Reimporting Aus Reg Boat

[Fidelo]

Hi all
Recently joined but a long time lurker of CF. Such a great resource!
My question is, has anyone recently sailed back to Australia from o'seas after being forced to export on departure? Were you able to reimport without additional costs ie GST/import duty? Our boat has been away for around 18mths with some work done while o'seas which we are happy to declare and pay duty on but are worried we may have to pay full GST/duties for the whole boat on re-entry. Looking for responses from those with 1st hand experience if possible. Cheers!

[Factor]

Forget First or fifth hand experience - Go straight to the regulators, I actually always find them helpful. https://www.abf.gov.au/help-and-support/contact-us

[Fidelo]

Yes thanks. Plan on doing that too when closer to the time however a search on line reveals disturbing variation in responses from gov officials depending on who you talk to. https://www.mysailing.com.au/exporti...are-the-rules/
Suppose best to get something in writing....

[RaymondR]

"Clearing out" does not constitute "exporting" the vessel.

Since it has only been out of Australia for eighteen months it should not require re-importing. Not sure of what the period is but believer it is considerably in excess of the eighteen months.

Don't know if the rules have changed but it used to be that duty payable on vessels taken overseas for refits was only payable on the cost expended on the refit and not the entire vessel.

A factor which might impact upon how the transaction is treated is whether or not ownership of the vessel changed which it was overseas. You are supposed to have the registration amended within 14 days of the sale.

Advice from "revenuers" is always suspect, a broker who deals in overseas sale of vessels might be a better place to go.

[Fidelo]

Unfortunately we were required to "export" the vessel on departure from Cairns and will need to import on our return. The vessel did not change hands overseas. Things seem to have changed considerably since the good old days and are now more complex than ever.

[JPA Cate]

@ Fidelo,

This happened to us one time. Eventually, it came out okay, but I suggest you follow Factor's advise. Keep records of the correspondence so that if there is a problem, you have a way of documenting what happened. It can go pear-shaped, so be as diplomatic as possible, and do not express how you feel about any difficulties, just document them.

Ann

[Jim Cate]

^^^^^

Do note that in our case we had purchased an Aussie-built boat and, as American citizens, had to transfer the rego to the USA. The requirement to export her was due to that peculiar set of circumstances. When we returned to Oz after circa 6 months away, we did have to re-import her, but there was no duty involved, and eventually they admitted that they should not have required the exportation in the first place.

Go figger! Later times when we left no such issues came up.

Jim

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

^^^^^

Do note that in our case we had purchased an Aussie-built boat and, as American citizens, had to transfer the rego to the USA. The requirement to export her was due to that peculiar set of circumstances. When we returned to Oz after circa 6 months away, we did have to re-import her, but there was no duty involved, and eventually they admitted that they should not have required the exportation in the first place.

Go figger! Later times when we left no such issues came up.

Jim

Which is why one should not trust the advice of the revenuers.