Australian import duties when buying from UK

GeorgeEllis

Taking advantage of the weak UK pound, I recently bought a new Focus Cayo from Wiggle.co.uk.

I've bought items before from wiggle and never been charged any import duties when the items arrive in the UK. But I was this time. This poses the question...

...Who else has been charged import duties in Australia after buying from the UK?

Anybody know the details? Do customs always check? Is there a threshold? Have you managed to cheat the system?

Down/Up

Yes I have been charged, GST + Import Duty + customs charges. The limit is $1000 Aus, and the Import duty varies depending on the type of goods imported, think 5% for frames and components and a bit more for complete bikes.


Edit: Just copied this from an Aus forum:

I just got in a set of rims. Paid 10% GST and the processing fee (and credit card fee :roll: ). Mine came via Aust Post so I was able to clear the goods myself (filled out 3 forms and all was good). The customer service I received was excellent - I got some help on the forms to make sure i did everything right.

Because they were wheels, there was no duty. The tables of what duty needs to be paid are http://www.customs.gov.au/webdata/resources/tariff/chapter87goods_c.pdf. Bicycles and parts are chapter 87 - 8712 (so look in the Goods pdf which includes 8712). Frames are +5% duty, all other components are free of duty (this is my interpretation of the documentation only ).

Good details are http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=5549.

One guy I spoke to at customs said you are better off having things posted to you via Aust Post if possible as you can then clear the goods. Some couriers charge you to do it for you (coupla hungys) so doubles the cost.

Hope this helps.

GeorgeEllis

Ah, useful. Thank you. I supose whichever courier the UK company use their end has discression of which courier is used in Aus.

Any idea if you're taxed on the whole lot, or just what goes over the $1000au?

GeorgeEllis

Down/Up
Thanks again for your help.. The links you've added aren't working. I don't know why?

Perhaps you could paste the table for me or check your link?

Thank you again for your useful information.

Down/Up

http://www.customs.gov.au/webdata/resources/tariff/chapter87goods_c.pdf

Scroll down to 8712 and 8714, typically confusing stuff, but 5% import tariff on frames and complete bikes.

http://www.customs.gov.au/webdata/resources/files/ImportingGoodsByPostFAQ.pdf

Should answer the rest of your questions.

pontarlier_pete

Down/Up wrote:

Frames are +5% duty.

That's ruddy annoying. When I bring a new frame the other way in a few months' time I'll get whacked with full UK VAT (17.5%) plus customs duties, which effectively mean plus 22(ish)%.



I hate Gordon Brown. For soooo many tax-related reasons.

GeorgeEllis

That's ruddy good information Down/up. I thyink I need to look in to why I've paid 10%!

So that means when I bought some crazy expencive wheels last year, I didn't have to pay any import.

Ands

A few years ago, we had a large parcel of clothing delivered to our home in Aus from Sigma. There was all sorts in there - jackets, shorts, socks, overshoes, etc. Customs slapped on one rate of import duty for the whole shipment, whereas I knew that different items of clothing attract different rates of duty (e.g. footwear was different to shorts). When I phoned customs to query, they said that the whole parcel had been logged as containing a gent's suit and they had applied the rate applicable to that. I got the impression from their response that this was a pretty common occurrence and concluded that they couldn't be bothered to work out the rate for each individual item. That parcel came with Auspost so was cleared easily

Also had a frame delivered from the UK and paid import duty & gst on that, plus had to pay a clearing agent which itself cost about $100.

doyler78

Yeah but never paid it :shock: I've never heard another thing. Well they did get my name and address wrong (got it sent to work). I don't know if work paid it or not but I never heard anything more

Ands

Pontarlier Pete wrote:

Down/Up wrote:

Frames are +5% duty.

That's ruddy annoying. When I bring a new frame the other way in a few months' time I'll get whacked with full UK VAT (17.5%) plus customs duties, which effectively mean plus 22(ish)%.



I hate Gordon Brown. For soooo many tax-related reasons.

What is your situation? Are you moving to Aus? Are you 'posting' your bike, or sending it with furniture, or what? You may not need to pay import duty, depending on your situation or if you are only importing it on a temporary basis. If you have used it in the UK and you are 'bringing' it into Aus with you rather than importing it after you have arrived, you may not be asked details of how long you've had it or to pay duty.

GeorgeEllis

Here's another question...will Australian customs ad local tax on to every item that arrives? Or is this depending on the item and is it only a spot check situation?

Ands

GeorgeEllis wrote:

Here's another question...will Australian customs ad local tax on to every item that arrives? Or is this depending on the item and is it only a spot check situation?

Are you talking about brand new items? If so, a lot of the time it depends on the value of the shipment - is it worth the labour cost/effort to chase, say, 20% owing on a shipment totalling $70. I certainly had a fair few low-value parcels that did not get stopped for duty/gst.

People often talk about items marked as 'gift' as being exempt from taxes & duties - not strictly true, but probably in a large number of cases items sent as gifts fall below the customs' undisclosed threshold amount and are therefore not stopped. It's more likely that the value of the parcel was too little to make it worth while chasing the tax. You could mark a high value shipment as gift but there is no guarantee it won't get stopped and duties imposed.

GeorgeEllis

Great information Andy. Suppliers quite rightly wouldn't state an item is a gift when it wasn't. It's a good argument you have. If GST was say 10%, then it wouldn't be worth them chasing for a pair of tyres, but would be worth it it was a bike (like mine).

Thanks for all the help everybody.