Importing a Boat to Australia

[ocean_groover]

Thanks for your thoughts regarding GST/boat as residence. Somehow knew it wouldn't be easy but worth an ask.

Virtual Vag, do I take it from your post that I'd be potentially exposing myself to a tax audit if I were to ask for the ruling? Like most of us I pay my tax, have a bit of a whinge, and eventually get round to doing tax returns and get a bit back. I'd be surprised if an audit turned up anything, but I'd sure have a few words to say about the chore involved in finding all those bits of paper stuffed into envelopes, put into boxes, and stored in a mate's garage.

[hogesinwa]

Originally Posted by Nauticatarcher

No duty on an American built boat due to trade agreement, just GST on cost of boat plus delivery charges

That is a misconception, one that I was under also. Australian Customs will refer you to Customs Tariff Schedule 3 Chapter 89/4 Item 8903.91.10,

8903.91 --Sailboats, with or without auxiliary motor:
8903.91.10 Not exceeding 150 gross construction tons 5%

[savoir]

That post makes no sense. Gotta be some crossed wires somewhere.

The US products which attract Australian duty are mostly alcohol and tobacco products. Anyway the code number 8903.91.10 is not in the schedule of dutiable US items. See Customs Tariff Schedule 5.

Someone has fed you a bum steer.

[hogesinwa]

Originally Posted by hogesinwa

That is a misconception, one that I was under also. Australian Customs will refer you to Customs Tariff Schedule 3 Chapter 89/4 Item 8903.91.10,

8903.91 --Sailboats, with or without auxiliary motor:

8903.91.10 Not exceeding 150 gross construction tons 5%

8903.91 has a heading, the Sailboat thing. There is a colon after "motor" leading to the next line which has .10 after it. That is where the rate is shown. In the actual schedule, it is much clearer but I couldn't copy the .pd3 formatting into the post so it ended up being hard to understand.

In short, the US/Aust Free Trade thingo does not apply to a great number of things. 8903.91 is one of those things. The rate of duty is 5%.
As I said, it is a misconception that I was under until Customs set me straight on it.

Duty applies to the cost, then GST to that total.

[Jamel]

Well, this is my understanding:

Costs of Importing a Yacht to Australia, The Australian Import Process by admin
All yachts and boats imported to Australia are subject to Duty of 5% of purchase cost (including delivery) and of course, 10% GST (including delivery and Duty).
There are a few exceptions:
If a vessel was built (or mostly built) in a country that currently holds a FTA (Free Trade Agreement) with Australia, no duty will be charged. Unless your boat was built by a reputable building company with a history and you can substantiate this with a paper trail, this can sometimes be difficult to prove. Custom and owner built boats can be very difficult to prove Country of Manufacture without substantial documentation and evidence.
Currently, Australia has FTAs with:
The United States
New Zealand
Thailand
Singapore
Chile
Countries within ASEAN (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, VietNam)

[Mr B]

This is a document from Customs,Tells you precisely what you are up for,
Sorry its not a bit clearer,

[hogesinwa]

I'd be happy to be wrong and save the $9,000 also. However, Customs told me that the FTA covers some things and not others. Yachts are others. Again, I'd be happy to be wrong and look forward to your advices when you get back next year. Hoges

[savoir]

Originally Posted by hogesinwa

8903.91 has a heading, the Sailboat thing. There is a colon after "motor" leading to the next line which has .10 after it. That is where the rate is shown. In the actual schedule, it is much clearer but I couldn't copy the .pd3 formatting into the post so it ended up being hard to understand.

In short, the US/Aust Free Trade thingo does not apply to a great number of things. 8903.91 is one of those things. The rate of duty is 5%.
As I said, it is a misconception that I was under until Customs set me straight on it.

Duty applies to the cost, then GST to that total.

Schedule 3 applies only to non FTA countries. If a US ( or other FTA ) export to Australia is meant to attract duty then it will be in schedule 5. 8903.91.10 is not in schedule 5 so there is no duty provided you can prove US manufacture. That would be the same for NZ, Thailand, Chile.

See for yourself
http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page5663.asp

[hogesinwa]

I hope you're reading is correct as I'm happy to not pay another 8 or 9. I'll be using an agent in any event so I won't have to remember myself. I see your logic as I couldn't see it in 5 myself. Of course, the Customs person who sent me the email couldn't actually bring himself to say "no duty payable", just 'See Chapter 89" and "Schedule 5" without actually telling me what you have just said. In fact, the tone of the email was just the opposite, implying that duty was certainly payable. I'll be interested to see how Allan gets on next year.

[BillAU]

I wonder...Is Canada a member of the FTA group? Two boats I'm looking at buying (I want to buy one of them, not both) were built and fitted-out in Canada.

[Johnathon123]

No Canada isn't as far as I know.

Is one a Perry design steel in QLD with a blue hull?

[BillAU]

Originally Posted by Johnathon123

No Canada isn't as far as I know.

Is one a Perry design steel in QLD with a blue hull?

G'day James,

No mate, only one of the yachts I'm looking at, is in Queensland and that one's a Hartley South Seas...A Ferro Cement yacht. If all the boats I'm looking at had been Australia Registered, I would not be interested in looking off-shore.
I have since found a few other yachts that interest me, three more FC yachts and one Jim Brown Searunner...Yep, I know...From a West system/ply Tri to FC mono yachts I do like Tri's but not having deep pockets, I'm looking for the best bang for my buck and, the best bang for my buck looks to be buying a yacht off-shore and sailing it back to Australia.
After doing a lot of reserch on FC boats, I'm thinking a Pro built FC yacht may be a better choice for me and my needs

Cheers James.

Bill
Australia

[savoir]

The countries are USA NZ Thailand Chile Singapore.

[Factor]

Originally Posted by Aussie_Sequoia

It's technically illegal to live permanently on your boat in most Australian States anyway... so I doubt this would work. I wish it would though as it could help me out too!

I'd be intereested ina reference to the various pieces of legislation, there is certainly no such prohibition in Qld.

[harlie]

Yeah - QLD is fine to live-aboard. But you still won't be able to claim it as your "residence". I know for a fact that the ATO systems will only accept an address that is current on the AUS Post Database (like many organisations), and it is updated every 90 days on the ATO side. Even if by chance it does accept something with a unit/block/site/birth number (units & offices will, but not any marinas I tried), you still don't own the realestate, just what's parked on/in it and maybe lease from port auth - same as a caravan in a caravan park. So short of having a Private ruling from the ATO in your favour, good luck with it come audit time...

I’m getting a good laugh with guys coming up with these schemes to save (as a % of the boat) not really much….