Order PCB from China to Australia - GST?

[c64]

Question to Australians. When you order PCB from China (JLCPCB, PCBWay, etc.), I suppose you need to pay GST? How?

And if you choose courier like DHL, do they charge any additional fee for customs clearance?

[Ed.Kloonk]

I'm not able to give you a reliable answer, just taking the opportunity on behalf of all Australian tax payers to say thank you, Mr Gerry Harvey.

 

[beanflying]

The theory is that is supplier X from country Y exceeds $Z per year of exports to Oz then THEY need to collect the Australian GST and pass it onto the Australian Federal Government. If they don't meet or have not been tapped on the shoulder by the Canberra Mob then stress less as it is still up to them as the 'seller' to collect.

This as pointed out is thanks to fKnuckle Harvey and others lobbying the Gov to save their businesses from the evils of self importation.  The old system of sub $1k gratis was a bit loose IMO and could have gone back closer to what we used to have in the Sales Tax days which was from memory a $250 limit but that is a debate for another topic.

[SMdude]

Well for a start, good luck getting any PCB's out of China in the near future.
I have had several pcb orders since the GST thing and not had to pay it as they were "low cost".
But other purchases I have had to pay GST on, more so if it was close to or over $1000. And it is normally the importing carrier that notifies and sends you the bill for the gst, oh as well as a processing fee.

[beanflying]

Under the old rules when you hit $1k you likely had to go through the BS of either paying a customs agent/broker, filling out a 'Nature 10' yourself  (not so bad when you have done a few) or sometimes it was dropped on the carrier to collect the Aussie taxes for a 'fee'.

I used to use a Broker but over time I did some research and started doing my own to save some $. I haven't hit the $1k limit or looked at it post the recent changes but I would assume it is still similar with duty being added along with GST getting collected prior to clearance?

[SMdude]

Yes when it hits customs they add the duty and GST which needs to be paid before it will be delivered. And if it sits too long they will charge you storage!

[beanflying]

Demurrage was always charged even in Sales Tax times when you fell outside the time. So for others don't muck around when you get notified of a shipment sitting in local customs 

[c64]

GST itself would be just few dollars, but I have also heard some stories about people using DHL and paying for their clearance service more than GST itself,

[c64]

I have had several pcb orders since the GST thing and not had to pay it as they were "low cost".

Which shipping method did you use?

[PTR_1275]

I’ve ordered several PCBs from JLC using the snail mail method and never had additional charges.

I needed some boards urgently and ordered them with DHL expecting to be slugged with extra fees, but now 3 orders later I’m yet to see any extra charges. I’m over in WA and fully expect that one day I might start getting slugged more money, but in the meantime I’m not, so I’m happy about it.

[EEVblog]

I don't pay anything with DHL and JLC etc.

[lilstevie]

I don't pay anything with DHL and JLC etc.

I haven't been charged anything with DHL and JLC/PCBWay either.

[JLCPCB Official]

the charge fee may depend on the value of your PCB, you can ask dhl and local customs office for more clear detail

[DeanA]

This as pointed out is thanks to fKnuckle Harvey and others lobbying the Gov to save their businesses from the evils of self importation.  The old system of sub $1k gratis was a bit loose IMO and could have gone back closer to what we used to have in the Sales Tax days which was from memory a $250 limit but that is a debate for another topic.

Yes, I just received a shipment from JLC PCB and no GST charged or on the invoice.
And I'm boycotting Harvey Norman, Fwit Gerry Harvey (among others) lobbied the government to charge GST even when it costs more than the tax they collect because it "wasn't fair".
But Harvey Norman collected $22 million in government Covid19 Jobkeeper payments despite their profits doubling during the pandemic with everyone buying extra office equipment to work from home, and he won't pay it back like others did, is that "fair"  Gerry Harvey . 

[Mangozac]

Edit: Dammit, I just saw the date on this. Why did you necropost this DeanA?

[DeanA]

Edit: Dammit, I just saw the date on this. Why did you necropost this DeanA?

Because I found this thread because I just received order from JST where GST was not charged and I checked to see if any posts from others.
And because Harvey Norman was discussed in this thread and there is new information about Harvey Norman not returning Covid19 jobkeeper money.
So not digging up old information for me, all very current. 
Shouldn't create a new post for issues that are already being discussed, right?

