Slashdot Mirror

You'd make less of a fool of yourself if you didn't waffle about subjects that you clearly know nothing about.

These types of activities are specifically excluded from Australian Goods and Services Tax (GST). If you're selling something privately, its not your usual business, etc, etc, then you don't have to provide a tax invoice, collect GST, etc. If you're selling to a business, then that business is required by law to withhold 48.5% of their payment to you in lieu of your providing them with a Tax Invoice and an Australian Business Number (ABN) unless you supply them with a receipt and a copy of the Statement by a supplier (reason for not quoting an ABN to an enterprise) form.

This isn't rocket science, its a standard and accepted way of operating privately within the tax system. I do it every time I provide a one-off service to a business in my capacity as a private individual, and I've never had a problem, nor has anyone come after me for GST.

Tax system here is a goddamn joke.

No, it's not. It actually works pretty well if you RTFM. It's certainly a damn sight better than the old system.

(It's worse for land. You're charged income tax on the money you use to buy the land, stamp duty when you buy, land tax every year by the state government, and land rates by the local council every quarter. Then when you sell the property there's a vendor tax. If you've made any money by renting it out that's more income tax you've got to pay.).

Now you're trying desperately to support a weak argument with a total non sequitur. Property taxes in Australia, particularly the ones you describe, are state matters, and have absolutely nothing to do with the Federal tax system that the article is about.

Are we going to have to start charging tax on purchases at our Yard/Tag/Garage sales?

In Australia that's exactly what you're required by law to do.


No you are very wrong. You are only required to be registered for GST if you are using it as a form of income where it exceeds 50,000 AUD per annum.

If i want to sell my car privatly no GST needs to be paid.

If I sell cars for a living and sell less than $50,000 AUD per annum I will need an ABN but no GST needs to be paid. (Income tax on the profit does though!!)

If I sell lots of cars for a living (more than 50,000 AUD) I need to be registered for GST and pay GST on those cars regardless of source (although I can claim input tax credits).

Seeing as you obviously dont understand the tax system I suggest that you call the ATO or have a read of the publically available information . Personally I found that they are very helpful with phone calls.

Where you can use e-tax currently unavailable cause the tax year is July to June. The software is very good and the need for tax accountants is dwindling.

UGH, that is crap!!! Lobbying taken to the extreme.

Here in Australia you can go to the tax office's online website and just download their program which can be used to calculate your tax, it's just like the dead tree edition except thats online, you can save notes, go back and revise as much as you like and then authenticate with the tax office and submit it for free!!

last year it took me just on a hour or so to do including downloading & installing as well as figuring out what i could pull off and what i couldn't deduction-wise.

I feel sorry for you guys, really i do.

Can I just say how much, much, much easier it was under the GST and the simplifications than under the previous system.

I still get the GST forms sent to me in London. All I have to do is write NIL in four boxes and post it back. Please tell me where I'm struggling under the weight of that?? If I resumed trading, there would still only be 4 boxes to fill out, which Quicken does automatically.

crushed by the weight ??

Come on. That's just plain wrong.

Also all the Australian tax sites are clear, and you can lodge returns all electronically. I don't see any British equivalent. All these were brought in under Howard too.

Hey, I know that I'm trustworthy... But while I'm at it...

I am the daughter/son/dog/pineapple of the great Mandrake(Ooops!)/Slartibartfast/Richard Nixon, who is presently dead/incarcerated/comatose/stupid while hiding from the authorities/officials/RIAA of Andromeda/Antartica/Newfoundland. I've got $10,000,000/$20,000,000/$1,000,000,000 that he/she/it embezelled/stole-from-druglords/borrowed/won-on-th e-lotto that I'll glady share/steal/rob-you-blind if you will assist me by faxing your bank account details to any of the above fax numbers.


Of course, since the ATO can confirm to Australian businesses that they are legitimate, I wouldn't necessarily want to be giving them too much ammo. ;-)

I'm betting that e-tax will be Windows-only again this year, but it's a bet I wouldn't mind losing.

When is your government actually going to get around to proper electronic tax filing?

Witness the Australian Tax Office and their (imaginatively named) "E-Tax". For the 2001 fiscal year, over 520,000 people used it. To put it in perspective, that's a quarter of the Australian working population that has a computer is using etax. My refund was electronically deposited into my account in 6 working days, and it was just me and the Tax office, with no other pain-in-the-ass company in the middle.

I know, it probably won't help those with complex finances, but it sure as hell would put a bullet into companies like these.

Yup same here in Australia. When they were planning the introduction of the GST here there was a huge arguement about exactly when a BBQ Chicken is taxable and when it is not.

A cooked and still warm BBQ chook is taxable under the GST, an cooked but now cold chook is not taxable - at what temperature does the chook become cold?

I don't think anyone actually knows...

[a detailed list of which foods are taxed and which aren't under the GST can be found here]

I used to live in Wellington, New Zealand. And that's a nice city - but small, only 400K.

At the start of last year, I moved across the Tasman, to Melbourne. Melbourne is just a really nice place to live - great culture, night life, and the job scene seems to be going strongly.

I've found it pretty easy to settle in here, and meet people. There is always something to do. As for jobs.. try these sites:

IT Jobs site by Fairfax
Seek
Monster


As for other sites of interest, check out:
Immigration site
Autralian Taxation Office
Domain a great place to search for share accomodation
The Age newspaper

Umm.. I don't have links for what's on around the city, but some great stuff happens, apart from the good club scene - there's the formula 1 grand prix, if you like noisy loud things that go fast, moonlight cinema is a good thing in summer - outdoor movies. It's just really kind of relaxing and nice.

Melbourne is just really livable and has a good public transport system Victrip

Hope this helps.. and don't forget, I'm a kiwi saying this about Melbourne :)