Government planning changes to GST levy on overseas purchases

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khull

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#124515 10-Jul-2013 12:46

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/8900719/Online-shoppers-could-face-tax-bill

Mr. Williamson - seriously? Do these people who try to run the country just dream of ideas in their sleep and then just sound it out?

Let's see how we get around this - gift cards, overseas debit cards/overseas bank accounts, multi currency credit cards, Paypal....

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#853281 10-Jul-2013 12:59

Yep. It looks like the NZ retailers have been having words with him. If I could buy some of the small amount of stuff I buy here at a reasonable price I would. Way cheaper to buy books from the Book Depositary or DVDs / CDs from Amazon than to pay the NZ rip off pricing. Most of the DVDs/ Blurays/ CDs I buy are not available here as it is..

This Gov like the last Labor one seem hell bent of taxing the crap out of every kiwi. It's not like this is a cheap country to live in with high wages..

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keewee01

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#853288 10-Jul-2013 13:06

It is ridiculous that the government is even entertaining the idea. When an individual can import something significantly cheaper than a retailer that is importing in bulk then that tells you we're getting ripped off!

It will be too costly to even thing about applying to minor dollar value items.

mattwnz

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#853298 10-Jul-2013 13:20

It is interesting to read some of the comments on this on that article. GST actually applies toall imported goods, it is just that items under $400 isn't worth collecting in terms of time and cost involved. I do however see it being a problem, and it does mean that taxpayers do miss out on this extra revenue. It also means that local retailers are at a disadvantage. Maybe the whole GST thing on retail goods needs to be looked at, so local retailers aren't at a disadvantage.

NonprayingMantis

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#853309 10-Jul-2013 13:32

mattwnz: It is interesting to read some of the comments on this on that article. GST actually applies toall imported goods, it is just that items under $400 isn't worth collecting in terms of time and cost involved. I do however see it being a problem, and it does mean that taxpayers do miss out on this extra revenue. It also means that local retailers are at a disadvantage. Maybe the whole GST thing on retail goods needs to be looked at, so local retailers aren't at a disadvantage.

if they can find some way of collecting it that is cheaper than the revenue generated, then I say go for it.

sleemanj

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#853310 10-Jul-2013 13:32

khull: http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/8900719/Online-shoppers-could-face-tax-bill

Mr. Williamson - seriously? Do these people who try to run the country just dream of ideas in their sleep and then just sound it out?

Complete nonsense from Williamson, asking credit card companies to levy GST on international transactions, completely absurd, how on earth does a CC company know that a charge on your card is or isn't going to be liable for GST, even if they knew you were buying a physical product they don't know that it's being imported, you could be sending as a gift to somebody in the country of origin for all they know.

NZ already has a low import threshold compared to for example Australia where it is $1000 AUD before the bother to collect anything.

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khull

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#853312 10-Jul-2013 13:34

Oh please add automatic currency converters offered by some retailers to bill you in your local currency. Not so easy to implement for CC companies

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mattwnz

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#853321 10-Jul-2013 14:06

NonprayingMantis:
mattwnz: It is interesting to read some of the comments on this on that article. GST actually applies toall imported goods, it is just that items under $400 isn't worth collecting in terms of time and cost involved. I do however see it being a problem, and it does mean that taxpayers do miss out on this extra revenue. It also means that local retailers are at a disadvantage. Maybe the whole GST thing on retail goods needs to be looked at, so local retailers aren't at a disadvantage.

if they can find some way of collecting it that is cheaper than the revenue generated, then I say go for it.

It is pretty much impossible to do at the payment level, as there are too many ways to avoid it. The only way to capture them is to do it when teh goods come into NZ, and all imported packages are linked to a person and the governments universal ID system. eg so the parcel is scanned and assigned to a person, and that person at some date in the future receives a bill for the amount which they can pay online. But no doubt it will include 3.5% credit card/convenience fee.

sbiddle

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#853326 10-Jul-2013 14:18

mattwnz: It is interesting to read some of the comments on this on that article. GST actually applies toall imported goods, it is just that items under $400 isn't worth collecting in terms of time and cost involved. I do however see it being a problem, and it does mean that taxpayers do miss out on this extra revenue. It also means that local retailers are at a disadvantage. Maybe the whole GST thing on retail goods needs to be looked at, so local retailers aren't at a disadvantage.

Australia has a $1000 limit and has decided after several reviews in recent years that the cost of collecting revenue for purchases under this will cost more than the revenue gained.

You also need to look at this issue and the reason for it - is it to collect tax or protect retailers? If it's to collect tax the costs of processing a few million extra packages a year needs to be factored in. If it's to protect retailers they need to decide if something bring in a product that will now incur GST but still be cheaper than buying it locally will actually benefit retailers in any way.

mattwnz

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#853345 10-Jul-2013 14:43

If they can work out a cheaper way of collecting it so it is all automated by scanning, then I am all for it. The current method is outdated and painfully slow. I suspect part of the reason for this is to protect the existing importing market, with brokers etc.

ajobbins

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#853362 10-Jul-2013 14:58

If they want to collect revenue, they would be better off stopping some of the white collar tax evasion. Or bringing in a CGT.

If it's to protect retailers, it won't work. Often the difference is well more than the GST rate, so they may end up in a situation where not only do they fail to protect the details, but the revenue generated may be exceeded by the costs of running the scheme.

It could very easily be a lose-lose-lose situation.

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nova

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#853372 10-Jul-2013 15:09

Getting the credit card companies to do it is completely crazy.

It is easy to get around, but even worse, how would they know whether the purchase is being imported into New Zealand?

How would they deal with travellers buying things overseas? Would travellers suddenly have to pay GST on overseas transactions for hotel accommodation etc??

The idea is so crazy that it is hardly worth wasting any more time discussing it...

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nzkiwiman

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#853427 10-Jul-2013 16:47

I bring in a lot of stuff that is not offered by local retail - I have asked the end retailer who has asked the distributor who has asked the supplier and it seems to be the same result, no interest in the product in New Zealand

So I import.
Bring it to local retail in a timely fashion at a good price point and you will get your local sale and collect GST.

Of course I also import stuff from Japan so that will always have to be imported.

JimmyH

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#853479 10-Jul-2013 18:00

For the few things I have imported recently, GST is irrelevant to the decision. Charging me would neither have deterred me from purchasing, nor gained a local retailer a dime. The last bit of kit I brought was $US 134 (about $155 kiwi at the time). The local seller (exclusive distributor) wanted $699! Plus, they didn't currently have that particular item in stock.

The part before that was a specialist cable for a bit of electronics. Local price $89 (and again, not immediately in stock). Price for imported one that landed 10 days later, two pounds (circa $4). Including shipping.

If the local retailers want my business then they need to sharpen up in terms of range carried, service, and (especially) pricing. They don't have a 15% price gap that the GST issue would address. They have a 300%+ price gap, and its called gouging.

marmel

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#853510 10-Jul-2013 18:39

The retailers need to get off there a** and put more pressure on the importer plus distributors to give kiwis a fair price. Instead they are trying to pressure the government into introducing a costly process to protect them.

insane

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#853513 10-Jul-2013 18:42

nova: Getting the credit card companies to do it is completely crazy.

Indeed, but if they could and would, it would cost the government almost nothing to gather more taxes. I find it funny how they give with the one hand and take with the other.

Always feels like more take than give...

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