Do I charge GST (Australia) ?

[tubs]

I shoot for fun, but recently I've started to think about selling some of my shots. I have some nice landscapes of different locations and in some cases these are better than the shots currently on the respective tourism website. I'm considering cold-calling to try to sell some shots.

Clearly I won't be turning over more than A$50,000pa in this pursuit, so I don't think I need to register for GST. Can anyone else tell me whether there is a reason I should register for GST ? I do feel that the customer would probably expect to pay GST and might ask me why I'm not charging it.

I do have an ABN from some previous unrelated contract work, so I could use that as a business number.

[RockSlut]

Most clients are unlikely to question it. If you don't have to charge GST, then don't. From all accounts GST is more trouble than it is worth. Why collect tax for the government if you don't have to?

But I'd suggest checking it out with the ATO at www.ato.gov.au or a tax professional if you have concerns.

[cjm]

We have GST here in Canada, either it was Canada who gave the idea to Australia or Australia gave the idea to Canada. Anyway here in Canada you only charge GST if you have a GST number and have sales more then a certain amount. So if it is very similar to Canadian GST you probably need a number and to have over a certain amount in order to charge it.

How much is GST in Australia? Here it is 7% and our politicians used to get elected by lying to us, saying they'd get rid of the GST. More like they'd add some BST to their election.

[blackviolet]

10% here - it just started about 4 years ago. add that to our ~50% income tax rape - er rate....

by the way, you might want to check. i'm not giving any legal advice, but you should definitely do some investigation. for example you can claim your images as goods sold as a artist or craft practioner and not charge or need to register for GST if you earn under $50,000 p/y. i'd definitely check with the ATO to be sure.

[Skip Souza]

[QUOTE=RockSlut] Why collect tax for the government if you don't have to?

QUOTE]

Amen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[tim]

New Zealand's had GST for years, we pay 12.5% Since i've claimed my camera gear as a business expense (which is tax and GST deductable) I figure I have to pay GST on my profits. For the last year my expenses were in the high thousands and my income in the low hundreds... I got the better part of that deal! :)

[lost]

Help an American out what is GST?

[RockSlut]

GST = Goods and Services Tax. It's a flat-rate tax that was introduced to simplify the Australian tax system in respect of sales tax.

The beauty of the GST from the Government's perspective is that it turns every business providing a good or service into a tax colector. From the perspetive of business this is the downside.

It's also a very good way of creating a a cash economy. Many businesses (such as construction and service-type businesses) now have two different prices - the GST price and the "Cash price". The cash price indicates that no reciept is required. It's the "I won't tell the government if you don't" price.

If you're still interested check out www.ato.gov.au

[blackviolet]

it's kind of like your sales tax in the states, only it's one rate in all of our states.

[Avalonthas]

We have GST here in Canada, either it was Canada who gave the idea to Australia or Australia gave the idea to Canada. Anyway here in Canada you only charge GST if you have a GST number and have sales more then a certain amount. So if it is very similar to Canadian GST you probably need a number and to have over a certain amount in order to charge it.

How much is GST in Australia? Here it is 7% and our politicians used to get elected by lying to us, saying they'd get rid of the GST. More like they'd add some BST to their election.

Well Canada was technically first discovered about 22 years before Australia (or what was thought to be Australia anyways), and was settled many hundred years before Captain Cook discovered and began exploration and settlement of Australia (in 1770, approx 6 years before USA became independent). Also Canada became a nation 34 years earlier then Australia (1867 vs 1901) and since GST was only implemented when the official government began, its pretty safe to say that it originated in Canada.

