Private ruling: GST and importation
Date of advice: 10 February 2016
Published: April 2016

Ruling: Q1: Are you entitled to a refund of the GST paid on your importation of products? | A1: No, you are not entitled to a refund of the GST paid on your importation of products.

Relevant facts and circumstances: You are not registered for goods and services tax (GST). You are not carrying on an enterprise. You wrote and produced a product which you sent overseas for printing. You imported copies of the product into Australia and paid GST on the importation. You do not intend to sell the products. You will distribute the products to various establishments around Australia free of charge in the form of a donation.

Relevant legislative provisions: A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 section 15-5 | A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 section 15-10

Reasons for decision: Summary: Creditable importations give rise to entitlement to input tax credits. Section 15-5 of the A New Tax System (Goods and Services tax) Act 1999 (GST Act) states: You make a creditable importation if: (a) you import goods solely or partly for a *creditable purpose; and (b) the importation is a *taxable importation; and (c) you are *registered, or *required to be registered. (* denotes a term defined under section 195-1 of the GST Act) According to section 15-10 of the GST Act, you import goods for a creditable purpose to the extent that you import the goods in carrying on your enterprise. You do not import the goods for a creditable purpose if: • the importation relates to making input taxed supplies; or • the importation is of a private or domestic nature. You advised that you are not carrying on an enterprise; thus, you did not import the products for a creditable purpose. Furthermore, you are not registered or required to be registered for GST. Therefore, you did not make a creditable importation when you imported the products. Accordingly, you are not entitled to an input tax credit for your importation. There is no provision in the GST Act under which you can obtain a refund of the GST paid on the importation.