Importing and Customs.

[Danny Boon]

Hi all
For some time now I ( 5 years ) have been importing some musical instruments
for private use from the USA.
Not much just a few.
Never had a problem with customs. Some parcels arrive direct and some go to
customs. I ring customs for those and they ask what I paid and charge me GST,
debit my credit card and send out the next day.
I have just recently started to get some accessorys for my MX5.
All of the accessorys have arrived direct except for the power mirrors.
I recieved a letter to say that I have a parcel with no decared value written
on it and $56 shipping and please ring.
I rang them told them cost was $100 US and they wanted 10% duty + GST and a
$65 brokerage fee + GST as I did not have an importers number. They also
wanted verification of the price I paid. I said thank you I will get back to
you and hung up.
So...I went to the Customs office at the airport here in ChCh and told them I
had a parcel awaiting me in Auckland.
I handed her the letter.
She asked me if it was for private use and I said yes.
She was gone about 10mins and handed me a letter that said cleared. I asked
her how much and she said nothing this time.
She told me that just this once they will clear it for me but if I import
anything else I have to use a broker or get an import number for myself. I
told her about the brokerage fee that Customs wanted to charge me in Auckland
and she said that was a fair price.
Has anyone else had a similar experience?
I have just checked the NZ customs wesite and yes there is a 10% duty on car
parts.
I have never heard of having to have an import broker.
Are car parts the same as car accessories?
Sorry about the long E mail. Wont do it again.
regards Danny

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Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2005 07:03:15 +1300
From: ~Jeff~ <jifjif@gmail.com>
To: MX5List <mx5list@mx5club.org.nz>
Subject: Re: Importing and Customs.
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the Customs route is the "proper" way to do things - ie slow and
expensive! I'm surprised you managed to get away without it for so
long...

I have an import number for the one time I had some stuff sent from
Flyin'Miata

On Thu, 17 Feb 2005 00:10:29 +1300, Danny Boon <dannboon@netaccess.co.nz> wrote:
[...]

[Mike Jolley]

i have been importing vintage motorcycle bits and bobs and
mustang,thunderbird and mx5 parts for years.if customs can make $50 gst in
other words parts aprox $50 kiwi you will have to go to airport and pay
gst.Always get yank to write classic car part on parcell,and a lower $ value
also helps.very few parts have duty on them nowdays. mike

[Grant]

I have been importing radio equipment from the USA for a number of years as
well. I was told I needed an importers number only if the value of the item
was more than $NZ1000.00. So far I have only been contacted by Customs for
this number if the total package cost has been more than the $1000.00.
Anything under that value I have just had to pay the GST only. Many items
have come through with no GST at all. I have found that if the item is
shipped with DHL or UPS then I always get charged the GST. Most times if it
comes by post (USPS) then it arrives with no charge. It's also considerably
cheaper than UPS or DHL. Many suppliers won't ship by post though. It is
unusual to be charged GST on a package that costs less than $400.00 as I was
told it is not worthwhile collecting the small amount of GST. So far this
has been the case as well. I have never been charged on packages costing
less than $400.00. I have not been charged brokerage fees either unless the
package was cost more than the $1000.00. It then had to be cleared by an
import broker even though I have an import number. The fees have been upto
$120.00, depending on the total value of the item. Don't know why it varies
as the work required is the same no matter what the value.

Grant.

[Bill Rehm]

Seems to me based on the emails on this subject, that the Customs Dept
unfortunately works the same way as Immigration, WINZ, and the Family
Court: arbitrary interpretation of laws totally dependent on who you
deal with and which side of the bed that person got up on that morning!

Regards
Bill