As we're all now aware, the Treasury Laws Amendment Bill 2017 proposed a 10% tax to all sales of goods bought from overseas sellers and imported to Australia worth less than $1000 from 1 July this year. With on-line retailers appearing before the Senate Economics Legislation Committee back in April and concerns raised by many industry bodies the Senate has, this week, passed an amendment of the bill which delays the commencement of the legislation until 1 July 2018.

The amendment occurred after Labour and the Greens voted together on the delayed start.

The other amendment requires the Productivity Commission to hold an inquiry into the effectiveness of the proposed amendments and whether other models might be suitable. The Productivity Commission has until 31 October 2017 to report its findings and will form the basis for further political discussion and may result in further amendments being proposed.