General Question Regarding Import Taxes

Venomous · 04-02-2008, 08:41 PM

Hi,
I'm about to buy a Macbook on ebay from the states (Works out a chunk cheaper) and I am just wondering what the deal is with taxes, I've had a search but had some difficulty finding anything.
The value of it is about $1200 AUD. If i do have to pay tax, would it just be 10%?

Agent86 · 04-02-2008, 08:50 PM

There are customs duties and a few misc costs, then gst is added to the final figure.

http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=4226

Yellow_Festiva · 04-02-2008, 09:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Venomous

Hi,
I'm about to buy a Macbook on ebay from the states (Works out a chunk cheaper) and I am just wondering what the deal is with taxes, I've had a search but had some difficulty finding anything.
The value of it is about $1200 AUD. If i do have to pay tax, would it just be 10%?

There are generally 2 components to this 'tax' eg for clothing its 10% plus 7.5%, one is applied, then the other.

You are very close to the tax free threshold of $1000. Perhaps you could ask the seller to pop in a card or similar "Congrats on the new job / happy birthday etc", and make it look like a gift.

While it may be cheaper to source these sorts of goods from OS, have you fully investigated things like repairs and warranty work etc?

dom_105 · 04-02-2008, 10:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yellow_Festiva

There are generally 2 components to this 'tax' eg for clothing its 10% plus 7.5%, one is applied, then the other.

You are very close to the tax free threshold of $1000. Perhaps you could ask the seller to pop in a card or similar "Congrats on the new job / happy birthday etc", and make it look like a gift.

While it may be cheaper to source these sorts of goods from OS, have you fully investigated things like repairs and warranty work etc?

So you don't pay taxes on a gift?

Venomous · 04-02-2008, 10:26 PM

You pay taxes on a gift if it's over $1000.
I think i'm just gonna get a 2nd hand one.

Venomous · 05-02-2008, 12:18 AM

One last question, does anyone have any idea how long it would take to get the laptop sent from America and then cleared through customs here? Do they keep it until you pay the money?

**ebxr8240** · 05-02-2008, 01:37 AM

5 to 10 days... It takes 5 days to send a turbo here... Pay the extra or it could take 3 months via sea...In most cases its only $10 extra...USPS send you a tracking number...
If its close to $1k they won't tax you.. They can mark in down alittle anyway or get them to write repair or warranty on it...
Be aware we have 240v system here..