Ebay selling and tax rules

[HeadsUp]

can someone give me opinions about buying / selling ebay items and tax requirements

i have a sole trader contracting business , and sometimes buy or sell things on ebay , both for private use and business , i keep spread sheets for both and include the business items in my accounts.

1 ) if buying business items from overseas , there is no GST in the transaction , do we simply account for those business purchases as being gst free ?

2 ) if we sell a second hand item that we owned for years , should we be including gst on the sold price ? surely not ?? , i get different answers from two different ATO staff .

3 ) do we have to charge gst on ebay items we sell if we dont have a shop or online shop , is there a cutoff level for value of items sold ?

i ask here because my experience with the tax office is there seems to be hypocracy in some of their rulings , they tell you what suits them , but accountants tell me different . depends who you ask

[Dardee]

You do not have to include personal items in your business so anything personal sold does not have GST on it and does not get included in your income. If the item is a secondhand business item then, yes, you do have to include GST in the sale price. Again, if its personal then no.

If importing goods with a landed value of $1,000AUD or less you do not get charged GST on the transaction as it is exempt from GST. This is not GST Free, but exempt. Therefore it does not get included in your BAS at all unlike a GST Free item which does. If the items imported are over the $1,000AUD mark then you will get hit with GST and customs duty, etc etc.

[HeadsUp]

wonderful

thanks for reply

[HammocksAust]

Also if you are a small business and have a turnover over (revenue) of less than $75,000 you do not need to charge GST. You can read more about it here on the ATO website.

I work as a contractor on the side of my full time job under a personal ABN and simply write on my invoices 'GST Nil'. You must include this for it to be a compliant tax invoice.

Cheers,

Guy
http://www.hammocksaustralia.com.au

[Dardee]

Strictly speaking if you are NOT registered for GST you are not issuing tax invoices. Your invoices are only invoices (no tax word).

See HERE.

[HammocksAust]

Thanks for that Dardee. I knew i had to include that no GST was being charged but was not aware that the invoice should be called an 'invoice' rather than a 'tax invoice'.

Regards,

Guy
www.hammocksaustralia.com.au

[VacuumRobot.com.au]

Originally Posted by Dardee

You do not have to include personal items in your business so anything personal sold does not have GST on it and does not get included in your income. If the item is a secondhand business item then, yes, you do have to include GST in the sale price. Again, if its personal then no.

If importing goods with a landed value of $1,000AUD or less you do not get charged GST on the transaction as it is exempt from GST. This is not GST Free, but exempt. Therefore it does not get included in your BAS at all unlike a GST Free item which does. If the items imported are over the $1,000AUD mark then you will get hit with GST and customs duty, etc etc.

Isn't the importing value of above $2000, instead of $1000? I always thought it was $2000.

Dave

[Dardee]

It is definitely $1000 as I import some goods myself.

[SteveDavidson]

Originally Posted by HammocksAust

Also if you are a small business and have a turnover over (revenue) of less than $75,000 you do not need to charge GST.

Hmm. I was interested to know whether or not you had to register if you didn't know whether you'd be likely to have a GST turnover exceeding $75K or not. It seems from that page that you have to register if -

1) Your GST turnover for the past 12 calendar months at any point has gone above $75K, or

2) Your projected 12-month GST turnover seems like it will go over $75K.

Presumably, if your business income is totally chaotic and unpredictable, you'd stick to the first option.

Interestingly, as someone who might conceivably supply business advice to international customers, I note that sales unconnected with Australia in any way are not part of the GST turnover. So if I (for example) made $70,000 a year consulting to Australian customers, and $700,000 a year consulting overseas, I wouldn't technically have to register.

[Dardee]

That is true. But by the same token any GST you pay in your purchases you would not be able to get back. Instead you would only be able to get back the % of the GST applicable to your marginal tax rate.