Back to photography, I would charge GST as if the government catches you, they will nail you hard. As an honest patriotic citizen, you would also want to help out ur country by reporting the taxes. Remember also (in canada anyways) if you report taxes, you can write off or get credits for all or most of your camera equipment because if you accept money for ur services even if its a few events, its considered a small business. Many many years ago when i started in film photography, I did one large wedding before the fiscal year ended and I earned only prolly $500 bucks if it was in todays money and i charged taxes on it. I then managed to get a large credit, I would say 5 thousand in todays money for writing off business equipment and basically with the tax return and money i saved with credits and stuff, all my equipment was virtually free. You dont neccessarily get ur stuff for free anymore as heavy revisions to tax law has been made since that time, but I still get alot of cash back. You can even right off ur gas as a business travel expense, which I do, and I save maybe 40% on gas yearly. So I believe u get more then you give, as I have enough cash to buy a new L glass every year. So basically I dont really have to buy any more L during the year because I know I can get atleast one a year for virtually nothing -- as I would either be oweing money or wouldnt be recieving such a large return if i didnt pay taxes and get credits and write stuff off. Look into it, you might find some loops.

[Avalonthas]

I also forgot to add. Some make the mistake of not charging taxes on selling there work, wether they sell alot or a small amount, but they still get a credit for equipment expenses...and basically that triggers can alarm at the Canada Revenue Agency because your asking to write off ur equipment, yet you didnt report any photography income, kinda fishy if ur getting credits for such expensive equipment. I had a neighbour who used to work with me and this is what he did for about 3 years until it raised a flag at the bureau. Lets just say he got nailed for 20 years of tax fraud relating to his photography earnings, and now he owes alot of money, and is serving time in jail, and wont be out soon. Not worth the risk.

[gastroboy]

Hey Tubs

How long to you think you want to be selling your photo's for? Set up a web site advertising the pics you have for sale, sell a couple, and include them in your income for the year. Then you can use your ABN and charge GST for the pics you sell. The bright side is that you can claim back the GST on your new equipment, take depreciation on your camera equipment etc...deduct your travel expenditure when you take photo's on Holidays. Of course you need to apportion between private use and business use but I think it will be advantagous if you decide to do more than sell a couple of pics every now and again.

You will be attracting the attention of the ATO so you need to keeps your docs in order.

Looks like Oz and Canada have basically the same kinda of GST system. From memory I think ours was modelled on the UK, NZ and Canadian models.

But yeah, its complex but could be worth your while.

P>S this does not constitute legal advice. :-)

[RockSlut]

...try this link. GST for small business (http://www.ato.gov.au/businesses/content.asp?doc=/content/20724.htm&pc=001/003/022/002/014&mnu=3687&mfp=001/003&st=&cy=1)

Just because it is called a GST in NZ and Canada does not mean that the tax is administered the same in each country. You should only rely on the advice of either the Australian Tax Office (http://www.ato.gov.au) or an Australian tax professional.

[Avalonthas]

I dont think we were implying to directly use our advice as is, rather to research and apply it to the australian tax system. From what ive experience, living in 4 countries in my lifetime, the tax laws are almost the same, just the rates and credits are different amounts to reflect the society and what it needs.

[tubs]

[QUOTE=gastroboy]Hey Tubs

How long to you think you want to be selling your photo's for? Set up a web site advertising the pics you have for sale, sell a couple, and include them in your income for the year. Then you can use your ABN and charge GST for the pics you sell. The bright side is that you can claim back the GST on your new equipment, take depreciation on your camera equipment etc...deduct your travel expenditure when you take photo's on Holidays. Of course you need to apportion between private use and business use but I think it will be advantagous if you decide to do more than sell a couple of pics every now and again.


Thanks for the advice guys. At this stage it looks as though I'm under no obligation to register for GST, since I wont turn over $50K. If I don't register I won't be able to claim the GST on my costs, but that probably wouldn't amount to much anyway. What would be more worthwhile for me is if I could claim my costs off my taxable income from my regular job (albeit accounting for the ratio of home to business use - I think 50% would be reasonable.) I do want to build up a business, but realistically this will take some time before I'm turning over real money. I don't want to run foul of the ATO. I like Gastroboy's idea of a website. Can anybody give me a sanity check on my thoughts so far ?

[tubs]

Umm... I need to figure out how to get the quote in the little coloured box. Hmmm.