[John B]

This thread is only from last year. It's important to keep some things in mind on a regular as things can change. You can bet there's always some bureaucrat wanting to impose another tax or another money grabbing procedure.

So far so good, I haven't had issues ordering from JLCPCB or LCSC.

BUT - I have been curious whether there's a backend charge that is added to your order, as you have to specify your location whether at the start of the ordering process or by the time you checkout and need to give a shipping address. Simply trusting a currency conversion rate may not be the full story.

[MarkR42]

If it is as stupid as the situation in the UK, where the UK government quietly (amid the noise of Brexit and Covid) decides it wants to impose a heap of costs and bureaucracy on foreign companies to arrange payment of sales tax on every order, no matter how small, then it will be a crap show.

Here in the UK when the change was made,

a) Some companies understood the process and decided to stop shipping to the UK because they couldn't reasonably comply
b) A few online market places (e.g. Aliexpress) actually correctly implemented it
c) Everyone else ignored it and hoped for the best

In practice what seems to happen is for low value orders, sales tax does not get charged, even though it technically should be. JLCPCB I think have now moved to category b) correctly implementing UK sales tax, but it took them 5 months after the change happened and I had some boards shipped anyway with no tax paid (quite wrongly)

I don't mind paying tax but no company should be expected to collect foreign goverments tax on their behalf and do paperwork and pay extra for the privilege. Which is the UK gov current position.

The EU are doing the same thing from 1 Jul I think, but a) They are the EU and a massive market b) It is fully automated and transparent *within* the EU.

Smaller countries like GB and AU doing this makes no sense and will just piss off retailers.

[retiredfeline]

For AU, the GST is payable on all imports, no threshold. The $1k threshold (which was in line with the duty free allowance for returning travelers) is gone. The large online retailers like Amazon (remember the row they made until they caved in?), eBay, and AliExpress have been made to collect the GST at the point of sale. Small purchases from JLC and LCSC will slip through as unofficially they are deemed to cost more to collect than worthwhile. So I've not paid GST on PCB orders or a LCSC order but I have on my AliExpress orders. But if your order is large and customs see that, you may be charged GST on it.

[beanflying]

The theory was that when an exporter from country X reached threshold Y (think it was $60k? checked and it is $75k) in sales to Oz then they had to start charging GST at time of Sale. The practical part of that is some simply won't get hit up by the Muppets in Canberra to act as 'volunteer' Tax Collectors so some imports will slide through at a minimum until it gets here.

https://www.ato.gov.au/business/international-tax-for-business/gst-on-imported-services-and-digital-products/

[retiredfeline]

https://www.ato.gov.au/business/international-tax-for-business/gst-on-imported-services-and-digital-products/

That page is about something different: imported services and digital products, e.g. streaming services, digital subscriptions.

[beanflying]

https://www.ato.gov.au/business/international-tax-for-business/gst-on-imported-services-and-digital-products/

That page is about something different: imported services and digital products, e.g. streaming services, digital subscriptions.

Same threshold and rules apply and there is a link to the rest of it on the page.

Businesses that meet the registration threshold of A$75,000 will need to:

register for GST
charge GST on sales of low value imported goods (unless they are GST-free)
lodge returns to the ATO.

[retiredfeline]

Maybe you mean this link? https://www.ato.gov.au/Business/International-tax-for-business/GST-on-low-value-imported-goods/ That's for businesses (not the seller) importing goods. We're talking about consumers importing goods for their own use.

[beanflying]

No the discussion was broader than that. We were discussing IF and HOW GST would/should be charged on imports.

So far the Federal Farce has been a bit soft on individual companies and getting them to do the collecting at point of sale apart from the usual platform suspects. Individual Businesses are in theory responsible for GST collection, Mouser and Digikey are two examples who do the collection bit that are relevant to this Site/Electronics.

JLPCB if there was a mechanism for tally up the low value imports also likely goes over but I doubt the Government would even bother pushing the point as enforcement or figures would be impossible to check.

[retiredfeline]

No the discussion was broader than that. We were discussing IF and HOW GST would/should be charged on imports.

Well I'm not going there, I'm just answering the question in the title. In short, GST is payable (unless buyer is exempt) and is already charged by the online giants but small purchases will fly under the radar. So your PCBs will slip through.