Importing gear to Australia from the USA

[Shivon 0]

Aussies - does anyone have experience or tips for:

a) importing skydiving gear for personal use from the states (helmets, accessories, etc), or

b) importing rigging equipment or supplies (fabric, tools, replacement parts, etc)

Cheers.

[HardEight 0]

I bought my gear off Ebay and originally just had the gear shipped by UPS and $3000 Insurance. BIG mistake. Customs billed me with $526 of GST. I then went through the long process of trying to get this money back... Paid $120 AUD to get the customs amount reevaluated, had the sender get me a reciept stating that the gear was previously mine and he was just returning it to me. Then had to fill out a Govt form for "Unaccompanied goods" basically giving my passport number and saying that I left the US and had some of my personal items shipped to me.
This worked and I got $460 back, but only because I am on a student Visa.
POSSIBLE Solution: If you have a friend from the US have the gear sent to him as goods unaccompying him you can find the forms and Info here: http://www.customs.gov.au/site/text_only.cfm?area_id=5&nav_id=177
BETTER solution: My Drop Zone recommended that you claim on the declaration form Repaired parachute $120. Therefore they can't charge you the GST because you can claim the goods where already in Australia and you paid the taxes already this could get messy and you may need someone here to forge a receipt. The biggest problem is Customs charges you based on the Insured amount, so it's risky but you could just claim Parachute $200, and end up paying less then $20 GST. At the same time if anything happens in shipment your SOL.
Hope this helps, and Good luck

[Shivon 0]

Thanks Robert. That definatley helps.

By the way (why not hijack my own thread) - what is Kooralbyn like as a DZ? I might be moving to Mt. Tamborine next year, and I will need to find a new DZ. I hear you guys have a big aircraft - that true? Any jumping during the week? How many turn up on a weekend? Cheers dude.

[riggerrob 643]

Yes, any time your unaccompanied gear is crossing a border, write "returned to original owner after repairs," or words to that effect, on all documentation.

[HardEight 0]

Kooralbyn is Great they have a Beaver (quick to 14,000, but tight fit) out their almost all the time (sometimes has to go to Sydney).
The people are really nice and the regulars are out their almost every weekend the Beaver is. The best part is Most of the regulars have between 50-300 jumps so I love going out with people that you can learn together with.
Of course their are still plenty of Tandem Masters and Camera flyers with thousands of jumps that give excellent dirt diving instruction.
They do tandems all week, you would just have to call in the mourning and find out the iterneray.
Look forward to seeing you out there!

Hey RiggerRob, Small world I was the Canadian living in Australia that visited your DZ end of August. Pacific Skydivers was AWESOME (King-Air kills the Beaver) and I look forward to visiting again in December for some winter jumps... Shit that's going to be reallly COLD!
Thank Andreas for me, for the sit flying lesson I've almost mastered it.
Later

[Shivon 0]

Thanks for that. Hope to see you next year.

[edid 0]

Also, be very careful with buying/importing a birdman suit. Parachute equipment and accessories do not carry any duty/tariff. However, clothing carries a 25% tariff. And customs in Oz want to classify the birdman suit as clothing. Hence, a $500 (say) birdman suit now becomes $687.50. That's 25% duty plus 10% GST. And, you guessed it, they charge the GST on the total amount including the tariff (i.e. a tax on a tax), which, you would think, would be illegal double dipping. Well, it would be illegal if it was anyone else doing it other than the government. Bletch.

[fergs 0]

Quote

Also, be very careful with buying/importing a birdman suit. Parachute equipment and accessories do not carry any duty/tariff. However, clothing carries a 25% tariff. And customs in Oz want to classify the birdman suit as clothing. Hence, a $500 (say) birdman suit now becomes $687.50. That's 25% duty plus 10% GST. And, you guessed it, they charge the GST on the total amount including the tariff (i.e. a tax on a tax), which, you would think, would be illegal double dipping. Well, it would be illegal if it was anyone else doing it other than the government. Bletch.

Ed,

thanks for the advice - I've got 2 birdman suits coming and I'd hate to be hit with the import duty. I've now asked BirdMan to label the customs declaration as parachute equipment. So I guess I'll owe you an ale or two ...

Blie Skies,

fergs