Outer Limits 4x4 Board

On the zook forums there had been a rumour going around that importing car parts and accessories over AUS$1000 into the country would get you slapped with an import customs goods and services tax.

I just did some research and found the following on the Australian Free Trade agreement website. Gutless first mentioned this and brought in 2500k of gear from the states with no import duty paid...Just thought I'd back it up with some hard evidence....

www.fta.gov.au

Automotive

Under the AUSFTA, trade in automotive parts and accessories between Australia and the United States became tariff free from 1 January 2005. The United States also removed the 25 per cent duty on light commercial vehicles and the 2.5 per cent duty on passenger motor vehicles.

Australian tariffs on finished passenger motor vehicles will be phased out gradually and will be eliminated by 2010. Australia agreed to eliminate the five per cent duty on other vehicles, including off-road vehicles and goods carrying vehicles from 1 January 2005.

I didn't know about this when I recently split up one order from the states to avoid customs duty as it was cheaper to pay postage on two shipments than the import duty tax....

Remember gifts attract no duty

if you know someone in the USA they can ship it with a b-day card, or if they open it and send it to you as a secondhand item you owned there and forgot to bring back with you...


all my items are sent to me by my sister in CO, im yet to have an issue with duty all items are sent as a "gift"

wrksux wrote:Remember gifts attract no duty

if you know someone in the USA they can ship it with a b-day card, or if they open it and send it to you as a secondhand item you owned there and forgot to bring back with you...


all my items are sent to me by my sister in CO, im yet to have an issue with duty all items are sent as a "gift"

A mate of mine gets a fair few bits sent from US. I recon "someone" could have a nice little business packing n sending stuff to OZ. For a fee of course.

RED60 wrote:

wrksux wrote:Remember gifts attract no duty

if you know someone in the USA they can ship it with a b-day card, or if they open it and send it to you as a secondhand item you owned there and forgot to bring back with you...


all my items are sent to me by my sister in CO, im yet to have an issue with duty all items are sent as a "gift"

A mate of mine gets a fair few bits sent from US. I recon "someone" could have a nice little business packing n sending stuff to OZ. For a fee of course.

nice little business till customs cracks down on thier asses and sends them to guantanamo.

The issue that I have had with importing spare parts (for work - not 4wd related) is that once you get to $1000Aud, it gets held up in customs and then you get slugged GST, freight duties, and a few of fees which I can't remember.

Parts are tarrif free but not GST free and only if the parts are US origin if not US then 5% is applicable.

THats making more sense....So if parts are made in the US and coming from the US then they are free of any import duty under 1000....but if its over you are subject to these taxs...

If it is over $1000 then you will have to pay 10% GST only no other taxes as long as it is made in the US.

if i was to buy something from joe blow yanki doodle dee for $10,000 whos to say it cost that when its wraped in a parcel ??? this is a geniune question

and when buying some thing from states who charges for these taxs the person who sends it, a post office, customs etc are they to be paid on arival?? enother geniune question

offroader-rama wrote:if i was to buy something from joe blow yanki doodle dee for $10,000 whos to say it cost that when its wraped in a parcel ??? this is a geniune question

People have done and still do this and it can work but if you get caught watch out 'cause it will cost you . Also you will need the vendor to create a false invoice which can then leave them vulnerable too.

offroader-rama wrote:

and when buying some thing from states who charges for these taxs the person who sends it, a post office, customs etc are they to be paid on arival?? enother geniune question

Customs charges you at this end. You will have to fill out a customs clearance entry or get a customs agent (UPS etc do this as part of their service) to do this on your behalf and pay all the required charges.

Don't try and get too clever as it might just come back to bite you. The cheapest & legal way I have found is to have the goods sent USPS which is airmail and almost as fast as UPS but cheaper and keep it under the $1000 limit. depending on the USPS service chosen you can also get a tracking number too.

Dollar surges to 90 US cents

October 8, 2007 - 9:37AM

The Australian dollar surged above 90 US cents to reach its highest point in 23 years today before retreating slightly before the local market opened.

The Aussie climbed to 90.06 US cents in overnight trade - its highest level since June 12, 1984 - amid further weakness in the US dollar.

When the Australian foreign exchange market opened formally this morning, the $A was at US89.93.

...

If you were considering buying stuff now is a very good time.

just get the part labelled 'warranty replacement' .. no charges applly for replacements of faulty parts.

mark

now your talking

yeah our $$ is strong. i will be making a call to longfields very very soon.

DIRTY ROCK STAR wrote:yeah our $$ is strong. i will be making a call to longfields very very soon.

Our dollar is the same, have a look at it against the Euro......
The US dollar is the one thats falling.