Thread: Import $1000 threshold - what "value"?

It's the paid amount, as long as the invoice reflects that. Furthermore, unless the invoice is in A$ then then exchange rate used is that of the day of shipping NOT the day you paid for it. Customs uses the mid-market rate for that day.

That's why it's too dangerous to fill up a box to $999 - if the rate changes by so much as an iota then you go over the $1000.

This does not include shipping costs, but if you get pinged for >$1000 then GST will be applied to shipping as well as goods.

Thanks FF. I thought this would be the case.

This whole system is completely bogus.

Talk about an outright scam. There are 50,000 con artists trying to clip your ticket for every step of the way. None of which I can see offer any value other than "helping" in filling out "paperwork". Yeah, right, just like the mafia of the past helping me avoid broken legs or my shop accidentally burning down at 2am by paying their protection fee.

If the government were serious about this, it would offer a simple neat portal a citizen could log into, upload the documents, identify the nature of the items, pay the fees and release the goods.

They act like everyone is importing a nuclear reactor (which the back of my sample letter said as an example!!)

The whole system is a colossal racket.

Is it still $1000, I thought that had gone and it is now duty on everything.... ??

Amazon Australia should be up and running soon. Rumors are they will probably be running their prices at very low margins to start off to drum up business and effect competitors i'm saving my pennies for a decent purchase when it does start up. Sick of getting ripped off on things like bessey pipe clamps. It's still cheaper for me to purchase them overseas, pay shipping and currency conversions then to get them locally....

I thought they dropped the $1000 limit thing too.

Comes in 1st July 2018 according to the ATO website

Your invoice from the seller will include shipping costs and Customs will take the total invoice amount to account when determining whether GST is applicable. If they determine that the value of your goods is over $1,000 you may also be liable for 5% duty on some, or all of the items depending on how they classify them. I can recall one occasion many moons ago when I got stung for GST and duty on some items from the US that were valued under $1,000. This was before online shopping really got going and swamped them with work. Things were a lot tougher then.

Well, a bloody miracle occurred, I emailed the advised address with the invoice, PayPal and a snippet showing the bank statement (to show I paid less than a grand) and 45 minutes later they emailed back and advised its been released for delivery.

I'm honestly astounded it didn't take them 5 days as advised in the letter.

Still can't believe they don't have an online portal. Bit of a shame you can't pre-empt the process and advise them what coming in so they can align the import to your address and just direct it through.

Thanks all for your wisdom.

Originally Posted by aldav

Your invoice from the seller will include shipping costs and Customs will take the total invoice amount to account when determining whether GST is applicable. If they determine that the value of your goods is over $1,000 you may also be liable for 5% duty on some, or all of the items depending on how they classify them. I can recall one occasion many moons ago when I got stung for GST and duty on some items from the US that were valued under $1,000. This was before online shopping really got going and swamped them with work. Things were a lot tougher then.

The shipping costs will not be considered by customs to determine the <$1000, unless it isn't itemised seperately. That is, if the goods are listed as $900 and shipping listed as $400, customs will not charge gst and duty.

Cheers,

Dom

Originally Posted by DomAU

The shipping costs will not be considered by customs to determine the <$1000, unless it isn't itemised seperately. That is, if the goods are listed as $900 and shipping listed as $400, customs will not charge gst and duty.

Cheers,

Dom

This is correct, and can be verified on the Customs website. Can't remember where, but I have read it enough times to know it is fact. My qualifications are that I've brought in probably 300+ packages, almost all of which pushed the $1000 envelope, plus shipping, and had about 40-50 of them queried (only EVER Festool packages, super-curiously). I have only ever had one package pinged for GST, and even then only because the dealer put a last minute addition in which put it $5 over....and didn't tell me.... )

It is a curious system for sure, I have never paid duty on any package and I have brought in a lot of stuff significantly over the limit, usually scale gliders or kart racing stuff not much for woodworking at that level. I had Fedex or UPS try and sting me for a customs opening fee for a package many years ago which had been returned to the US for warranty repair so no invoice value applied and after a short very robust conversation they waived the fee and said I wasn't to use them again, yeah,sure, as if they would knock back business.