Customs Documentation Advice Needed

[nheather]

Hi,

Over Christmas I visted some relatives in Adelaide. They are Brits who emigrated and took many belongings including their UK XBox 360 out with them. It since died with the Red Ring of Death and whilst they were aware of the 3 year warranty couldn't do anything about it because MS would not deal with a UK XBox in Oz.

So I brought it back with me and have had it repaired under warranty and am now ready to send it back. I have found the courier I want to use but must complete customs documentation to go with it.

They shouldn't have to pay import duty after all the XBox belongs to them and is simply being returned. But I'm not 100% sure what to declare on the form.

Some of the most likely options on the form are

Return after repair
Personal effects (used - no resale)
Gift
Other (please specify)

What do you reckon. I don't want to put down the wrong thing and cost them taxes they shouldn't be paying.

Cheers,

Nigel

[h4rri]

I would go with the obvious "returns after repair". Anything else could be seen to be evasion and could end in fines etc. Shouldn't cost them any fines as they can prove they purchased the device months ago and it's simply been returned for repair.

[nheather]

Having spoken to the courier, being passed onto UK Customs, being passed onto the Australian Embassy and finally onto Australian Customs, I now have my answer - so for anyone else interested here it is.

Yes it would seem sensible to send using the 'Return after repair' option but in reality this would attract import tax unless you include proof that the item legimately belongs in Australia. The XBox would have been decelared under a 'Transfer of Residency' when they emigartaed and the customs offices would need to see the XBox included in the shipping waybill.

The way that both UK and Australian Customs advised was to ship as 'Gift'. The gift threshold is 1000AUD (446GBP).

I must admit that I was pleasently surprised by how helpful both the UK and Australian Customs were.

Cheers,

Nigel