Originally posted by Andreas Lundin
How does it work with gst when importing a car? I know there is 10% but I do not really understand what you actually are paying for? Is the gst payable for the origin county or Australia? I assume it is an Australian charge and in that case could you use this as a tax deduction if you where a business. I would appreciate any information about the topic or guidance where to turn to find out more.
To answer your question simply, you pay 10% GST to the Australian Tax Office for any item that is entering Australia for ‘consumption’ in Australia. Very simply, there is 10% GST on the value of the car. This is worked out by adding the purchase price of the car plus the shipping costs to Australia and any insurance you might have taken out. An example is if the purchase price of the car is say AUD$10,000, shipping is AUD$3,000 and insurance is AUD$500 then the ATO values the car at $13,500. You would then pay them 10% or in this case $1,350.
As for it being tax deductible, that really depends on what sort of business you are carrying on. If it is, for example, a Wedding Hire business, then this would be a GST expense and it could possibly be offset against business income with GST. However, I would like to add that I am not an expert in taxation, this is a very simple example and you really need to talk to your accountant or taxation advisor as to what you can or cannot claim.
I hope I haven’t confused you too much
