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eBay sellers Told to Include GST
noisymime writes "The Age is running a story on how The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has requested eBay Australia to enforce the inclusion of the GST on all sales/auctions. Previously this was recommended but not a requirement. Is this reasonable protection for buyers or simply a frustration for everyone? What about all the other sales and auction sites available to Australians?" Moreover, how will this apply to other countries with GSTs - or sales tax?
It's up to any local government to regulate the behavior of local companies. This extends even to the Internet.
Normally it'd just be a matter of saying "Route around damage" and using an auction site in another country. However, as Australia is actually disconnected from every other country, it is not such a simple matter. By attempting to bypass the tax, the buyer would have to pay for overseas shipping and customs charges which may actually end up being more than the tax itself.
Seems that the Oz government has found a nice source of revenue. Not that they weren't entitled to the money before (all transactions should be taxed, even internet ones), but that it was easy to hide these transactions on the Web.
was that you paid GST on new items, but not on second hand items. I may be totaly wrong, as I'm not a tax expert, but the thinking was that it was not right for something to have tax paid on it again and again and again.
The interesting thing would be buying something interenationally, where you normally are exempt from local sales taxes. Not sure how that would be played out
Then again, being fair isn't really the role of the taxman.
"And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the World" 1 John 4:14
I used to have to charge GST, but if I remember correctly, you only have to do that if your sales of goods or services exceed a certain amount per fiscal year...
So unless you operate a so-called eBay store in Canada that sells goods to other Canadians, I don't think it would generally affect most people.
What about countries like Canada that have 15% tax? PST (Provincial Sales Tax) at 8% (Ontario, for example) AND GST (Goods and Services Tax) at 7%?
Would eBay Canada start charging me 15% on top of everything I buy?
Ok let's keep using acronyms and let people guess what they mean.. Both the article and the summary do not expand what GST is, had to read through the comments.