Well, that's it for Australians buying goods from overseas

[sepiareverb]

This will be a real boon for DHL who charge US customers a fee to collect duties that are not actually owed, holding your parcels hostage till they get their cash. That 10% will be 15% via DHL.

 

[AgX]

Its not the 10% thats the problem its the fact that overseas retailers are expected to collect the tax and that will be too much trouble for a lot of retailers so they wont sell to us.
Beyond medium format there is next to no local retailer's and paper is pretty limited to Ilford with 100% mark up.

How could a national authority enforce an overseas retailer to collect their duties and taxes?
This is the first time I hear such thing.

That article does not say such either. As already hinted at above I think imports via Amazon are mixed up with regular imports.

As said we got a similar Amazon issue in Germany.
Foreign retailers selling via Amazon have to add VAT to their goods at the country where that Amazon shop is located and to transfer that inned money to the fiscal service of that country and quite some just don't add VAT and by that can do better offers.
I think this is what it is about.

 

[ozphoto]

I've no problem with paying the GST - as Hoffy has pointed out, the choice from OS is so much larger than here in Australia, not to mention the price! The kicker though is how many other large OS businesses will follow Amazon's lead?

The government should have organised tax collection via the Postal Service. similar to DHL: no pay, no parcel. Seriously, expecting Amazon (or any other OS business) to collect GST for the Australian government is laughable - who the hell thought that one up??

Harvey Norman is killing small business off himself, so when he talks about a "win for Australian retail business" he's talking about himself and the other large companies who monopolise the retail sector.

Feels like I'm going back in time to the 80's - so much more choice for OS consumers. Australia is yet again stuck in "woe is me" mode, not looking for solutions instead restricting choices and being told what we can or can't buy.

Off topic, but what I want to really know though, is how many of the people selling baby food to China from Australian stock, are declaring their massive sales markups? A huge tax blackhole there that needs to be investigated methinks . . .

 

[hoffy]

How could a national authority enforce an overseas retailer to collect their duties and taxes?
This is the first time I hear such thing.

Don't worry, there are plenty of us sitting here in Australia going "WTF?"

The thing about Australian Businesses, to pay GST, you have to first register for GST (businesses that trade under a certain amount don't have to pay GST). What O/S business in their right mind would register for it, unless they have strong trading ties to Australia.

And, yes, we are all wondering how it will be enforced.

 

[FujiLove]

In the meantime, customs and the freight companies have refused to do it

It sounds like this is the fundamental problem. Why doesn't the post office simply collect the payment before they release the package? Asking the world's retailers to collect the tax and then (presumably) pass it on to Gov AU seems like a crazy idea!

 

[freecitizen]

At the moment, the Australian government collects GST on everything over AUD $1000 when coming in from overseas. This applies to old items ( like cameras, lenses, etc ) which have no attachment to Australia ..... so second hand, made in Germany items, like my Voigtlander Bessa II with Heliar, are taxed at 10%. No Australian resources, labour or infrastructure have been used in the making of these types of items. There is no moral justification for this whatsoever ..... it is simply the government sticking their hand in my pocket and confiscating money. I do not reckon they are entitled to it.

At the moment B+H do add 10% GST to orders over AUD$1000 at their electronic checkout. This is why I have kept my purchases below the AUD$1000 threshold. So the mechanism is there and easily switched to cover all purchases. My problem is that the Australian government has no way of knowing how much " tax " has been collected by any overseas company ( not just B+H in particular ). They have no legal way of insisting on finding out, and can be easily lied to. I'm sure lots of the " GST " collected overseas never finds its way back to the Australian government.

Australian companies do not carry stock and everything has to go on backorder at an inflated price. That is why we buy online. Ilford FB paper is hard to buy in Australia. Many of us will continue to buy online despite this tax increase and the exorbitant cost of postage from USA.

By the way, I will never, ever buy anything from Gerry Harvey's shitty company. Never have, and I never will.

 

[guangong]

This all sounds so bazaar to an American. Buy stuff all the time from Britain, Germany, France, Japan, and on occasion China, mostly hard to find CDs, DVDs and books but also the occasional camera or accessory. Life is simple. Item arrives in PO box and I pick it up. There may be a max cost at which fees kick in for foreign purchases but I have never experienced it.
I don’t buy from Freestyle because B&H provides free shipping within US, whereas Freestyles shipping is rather expensive.
Oh, and when buying from Europe I don’t pay the VAT.
However, because USPS seems to negotiate postal deals
with individual countries I can receive orders from China quicker than from nearby NYC. My complaint with UK is that items can languish a long time at UK customs depot before being shipped. (Do they really carefully examine Minox measuring chain?)
DHL has been trying to sell US branch for quite some time but so inefficient there are no takers.
Should mention that some of the more corrupt state governments such as New Jersey, Illinois, and others are pushing for merchants to collect taxes on out of state internet purchases. A nightmare for small businesses because state, county and city taxes differ from place to place, but giant sellers would have advantage.

 

[NJH]

Same here, including from Amazon.co.uk which are for items fulfilled by Amazon in the US. Just need an intermediary somewhere in the EU, its pretty much how ebay sells so much Chinese made stuff to consumers here. The products come straight from the factory in China via some intermediary here which I reckon is little more than a postal address most times.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Smells like a 10% tariff on American goods shipped to Australia. Once Trump gets wind of this, he'll tell the Australian government that we're going to add 15% on all Australian goods shipped to the US. Then they' be a side deal where Australia and America will both drop these tariffs and you'll be able to buy again from Amazon. Be patient. Of course Trump won't complain about the Australian tariff on EU goods.

