GST etc on imports

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# 958253 28-Dec-2013 11:37

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 ñclothing 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.

Good point, I missed that it was in USD. If that is the case then yes they may have got of lightly. It does still suck how it can go from 0 dollars, to 100 dollar plus, by just spending a bit more. So pays to be very careful and buy cheaper goods. Would be interesting to know if it was still cheaper than NZ prices.

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# 958319 28-Dec-2013 14:20

mattwnz:
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 ñclothing 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.

Good point, I missed that it was in USD. If that is the case then yes they may have got of lightly. It does still suck how it can go from 0 dollars, to 100 dollar plus, by just spending a bit more. So pays to be very careful and buy cheaper goods. Would be interesting to know if it was still cheaper than NZ prices.

There is no NZ price to compare. It's a specialist item of clothing made by only one US company that sells overseas by mail only.

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# 958321 28-Dec-2013 14:25

freitasm:
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.

I cut and pasted the info from the Notice that Customs sent me. What other info would you like? Happy to provide.

Zippity

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# 959774 1-Jan-2014 01:31

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A new Tui's Ad????

""Nearly 40 per cent of New Zealanders believe GST should be charged on all purchases made on foreign shopping websites, a survey has shown." - yeah RIGHT!!!!

old3eyes

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# 959792 1-Jan-2014 09:11

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Zippity: A new Tui's Ad????

""Nearly 40 per cent of New Zealanders believe GST should be charged on all purchases made on foreign shopping websites, a survey has shown." - yeah RIGHT!!!!

What about a headline that reads "60 per cent of New Zealanders believe GST should not be charged on all purchases made on foreign shopping websites, a survey has shown."

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Old3eyes

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# 959831 1-Jan-2014 11:28

to me it doesn't matter really, if the sales are going overseas then we (taxpayers) are losing revenue which needs to be made up elsewhere.

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mattwnz

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# 959879 1-Jan-2014 13:34

old3eyes:
Zippity: A new Tui's Ad????

""Nearly 40 per cent of New Zealanders believe GST should be charged on all purchases made on foreign shopping websites, a survey has shown." - yeah RIGHT!!!!

What about a headline that reads "60 per cent of New Zealanders believe GST should not be charged on all purchases made on foreign shopping websites, a survey has shown."

Stats can be twisted like that by the media, depending on which side they support. Nearly 40% means it is in the 30's, which is close to a thirds. So the headline could say, nearly 2/3s of NZers...

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# 959884 1-Jan-2014 13:44

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jeffnz: to me it doesn't matter really, if the sales are going overseas then we (taxpayers) are losing revenue which needs to be made up elsewhere.

We aren't 'losing' anything. A buyer may equally choose simply not to buy at all rather than be ripped off here, for example. The state is not somehow entitled automatically to a set amount of our money.

Personally I would cut income tax to a flat 10% and raise GST to 25% or some variation of that. At the end of the day I can get 85% of my purchases through one or other of my businesses so I'll just claim it back.

GST is not my main gripe - the biggest issue is the ridiculous add-ons to pay for a border control system we already paid for - it is the equivalent of charging prisoners for the services of their warders etc.

mattwnz

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# 959890 1-Jan-2014 14:15

Geektastic:

GST is not my main gripe - the biggest issue is the ridiculous add-ons to pay for a border control system we already paid for - it is the equivalent of charging prisoners for the services of their warders etc.

That is a good point, it is like a tax on a tax on a tax. But I pressume with the increase in stuff coming into NZ, it means they have to hire more staff and have larger processing areas. But the fees are pretty high, when you combine it with the quantity of things coming into NZ. Really the people who are paying it, are subsidizing those who are buying items that aren't paying it, which isn't really fair.

Satch

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# 961837 6-Jan-2014 12:38

sbiddle: The duty and GST for those products exceeds the $60 threshold which is why you have to pay it.

Once your product is liable for any duty and/or GST you also need to pay the IETF fee (which is essentially what it costs Customs to process the goods) and then it's mandatory to pay the biosecurity fee.

If the IETF fee is what it costs Customs to process the goods then why is there even a threshold? If duty and GST work out to be only $1, then that's $1 extra they could collect on top of the cost of processing the goods.

Note - I don't support this subject at all. As others have said, I would be happy to pay GST on all imports. It's the added fees which are the real kicker.

freitasm

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# 961841 6-Jan-2014 12:46

It costs more than that. If Customs were to charge for EVERY item landing in this country there would be increased costs to process those. An item lands in New Zealand and needs to be put in storage until the GST is collected. There is computer systems (more computers, more storage, more processing power), an increase in agents to process all the items that now have to be checked/collected, training for these agents.

All these for $300 million in small items at $1 - $60 each? Imagine how many items would need to be processed. The costs of storage alone would be enormous.

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# 961842 6-Jan-2014 12:56

Well then they simply increase the "fee" they are charging to cover the costs.

langers1972

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# 961843 6-Jan-2014 12:58

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My take on it is that the world and the way we do business has changed massively in a relatively short space of time. The bricks and mortar stores are simply feeling the effects of market forces that are never going to change and almost certainly will continue to shift, it's a bit like all the 2nd hand shops being blown away by TradeMe/eBay and Kodak by digital photography.

If I can go on the internet and save 30% then I will, as a consumer it's my right to shop around and it always has been it's just that now you can shop around a bit further afield.

Whilst I can appreciate it must be hard for bricks and mortar stores, why shouldn't I find myself the best deal?