Imposition of GST on ‘low-value’ foreign supplies

Parliament has passed legislation which applies GST to goods costing $1,000 or less supplied from offshore to Australian consumers from 1 July 2018.

Using a ‘vendor collection model’, the law will require overseas suppliers and online marketplaces (such as Amazon and eBay) with an Australian GST turnover of $75,000 or more to account for GST on sales of low value goods to consumers in Australia.

The deferred start date gives industry participants additional time to make system changes to implement the measure.

It should be noted that this is a separate measure to that which applies GST to digital goods and services purchased from offshore websites, as outlined above.