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ATO Interpretative Decision

ATO ID 2004/200

Goods and Services Tax

GST and the export of goods by aircraft
FOI status: may be released

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  • This document incorporates revisions made since original publication. View its history and amending notices, if applicable.

CAUTION: This is an edited and summarised record of a Tax Office decision. This record is not published as a form of advice. It is being made available for your inspection to meet FOI requirements, because it may be used by an officer in making another decision.

This ATOID provides you with the following level of protection:

If you reasonably apply this decision in good faith to your own circumstances (which are not materially different from those described in the decision), and the decision is later found to be incorrect you will not be liable to pay any penalty or interest. However, you will be required to pay any underpaid tax (or repay any over-claimed credit, grant or benefit), provided the time limits under the law allow it. If you do intend to apply this decision to your own circumstances, you will need to ensure that the relevant provisions referred to in the decision have not been amended or repealed. You may wish to obtain further advice from the Tax Office or from a professional adviser.

Issue

Is the entity, a supplier of goods, considered to be the exporter of those goods for the purposes of items 1 and 2 [in the table in subsection 38-185(1) of the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 (GST Act) (Items 1 and 2)] when:

•
the entity delivers goods onto the tarmac and into the possession of an aircraft operator who has been engaged by the entity's customer, and
•
the aircraft operator transports the goods by air to a destination outside of Australia?

Decision

Yes, the entity is considered to be the exporter of the goods for the purposes of Items 1 and 2 as the part played by the entity in bringing about the removal of the goods from Australia is sufficient to justify the entity being described as the sender of those goods out of Australia.

Facts

The entity is a supplier of goods for both the domestic and export market.

The entity supplies goods to a customer. The goods are required to be sent to a destination outside Australia. Due to the size of the goods in question, the entity transports the goods by road to the airport where the goods are delivered on the tarmac directly into the control of an aircraft operator. The aircraft operator then physically transports those goods to the destination outside Australia. The aircraft operator has been engaged by the entity's customer.

The entity is registered for goods and services tax (GST).

Reasons for Decision

Items 1 or 2 provide that the supply of goods that are exported from Australia is GST-free when certain requirements are satisfied. One of those requirements is that the supplier of the goods exports the goods from Australia.

Goods and Services Tax Ruling GSTR 2002/6 addresses the meaning of the term 'the supplier exports' in Items 1 and 2.

Paragraphs 106 to 108 of GSTR 2002/6 state:

106. The question of whether the supplier exports, that is, whether the supplier sends or takes goods from Australia, is answered by examining the role the supplier plays in bringing about the removal of the goods from Australia.
107. The supplier is the exporter for the purposes of item 1 or 2, if the part played by the supplier in bringing about the removal of the goods from Australia is sufficient to justify the supplier being described as the sender of those goods out of Australia.
108. The policy intent for requiring the supplier to export is to ensure that the goods are not used or consumed in Australia. If the supplier exports the goods, the supplier then knows that the goods are not consumed in Australia, and the goods can be supplied GST-free.

Paragraph 109 of GSTR 2002/6 provides that, in relation to transporting goods by air, the supplier can be described as the entity that exports the goods from Australia, if the supplier is responsible for delivering the goods to the operator of an aircraft who, or that, has been engaged by the customer to transport those goods to a destination outside Australia.

The entity has delivered the goods on the tarmac directly into the control of the aircraft operator. The aircraft operator has been engaged by the entity's customer to transport the goods to a destination outside Australia.

Therefore, the entity is considered to be the exporter of the goods under Items 1 and 2.

Note: Where the goods are to be transported to a destination outside of Australia by air and a supplier is only responsible for delivery of the goods to a place in Australia and to a person in Australia who, or that, is not an aircraft operator, the supplier is not considered to be the exporter under Items 1 and 2, unless the requirements under subsection 38-185(3) of the GST Act are satisfied.

Date of decision:  3 March 2003

Legislative References:
A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999
   subsection 38-185(1) table item 1
   subsection 38-185(1) table item 2
   subsection 38-185(3)

Related Public Rulings (including Determinations)
Goods and Services Tax Ruling GSTR 2002/6

Keywords
Goods and services tax
GST exports

Business Line:  GST

Date of publication:  5 March 2004

ISSN: 1445-2782

history
  Date: Version:
You are here → 3 March 2003 Original statement
  26 August 2005 Archived

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