Overseas Purchasing - GST Threshold about to be reduced

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SepticSceptic

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#177411 1-Aug-2015 17:14

"News of a big cut to the GST threshold on online purchases for New Zealand shoppers could be just days away, as Australia is poised to slash its limit soon in a bid to raise money and protect local retailers."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=11490026
Better get those big purchases soon ...

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#1356704 1-Aug-2015 17:19

The speed out government moves on some things, I don't think it will be rushed in. It even says it has to go to a consultation stage. But I think it is a good thing, but $20 is to low to be economical I would have thought, as collecting the fees is the problem. According to another thread about GST being collected at cusoms, GST is often not collected anyway. I don't mind paying GST, but not keen on the additional duty fees that they charge, as I don't think they should still be charging those in todays market. With the weaker NZ dollar, it is going to make overseas purchases less attractive, and may fuel inflation, which may mean interest rate rises.

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#1356713 1-Aug-2015 17:31

The only way it'll work (and what their plan is based on) is getting big overseas retailers to collect the GST. If the likes of Amazon say no, there will be nothing the Govt can do.

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#1356732 1-Aug-2015 18:12

They can make it a pita for Amazon customers, and that is likely to be a factor in Amazon agreeing.

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#1356748 1-Aug-2015 18:46

Online shopping is more than just amazon. I have only purchased a few things from them myself. Most things come from these online chinese shops and ebay. Some things are also second hand and purhcased via a private seller, which wouldn't be charged gst if they were purhcased in NZ

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#1356765 1-Aug-2015 19:20

Yeah but you may probably prefer Amazon (and other large sources) paying gst, vs getting possible pita when importing from other suppliers.

jpoc

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#1356774 1-Aug-2015 19:29

sbiddle: The only way it'll work (and what their plan is based on) is getting big overseas retailers to collect the GST. If the likes of Amazon say no, there will be nothing the Govt can do.

But surely. Amazon have already said yes. If you place an order with Amazon.com which goes over the limit then Amazon already add "import taxes" (GST) to your bill I assume that they then pass the money on to the government here. They certainly say that they do.

If I go to ebay and look at what they say there about import taxes for high value shipments to be sent to NZ, they seem to be doing something similar but I cannot be sure.

If those guys are already on-board then you would only have to bring Aliexpress and DealExtreme inline and you would have what? Perhaps 75% of NZ international online shopping.

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#1356775 1-Aug-2015 19:32

jpoc:
sbiddle: The only way it'll work (and what their plan is based on) is getting big overseas retailers to collect the GST. If the likes of Amazon say no, there will be nothing the Govt can do.

But surely. Amazon have already said yes. If you place an order with Amazon.com which goes over the limit then Amazon already add "import taxes" (GST) to your bill I assume that they then pass the money on to the government here. They certainly say that they do.

If I go to ebay and look at what they say there about import taxes for high value shipments to be sent to NZ, they seem to be doing something similar but I cannot be sure.

If those guys are already on-board then you would only have to bring Aliexpress and DealExtreme inline and you would have what? Perhaps 75% of NZ international online shopping.

Amazon wasn't the best example to use because as you point out they already collect tax, and would certainly be somebody that would be easy to target who would comply. I was meaning it in a more generalised form, because there is no way they can target every seller on the internet!

It'll also be interesting to see what the NZ Post response is - if people start shipping stuff to You Shop from say Amazon to avoid GST what will happen?

jpoc

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#1356776 1-Aug-2015 19:42

sbiddle:
jpoc:
sbiddle: The only way it'll work (and what their plan is based on) is getting big overseas retailers to collect the GST. If the likes of Amazon say no, there will be nothing the Govt can do.

But surely. Amazon have already said yes. If you place an order with Amazon.com which goes over the limit then Amazon already add "import taxes" (GST) to your bill I assume that they then pass the money on to the government here. They certainly say that they do.

If I go to ebay and look at what they say there about import taxes for high value shipments to be sent to NZ, they seem to be doing something similar but I cannot be sure.

If those guys are already on-board then you would only have to bring Aliexpress and DealExtreme inline and you would have what? Perhaps 75% of NZ international online shopping.

Amazon wasn't the best example to use because as you point out they already collect tax, and would certainly be somebody that would be easy to target who would comply. I was meaning it in a more generalised form, because there is no way they can target every seller on the internet!

