Australian Tax Help

[Exit door]

Hi I am an Australian resident about to return with my yacht I bought overseas but can not afford to pay GST and duty! What will they do , will the impound boat, will they let me pay it off! Any ideas

Cheers

[Factor]

Where was it built? Duty may not apply in some cases.

[Exit door]

France mate, bought it in Fiji,

[Factor]

Sadly 5% duty and then 10% GST on the value of the boat plus Duty. A tax that is taxed on a tax, its great work if you can get it. Have you approached Customs direct and asked the question, they are surprisingly pleasant if you ask rather than try something on.

[Oceanride007]

Its not good, the only delay option I have heard of was someone similar, Delivery skipper brought it into Brisbane, owner came to a arrangement where he was allowed to sail it around to his own port of Adelaide. The only other option was in Bundaberg where the vessel foreign owners freely volunteered the yacht was up for sale. It was impounded. Not allowed out for owners own use. but viewable, it sold after 9 months owners had to make a real good deal to move it. There may very well be extra fees to be payed. Think you will be in bad books, unless you kiss a*s real good.

Must you bring it back now, I suggest you will lose access to it till you couff up the doe.

Good Luck

[weavis]

Originally Posted by Oceanride007

Its not good, the only delay option I have heard of was someone similar, Delivery skipper brought it into Brisbane, owner came to a arrangement where he was allowed to sail it around to his own port of Adelaide. The only other option was in Bundaberg where the vessel foreign owners freely volunteered the yacht was up for sale. It was impounded. Not allowed out for owners own use. but viewable, it sold after 9 months owners had to make a real good deal to move it. There may very well be extra fees to be payed. Think you will be in bad books, unless you kiss a*s real good.

Must you bring it back now, I suggest you will lose access to it till you couff up the doe.

Good Luck

Myself.. Id look at berthing it in Fiji or The Philippines until you have the cash.

[cruiz9]

This thread got me thinking of something i read many years ago that australian registered vessels that remained out of the country for more than five years and then returned had to pay duty on the boat, has anybody heard of this and does it still apply these days?

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Exit door

Hi I am an Australian resident about to return with my yacht I bought overseas but can not afford to pay GST and duty! What will they do , will the impound boat, will they let me pay it off! Any ideas

Cheers

It is effectively impounded. You can not move it from the location you ate in... But you need to pay for that location. So if you are in a marina the boat must stay there till you pay. There is a date you need to pay by on the pink form.
If you dont pay by then the boat is sold at auction for you.

Simple.

Its all on the net, read up.

The headquarters of the Small Boat unit at Customs is at Kingsford Smith Airport in Sydney. If there is discretion they may be able to authorise it...

As for selling it: its illegal to OFFER a boat for sale without the duty paid. So you can not even advertise it for sale.


Mark

[Jaden44]

Australian Customs - Importing a yacht - summary
Yachts are subject to a general rate of duty of 5% based on the customs value (basically the price paid) and 10% GST calculated on the customs value plus international transport and insurance plus the duty.
http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page4365.asp

Firstly I’m not a customs officer or tax agent so my information may be out of date.
I respectfully suggest that you (1.) alert Australian customs of your plans to import the vessel (2.) the fact that you have limited funds (3.) and request Customs to propose payment options. I can not predict what they will suggest. However you will receive a formal reply and there after be fully aware of their thinking, all before you depart Fiji.
Additionally a vessel imported by an Australian citizen, will not qualify for temporary vessel import status. Once the vessel has physically arrived in Australia, you will not longer have the option to sail the boat to another country, without first paying the import charges.
You can of course always elect not to pay Customs. In this situation, I would expect that the boat would be forfeited to the Australian Customs Service. Customs will then most likely auction off your vessel. Hopefully they will recover enough at auction to pay out your debt to them. If your boat was sold at auction for just $1.00, then you will still have to pay them the difference. Tough!!!
My I suggest that if your intended final cruising destination is somewhere other than Australia, don’t sail the boat to Australia first. I’m told that New Zealand offers temporary importation status to Australian flagged vessels. Same for the Solomon Islands and PNG. But I could be wrong on that too.

[weavis]

Originally Posted by Jaden44

Australian Customs - Importing a yacht - summary
Yachts are subject to a general rate of duty of 5% based on the customs value (basically the price paid) and 10% GST calculated on the customs value plus international transport and insurance plus the duty.
http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page4365.asp

Firstly I’m not a customs officer or tax agent so my information may be out of date.
I respectfully suggest that you (1.) alert Australian customs of your plans to import the vessel (2.) the fact that you have limited funds (3.) and request Customs to propose payment options. I can not predict what they will suggest. However you will receive a formal reply and there after be fully aware of their thinking, all before you depart Fiji.
Additionally a vessel imported by an Australian citizen, will not qualify for temporary vessel import status. Once the vessel has physically arrived in Australia, you will not longer have the option to sail the boat to another country, without first paying the import charges.
You can of course always elect not to pay Customs. In this situation, I would expect that the boat would be forfeited to the Australian Customs Service. Customs will then most likely auction off your vessel. Hopefully they will recover enough at auction to pay out your debt to them. If your boat was sold at auction for just $1.00, then you will still have to pay them the difference. Tough!!!
My I suggest that if your intended final cruising destination is somewhere other than Australia, don’t sail the boat to Australia first. I’m told that New Zealand offers temporary importation status to Australian flagged vessels. Same for the Solomon Islands and PNG. But I could be wrong on that too.

Hmm. Im not sure I would want to inform ANYONE of the intent if I did not have the money.

It would be better, in my view, to calculate the amount required and estimate how long it would take you to raise the cash. Here in the EU, I was given one month to pay the bill on an import or lose the goods. They also kindly KEPT the goods and charged me storage, plus a % extra for the delay in payment. I paid it the next day.

Find an offshore base to keep the boat until you have the money or SELL it to someone who can pay. Or BORROW the money from a bank and call it your boat mortgage...

Make no mistake.. YOU WILL LOSE THE BOAT if you dont pay in a timely fashion.

[Exit door]

Thanks for all your replies! I want to import it anyway and the tax and duty will be around 7k it's just going to take me two-three months to pull the coin! What I'm trying to garnish is the time frame customs will give me to pay it off in i.e 1 month 2 months etc!

I know of someone who took there boat into Bundy and after much kissing ass was allowed to pay his off within a year and yes he was not allowed to leave the river but could live aboard it! Customs made out they were doing him a huge favour! My worry is the potential that they won't be so forgiving with me!

It seems knowbody really knows and customs will know doubt just say I have to pay on arrival even if there is potential room for movement!

Don't get me wrong I want to pay my dues I love giving the Australin government money! I just can't afford it for a bit and want my sweet beautiful yacht to come home!

Cheers

[weavis]

Originally Posted by Exit door

My worry is the potential that they won't be so forgiving with me!
Cheers

Assume the worst. Hope for the best.

I wouldnt risk it. But Im not you and my experience is what it is..

[Far Star]

Like most people have said. Talk to them first. They don't care how long you stay out of the country for. They are only interested once you arrive in the country

Sent from my GT-P7500 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[downunder]

+1 Talk to Customs.

[Oceanride007]

So why not park it in Fiji, Vanuatu or New Cal, at least then, you could use it, flight cost is reasonable. Worst case scenario is that, it may go to a Port Area and you may need to get a MISC card just to see it, not an easy get as you probably won't have a sponsoring company who does business in the Port. (MISC is security card introduced in the wake of 911, twin towers business).
Anyway, what did you get, if your determined and get stuck, I'm shopping and I have MISC.