Thread: Tyres ftom USA so cheap.

Thats interesting Garry... as the guy i spoke to at the customs / tax place was adamant that it was on cost of goods only... and the packages had their value printed clearly as 1200USD.. so wouldnt take a genius to work it out..

Now one thing i am wondering is that there was a declaration of free trade included... so i wonder how that affects things? i wonder if there is a FTA then its duty on the cost of goods not shipping... but that seems a bit wooly to me...

Steve

If everything thing you imported, including postage etc came to more than $1000 and you did not pay GST then you were lucky as this is not the norm but I do know that Customs tend to be more lenient for private non-commercial imports.

I used to work for a Federal Government Agency and had to often import items such as cameras and safety equipment and where total costs exceeded $1000 we paid GST even when the cost of just the goods was less than $1000.

Garry

Originally Posted by garrycol

If everything thing you imported, including postage etc came to more than $1000 and you did not pay GST then you were lucky as this is not the norm but I do know that Customs tend to be more lenient for private non-commercial imports.

I used to work for a Federal Government Agency and had to often import items such as cameras and safety equipment and where total costs exceeded $1000 we paid GST even when the cost of just the goods was less than $1000.

Garry

Having had an actual Customs officer give a talk at my car club, their rules are not applied rigorously, especially around Christmas. It is basically a money-making operation for the government, and when they are snowed under they are more likely to let higher valued items pass without duty.
I gather the customs blokes aren't paid overtime rates...

Originally Posted by garrycol

From the ATO site ... The Australian Customs Service (Customs) collects GST on taxable goods imported into Australia ... Here is the link

That ATO page is aimed at GST-registered businesses, but even so, if you read down the page, you'll see:

Are all importations taxable?
Some goods imported into Australia are not subject to GST.

Goods that qualify for certain customs duty concessions and are also non-taxable for GST include the following items from Schedule 4 to the Customs Tariff Act 1995:
...
items 32A and 32B – 'low-value goods' or goods on which customs duty and taxes is $50 or less and which have a customs value of less than $1,000.

"Customs value", as explained on Customs' website, is the value of goods, not including postage/shipping/insurance, converted to AUD.

Things might be different for government agencies, and there are instances where duty and GST can apply to seemingly "low-value goods" for private imports.
As it is Customs who set the rules, I'll follow up in a separate post.

Basically, for things like parts and tyres, you won't pay duty or GST where the value of the goods (excluding postage/shipping/insurance) is A$1000 or less.

If you go over A$1000
- duty is calculated on the value of goods.
- GST is calculated on the combined value of goods, duty, and postage/shipping/insurance.
- you pay the duty and GST, as well as a ~$48 fee, to Customs

Multiple packages from the same sender sent to the same address within a short timeframe can have their values combined, even if separate orders.

Here's a Customs page that explain when and how GST and duty are applicable: When buying over the internet

...
When Duty and Taxes are Payable
...
Imported goods valued at or below A$1000
Generally, there is no requirement to pay duty and Goods and Services Tax (GST) on imported goods valued at or below A$1000, except for alcohol and/or tobacco products.

Imported goods with a value at or below A$1000 that arrive by air or sea cargo will require a self-assessed clearance (SAC) declaration to be lodged with Customs and Border Protection.

'air or sea cargo' = airfreight companies and couriers like FedEx, UPS, DHL. In most cases, these companies will take care of the clearance for you.

Goods with a value at or below A$1000 that arrive by post do not require a SAC declaration.

'post' = international mail services like USPS (US Postal Service) and EMS.

If you have a choice between FedEx/UPS/DHL (couriers) and USPS/EMS (international mail), don't discount the latter.

International air mail is just as quick (in my experience often quicker) and tends to be cheaper, although the sender might not provide the option.

Also be aware couriers like FedEx, UPS and DHL can hit you up for money before delivering your goods under the guise of reclaiming customs or quarrantine inspection fees.

While they do have the right to reclaim such fees, a quick Google (eg. "DHL quarantine fee") reveals that sometimes fees may be incorrectly applied, and techniques such as requesting the 'quarantine inspection number' results in the fee being dropped.

Not to bash the couriers - I've never had such a fee from them - but forewarned forearmed.

I looked at tyres from the US a couple months back, they are just under half the price we are charged here. Freight however killed the idea. $650 for 4, so by the time I paid GST, fitting & balance I would only save about 80 - $100.

Originally Posted by harlie

I looked at tyres from the US a couple months back, they are just under half the price we are charged here. Freight however killed the idea. $650 for 4, so by the time I paid GST, fitting & balance I would only save about 80 - $100.

What GST would that be? On the cost of fitting and balancing?

At the time the exchange offered was .90us.
Tyres us$230 x 4 = us920.
us$920 / 0.9 = aus$1022. GST and duty is payable

Add us650 for freight and local fitting and there was no gain even without duty and GST.

The same tyres are 470ea here. $1880 for 4.

If you can get freight for much less than it might be different, the freight will be the same for cheaper tyres so I would think the sums for cheaper tyres would be worse.