Importing from China to Australia
The threshold has not exempted anything since 2018. It moved the collection point.
Published · 7 min read · By YCP Team
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The line moved the collection point, not the liability
It is worth being precise, because "low value threshold" sounds like relief and here it is a routing rule.
At or below AUD 1,000 customs value. The seller side collects. The Border Force names three kinds of party that may be required to register, charge and collect GST at the point of sale: merchants selling the goods, electronic distribution platforms through which they are sold, and re-deliverers. The tax is therefore in the price at checkout, and it never appears as a customs bill — which is exactly why so many buyers believe no tax was due.
Above AUD 1,000 customs value. The border side collects, on the taxable importation, in the ordinary way — with an import declaration, duty at the rate for your commodity code, and GST published by the Border Force at 10% of the value of the taxable importation.
The practical consequence is that the threshold changes your paperwork and your cash flow, not your total tax. A business that imports above the line and is registered for GST is in a very different position from a consumer buying below it, because a registered business is generally dealing with GST as a credit rather than as a cost. That distinction is worth settling with your accountant before you choose how to buy, not after.
And splitting an order to sit below the line does not create an exemption, because there is none to reach: below the line the seller charges the tax. What splitting actually does is move you into a regime where somebody else is responsible for collecting it — and where a non-compliant seller's failure to charge is that seller's problem, not your relief.
"Re-deliverer" is the word most buyers have never read
Of the three named categories, this is the one that catches people, because it describes an arrangement people adopt specifically to simplify things.
A re-deliverer is, broadly, a service that helps get goods to Australia when the seller will not send them there — a forwarding address, a mail-forwarding account, a shopping service. The Border Force names re-deliverers alongside merchants and platforms as parties that, where they meet the registration requirements, must charge and collect GST at the point of sale on eligible low-value goods.
So the forwarding address does not sit outside the regime — it is one of the ways into it. A buyer who ships to a forwarder precisely because the overseas seller would not charge Australian GST has, if anything, moved the collection obligation to a different party rather than removed it.
Which makes one question worth asking before you set an arrangement up: who, in this chain, is registered, and where in the price does the GST sit? If nobody can answer, you are relying on a gap rather than on a rule — and gaps in tax collection are exactly what governments close, usually retroactively in effect if not in law.
No advice is offered here about whether any particular service is registered. That is a fact about a company, checkable with the company and with the ATO, and it changes.
What tax never covers: the second regulator
Australia administers biosecurity as a regime separate from customs, and it is the thing most likely to surprise a first-time importer on this route, because it reaches things a tax rule never touches.
Including your packaging. Timber pallets, dunnage, straw, plant material used as packing — the material around your goods can be a regulated item in its own right, independently of what is inside the carton. That makes packaging a compliance decision as well as a protection one, which is not how most people brief a supplier.
No list of controlled goods or materials is published here. It is administered by a different department from the one collecting the money, the schedules move, and a list in a guide would be read as complete. Identify the regulator for your product and for your packaging before you ship, and ask your supplier what the goods will actually be packed in and on — because the answer is frequently "whatever we have".
And treat it as a scheduling risk, not just a compliance one. A consignment held for a biosecurity question is held while somebody arranges treatment, re-packing or export — and none of those is fast.
The ordinary route, and the questions that settle it
Above the threshold, everything is the standard commercial import and the questions are the ones this whole cluster keeps returning to.
Who is the importer of record? You, or an Australian company you control — and the accuracy of the declaration belongs to that party regardless of who lodged it.
What is the commodity code? It sets the duty rate, and it is also what any concession or preferential rate is expressed against.
What is the customs value, and what is in it? The GST is charged on the value of the taxable importation, which is a defined amount rather than the invoice total — so the Incoterm you buy on changes the tax base, not just the freight bill.
Are you registered for GST, and does that change the decision? For a business, GST on imports is usually a credit rather than a cost, which can make the comparison between buying above and below the line completely different from the consumer version of the same question.
And ask your broker a specific question: for this code, at this customs value, arriving on this date — what duty, what GST, and is there any concession? Four facts, one answer, ten minutes.
Questions people actually ask
Is there a tax-free threshold for imports to Australia?
Not since 2018. The Australian Border Force states that GST may apply to goods with a customs value of equal to or less than AUD 1,000 imported by consumers, and that vendors — merchants, electronic distribution platforms and re-deliverers — that meet the registration requirements must charge and collect GST at the point of sale. The threshold decides who collects the tax, not whether it is paid.
Who collects GST on my low value import?
The seller side. The Border Force names merchants, electronic distribution platforms and re-deliverers as the parties that, where they meet GST registration requirements, must charge and collect at the point of sale on goods with a customs value of AUD 1,000 or less. The ATO states the same rule from the seller's side: a non-resident business selling into Australia at or below A$1,000 collects the GST from the customer and remits it.
Does using a parcel forwarder avoid Australian GST?
No — "re-deliverer" is a named category in the rule. Where a forwarding or shopping service meets the registration requirements, it is one of the parties required to charge and collect GST at the point of sale on eligible low value goods. The arrangement most buyers assume sits outside the regime is specifically inside it. Ask who in your chain is registered and where in the price the GST sits.
What is the GST rate on imports to Australia?
The Border Force publishes the rate applicable on taxable importations as 10% of the value of the taxable importation. Note the base: it is the value of the taxable importation, a defined amount rather than the invoice total, so the Incoterm you buy on changes the tax base and not only the freight bill. Customs duty for your commodity code is separate and is published in the tariff.
Can I split an order to stay under A$1,000?
There is no exemption to reach. Below the line the seller charges the tax; above it the border does. Splitting moves you into a regime where a different party is responsible for collecting, and a non-compliant seller failing to charge is that seller's problem rather than your relief. For a GST-registered business the more useful question is usually whether import GST is a credit rather than a cost — which can make buying above the line the better arrangement.
What else can stop my shipment in Australia?
Biosecurity, which is administered separately from customs and reaches things a tax rule never touches — including your packaging. Timber pallets, dunnage, straw and plant material used as packing can be regulated in their own right, independently of what is inside the carton. No list is published here because it is a different department's schedule and it moves; identify the regulator for your product and your packaging before you ship, and ask the supplier what the goods will actually be packed in and on.