Bringing new jewellery into Australia

[Vee711]

I'm not 100% sure if I posted in the right place so please move appropriately if not.

Does anyone have any experience with bringing new jewellery into Australia and being asked to pay tax on it? I have someone bringing a piece of jewellery for me from overseas and was wondering if I should ask them to wear it or just keep it in its box. There will be no packaging, just the hard box that the jewellery sits in.

Preferance is for them to avoid any issues or complications when they're passing through customs.

 

[drron]

Best to have them wear it. We bought back some jewellery for a friend after his mother died overseas. We were told just a few items. There was much more that he hadn't seen before. Mrsdrron was weighed down with necklaces,bracelets and brooches. Thank goodness no tiara.I on the other hand was wearing 4 gold necklaces and 2 gold bracelets. Not a hint of a problem through Immigration or customs.
I felt like a rapper.

 

[jb747]

Just declare it and pay the GST. That will avoid complications, and I'm sure you don't want to throw the 'someone' under a bus.

 

[justinbrett]

How much (in value) are we talking?

It might be within the duty free limit of the person travelling.

I have no experience bringing jewellery over the border, but I can tell you for alcohol where the duty is around $300-500, I've been waived through 9 times out of 10. In this case I think it's better to declare - but I never had the option of wearing my my booze (I guess I could have drunk it, but I wouldn't have lived to cross the border).

 

[jb747]

In my experience the customs people were always pretty good at helping people who were honest about what they had. They do not like to be treated like fools though, and that is a guaranteed way of having a very bad day.