zander

Hiya

A recent thread discussed whether to buy a laptop in the UK before emigrating to Oz.

I just bought one for £600, only to discover that I may have to pay import duty once we go in September 2005. The reason seems to be that despite the fact that the laptop is purely for my family's personal use, it will be less than 12 months old on arrival and so liable for import duty!

Seems a bit harsh! If that's the case, how do you prove that everything you take isn't less than 12 months old, especialy items that have been well looked after (I don't keep every receipt forever, and don't know anyone else who does).

Interested to know if anyone has had any such problems and how they dealt with them.

Thanks

Alex

kevinbloomfield

Alex

Could you not create an invoice for yourself on MS Word, date it Jan 2004, this would make it older than 12 months

Easier enough I would have thought

kakadu chris

Took mine with us on flight..went straight through customs with it. noboby seemed to worry at all

zander

Thanks Kevin,

I suppose that's a possibility.

Don't mean this to sound pious or holier than thou (which it probably does, but there you go), but I don't think I'd be happy starting a new life in a new country by working a fiddle on the taxman before I've even left the airport!

While we're on the subject - how did others take their computers into Oz.? Shipped with their personal effects or taken as hand luggage?.

Would it be a problem to send a laptop as part of our personal removal? We're going to Oz via the States and all in the trip will take about 4 weeks so I don't want to lug a laptop with me if I can help it.

Cheers

Alex

gsb

Bloody hope so, cos that is what we will be doing. What is more, surely they wont check everything that you are taking in order to determine what is less than 12 months old, will they?? .

kevinbloomfield

Alex

You aint conning the tax man, you will pay 17.5% VAT on your laptop, surely you dont want too pay VAT and GST?

Stormz

Aus customs are bastards. Airport, post, astral trave, whatever. This is coming from an Aussie btw.

rapitts

I would get it shipped, but make it look a bit old and get it shipped seperate from your normal things (sea takes months) as once you land in Australia you will be wishing you had your laptop, if you are in Sydney then you can purchase unwired which is a portable internet service for your laptop.

Aus4us

Hi,

We are taking ours as hand luggage. I dont know how they know that it is less than 1 year old!!

At least if you take it with you, you will have it there to use straight away!!

Roni

madsad

We bought one 5days before we left the UK,took it on the plane by hand-no questions asked

Donna.

BillnLinz

We just bought ours last week and it wil be coming in 3 months time, if they ask we will lie, customs, do you think they give a **** and can they prove it?? Get an invisible pen and security mark it with the 'date of purchase' etc, if they ask tell them the story!!

bondipom

Customs are more interested in grannies carrying fine meats and cheeses.

Darren Gilbert

i wouldnt worry about it we took ours only 1 week old just put it in a laptop bag they didnt even ask about it.

saraliz

I declared my new laptop when I arrived in Oz... the custom blokes pulled me aside, asked what I was going to use it for (I told them it was for my own personal use) & then told me not to worry about it & sent me through! It definitely doesn't seem to be a priority with them

Steve2438

Hi when i worked with custom's a few years back the general ruls was if your item was confiscated then it was up to you to prove it's age for tax reasons only,but if you have paid tax on it in one country then thats ok,also its worth knowing what airport customs main thing is...ie Gatwick is drugs for instance...Ozzie airports might be looking for a number of things but in any case i would think laptops are well down the list