Australia, I'm not convinced as I outlined in another thread there's actually going to be that many that abandon us. Remember you need to have enough revenue that you start to worry about it, but not enough that you're willing to do the extra work in compliance. One thing we IMO tend to be good at is keeping tax stuff a lot simpler than many other countries e.g. our VAT system without the many complexities of different rates and zero-rated goods so companies can easily comply. And as others have indicated, if you've had to put a system in place for one country the extra costs to put it in place for another are not generally so high.

The EU Amazons and Amazon.co.jp are an interesting case. I wonder if one possible issue is they're large enough that they take the risks very seriously, and need a lot stuff in place including legal signoffs etc for all the many products they sell, including all the FBA stuff were info may be more spotty. (Although they could just abandon FBA and only do SBA.) But with .com.au and .com being there, they're not so worried about losing us or Australia. For Amazon Japan, I assume the EU changes means they're going to have to put stuff in place or abandon the EU as well. Once they've done that, how much extra work would Australia and NZ be? For the EU Amazons things are a little different as I guess it's mostly Australia and us. But then again with the way Brexit is going and since the UK seems to be one of those going it alone on online marketplaces, it seems possible they're going to have to put something in place for the UK soon enough. Likewise for UK Amazon to EU buyers. So again, they may need to do the work and NZ and Australia may be only a small extra cost then. I did wonder if it could also be uncertainty over how to handle stuff in the interim (what happens if the customer orders on the 29th but you don't charge their card or ship it until the 2nd?) but then found out they're still doing it for Australia so guess that can't be it.

Time will tell I guess. And to some extent, these developments are probably going to further encourage the use of online market places and other third parties which will deal with the hassles of international ecommerce for you, for a small cost passed onto us the consumer. But I don't see how we could expect anything different to happen as more and more transactions avoid or evade VAT worldwide, unless people genuinely expected VAT to end or for there to be some WTO VAT agreement, neither of which ever seemed realistic.

allio

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Ultimate Geek
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#2362653 29-Nov-2019 09:32

Just noticed that Amazon currently isn't collecting sales tax on carts over $400 NZD. I gather that after 1 December, Customs will only be collecting tax on untaxed purchases over $1000. Does that mean orders placed at Amazon between now and 1 December (arriving in NZ after 1 December) might avoid GST both at the store and at Customs?

sen8or

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#2362655 29-Nov-2019 09:35

Just noticed that, $448 for an item, no sales tax and ships to NZ.

Is Amazon getting around the sales tax thing using marketplace sellers, who individually may not ship more than $60k worth to NZ?

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allio

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#2362658 29-Nov-2019 09:39

sen8or:

Just noticed that, $448 for an item, no sales tax and ships to NZ.

Is Amazon getting around the sales tax thing using marketplace sellers, who individually may not ship more than $60k worth to NZ?

I don't think that would work - as the storefront I think they have responsibility for collecting the tax. e.g. everything on Aliexpress is sold by marketplace sellers but Aliexpress will be administrating the tax collection. And both items in my cart are sold directly by Amazon anyway.

I think it's more likely a temporary state of affairs, i.e. they've switched off their regular "collect GST over $400" system but haven't yet switched on the new "collect GST on everything" system.

afe66

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#2362750 29-Nov-2019 11:25

When I played with .uk version it wouldnt ship a dvd from amazon in that an error appeared at the cart stage but when I looked at ordering from another dvd seller but still within the Amazon front, the non shipping to nz statement didnt appear.

I wonder if that's still true.

richms

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#2362771 29-Nov-2019 11:41

Ive put an order thru for 3 HDDs that was over $500 and amazon didnt pre-collect anything, just shipping. It will arrive on the 13th so will be after the limit rises to $1000 at customs stage.

Looks like this is perfect timing for one last hurrah of shopping and I know I will be spending all my money online overseas this year, rather than with local retailers. Own goal springs to mind for this years shopping.

Richard rich.ms

SirHumphreyAppleby

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#2362790 29-Nov-2019 12:03

allio:

Just noticed that Amazon currently isn't collecting sales tax on carts over $400 NZD. I gather that after 1 December, Customs will only be collecting tax on untaxed purchases over $1000. Does that mean orders placed at Amazon between now and 1 December (arriving in NZ after 1 December) might avoid GST both at the store and at Customs?

It would appear that way. I would also expect orders arriving in NZ after the 1st would have any tax collected refunded.

The amount presently becomes payable when the item lands in the country. Amazon was collecting GST to speed up the delivery process, not because it has to. As it isn't in the country when the responsibility for collection shifts from Customs to the retailer, no GST will be owed unless the package exceeds the new limit for Customs to make the collection.

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