Quote:
Originally Posted by GeoffR
...Also ebooks recently became taxed in New Zealand, so now there would be additional issues around tax avoidence to grapple with if I were to buy from the large overseas retailers. There doesn't seem to be a simple way for a consumer to declare unpaid GST like there is with unpaid income tax.)
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In New Zealand the purchaser is not responsible for whether GST is collected and paid on local purchases. Assuming a normal customer-seller relationship, whether the seller pays the IRD GST or not and whether they are GST registered or not (not all sellers are required to be registered, depending on turnover) is entirely the seller's responsibility.
That same also applies in the case of overseas sellers of digital products where the New Zealand IRD may or may not have "required" them to be GST registered as is the case for ebooks and return GST. "Required" is in " " because in fact New Zealand of course has no jurisdiction whatsoever over overseas sellers so it is largely a ploy.
My experience is that Kobo and Amazon, for example, have increased their ebook prices since GST was levied - whether such a supplier is actually GST registered or not, whether they pay or not any GST to IRD, and whether they correctly assess the amount of GST to be collected and paid on digital products is their responsibility.