How often do people get stung with GST?

[hellokitty]

I got charged $200 or so on my bike jacket was annoying after paying US $450 to buy and ship over here. But what can you do? If you don't pay, they keep it.

[bsasuper]

There was an article a few months back on the news about this fine government of ours clamping down on overseas personal orders, making sure we paid the GST, It starts this month............

[Quasievil]

I think the fact that its the total value declared on the invoice PLUS the freight that isn't a transactional item in NZ is added to the Customs total charge.
the freight isnt a service or a product in New Zealand, it shouldnt be charged.

[Mully]

No VAT in the US though right?

Some States have sales tax - which they should be not charging as it's an out-of-State transaction. Check that they will before you buy anything.

There was an article a few months back on the news about this fine government of ours clamping down on overseas personal orders, making sure we paid the GST, It starts this month............

The ITF (Import Transaction Fee) - never used to be charged on small shipments. Customs have started collecting that recently (not sure it was this month, but recently.) - the De Minimis (smallest amount collected) also raised to NZ$60 - to account for the GST rise.

the freight isnt a service or a product in New Zealand, it shouldnt be charged.

Agreed - but no-one will change it as it's only a "cost" to private importers. Any GST registered entity will claim it back in any case.

[White trash]

I think the fact that its the total value declared on the invoice PLUS the freight that isn't a transactional item in NZ is added to the Customs total charge.
the freight isnt a service or a product in New Zealand, it shouldnt be charged.

If your commercial invoices clearly state a "CIF" value, you should only be charged the GST on that value. If it's not stated, it will be assumed freight to be paid and you'll be charged GST on the estimate of that also.

[MarkH]

I got charged $200 or so on my bike jacket was annoying after paying US $450 to buy and ship over here. But what can you do? If you don't pay, they keep it.

Since US$450 is well over the NZ$400 threshold for GST it should have been obvious that customs would stop it. But I have had a package stopped that was worth under US$200 - it was clothing. On clothing you get stung for GST and for import duty! Most imports have no duty, but clothing is an exception to that.

The real bastard is when you find out that in Australia the threshold value for customs is AU$1000 - you can import a US$950 exhaust for your bike in Aussie and customs wont even stop it to charge you the 10% GST. Another reason to hate those Aussies!

I think the fact that its the total value declared on the invoice PLUS the freight that isn't a transactional item in NZ is added to the Customs total charge.
the freight isnt a service or a product in New Zealand, it shouldnt be charged.

Unfortunately that freight is seen as part of the cost of the imported goods, whatever the goods cost you the tax man wants 15% chucked on top.

Luckily we can import stuff that is cheaper than the threshold amount (used to be $400, but is lower now) and not get charged at all. That is why I haven't paid GST on incoming packages for about 7 years despite importing many thousands of dollars worth of goods. I can even buy stuff from the US now from companies that don't send goods overseas! The amount of stuff that I have bought that isn't available in NZ or would cost hundreds more is staggering! Shit, I've even bought stuff from overseas that isn't available at retail anywhere in the world (custom made stuff).