Outlined in the Federal Budget, as of 2019, cars re-imported to Australia following overseas refurbishment are no longer subject to LCT
While most of the car industry looks to this year’s Federal Budget with keen eyes on the controversial Luxury Car Tax, classic car owners may be happy to know that as of 2019; cars re-imported to Australia following overseas restoration shall no longer have the Luxury Car Tax applied to them.
While the LCT’s future is in doubt due to European Trade pacts which are still years away from being agreed upon, Wheels Magazine reports that the Government projects to rake in a whopping $730 million in this financial year alone.
Outlined in in the second Budget paper, Budget Measure 2018-19, it states: “the Government will remove luxury car tax on cars re-imported into Australia following a refurbishment overseas, from 1 January 2019”.
While cars restored within Australia are not subject to the LCT, cars currently exported overseas for restoration and refurbishment may see owners lumped with the ‘false tariff’ upon bringing the car back into the country – should the value of the car exceed the current LCT threshold of $65,000.
“The Government will remove the inconsistency in tax treatment of refurbished cars in order to align with Australia’s trade obligations with its foreign trading partners.” says the budget. The tax break come 2019 is projected to have “negligible cost to revenue” over future estimate periods.