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colsan1
8th October 2007, 20:04
Need a quick reply if anyone can help.
We're planning on moving over to nz in the next few months and i'm bringing a bike with me.
I've got an offer to change my bike for a triumph 955 daytona, however, someone mentioned that if i've had a bike for less than
6 months when its imported to nz i would have to pay extra import duty on it. something to do with importing for profit (buying and selling on when i got there)
does anyone know if this it true and if so what would the extra duty be?
cheers
col

Mully
9th October 2007, 10:39
Hi Col,

There is no Duty on motorcycles into NZ (no manufacturing industry to protect).

If you have owned and used the vehicle for at least one year, you can approach NZ Customs to complete a Memorandun of Understanding. Basically, this prevents you from needing to stump up with the GST (NZ VAT) of 12.5% of the value of the bike, plus a share of the Frieght and Insurance amount (CIF value). However, you will need to hang onto the bike for two years or else they will ping you for the GST (unless you suffer extreme financial hardship or prang it).

More information is here: http://www.customs.govt.nz/travellers/Motor+Vehicles/When+No+Customs+Charges+Apply.htm
Any dramas, please let me know.

Cheers,
Marcus

Jonty
9th October 2007, 13:29
I off over there soon, wanna trade for a CBR 600 :whistle:

ambler
10th October 2007, 22:27
I am looking at doing this in the near future too, and I must say, what a totally arbitrary system of deciding taxes. Why do I have to pay tax on the shipping and insurance costs?
Seems like they just pull numbers out of their arse for other stuff too
http://www.customs.govt.nz/importers/Private+Importers/Customs+Charges.htm I might have learnt it at school, but can someone remind me why there are a hundred different ratings for alcoholic beverages, and why only alcoholic ones, whats the big deal about booze?

Mully, I was under the impression that the "owning for one year before" or "owning for two years afterwards" are not both necessary, only one or the other. So if I own a bike here for a year and then take it to NZ I can sell immediately with no GST... but perhaps I'm wrong. Judging by the way they want to screw you over for everything else, it does seem too optimistic eh.

Either way it's very annoying, because here in Tokyo I want a smaller bike for the crowded city streets, then when I go back to NZ I will want a bigger one for long trips, so the natural thing to do is trade up just before I go back, but then I get slapped by biggum tax man. No fair :weep:

Edit: ok I checked your link and you are right. How the hell am I supposed to know if I will be selling the vehicle within two years or not?? </rant>

gsp0702
11th October 2007, 11:30
Having just imported a bike from the UK, before NZ customs would release said bike i had to sign an undertaking that i would either keep the bike for 2years or should i sell it pay GST on it, and amount of GST to pay is stated on relevant form. I believe this is pro-rated so if i keep it a year and then sell i would pay the GST due not the whole sum.

Also my understanding is if i had owned the bike for less than 12 monthes the GST would have been due when the vehicle entered NZ.

Griff
11th October 2007, 11:35
Having just imported a bike from the UK, before NZ customs would release said bike i had to sign an undertaking that i would either keep the bike for 2years or should i sell it pay GST on it, and amount of GST to pay is stated on relevant form. I believe this is pro-rated so if i keep it a year and then sell i would pay the GST due not the whole sum.

Also my understanding is if i had owned the bike for less than 12 monthes the GST would have been due when the vehicle entered NZ.

Absolutely the same thing happened for me.

Also had to supply Customs with a NZ valuation letter.
The Guys at Red Baron did a good one for me.

ambler
11th October 2007, 13:17
I see.
So Griff, I take it you had no receipt from purchase outside NZ to use as valuation?
How about gsp0702, did you have a receipt from the UK which you could use to base the GST price on?

gsp0702
11th October 2007, 15:36
I had the original dealer receipt for the purchase of mine, so no need for valuation letter.

gsp0702
11th October 2007, 15:39
Personally i would probably prefer to have paid the GST, and claim it back if i didnt sell cos I know if i say to my wife I would like to swap the bike i will get oh but you'll owe the tax man gst. And two years is a long time.

Griff
12th October 2007, 08:38
I see.
So Griff, I take it you had no receipt from purchase outside NZ to use as valuation?
How about gsp0702, did you have a receipt from the UK which you could use to base the GST price on?

No original receipt, but used the remainder of my UK Reg document to show ownership. I would advise stringly on not getting a UK valuation.

When I landed, my bike turned up 3 months after (with Anglo-Pacific).
They helped me through the minimal paperwork with Customs.
I will PM some more...

gsp0702
12th October 2007, 09:03
Uk valuation or not probably slightly dependant on GBP/NZ$ exchange rate but as bike prices in NZ seem quite inflated and UK prices for secondhand bikes pretty low i would expect your GST liability to be less with a UK valuation than an NZ one. But thats just my personal opinion.

betti
12th October 2007, 15:19
the lower the value of the receipt you have, the less gst you'll pay.
Simple really.
The longer you have owned the bike, you will deduct depreciation from the original purchase price, up to a maximum of 75%, so if you have owned it a while gst is negligible really, I paid $150, it was easier than a bunch of paperwork!.

ambler
12th October 2007, 19:17
Thanks Griff and betti
I will be bringing from Japan so I very much doubt the NZ valuation will be less than here - otherwise I wouldnt be bothering to import.
That's nice to know about the depreciation too, a couple of my bikes I have had for around 2 years...

