Further to our member notice from 25 March 2020, Freight & Trade Alliance (FTA) met yesterday with senior representative from Treasury, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and the Australian Border Force (ABF) in terms of offering relief to importers and customs brokers in the form of Duty, GST and IPC processing.
Aligned to the two-stage approach for developing COVID-19 support measures, a need exists to outline the "Nature of the problem" with subsequent identification on "What can be done".
Due the urgency for a solution, these two phases are progressing in parallel:
NATURE OF THE PROBLEM - FTA SUBMISSION
As requested by the government representatives, FTA has provided a brief summary of the cash flow issues faced by industry and the downstream impacts on the international supply chain – please refer HERE
WHAT CAN BE DONE
FTA has no preconceived view how to best achieve this outcome. Any measures will have a level of complexity and will potentially require changes to legislation and regulation. All achievable as demonstrated by government in recent weeks in response to the current health and economic crisis.
Options could include a deferment arrangement over a 6 month period encompassing all payments or perhaps adopting different strategies for each component (perhaps including consideration for waiving / reducing the IPC for an agreed period).
FTA has scheduled follow up meetings with the ABF and ATO next week to progress discussions and will keep members up to date with developments.
In the interim, please feel free to contact Sue Danks who is our dedicated project manager for this advocacy activity – sdanks@FTAlliance.com.au or 0407 128 378. |
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