Help please - AUFTA and GST on loose stones from Whiteflash to Australia

[diamondhunter111]

Hi everyone. Been a while since i've been on here but I just picked out a couple of small ACA diamonds for shoulder stones to remodel my partners engagement ring. I have a question in regards to how GST and import duty is charged on loose stones bought5 from the US. The stones happen to work out to be almost exactly (a touch over) $1000AUD each ($660US for one and $680 for the other). I could either buy them separately or together - cost would be the same as shipping is included. Would this make any difference to how much I would have to pay when they arrive in Australia? I know there is the AUFTA and Whiteflash do the paperwork at their end - under this agreement are loose stones of any value exempt from import duty? If so then it wouldn't matter which way I do it in regards to import duty.

With GST do you pay GST only on the part of the value over $1000, or if the value is over $1000 do you pay 10% on total value. I've tried reading about this but am quite confused.

I know it isn't a huge outlay but every bit I can put towards the remodelling cost helps and I know someone on here will know how best to do it.

Thanks,
Mark

 

[sugarcloud]

I could be wrong but I think if you got them seperately they would not be charged because each package would be valued under 1K. It's been a while since I bought my ACA but Fedex did mess things up and did not process the paperwork correctly so I ended up paying the full amount and was later refunded the difference for the exempt portion. Let me see if I can find the emails!

Edit: Ok so I was charged the duty and GST when I should only have paid the GST. There was a lot of back and forth with FedEx (they were hopeless) but eventually I got the duties refunded to me. When I was talking to WF about the mishap at the time they said: "Mostly what I see is Australia tries to pre-clear all their shipments because they are so far behind, so sometimes the AUSFTA document gets missed when they try to collect fees". So I guess FedEx sometimes just charge the full amount and leave it up to customers to correct their error which is so annoying!! The package had the Aufta documents right on the front, with highligher on the AUFTA details but they still didn't originally process it when it arrived.

But looking through my emails it looks like the orginal request for payment came through and I quickly paid it as I was nervous it may get sent back, then later on a second request for payment came through without the duties and that caused even more confusion because by then I had already paid the full amount. Then after all the nonsense they said oh we thought we already refunded you! Ugh so annoying.

All that to say, be aware that they might not fully process the AUFTA documents at the start so triple check everything when it arrives and make sure you start emailing them as soon as any issues come up. Get everyone who you deal with to tell you their name because no one seems to know what the hell is going on, and also keep Whiteflash in the loop because they were great at emailing through the documents to FedEx if required.

Hopefully that made sense! And if there are any hiccups please don't let it take away form the joy of receiving your sparkly beauties!

2nd Edit: The GST was on the full amount. Cant remember the exact cost of the ring (as I paid in USD and it got converted) but it was a a bit over 4K AUD. These are the fees I paid when it arrived at customs:

Duty: $202.88
GST: $434.74
Customs Electronic Fee: $88
Total: $725.62

 

[diamondhunter111]

Thanks for rhe detailed rey regarding your experience. I have had bad experience with Fedex before too and dealing with them really detracts from the experience. If GST is going to be charged anyway and on the entire value and customs fee shouldn't apply and there is an $88 broker fee (which i would have to pay twice if i sent them separately) then i may as well send as a single parcel on only have to deal with it once.

I did read somewhere that in 2017 the ATO started charging GST on items less than $1000. Not sure how well it is policed.

Thanks for your help.

Mark