Mully
12th October 2007, 19:19
Personally i would probably prefer to have paid the GST, and claim it back if i didnt sell cos I know if i say to my wife I would like to swap the bike i will get oh but you'll owe the tax man gst. And two years is a long time.

Mate, you wouldn't be able to claim it back unless you were a company registered for GST, in which case, Mr IRD would have some difficult questions to answer about why your company needed to import a bike.

And of course, you'd have to pay GST on whatever you sold it for. So the bastards get you either way.

You could, of course, just buy another bike while you wait for two years.

Mully
12th October 2007, 19:21
I will be bringing from Japan so I very much doubt the NZ valuation will be less than here - otherwise I wouldnt be bothering to import.

I wouldn't run away with that idea. Value of vehicles in JP is about 50% of the dealer value here.

Get it valued (in writing) in Japan, and then from a NZ Dealer and use the cheapest one.

ambler
12th October 2007, 23:57
I wouldn't run away with that idea. Value of vehicles in JP is about 50% of the dealer value here.
? Yeah that's what I said... albeit in a somewhat convoluted sentence structure.
While we're still on the topic though, a receipt for purchase should be ok right? Even from private sale? Or does it need to be a more official valuation?

Mully
13th October 2007, 12:20
Any proof of purchase would be fine. If you bought it privately, you wouldn't always have an invoice anyway.
Anything that shows the price paid.

YellowDog
15th October 2007, 19:02
Need a quick reply if anyone can help.
We're planning on moving over to nz in the next few months and i'm bringing a bike with me.
I've got an offer to change my bike for a triumph 955 daytona, however, someone mentioned that if i've had a bike for less than
6 months when its imported to nz i would have to pay extra import duty on it. something to do with importing for profit (buying and selling on when i got there)
does anyone know if this it true and if so what would the extra duty be?
cheers
col
Hi there, if it is not too late; I imported my bike from the UK into NZ in May. It was a very simple process. The document of undertaking (DOU) is only required if your bike is reletively new. I road it around for a couple of months with my UK Reg. No problems with that at all. It cost a few quid to get it registered, but as secondhand bikes are so much more expensive out here, I'm glad I did it. My Suzuki XF 650 was worth about a grand in the UK. I can get $5k in NZ. Amazing! Good luck.

YellowDog
15th October 2007, 19:04
Need a quick reply if anyone can help.
We're planning on moving over to nz in the next few months and i'm bringing a bike with me.
I've got an offer to change my bike for a triumph 955 daytona, however, someone mentioned that if i've had a bike for less than
6 months when its imported to nz i would have to pay extra import duty on it. something to do with importing for profit (buying and selling on when i got there)
does anyone know if this it true and if so what would the extra duty be?
cheers
col
Hi there, if it is not too late; I imported my bike from the UK into NZ in May. It was a very simple process. The document of undertaking (DOU) is only required if your bike is reletively new. I road it around for a couple of months with my UK Reg. No problems with that at all. It cost a few quid to get it registered, but as secondhand bikes are so much more expensive out here, I'm glad I did it. My Suzuki XF 650 was worth about a grand in the UK. I can get $5k in NZ. Amazing! Good luck.

YellowDog
15th October 2007, 19:08
Need a quick reply if anyone can help.
We're planning on moving over to nz in the next few months and i'm bringing a bike with me.
I've got an offer to change my bike for a triumph 955 daytona, however, someone mentioned that if i've had a bike for less than
6 months when its imported to nz i would have to pay extra import duty on it. something to do with importing for profit (buying and selling on when i got there)
does anyone know if this it true and if so what would the extra duty be?
cheers
col
Hi there, if it is not too late; I imported my bike from the UK into NZ in May. It was a very simple process. The document of undertaking (DOU) is only required if your bike is reletively new. I road it around for a couple of months with my UK Reg. No problems with that at all. It cost a few quid to get it registered, but as secondhand bikes are so much more expensive out here, I'm glad I did it. My Suzuki XF 650 was worth about a grand in the UK. I can get $5k in NZ. Amazing! Good luck.

Nicola W
20th November 2007, 02:27
Hello!

I was thinking of starting a thread similar to this - so I’ll just post in this one if you don’t mind!

We are coming over to Tauranga in January. :D

Our container company will be crating our steam cleaned 'off road' bikes (we have 4) in specially treated wood in order to comply with shipping to NZ and including those in our container.

I understand we need receipts for our bikes which I am able to obtain but are there any other documents or paperwork we need to provide for customs? These bikes are ours and only intended for our sole off road use.

Anyone shipped their off road bikes? It's slighlty different as they are not registered. Many thanks if anyone can advise. :)

Mully
22nd November 2007, 11:24
Hi Nicola,

Same rules apply, although you will save some cash from not having to have the bikes inspected for road use.

cheers,
Mully

Nicola W
28th November 2007, 08:33
Thanks Mully! :)

colsan1
4th February 2008, 08:47
wInspected for road use!!!
My truimph daytona has a factory carbon race can marked "not for road use" on it. will it be ok??

betti
4th February 2008, 11:52
I might suggest getting it polished out, or sticking a bolt on E11 plate available on ebay over it, you might get lucky, but then again you might not.