 

[faberryman]

I suspect that Amazon doesn't wish to create a precedent that would see it liable for collecting state taxes in the US (which would also be trivially easy).

Amazon already collects and remits state sales tax in many states, so that doesn't sound like much of a rationale.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

A 10% tarriff on all imports, eh? That’s nothing new. What is new is the Australian government reaching outside their jurisdiction to demand payment from a foreign entity. That’s the type of thing to get a foreign government involved and telling Australia to go pound sand.

Actually, it’s a familiar story here in the US: States are constantly trying to tax interstate commerce and always get slapped down by the federal government because it would be such a drag on the economy.

American States cannot impose tariffs on goods made in other states and sold in their states. Or for that matter impose tariffs on non-American imports. Only the Federal government can impose tariffs on foreign goods. Both of these tariffs would be violating the US Constitution and stopped by US Federal Courts. However, each state can charge the same amount of Sales Tax on goods made in other states and sold in their states as long as sales tax is applied to similar goods made in their own states.

 

[mshchem]

Mel Brooks said it best

 

[AgX]

The thing about Australian Businesses, to pay GST, you have to first register for GST (businesses that trade under a certain amount don't have to pay GST). What O/S business in their right mind would register for it, unless they have strong trading ties to Australia.

And, yes, we are all wondering how it will be enforced.

As said I assume this is about foreign retailers doing business via Amazon Australia, by this they have a shop in Australia. Even if this shop is only virtual, with Amazon doing the logistics, legally these shops are australian ones and as such underly australian tax regulations.
For those overseas retailers fulfilling these tax rules means hassle and also the loss of 10% price advantage they can offer.

In Germany the loss of one billion Euro per year has been estimated due to such illegally acting shops.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

A 10% tarriff on all imports, eh? That’s nothing new. What is new is the Australian government reaching outside their jurisdiction to demand payment from a foreign entity. That’s the type of thing to get a foreign government involved and telling Australia to go pound sand.

Actually, it’s a familiar story here in the US: States are constantly trying to tax interstate commerce and always get slapped down by the federal government because it would be such a drag on the economy.

Kind of like your government going after my American friend's, Canadian born kids' income taxes in Canada... ridiculous!

 

[pentaxuser]

Mel Brooks said it best

Great one. The whole film really does pass the "Test of Time" I can hardly believe it's now 44 years old and that's IS frightening

pentaxuser

 

[BrianShaw]

Smells like a 10% tariff on American goods shipped to Australia. Once Trump gets wind of this, he'll tell the Australian government that we're going to add 15% on all Australian goods shipped to the US. Then they' be a side deal where Australia and America will both drop these tariffs and you'll be able to buy again from Amazon. Be patient. Of course Trump won't complain about the Australian tariff on EU goods.

huh?

 

[Nodda Duma]

Kind of like your government going after my American friend's, Canadian born kids' income taxes in Canada... ridiculous!

Not looking at getting into a pissing match.... all governments are greedy when it comes to taking and spending other people's money!

 

[Sirius Glass]

This is a problem that one cannot work around. Hopefully Amazon will get something worked out. As for the new tax collect, one can allows complain or vote differently.

 

[BrianShaw]

Kind of like your government going after my American friend's, Canadian born kids' income taxes in Canada... ridiculous!

Where was that income earned - US or CAN? I can't fathom the US being able to tax income earned in another country by a full-time resident of that country.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Where was that income earned - US or CAN? I can't fathom the US being able to tax income earned in another country by a full-time resident of that country.

If you are born in the US and then leave to live elsewhere, the US can and will come to collect taxes on the overseas incomes. Even children born of foreign citizens who leave shortly after birth have this problem. The only solutions are to fight the US government in court or to renounce the US citizenship. One wonders what Maghan Duchess of Sussex will do about this.

 

[faberryman]

If you are born in the US and then leave to live elsewhere, the US can and will come to collect taxes on the overseas incomes. Even children born of foreign citizens who leave shortly after birth have this problem. The only solutions are to fight the US government in court or to renounce the US citizenship. One wonders what Maghan Duchess of Sussex will do about this.

You do get to deduct taxes paid to the foreign government on the foreign income earned, which is frequently more than you would have had to pay in the US, so the tax implications are usually nominal at best. There are exceptions.

 

[NJH]

That is a very important law to catch tax evaders. Here we just seem to accept people saying they are domiciled overseas in some tax haven (most of which seem to be British surprise surprise).

 

[skysh4rk]

Not looking at getting into a pissing match.... all governments are greedy when it comes to taking and spending other people's money!

The USA and Eritrea are the only two countries in the world that collect tax based on citizenship rather than residency, so some governments are greedier than others.

 

[mgb74]

I'm pretty sure Amzon could make it work, after all it is simply if shipping address = Australia then add 10% and send that to OzGov. I suspect that Amazon doesn't wish to create a precedent that would see it liable for collecting state taxes in the US (which would also be trivially easy). More of an issue for smaller retailers though and I suspect that a lot of them would just say too hard.

As noted in post #35, Amazon does already collect sales tax where they're required to. And not so trivial, as sales tax can vary within a state (city, county tax rates).

How could a national authority enforce an overseas retailer to collect their duties and taxes?
This is the first time I hear such thing.

I suspect they can't force Amazon to collect. Then again, they don't have to let the goods pass through customs, do they?

 

[AgX]

There is Amazon who offer goods themselves, and there is Amazon who only do the logistics for those shops-in-shop.
The issue is with the latter.