Tax time and grey importers

Lmuskawo on 27/05/2013 - 10:24

As everyone knows tax time is coming up. I'm sure most good Ozbargainers know how to get the best tax returns, so I am looking for some help. Specifically, how can I tell if I can claim tax on something? Does it have to be an Australian product? For example, if I was to buy a camera for work from say, Kogan, can I claim tax even though the product is probably a grey import?

I know this is a question I should ask my accountant but I am not seeing him till after june 30th . I really want a olympus OMD body but the difference in price between jb and somewhere like kogan is high.

Financial

Comments

  • retiredfeline on 27/05/2013 - 10:27

    Doesn't matter where the product came from. As long as you have an invoice and justification for claiming it.

    To be more precise, you need to prove that the money and how much has been spent on the product. For example if I buy professional books from Amazon, I will have to show much AUD was paid.

  • muskawo on 27/05/2013 - 11:28

    Oh! I didn't know that, for some reason I thought It hade to be from Aus… and I couldn't find anything specifically about claiming on stuff from overseas on the ATO website.

    thanks

  • scotty on 27/05/2013 - 12:45
    +1

    As long as you are the one paying for it, have records of paying for it (ie invoice, receipt, credit card statement), and the purchases are for work use, then you should be able to claim that as expense no matter where the you bought it from or whether it has tax invoice (as grey importers and overseas retailers don't).

    I guess lack of tax invoice is just that you cannot claim the GST back with TRS at airport for items.

    Another thing is that deduction for personal tax, I think if the cost is over $300 you cannot declare it as a deduction in one go and you must depreciate over a few years. Not too hard as e-tax comes with tools to help you to work out the depreciation amount, but you might be disappointed to think that you can just take $900+ off from your taxable income in one go.

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