ok, so i bought a selection of items from a USA company. total value is well over $AU1000. the parcel is being held in customs and a quick tally of the expenses adds up to nearly 20% of the marked value. they have told me 5% duty. then add that to the item value, then 10% GST of that figure plus 10% of the postage insurance or something plus $90 processing fee if i lodge my own import declaration. i can hire a customs broker but i figure that will be more than $90. i'm seriously considering having the parcel sent back to the company, have them send it to a USA address then have a mate send the parcel back to me with the item value under the $AU1000 duty threshold. this, i'm certain will still be cheaper than paying all this bull$hit duties for nothing. can anyone offer any advice? this is the first time i've ever had this happen. i told the customs guy on the phone that i've bought stuff over $1000 heaps of times and never had this happen. he said i must have got lucky. i thought, 'what, dozens of times?' also, a mate tells me that australia and the USA have some trade agreement that means that if the item is actually made in the USA (which all these items in the parcel are) it is exempt from the duty portion. is this true? they didn't tell me that on the phone! any help would be great. thanks.
Is it Aus customs, or the shipping company (ie FedEx, UPS?) that is holding you to ransom? I only get things shipped by UPS. My brother-in-law works for UPS, so any time this happens to me he knows who to call and suddenly all this BS is ignored, and the parcel slips straight through.
Yes, my broker charges $150 processing fee, plus 4 others fees like docks fees etc. Mind you I have physically much bigger orders. Yes it will be cheaper. If you get something sent by courier (Fedex, TNT, DHL etc) it will get flagged 100% of the time, it is their strict process. They have their own in-house clearance though and it's pretty efficient and reasonably cheap. It's it by regular post, then pot luck. And be aware that the $1000 includes the delivery charge, and a not so generous exchange rate conversion.
I have an email from Australian customs stating that duty and GST is not charged on the freight portion of an import. And my experience every week has been that this is correct.
it was shipped with USPS. item is being held by aust customs. the only risk with sending it back then having it resent to me is loss during the leg back to me because it will be marked significantly lower than the actual replacement value of the goods and insurance would only be good for the declared value. it would give me alot of pleasure to not give the govt about $700. it might cost more than half that in shipping costs but atleast that cost goes to someone actually doing me a service, unlike taxes. thanks for the help all
For any shipment with a goods value over $1000 never ever use the postal service, it is a nightmare of posted paperwork and having to look up import categories and filling in paperwork. Courier is the only way.
You don't need a customs broker, Aust Post or customs can tell you the two forms that you need to fill in and submit. You will have to look up the import categories but that's easy, customs will give you a link. Don't pay someone to do it for you, Aust Post/customs have a page with the forms for you to fill out and submit yourself.
but a quick search found a couple of brokers that charge around $60-$70. to do it myself costs $90, it takes up to 10 days and if they is any incorrectly filled out part it won't go through. not sure what to do.
declined to pay and automatic send back to sender fedex dhl always charge more taxso i all declined to pay tell seller must declare under 1000$ but if usps or other post office i never pay tax even they declare 2000$ 3000$ only private express company will be charged tax
They are wrong https://www.ato.gov.au/Business/GST...national-transactions/GST-and-imported-goods/ Paying GST on imported goods The Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (ACBPS) collects GST on taxable importations. The GST payable is 10% of the value of the taxable importation. The value of taxable importation is the sum of: the customs value of the goods any customs duty payable the amount paid or payable to transport the goods to their place of consignment in Australia the insurance cost for that transport any wine tax payable.
postage, duty, excise nor insurance is a factor for calculating the $1000 threshold. However if over the $1000 threshold than gst is payable on all the services component. Ie $999 goods + $100 postage etc -> all good and no gst charged. $1000 goods + 100 postage etc-> $1100 is the total amount gst is 10% -> $110 total payable $1210
typical government having their pie and eating it too. say your import is valued at $3000, you should only have to pay duty and gst on the $2000 after the $1000 threshold, but no........ worked out with all the duties, gst, fees and costs i'm paying 18.8% of the value of the item! could have bloody near flown to the USA and picked it up. it would be better use of my money.....in flight meals and drinks, a little holiday. now it just disappears into the mouth of the monster to be shat out and feed to welfare bums.
How would I figure out the cost of receiving an item from AUS to the US? I haven't been able to find ANYTHING on the internet other than a scale of 0 to "X" %. There's got to be a way to calculate and exact cost.
If it's under AU$1000 total including shipping and currency conversion there there is nothing to pay. For items over this the exact cost will depend up on the tariff category they deem the item to be (most often a sender does not select a category) and the broker used.
I just called the customs border patrol and the us international trade commission. Apparently for the item I want, jewelry, its duty free.
