GST now 12.5% What?

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uart
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GST now 12.5% What?

Postby uart » Sat Sep 29, 2018 4:05 pm

I just went to order some cheap pedals from Merlin cycles (UK).

The displayed price is $39.57, but when I go to "my basket" GST gets added. Ok, no problems I expect that now. (Though many online shops already add the GST to their display price before you buy it, which is much more transparent, and also required by Australian consumer law - so Merlin should lift their game here.)

By that aside, why is it nearly 12.5%
Goods Total: A$39.53
Delivery Costs: A$9.13
Australia GST: A$4.87
Total (including Savings): A$53.53
Last edited by uart on Sat Sep 29, 2018 4:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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10speedsemiracer
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Re: GST now 12.5% What?

Postby 10speedsemiracer » Sat Sep 29, 2018 4:08 pm

uart wrote:I just went to order some cheap pedals from Merlin cycles (UK).

The displayed price is $39.57, but when I go to "my basket" GST gets added. Ok, no problems I expect that now. (Though many online shops already add the GST to the display price before you buy it, which is much more transparent.)

By why is it nearly 12.5%
Goods Total: A$39.53
Delivery Costs: A$9.13
Australia GST: A$4.87
Total (including Savings): A$53.53

Calculated on item+shipping ?
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uart
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Re: GST now 12.5% What?

Postby uart » Sat Sep 29, 2018 4:13 pm

10speedsemiracer wrote:
Calculated on item+shipping ?
Whoops, you're right, I should have figured that out myself. :o Yes postage is a service, so I guess that's fair enough.

My other point still stands though. Australian consumer law says the prices must be displayed GST inclusive. You cannot pick up an item off the self of a real store and then suddenly find a different price at the checkout, due to added GST. Merlin should lift their game here and comply with Aussie consumer law when selling to Australians.

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Warin
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Re: GST now 12.5% What?

Postby Warin » Sat Sep 29, 2018 8:42 pm

uart wrote: Australian consumer law says the prices must be displayed GST inclusive.


Think you might find that if it is not included then it has to say it is not included, and that complies with the law.
uart wrote: Merlin should lift their game here and comply with Aussie consumer law when selling to Australians.
Umm they are not in OZ. Do you want to be able to purchase from them or not? Some large firms have simply said they will not deal with sending stuff to OZ.

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uart
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Re: GST now 12.5% What?

Postby uart » Sat Sep 29, 2018 9:16 pm

Warin wrote: Umm they are not in OZ.
No, but they know that you are on Oz, they know your shipping address, and they display the prices in Aussie dollars.
Do you want to be able to purchase from them or not?
Irrelevant.
Some large firms have simply said they will not deal with sending stuff to OZ.
But Merlin do, they have obviously decided that they will go through the GST hassle and continue to sell to Australia. So what is your point, that if they merely had to display their prices properly that they wouldn't bother. That sounds like a very tenuous argument to me.

And many others, like Wiggle for example, have no problems adding GST to the displayed price for Australian customers - before you get to the "checkout".

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Re: GST now 12.5% What?

Postby brumby33 » Sun Sep 30, 2018 7:24 am

Uart, maybe it's because they added the GST to two separate entities product and posting that they decided to do it this way......most times if you use a service such as a delivery service, GST is added as an extra, tradies do it too....parts and labour plus GST at the end.....might be the easiest way to calculate it.

I do agree though that it should be stated on the Website or the Shopping basket site that GST will be added on product and posting and not included in product price...but that should be stated on each item sold on their site. We can't really dictate the way they decide to do things over there.

What I'd like to know is how do they pay GST to Australian ATO from overseas and who polices it....if they charge it on their end...they must pay it from their end right? Do they have to declare it to the Australian Embassy? not sure how this works.

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tallywhacker
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Re: GST now 12.5% What?

Postby tallywhacker » Mon Oct 01, 2018 12:02 pm

I am most probably wrong but I think the government doesn't really care if they get any GST remittance from overseas companies. All they care about is that they look like they are sticking up for australian businesses by "leveling the playing field"

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10speedsemiracer
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Re: GST now 12.5% What?

Postby 10speedsemiracer » Mon Oct 01, 2018 1:08 pm

Think you're exactly right Tallywhacker. Any funds remitted would just be icing on baked goods. The cost of attempted recovery in terms of non-remitters would far outweigh the amounts in question in most cases, although I imagine the ATO would just cancel the ABN.
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Re: GST now 12.5% What?

Postby Jmuzz » Wed Oct 03, 2018 10:26 am

brumby33 wrote: What I'd like to know is how do they pay GST to Australian ATO from overseas and who polices it....if they charge it on their end...they must pay it from their end right? Do they have to declare it to the Australian Embassy? not sure how this works.
They register for an ABN so pay the tax online through ATO/MyGov website just like a local company.

I guess a lot of it is honesty. Though ATO does see the credit card payments going out and has a pretty good idea how much business is being done so if a store is skimming too much they are going to get flagged as suspect. In most of the world that would result in their local tax office wanting to audit them incase of local fraud too.

There is international cooperation.
But even without it the government could really cripple a store by forcing customs to try and identify their packages and obstruct delivery.
Customers would soon desert a business when their deliverys are taking 3 months or courier/post starts demanding COD GST payment on their packages.

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Re: GST now 12.5% What?

Postby Jmuzz » Wed Oct 03, 2018 10:33 am

tallywhacker wrote:I am most probably wrong but I think the government doesn't really care if they get any GST remittance from overseas companies. All they care about is that they look like they are sticking up for australian businesses by "leveling the playing field"
Perhaps for now.
But after the first financial year of it that expected revenue will be a part of the budget and whether it's $1million or $1billion when the forecast revenue falls short treasury will be pissed about every missing cent.

Look what happens when they are told to chase up welfare debts, they are spending $1 on a letter to chase 5c outstanding.
As soon as government gives the order to chase all foreign GST a government department can go crazy with the extent of their enforcement.

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Re: GST now 12.5% What?

Postby mikgit » Sat Oct 06, 2018 3:19 pm

uart wrote:
10speedsemiracer wrote:
Calculated on item+shipping ?

My other point still stands though. Australian consumer law says the prices must be displayed GST inclusive. You cannot pick up an item off the self of a real store and then suddenly find a different price at the checkout, due to added GST. Merlin should lift their game here and comply with Aussie consumer law when selling to Australians.
Seriously, do you want good prices for stuff from merlin or would you prefer they said screw it, no stuff to australia?
Seems like are really lame thing to get upset about.
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