Tourist Refund Scheme for Computer Cost $1200

byo on 20/01/2017 - 13:55
Last edited 20/01/2017 - 13:56 by 1 other user

Planning to buy a $1200 laptop to go oversea and claiming TRS on departure. However, on the TRS webpage, it says "If the total value of the goods you are bringing into Australia is greater than your passenger concession, including goods for which you have previously claimed a tax refund under TRS and any purchased overseas:

you must declare all of these goods
you will need to repay the GST refund back on the goods you claimed under the TRS
duty and GST will apply to all items purchased, not just goods over the limit of your passenger concession."

Since the passenger concession is only $900, does it mean that I have to repay all GST I have claimed under TRS on arrival back to Australia? Anyone has experience on this? Thanks for any advice.

• 

  IceCreamBandit on 20/01/2017 - 14:01

  +1

  Are you travelling with someone else? You can 'stack' your passenger concession.

  The other thing you can do, is just use it and say its used value is now below $900.

  Source: TRS lady at Sydney Airport talking to the person in front of me who asked the same question.

  • 

    byo on 20/01/2017 - 14:50

    I am traveling with my girl friend (not yet wife or spouse). Only "family" can pool concessions together.

    • 

      IceCreamBandit on 20/01/2017 - 14:53

      +4

      You know what you need to do then ;)

      • 

        byo on 20/01/2017 - 14:56

        not ready for any serious commitment yet

      • 

        mskeggs on 20/01/2017 - 16:17

        @byo:
        Claim you are de facto, not that anybody will bother even asking.

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  TakaHas on 20/01/2017 - 14:06

  +1

  We assume you are taking the good out of Australia and not bringing it back wink wink

  If you do bring it back and Customs identifies the good has been claimed GST, you will have to pay the amount back. The concession is only applicable if you purchase an item >= AUD$900 oversea and bringing into Australia.

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  [Deactivated] on 20/01/2017 - 14:10

  +1

  Seems to be a lot of these threads about TRS lately

  I can see this scheme ending pretty soon if the abuse of the system occurs too much
  I am sure they can tell BS as mile away too with claims

  $1200 new and then claiming $900 used in 2 days seems a little dodgy, aren't they going to want to see the original reciept?

  • 

    CyberMurning on 20/01/2017 - 14:16

    well 2 days maybe a bit short but for example after one week if OP put the laptop on gumtree no one will want to pay $900 for sure regardless what the condition is. second hand is second hand. electronic second hand price is falling like no tomorrow.

    • 

      plmko on 20/01/2017 - 14:58

      TRS does not consider depreciation of the item. If you have claimed TRS then when you bring it back the price of the item is the value it is worth. I confirmed this with airport customs staff when they were going through my camera gear, even though one of them was chipped a bit from a drop. But they do give you a ~+10% leeway on the $900 figure.

      So everytime you bring back something, you are always risking them asking if the item was on TRS.

  • 

    ronnknee on 20/01/2017 - 16:44

    I can see this scheme ending pretty soon if the abuse of the system occurs too much

    I'm not sure why they even offer it to Australian residents.

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  MeesusEff on 20/01/2017 - 15:20

  +2

  ask GF to carry the laptop on the way back, and go through the customs line independently??

  • 

    CyberMurning on 20/01/2017 - 15:24

    +1

    yeah good idea….

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  ZippyRoo on 20/01/2017 - 15:33

  +1

  Ask your girlfriend to carry the laptop, make sure you don't bring back any boxes or manuals etc, it should look like a used item. Go through customs separately and you'll be fine.

  • 

    Brucet on 22/01/2017 - 22:14

    correct.

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  brokenglish on 21/01/2017 - 10:49

  If you never declare such items, how will the Customs ever know those items were tax refunded? Do they have some sort of trade secret tagging method? Does it only rely on the passengers honesty?

  • 

    xyee on 26/01/2017 - 19:04

    I've seen on tv where a lady claimed the gst on a really expensive pair of ear rings (in the tens of thousands; $20k if I'm not mistaken) and she was flagged by customs when she returned from her overseas trip. They searched all her belongings but couldn't find the ear rings until….they found it on her ear lobes. She paid the GST back. Haha…

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  Peck on 27/01/2017 - 01:18

  Declare it and you will be fine. As you are travelling accompanied, and also as you were honest, they will not bother to collect $30. And rest easy.

  • 

    raghuchary on 27/01/2017 - 11:46

    I con confirm my experience was similar about 2.5 years ago. Declared it, they saw it, and waved me right past!