Customs survey of low value import.

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Bung

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Topic # 129267 9-Sep-2013 12:16

A Customs survey of low value imports found 1/4 undervalued, $158000 recovered. This could catch on.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/9142286/Imports-undervalued-to-avoid-GST

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Reply # 892022 9-Sep-2013 12:29

my last Tablet i bought from Hong Kong came through customs as a USB charger, valued at $28 , i dont know why because it was under $200 .

Common sense is not as common as you think.

sbiddle

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Reply # 892026 9-Sep-2013 12:34

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I've probably purchased ~30 items from China in the past year. Everything has been marked as a gift and the value under declared. None where over the threshold anyway so wouldn't have incurred GST or duty, but it's clearly the norm for many shippers.

jonb

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Reply # 892043 9-Sep-2013 13:01

My workmate recently bought an Android phone for about $250 from China, which was marked as a 'gadget' for $20.

Zeon

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Reply # 892055 9-Sep-2013 13:12

Perhaps if one shipper is caught out under-valueing too much they could be blacklisted with every one of their products checked and relevant delays as a result?

CYaBro

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Reply # 892090 9-Sep-2013 13:55

I've had goods supplied by a company in the USA that were "Valued" at $100 but the actual products were around $7,000.
I didn't ask them to do this, they just did it themselves.

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Geektastic

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Reply # 892121 9-Sep-2013 14:24

Since the limit is too low, I have no qualms about outwitting the government wherever possible.

One thing I have done before when I want camera gear from the US is to have it sent to my brother, get him to unpack it and mail it without the original packaging with a note saying 'here is the lens you left with me last time I saw you - thanks for the loan!".

Most annoying is when overseas relatives send gifts and you end up being charged GST on them. That I think is particularly underhand.

hangon

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Reply # 892145 9-Sep-2013 14:50

CYaBro: I've had goods supplied by a company in the USA that were "Valued" at $100 but the actual products were around $7,000.
I didn't ask them to do this, they just did it themselves.

sometimes it's understandable to undervalue the item on the sticker so it doesn't attract as much unwanted attention.

nickb800

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Reply # 892158 9-Sep-2013 15:14

Does anyone know if Hong Kong has export tariffs? I ask because most of the stuff I order in is declared incorrectly, but often into a category that attracts higher NZ tariffs than the actual product (e.g. electronics declared as footwear - footwear is tariffed for NZ, electronics are not). I wonder if they are trying to avoid export tariffs, or if they are genuinely random declarations

Geektastic

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Reply # 892273 9-Sep-2013 17:37

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And why are clothes and footwear tariffed in NZ when almost no industry exists here?

It's a random 10% tax on something we all need.

Kyanar

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Reply # 892288 9-Sep-2013 18:16

Geektastic:
Most annoying is when overseas relatives send gifts and you end up being charged GST on them. That I think is particularly underhand.

No, underhanded is when you're charged GST on a secondhand item being sent as a gift, with the declared value legally required to be the new value of the item. I've even seen something revalued to above retail price by customs (admittedly not by NZ Customs). I'm still waiting to hear about someone being charged GST on something they took overseas and accidentally left there to be couriered back.

jfanning

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Reply # 892337 9-Sep-2013 19:53

Geektastic: And why are clothes and footwear tariffed in NZ when almost no industry exists here?

It's a random 10% tax on something we all need.

Maybe because those industries still exist in NZ, almost no doesn't mean none.

numfarr

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Reply # 892471 10-Sep-2013 08:02

Bung: A Customs survey of low value imports found 1/4 undervalued, $158000 recovered. This could catch on.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/9142286/Imports-undervalued-to-avoid-GST

Cost of this six month operation: $300,000? $1.5 million?

NonprayingMantis

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Reply # 892503 10-Sep-2013 08:50

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numfarr:
Bung: A Customs survey of low value imports found 1/4 undervalued, $158000 recovered. This could catch on.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/9142286/Imports-undervalued-to-avoid-GST

Cost of this six month operation: $300,000? $1.5 million?

probably the cost was more than the amount recovered, but it was nevertheless a usefull test to see enable the gov to accurately estimate the total value of GST being underecovered, and thus what the 'size of the prize' is if they can, somehow, implement GST on imports.

TinyTim

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Reply # 892523 10-Sep-2013 09:25

jfanning:
Geektastic: And why are clothes and footwear tariffed in NZ when almost no industry exists here?

It's a random 10% tax on something we all need.

Maybe because those industries still exist in NZ, almost no doesn't mean none.

'Almost no' = Because the tariff isn't hgh enough, presumably.

(Last time I checked, the duty was decreasing 2% p.a. until it was gone. For some countries, at least.)

sbiddle

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Reply # 892531 10-Sep-2013 09:42

Geektastic: Since the limit is too low, I have no qualms about outwitting the government wherever possible.

One thing I have done before when I want camera gear from the US is to have it sent to my brother, get him to unpack it and mail it without the original packaging with a note saying 'here is the lens you left with me last time I saw you - thanks for the loan!".

Most annoying is when overseas relatives send gifts and you end up being charged GST on them. That I think is particularly underhand.

The gift threshold is way under the normal one - it's something like $110.

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