Quote Originally Posted by andrewdosborne View Post
It could level the playing field with local suppliers but what an administrative nightmare having overseas suppliers register for GST ( from the foreign businesses side and ATOs)
As I've said, most of the hard work has already been done due to the EU already making sure their 28 member states' governments don't loose out on grabbing their equivalent of GST. All those businesses now have to do is update the software for 29 instead of 28 countries and allocate the 10% rate to Australian purchases (based on shipping/contact address). It only normally affects the price shown at shopping basket/purchase time, so the software changes required are minimal. Yes, it still has a cost attached, but it won't be huge.

It does hit the smaller businesses harder than the larger outfits, and there were certainly some one-man businesses in the UK who initially stopped selling to foreign customers. But most of these businesses then switched to using companies that handled the check-out process for them (if they didn't already do so), and they were the ones who dealt with calculating and distributing the various taxes, rather than the small business themselves. Yes, it adds another handling fee, so it certainly isn't a cost-neutral implementation. But now it's just another factor to be considered when setting the sales price for the goods.