Changes for importing household goods

[MotherBear]

Change to household goods rules
Thursday, October 11, 2007

The rules around the duty-free entry of household goods will change from 15 November. People who hold long-term temporary visas (such as long-term business and work to residence visas) will not have to pay any Customs duty on their baggage and effects, including ships, aircraft, motor vehicles, and household effects.

The full list of people who do not have to pay Customs duty on their baggage and effects, including ships, aircraft, motor vehicles, and household effects includes people who hold:

a New Zealand passport
an Australian passport
a current New Zealand residence visa or permit, or current returning resident?s visa or permit
a current permanent residence visa (including a resident return visa) issued by the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia
a current work visa or work permit that was issued for a minimum of 12 months
a current work visa or work permit, issued under the Long Term Business Visa policy, that was issued for a minimum of 9 months
a current visitor?s visa or permit that was issued for a minimum of 3 years.

From here .

[out0266]

Do you have to pay GST on household goods eg computer etc that you bring to NZ. I realise it probably doesn't apply to older stuff but what about stuff you buy a month before shipping it??

Any help appreciated

[MotherBear]

Take a look on this previous thread about importing goods and tax and see if there's any useful info on there.

I think you do have to be careful about buying brand new goods just before you ship. They like to see that they've been used beforehand and you're not trying to import them for resale or similar.

[Ace]

Before your belongings can be cleared through customs, you will need to fill out a form that includes a bunch of questions about what you're importing. One of the things they want to know is whether anything is new or for resale. If you have items like that, you will likely have to pay GST on them. However, if you can reasonably / justifyably claim that they're used, then no GST should be payable.

The moving company we used kept an eye out for things that might have been an issue for customs, as well as MAF items, while they were carrying our stuff from the container into a moving van (based on how the items were labeled, or on what they could see from the outside; the movers didn't open any boxes). Customs also requires an itemized inventory, and if anything is labeled as "new", it's more likely to be reviewed for possible GST.

I think customs has something like a NZ$400 threshold for new items. If the total value is less than that, I believe no GST is payable.

I remember hearing somewhere that they watch for items like transformers that are clearly intended for use in NZ, and aren't usable in their country of origin.