The government always wants to ruin our fun

[Kitman]

Saw this article about purchasing from overseas stores, not sure how this would affect purchases from Ali Express, perhaps it would be classified the same as Gumtree or ebay, but considering Ali Express is a collection of business contacts they may get targeted.


http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/government-mulls-online-shopping-lockouts-in-gst-crackdown/news-story/19e3cf3d3eb533dcc93293cfeac88db1


May not happen but always good to be for warned.

 

[SmartAlecLights]

Saw this article about purchasing from overseas stores, not sure how this would affect purchases from Ali Express, perhaps it would be classified the same as Gumtree or ebay, but considering Ali Express is a collection of business contacts they may get targeted.


http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/government-mulls-online-shopping-lockouts-in-gst-crackdown/news-story/19e3cf3d3eb533dcc93293cfeac88db1


May not happen but always good to be for warned.

I read they will attack/block all china sites, as china wont collect GST for the aust government.
but they did say people will use VPN's, so they know there is a loop hole in there :
lets hope they stop big business's dodging gst instead,
than attack the small business's trying to stay afloat importing from china

 

[kane]

I read they will attack/block all china sites, as china wont collect GST for the aust government.
but they did say people will use VPN's, so they know there is a loop hole in there :

It's quite a ludicrous suggestion that an overseas company can be expected to adhere to taxation laws from a country that they do not operate in.

I can't see them going to the extent of blocking certain websites, as that sets a dangerous precedent. And as you say, anyone in the know can bypass this with a VPN.

I think more likely, they'll target the large operations to get them on board first. And then, introduce some sort of a method for those companies to mark packages as "GST Paid", which will have them processed through customs automatically. Then, everything else would be subject to random searches (or not so random), where they hit the receiver with a bill for the GST (plus a $30 fee or something)..

lets hope they stop big business's dodging gst instead,
than attack the small business's trying to stay afloat importing from china

The issue isn't big corporations dodging GST (which is completely borne by the end consumer, as businesses claim GST back through BAS) But the real issue is that they dodge company tax (charged on your profit), by sending money offshore as a royalty, leaving the local company with zero profit on their Australian books. They do pay some tax in the country that they siphon money off to (Ireland being a popular destination), but also have a lot of dodgy stuff going on to reduce that down ever further..