Customs not planning any changes to GST limits

Saturday 11 March 2017

There is no plan to change the limit under which goods can be brought into Jersey without incurring 5% GST, the Education & Home Affairs Scrutiny panel has been told.

It's a controversial subject, as local retailers argue the limit makes it much harder for them to compete against online retailers, who don't have to charge GST for goods costing less than £240. They want the limit reduced or abolished - but that would make those goods at least 5% more expensive for local consumers.

At the scrutiny panel hearing yesterday, Customs officers argued reducing the limit would greatly increase the administrative burden in processing the extra payments, and take them away from other duties. 

"Abolishing the de minimus limit would be challenging", stated David Nurse, Head of Jersey Customs and Immigration service. "If we dropped it, the number of manifested goods would necessarily increase."

1.3 million consignments were processed last year by Customs officers, over 86,000 of them required a declaration. If the de minimus limit was to be lowered to £9 from its current £12 level, the numbers of items held would rise to £16,500; if a further decrease put the limit at £3, around 100,000 items would be held.

"This would cause problem in terms of resources, as we would need to increase the number of staff dedicated to revenue collection", explained David Nurse. But it would also cause problems to courier and freight companies in terms of storage."

Those sentiments were echoed by Constable Deirdre Mezbourian, Assistant Minister for Home Affairs: " The impact on the resources is always something that has caused concern to our services. It takes away from other areas, like boarding control for example."