Hello,
As you are no doubt aware, beginning in July a new policy from the Australian Government requires that merchants like ourselves outside of Australia must collect a 10% Goods and Services Tax (GST) on the purchases made by customers in Australia and then submit these collected funds to Canberra every quarter. We have been collecting GST on the merchandise portion of customer invoices up until now.
However, while preparing our first quarterly payment, we became aware that we were required to collect the tax on the shipping portion of customer invoices in addition to the actual merchandise portion. As such, beginning immediately, our GST collection procedure has been updated to base the calculation on the total invoice including the shipping fees. In the case of Private Warehouse orders and shipments, GST will be collected on the cost of the item when we receive your payment for its merchandise cost, and then on only the shipping fee when you create a shipment of items.
While "more taxes" is a phrase that nobody likes to hear, and we wish we didn't have to implement this policy at all, I'm afraid that we have no choice but to comply properly if we're to continue serving our loyal customers in Australia.
Thanks for your understanding, and most importantly, for your loyal support of HLJ!