GST Deferral – cash flow for your business

23rd March, 2020

This is an old chestnut but it seems now very timely to bring it back to the attention of all importers. As we all know GST is payable at the time of importing goods, it is calculated on the CIF price plus any duty x10%. Your business will be either paying GST at the time of import or deferring if you are approved to the GST deferral scheme. Yes if you pay GST on each import you are claiming it back in your next BAS be that quarterly or monthly, recently I have come across many businesses that are not aware of their ability to defer GST on import entries. This is readily available cash flow that you are leaving with the ATO until such time as you complete your next BAS. The basic premise of GST deferral is that you need to be completing your BAS monthly and electronically, if you meet these requirements you are eligible to make application to the deferral program. 

What is GST deferral?
If approved to the program the import GST payable on each shipment is not paid at that time rather it is deferred and the monthly sum of your import GST obligations is accumulated and will show on your next BAS as a total amount to pay. The cash flow win for your business is that you claim back that accumulated import GST on the same BAS so it NETS off and not actually paid. I do need to add here I am no accountant but in a business environment where cash flow is paramount this can present significant savings to your business. Of course this needs to be considered in conjunction with your other GST obligations and will certainly need to be discussed with your accountant or financial adviser before any changes are made 

Please get in touch with sales@sccargo.com.au should you require any further details.