It'll also be interesting to see what the NZ Post response is - if people start shipping stuff to You Shop from say Amazon to avoid GST what will happen?

You do not have to get every online merchant onboard. The top four would get you most of the revenue.

Youshop already know the value of any goods and I would assume that they already feed that info on to customs. Youshop open all of my shipments and I assume that they are able to read the documents that are included in the shipment. If there was some new regime to make online vendors levy taxes on items shipped here then my bet would be that youshop would just add the tax to be collected to the fee that you pay to have your parcel shipped.

jpoc

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#1356778 1-Aug-2015 19:46

mattwnz: Online shopping is more than just amazon. I have only purchased a few things from them myself. Most things come from these online chinese shops and ebay. Some things are also second hand and purhcased via a private seller, which wouldn't be charged gst if they were purhcased in NZ

How may of those online Chinese shops are on Aliexpress? If you get AliX to joint the scheme that most of the chinese online trade is covered.

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#1356780 1-Aug-2015 19:51

mattwnz: Online shopping is more than just amazon. I have only purchased a few things from them myself. Most things come from these online chinese shops and ebay. Some things are also second hand and purhcased via a private seller, which wouldn't be charged gst if they were purhcased in NZ

And its not hard to bypass the system too.

If you have a friend overseas, transfer the money into their account, get them to buy the stuff and ship it here as a gift.

sbiddle

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#1356783 1-Aug-2015 19:57

jpoc:
sbiddle:
jpoc:
sbiddle: The only way it'll work (and what their plan is based on) is getting big overseas retailers to collect the GST. If the likes of Amazon say no, there will be nothing the Govt can do.

But surely. Amazon have already said yes. If you place an order with Amazon.com which goes over the limit then Amazon already add "import taxes" (GST) to your bill I assume that they then pass the money on to the government here. They certainly say that they do.

If I go to ebay and look at what they say there about import taxes for high value shipments to be sent to NZ, they seem to be doing something similar but I cannot be sure.

If those guys are already on-board then you would only have to bring Aliexpress and DealExtreme inline and you would have what? Perhaps 75% of NZ international online shopping.

Amazon wasn't the best example to use because as you point out they already collect tax, and would certainly be somebody that would be easy to target who would comply. I was meaning it in a more generalised form, because there is no way they can target every seller on the internet!

It'll also be interesting to see what the NZ Post response is - if people start shipping stuff to You Shop from say Amazon to avoid GST what will happen?

You do not have to get every online merchant onboard. The top four would get you most of the revenue.

Youshop already know the value of any goods and I would assume that they already feed that info on to customs. Youshop open all of my shipments and I assume that they are able to read the documents that are included in the shipment. If there was some new regime to make online vendors levy taxes on items shipped here then my bet would be that youshop would just add the tax to be collected to the fee that you pay to have your parcel shipped.

YouShop are merely a shipping agent, not the seller of the goods. Yes they may choose to comply with the Govt if they asked, but it's not their role to collect GST.

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#1356785 1-Aug-2015 20:02

sir1963:
mattwnz: Online shopping is more than just amazon. I have only purchased a few things from them myself. Most things come from these online chinese shops and ebay. Some things are also second hand and purhcased via a private seller, which wouldn't be charged gst if they were purhcased in NZ

And its not hard to bypass the system too.

If you have a friend overseas, transfer the money into their account, get them to buy the stuff and ship it here as a gift.

Thats becoming dodgey.

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GeekGuy

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#1356787 1-Aug-2015 20:12

They could probably look at Credit Card spending on goods overseas.

lucky015

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#1356789 1-Aug-2015 20:17

Funny thing is that for a large amount of items it will still be majorly cheaper than purchasing here in NZ.

jpoc

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#1356792 1-Aug-2015 20:22

sir1963:
mattwnz: Online shopping is more than just amazon. I have only purchased a few things from them myself. Most things come from these online chinese shops and ebay. Some things are also second hand and purhcased via a private seller, which wouldn't be charged gst if they were purhcased in NZ

And its not hard to bypass the system too.

If you have a friend overseas, transfer the money into their account, get them to buy the stuff and ship it here as a gift.

Sounds like tax fraud to me. Too easily punished. Too tempting for govt to make an example of the first batch of chancers.

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