Cheapest destination from Australia

[mattwrightzen]

I want to fly to the cheapest destination ex Melbourne that is international for a free funded by forgone tax few days away. I have bought a laptop and that should pay for the flight. (My understanding is that I am allowed to fly within 60days of the purchase and get the 10% GST back).

Can anyone give me advice as to the cheapest destination from Melbourne?

In effect the trip would be funded from the GST on my laptop.

Best I have found is $290 to Christchurch return in the near future. I haven't seen Vanuatu. Even if I took a cheap domestic flight somewhere then connected to an international destination it would do the trick.

 

[777]

As a general rule ex-Melbourne the cheapest international destination is likely to be NZ. JQ and VA/NZ have some very cheap deals at times.

I can't speak for the tax/ accounting rules though.

 

[opusman]

How much was your laptop?

AirAsia have MEL-KL for $169 at the moment (outbound anyway, might cost more to come back).

 

[Ausbt]

Without researching, I'm going to guess Christchurch. So how much was the lappy? Surely your budget can't be much more than $250 for flights. So... $250 less Skybus fare $28 return, presume you won't leave the airport, flight budget $222. Hmmm.

 

[Ausbt]

I can't speak for the tax/ accounting rules though.

No problem doing a TRS on a laptop. Of minor interest I recently asked the TRS officer about claiming back GST on jewellery. You can certainly do it, however the problem is when you arrive back in. The laptop will have 'depreciated' however jewellery may well have appreciated - meaning they might tax you coming in!

 

[mattwrightzen]

Macbook pro fully spec'd up with 3 year warranty is worth 4K

so $400. I don't mind spending a small amount when I get there. Christchurch is pretty good as I have relatives there.

 

[bass_ke]

Consider that it forms part of your duty free concession once claimed through trs and that if found with it on your return without declaring it you will have to pay the tax back and a possible penalty on top.

 

[mattwrightzen]

I Think it would be considered a used item on the way back. And therefore would not be subject to tax. ie it becomes a personal used item.

 

[markis10]

Macbook pro fully spec'd up with 3 year warranty is worth 4K

so $400. I don't mind spending a small amount when I get there. Christchurch is pretty good as I have relatives there.

There is a slight problem with your idea, a MacBook worth 4k is going to be over the duty free limit coming back in and you will again have to pay GST on it, it likely you will be lucky to save less than $200 and you will possible be forgoing other duty free savings such as alcohol.

I recently claimed a Mac Air on the way out and had to declare it on the way back, it lost 33% of its value, so your Mac would have an assessable value of $2700 making $270 roughly payable. I guarantee your record will be flagged for a check inbound, as I also claimed an IPad outbound, on return I was asked why I had not declared that as it along with the MacBook would have been over the limit, I had left it in KUL in my stored baggage for that reason.

 

[bass_ke]

After 12 months goods are considered personal effects, goods certainly depreciate prior to the 12 months but will still form part of your concession, so you will gain whatever the difference is between when you depart (full value) and the gst charged on the full value less depreciation when you return (believe depreciation is 20% in the first 3 months) you wouldn't be able to claim the warranty as the refund only applies to goods.

If goods instantly became of no customs value there would be nothing to stop people gaming the system

 

[equus]

I Think it would be considered a used item on the way back. And therefore would not be subject to tax. ie it becomes a personal used item.

Personal used items are those you have owned for more than 12 months (for import purposes), so it won't be tax free. Some depreciation will be allowed (as it is not brand new), but if they follow tax office guidelines (don't see why they wouldn't), then they are likely to consider useful life of 3 years, and allow no more than 3 months depreciation (given you would have bought it less than 60 days before you left, and you are obviously not planning to be away for very long). So maybe 10-15% depreciation, maximum (looks like 20% may be allowed). So, $4K purchase, take the GST off, $3,600 allow 20% depriciation comes to $2,900 to pay GST on. So you are only looking at about $110 to fund the flight. YMMV on the depriciation allowed.

 

[markis10]

Personal used items are those you have owned for more than 12 months (for import purposes), so it won't be tax free. Some depreciation will be allowed (as it is not brand new), but if they follow tax office guidelines (don't see why they wouldn't), then they are likely to consider useful life of 3 years, and allow no more than 3 months depreciation (given you would have bought it less than 60 days before you left, and you are obviously not planning to be away for very long). So maybe 10-15% depreciation, maximum. So, $4K purchase, take the GST off, $3,600 allow 15% depriciation comes to $3,000, less your $900 allowance, so $2,100 to pay GST on. So you are only looking at about $190 to fund the flight. YMMV on the depriciation allowed.

If the limit is exceeded Duty and Tax is payable on the entire value, no deduction for the concession.

 

[mattwrightzen]

The policing must only work if they flag people who are taking advantage of the TRS for follow up. Large numbers of passengers are taking new and used expensive laptops in and out of the country every hour of the day.

 

[bass_ke]

The policing must only work if they flag people who are taking advantage of the TRS for follow up. Large numbers of passengers are taking new and used expensive laptops in and out of the country every hour of the day.

I'd daresay a large amount of them wouldn't have made a TRS claim on their departure.

The choice is yours in the end, is it worth potentially coming to customs attention for the value of the refund?

 

[medhead]

The policing must only work if they flag people who are taking advantage of the TRS for follow up. Large numbers of passengers are taking new and used expensive laptops in and out of the country every hour of the day.

Maybe but you have no idea of the travel arrangements. They might be travelling with a group and can pool allowances. They might leave the laptop overseas. They also may not claim trs, meaning they have paid tax on the laptop and can bring it into the country without declaring it.

 

[equus]

When bringing new or near new equipment back into the country, you only need to prove that you brought it locally (and not claimed back) the appropriate taxes. If you want to lug receipts, that will do, but the safest way is to complete the "Goods Exported in Passgener Baggage" (for items with serial numbers), and get it stamped by customs on your way out.

 

[equus]

The policing must only work if they flag people who are taking advantage of the TRS for follow up.

You can be sure they do. If you change your statement to "taking advantage of the TRS for goods worth more then the $900 duty free allowance" then you can be almost certain of it.

 

[Ausbt]

Certainly all of my TRS claims have always been at the $500 thus $50 tax-back level. One think I'll say is the TRS staff have always seemed to be quite nice and helpful. A marked contrast to our often sour staff manning the Customs desk.

 

[bass_ke]

Certainly all of my TRS claims have always been at the $500 thus $50 tax-back level. One think I'll say is the TRS staff have always seemed to be quite nice and helpful. A marked contrast to our often sour staff manning the Customs desk.

Maybe it's an easier job giving money away rather than collecting it